George and I headed out early to get a nice start on the 4th of July holiday. A day on the water sounded perfect and with higher temperatures forecasted for the valley we went up in the hills and cooled off at some waters right at the 9000 foot elevation line. Roads had been opened a couple weeks earlier and George had tried it out having some good fishing, especially for sizable brook trout. I kicked around in the tube and George worked from the shore. I hit a smaller brookie on my first cast kicking out. Thinking that was a good sign, I kept at it for the next two hours but couldn't get any interest from the trout. Heading back to where I found that first fish proved to be the key. They were stacked in one small area and once I casted back over it I was immediately back into fish. It was a good mix of bear river cutthroats and brook trout with the brookies out numbering the cutts about two to one. I didn't get into any of the monster brook trout but did have several 14 inchers and a 14.5 incher for the best one of the day. The cutthroat were in the 12-15 inch size range and beautiful as ever with orange-red slashes and some still showing spawning coloration as well. With it being the holiday I was surprised how light the crowding was at the lake. George and I finally called it a day and enjoyed a little 90 Schilling to celebrate the 4th in style, overlooking the vast Snowy Range in all its splendor and watching a thunderstorm cast its lightning strikes across the mountain valley.
The lake in the early morning - clear blue skies
One of the better cutts this lake produces
An assortment of quality brook trout - these fish fight so well for their size, they really are a great sporting fish even with their non-native encroaching status here in the west
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