Day Of Many Rainbows

I was able to get on the water at about 11am today and found the lake to be rather hot with consistent rainbow trout on beadhead PTs and midge patterns. The PT started as the hot fly then the midge gradually got better and better, eventually winning out. I never did see any callibaetis coming off but there were a few more damsels around than on Tuesday. It didn't seem to matter as I never had to switch off of my PT/Midge pairing. Almost every fish was in the 16-19 inch range and feisty leaping balls of lake fattened slob trout. At least one coughed up a large amount of snails. They are just gorging on everything in sight. A bit of a storm passed to the east and was cracking lightning but luckily it was pretty far off in the distance. Otherwise, I would have gotten the pontoon out of there. It was a fine way to spend the day, fighting rainbows on the three weight with a couple of Newcastles.

Quick Warm Water Trip

Hit a couple small warm water lakes just south of the border in Colorado today trying to find some bluegill or bass. I wasn't very successful as the algae at the first lake made fishing from shore very difficult (the pelicans were doing well though) and at the second lake I didn't have much time on the water as I had to go and pick up my wife from her meeting. At least I got to scout the waters and give them a shot. I will be back again for a more intensive attempt at some warm water species.

Lake one


Lake two

Two Nice Lakes Trips In One Day

I awoke at 5am to get started with George on a nice plains lake that has serious rainbow trout fishing right now. The fish are very hot and run and jump as if on steroids. I was fishing my three weight and it proved for quite a day of battle. George and I got into them early in the morning with a slight chop on the water. It went flat as a pancake though and they were taking caddis on top but I couldn't get a rise to a dry. So I went back subsurface and when the chop picked back up so did the fishing. Shoe and Willi showed up and so did Eric later in the day. We had a hoot hitting fish on the indicator rigs and then holding on to try to land them. Most of the fish were running a very portly 16-19 inches and Eric told me later he had a 20 incher. I picked up my first bear river strain cutthroat on the year as the G&F must have stocked some in the area lakes recently. After the bite slowed and the heat of the day approached, we took off for an afternoon at a high country lake in pursuit of some bigger brook trout and to find a few suitable for dinner. At about 9000 feet in altitude this lake is doing quite well and provided us with good action for brook trout, more cutthroats, and some very respectable rainbow trout. Shoe, Willi, and I worked different methods but all seemed to be producing fish. A great evening in the high country unfolded with the weather holding up and cooperative fish. I kept a few of the brook trout as I like them as fresh as possible. The best brookie went an even 14 inches. Tuesday ended up as a great outing that felt like two full days worth of fishing packed into a single day.

Some of the rainbows from the plains








George floating the morning calm


Shoe floating the plains


Shoe taking on a fiesty rainbow trout


Bear River Cutthroat closeup


Willi working the water


Brook trout


Shoe looking happy with the day's action


Shoe battling a brook trout


Brookie clutch for dinner

High Country Lakes Have Cracked

A quick evening trip to one of my favorite high country lakes found it to be at about 90% open and the trout were on the feed, rising to my first and second casts of the para adams with the third cast finally resulting in a quick rainbow trout to start the evening. A slight chop gave me an advantage early on with the fish taking my larger adams without time to inspect it or worry too much about the size discrepancy between it and the naturals. Later on, the lake laid down flat and calm and all they were interested in were the tiny midges on the surface. I went subsurface with a hot head leech and took a strike or two and another rainbow before heading back down to town for a late dinner. A beautiful evening with the lake all to myself and nothing but the rustling pines to hear with the nippy chill of the high country air felt on my face.

Mountain lakes are finally open


Edge of the final sunlight near the lake


First rainbow to hand


Another nicer rainbow, none are monsters at 11,000 feet


Calm lake as I left for the evening

Chairlift To The Skies And Ancient Seas

Faeron and I headed for a mid morning chair lift ride to the top of Freds Mountain at Grand Targhee to get a nice view of the peaks and the surrounding valley. It was a beautiful morning to be at the top and although the clouds came and went we had some great views. At the top of this mountain also lies the bottom of an ancient sea as evidenced by the fossils embedded in the rocks at nearly 9900 feet above sea level. Referencing the geological map for Wyoming it appears to be Mississippian era seabed (about 320 - 360 million years old) from my admittedly amateur investigation. I can't identify any of these really except for a piece of a crinoid in one of the photos. These are macro photos so they are fairly close up. I wish I had a little better scale in them. If you know what any of these fossils are please post a comment. I would be very grateful.