Ice Is Disappearing

A week later and the high country ice is finally starting to really disappear. The lake was more than half open but fishing was definitely off. I only managed one rainbow on a hot head leech and had a couple other takes on dries. Thunderstorms were threatening later in the afternoon so I decided to pack it in and head back home.

Midge Emergers In The Afternoon

I took off for the afternoon to check on a high country lake that was still working its way out of the ice. There was enough water to fish so I worked dries to the risers which produced a decent three species day with rainbows, brook trout, and even a willing cutthroat. The cutt was the nicest fish of the day. They were taking tiny midges on and just under the surface making for a challenging time of trying to tell just where your fly was in relation to the risers.

Rainbows On The Plains

Explored a few local lakes this evening. The first lake didn't seem to have much of anything going on so I decided to move on and try another spot. The second lake was choked with thick mats of algae but fish were working the outside edge of the mats. Takes on a big cicada up top brought back memories of evening smallmouth fishing but these were rainbows boiling on the fly. Actually landing fish was a bit hard with all the algae and cleaning the gear in between almost every cast. It would have been nice to have the pontoon out this evening, but I made do with wading as far out as possible. I ended up keeping two fat fish with the result being a delicious dinner of freshly grilled rainbow trout.

Moon rising over the plains lake


Rainbows for the grill

Hunting Open Water

A nice quick trip into the mountains to check out the current snow situation and scout open water provided a little action for rainbows on dries. One lake had about 25 or 30 feet of open water that had some hungry trout working the surface. The three weight was perfect for a quick hour of high country nirvana. Only a little while longer and the backcountry season will be here.