Fall In The High Country

Here is a short video meant to capture a glimpse of a solo high country day trip on a Sunday afternoon.  The fish were cooperative and I had a spectacular fall day in the mountains.  I posted this in HD so hit the full screen button to get the best viewing.  All trout actually fell for the hopper today.  Top water action in the mountains has been outstanding this season.

Gold Strike

My friend Larry and his son John were looking to get into the high country and I suggested they head up with me on a Sunday trip.  I was going to fish anyway and have been wanting to get out with them this summer but we just hadn't clicked on dates.  We had a great day hiking to different lakes and generally playing in the back country.  John warned us all of "The Woodsman" and how we should be on the look out for him.  He found signs of The Woodsman at every lake but luckily we did not run into this diabolical creature.  The fishing turned out to be pretty decent and we had some good brook trout action.  The highlight of my day was a beautiful golden trout that took my hopper on a lake at 11,000 feet.  It has been two seasons since I had last managed to find one willing to eat, and this was definitely the best golden trout I have ever landed.  A nice cutthroat rounded out the species list for the day, surprisingly large for a high altitude trout in these lakes.  Hiking a small stream between lakes we managed to find pockets of brookies willing to hit just about anything floating by on the water.  We got some little guys on hoppers and spinners that I have no idea how we were able to hook them.  They were beautifully colored though as stream resident fish usually are and made the hike that much more enjoyable.  At the end of the day, a wicked storm moved in and we headed for the car in the hail and rain.  It was a bit soggy but we managed the slick trail and bouldering necessary to reach the trailhead.  Now feeling safe from any possible encounter with The Woodsman, John promptly fell asleep in the back seat on the way home.

Snow field hiking

John's important rock

Larry on the top

Base camp for the day

The first fish of the day

Colorful brook trout everywhere

Golden Trout

Bear River Cutthroat

On the trail to a new lake

Stream fishing

John jumps the stream

Larry in a good spot

The storm about to hit

New Water In The Mountains

Eric suggested a trip to the high country and it didn't take long for me to agree.  He had been having some success throughout the range and suggested a lake I had not been to in a few years.  It sounded like a good plan and a bit of a variation to other places we had been fishing.  Off we went, hitting the trail to this little treasure that sits just below 11,000 feet.  The water was crystal clear and visibility into the lake depths was great.  You could see trout moving around down to 10 feet of depth and possibly deeper in some areas.  The fishing ended up being phenomenal and we were able to pick out and cast to individual fish with a dry and watch them rise to it from the depths.  Occasionally, you would pick out a cruiser and present your fly, watching them rise to take it only to have a different brook trout rush in from an unseen angle to smash the fly before his rival.  It was hard to leave in the afternoon, but we certainly had a quality day of secluded fishing in the high country and it was time to take to the trail and head back to town.  Eric has some video posted on his blog as well at this link.

Into the mountains 

Reflecting pool lakes

September snow fields

Good water

First brookie of the day

Eric on the rocks

Lots of takers for the hopper

Royal Wulff victim

View to the valley floor

Float Tubing High Country Water

I had the afternoon and evening to head to the mountains and chase some trout with the fly rod.  It had been nearly two weeks since I had a chance to get on the water and I was in need of some cooler air and relaxation.  The float tube seemed like it would be a fun way to fish, so I loaded up the car and took to the highway.  The temperatures at altitude were a relief when compared with the valley floor and I quickly rigged up and got out on the water.  The fish were all on dries and for the most part I fished a grasshopper all evening without having to change flies at all.  The lake is thick with cutthroats now as a result of what must be the current stocking management plan.  I did not find a single rainbow trout this evening.  It was nice to see a splake for the first time this year.  I am still hopeful some of the larger hold over splake are here even though I wasn't able to find any today.  I am looking forward to another tubing trip here this fall if I can talk Floyd or Eric into hunting big splake.  More bull moose spotted this evening.  Three different bulls were feeding along the road on the way down to the valley.

The typical cutthroat dominating the lake

The scenery is hard to beat while tubing

Brookies would break through the cutthroat onslaught on occassion

First splake of the year

Mountain Brook Trout

George and I took a trip into the mountains to check out some scenery and find a few trout along the way.  The snow pack has produced a wonderland of lush meadows coated in wildflowers.  The amount of water this year has been unbelievable.  We had the countryside to ourselves as the threat of a late day thunderstorm and a bit of wind seemed to have kept everyone else at home.  We did eventually get stormed on and it cut our day a little shorter than we had hoped.  I think we made the right decision to head for the car and skip the cutthroat trout lake in favor of hiking out.  We ended the day watching a pair of bull moose browsing a creek at the top of the pass.

Meadows of flowers

George coming up the trail

Medicine Bow peak in the distance

Beautiful colors were everywhere, on fish and flowers alike.  The high country does not disappoint.

A glacial stream that hosts wild cutthroats

First Trek Above The Trees

The high country is finally open and Eric and I took advantage of the mostly snow free trails to find our way into some of the mountain lakes.  We have been anxiously awaiting access to these mountain trout havens.  Getting our high country packs together and our legs on the trails, we ventured in and found some beautiful cutthroats and brook trout on various lakes scattered throughout the back country.  Trekking poles were helpful on the snowfields.  It was hard to believe the sheer amount of snow that was remaining in the mountains.  One stream that can normally be walked and fished was covered with a snow cave for quite a lengthy portion of it.  The fish were willing and we enjoyed a fine day in the mountains exploring everything we could in a day trip for the first time this year.  I will have to make as much effort as possible to hike into the high country before the fall snow begins to fly in September.  A monster storm was approaching us just as we were hiking out in the afternoon.  It is good to see the mountains are back to their normal selves.  On the way home we managed to spot four different bull moose.  They are out thick in the evenings feeding in the marshy creek bottoms.

Eric and Xena on the trail

A Marmot assessing our threat level

Bear River Cutthroat Trout

One of the many lakes we fished

Beautiful brook trout were everywhere

Eric on the shores of a brookie lake

A buck that walked past us with no concern at our presence

Brook trout were taking hoppers

The storm approaching over some of the snow fields

First High Country Trip Of The Year

I couldn't wait any longer and had to head up to check out what the open water situation was at 11,000 feet. There is no way around it... the high country snow that is. I just had to climb over it and stagger/slide my way around the lake to open water areas. There were many large ice flow chunks that had been piled up on the west side of the lake from the wind. I couldn't get to my normal favorite wading spot but did fish from the enormous shore drifts. I had a little interest from some very snaky and cold bear river cutthroats. The fishing wasn't super hot but the scenery was beautiful and it really felt great to be up in the high country in the cool temps and knowing we could possibly still yet salvage a backcountry season on the high lakes. The only drawback is that it may be mid-August before that happens without snowshoes being an essential part of the equation.

Lake view

These poor cutts had a long winter under the ice judging from their condition

Adventures With Floyd

Floyd and I headed into the mountains with thoughts of trying a lake known to have golden trout residing in its clear, cold waters. We hit a little snag though along the road (or lack there of) to the lake as it got a little muddier and rutted than we wanted to try to pass through.

We put plan B into action and got the float tubes on a different lake that neither of us had ever tubed on before.

The fishing was a bit slow and I had a couple hits but landed nothing. I explored an old mining site for a little while located on the edge of the lake while Floyd found one nice brookie.

It was decided a move was in order to get into more trout. Our plan C hit pay dirt and we had a fast paced evening of catching trout on various dries thrown on 3 weights. The top water bite got particularly good later in the evening. We found it hard to depart but we had both had more than enough good fish on the evening and with the cold evening shadows of the mountains dropping the high country temperature, the trip back down to the plains seemed in order.

A couple of the trout we were able to find. We both had some rather nice splake in the 15 inch range taking dries. That was a nice surprise at this lake and they definitely were the best fighters in the bunch.