High Country Fishing Trip

[3325]

My GF and I have done a high country fishing trip the first week of July for the last 3 years. I've been on an informal mission to fish every lake in the Weminuche.......

Very nice pics, Poser. Thanks for sharing. Nice area. I've driven 550 quite a few times but never gone into the backcountry.

Louis L'Amour set a few western stories in that area, and I've tried to figure out some of the story settings over the years with the Colorado Atlas and Google Earth. I know the setting of one novel, Sackett, was the backcountry on Vallecito Creek with a story of finding gold in a little hidden valley. I think that's probably Roell Creek or Rock Creek? But I'm not sure. You've probably been on all those creeks.

 

[Poser]

Very nice pics, Poser. Thanks for sharing. Nice area. I've driven 550 quite a few times but never gone into the backcountry.

Louis L'Amour set a few western stories in that area, and I've tried to figure out some of the story settings over the years with the Colorado Atlas and Google Earth. I know the setting of one novel, Sackett, was the backcountry on Vallecito Creek with a story of finding gold in a little hidden valley. I think that's probably Roell Creek or Rock Creek? But I'm not sure. You've probably been on all those creeks.

That story is set up Johnsnon Creek aka Grizzly Gulch which heads up from Vallecito Creek over Columbine Pass into Chicago Basin. There is actually an old mine just off Columbine Pass. The lake there, unfortunately, does not hold any fish -probably got fished out by Chicago Basi traffic.

 

[JeffRaines]

It’s not nearly as hard as some anglers like to make it seem. Just pay attention to the rod loading on your back cast and you got it.

I’ve been fly fishing almost exclusively for 14 years.

I think a lot of people are off put by it due to the elitism that some of the guys carry with them. I’ve had coworkers, upon learning that I fly fish, scoff and be like “oh you’re one of them”. I had to remind them that I still gear fish occasionally and I grew up on gear, and don’t mind eating fish either. After a bit their guard comes down.

Fishing is fishing dude. I don’t care if you’re a gear guy or fly. I don’t think of myself as better than anyone else, and fly fishing certainly isn’t hard to learn or do - otherwise my dumb ass wouldn’t have ever figured it out!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I’ve been fly fishing almost exclusively for 14 years.

I think a lot of people are off put by it due to the elitism that some of the guys carry with them. I’ve had coworkers, upon learning that I fly fish, scoff and be like “oh you’re one of them”. I had to remind them that I still gear fish occasionally and I grew up on gear, and don’t mind eating fish either. After a bit their guard comes down.

Fishing is fishing dude. I don’t care if you’re a gear guy or fly. I don’t think of myself as better than anyone else, and fly fishing certainly isn’t hard to learn or do - otherwise my dumb ass wouldn’t have ever figured it out!

Yeah I have a buddy who is always like “screw fly fishing, I want to keep what I catch”…you can do that with a fly rod bro. The same guy is always talking about how much better the fishing is where he’s from in Kansas because he can “limit out” every day. Ok bro, if you want to limit out on small mouth bass and blue gills, have at it.

I had another buddy who had the same sentiment “I just can’t get into the whole catch and release thing”…,then keep some, nobody cares.

I still spin fish a bit for some stuff but mostly just when chucking buzz bombs and stuff like that. I did try a few spin casts while on a float for steelhead, THAT was lame. A few casts and I’ll never use a spinner for steelhead. I can’t explain it, it was like the lowest point in my sporting “career”. I can’t believe people spin fish for steelhead, I’ll be an elitist about that until the day I die.

 

[Poser]

I definitely have no issue with eating some trout. Some of these lakes are over populated as it is. I don’t eat fish from a lake with a very Limitied number of aging fish, but if it’s jumping with pan size trout who are feeding all day, then the lake health will totally benefit from removing some fish.

 

[JeffRaines]

One of the scenarios I spin fish is high mountain lakes. I know fly fishing can absolutely be productive on stillwater, I just dont enjoy it nearly as much as I do moving water. I guess its the way I'm wired.

Plus with some of the mountain lakes in the cascades backcast room is a concern without a floatation device. I just say the hell with it and take the gear up.

It's still fun... and yeah, if it's a lake with abundant trout I may keep a few for dinner that night if I'm spending the night. My favorite by far is brook trout to the point I dont bother keeping any others. Those things are tasty!

 

[JeffRaines]

Ok bro, if you want to limit out on small mouth bass and blue gills, have at it.

I've eaten both - bluegills are great... but bass don't get enough credit when it comes to table fare. I wouldn't pick it over some of the other fish, but it's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

 

[Poser]

I've eaten both - bluegills are great... but bass don't get enough credit when it comes to table fare. I wouldn't pick it over some of the other fish, but it's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

I used to eat a lot of bass when I lived in TN (and fished with bait casters). I’d tend to agree. Crappie and small catfish are definitely better, but nothing wrong with eating some bass. That being said, I’ve never been of the mindset that I need to keep and eat every fish I catch and there’s definitely nothing wrong with just enjoying fishing for the aesthetic of fishing which, I suppose is where fly fishing tends to be more gratifying because the technique is more artistic. At the same time, picture perfect casts don’t necessarily catch fish any better than ugly casts.

I suppose it’s just all about exposure and setting. If I saw a guy fly fishing on the Tennessee River, I’d tend to think he was a bit of a kook. When I think clear mountain waters, I think fly fishing. When I look at the Mississippi River or a TVA reservoir, fly fishing doesn’t enter the conversation.

 

[Poser]

The really good alpine lakes usually have selective fish that are very difficult to catch as well so it could take you several visits which is a pretty big time commitment for remote water. There was a lake at 12k near RMNP that I was obsessed with for several years because it had a low population of well fed monster cutthroats, it took me over 5 trips up there to finally catch one. I probably missed out on some other good lakes, trips, and scenery trying to catch one of those hogs. Those were the pickiest trout I've ever fished for anywhere, including technical tailwaters. In Rich Osthoffs backcountry fishing book there is a chapter called "speed scouting lakes", maybe you've read it already but there are some good tips for the particular mission you have.

In planning my startegy for this summer, I've assigned two new terms that, so far as I know, do not exist in the lexicon:

The Blank Slates: Unnamed tarns that have never been documented because they don't even have a name on the map. I have quite a few of these marked on the map and some of them, so far at least, have had fish in them. Unfortunaely, many of these are very difficult to extremely difficult (and therefore very time concumsing) to access which is why they do not have names.

The Ghost Lakes: Named, prominent alpine cirques that should have an active online footprint, but instead possess a total lack of public information, forcing you to hunt a rumor or suspicion. These are the lakes you could fish once and mistakenly conclude are barren.

 

[canyonhunter47]

I definitely have no issue with eating some trout. Some of these lakes are over populated as it is. I don’t eat fish from a lake with a very Limitied number of aging fish, but if it’s jumping with pan size trout who are feeding all day, then the lake health will totally benefit from removing some fish.

Just curious what species do you catch?

My understanding is that rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout can’t reproduce in a lake so they are all individually stocked but that brook trout and maybe grayling have some ability to reproduce in a lake so they might be “wild” descendants of stocked fish

 

[Poser]

Just curious what species do you catch?

My understanding is that rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout can’t reproduce in a lake so they are all individually stocked but that brook trout and maybe grayling have some ability to reproduce in a lake so they might be “wild” descendants of stocked fish

Around here, its cutthroat, brown trout, rainbow and brook trout. As far as I am aware, all of those species spawn and reproduce so loing as the lake itself has the right habitat. Many of the high country lakes I fish haven't been stocked in many years or, in some cases decades and are entirely self sustaining.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I've eaten both - bluegills are great... but bass don't get enough credit when it comes to table fare. I wouldn't pick it over some of the other fish, but it's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

I’m not even talking about eating them, just catching them. It’s not as fun as looking for predator rainbows, big pike and kings or coho.

I guess the point wasn’t rather get on the river and catch 3 amazing fish than sit by a lake and catch 50 bluegills.

I went to Campeche a few years ago and landed 23 10-20lb tarpon in 3 days. That buddy was with my and all he did was complain about how few fish he landed even though he boated like 17 tarpon. He was legitimately arguing that Kansas was better because he’d have 150+ bluegills in 3 days vs 17 tarpon. To this day he say that trip was a waste of money because he only got 17 fish….bro, it was an awesome trip and we were in tarpon action the entire time, it was immensely better than chucking bobbers and drinking beer by a lake in Kansas.

 

[BLJ]

I’m not even talking about eating them, just catching them. It’s not as fun as looking for predator rainbows, big pike and kings or coho.

I guess the point wasn’t rather get on the river and catch 3 amazing fish than sit by a lake and catch 50 bluegills.

I went to Campeche a few years ago and landed 23 10-20lb tarpon in 3 days. That buddy was with my and all he did was complain about how few fish he landed even though he boated like 17 tarpon. He was legitimately arguing that Kansas was better because he’d have 150+ bluegills in 3 days vs 17 tarpon. To this day he say that trip was a waste of money because he only got 17 fish….bro, it was an awesome trip and we were in tarpon action the entire time, it was immensely better than chucking bobbers and drinking beer by a lake in Kansas.

Bitching about 17 tarpon in 3 days????

Time for new friends.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

In planning my startegy for this summer, I've assigned two new terms that, so far as I know, do not exist in the lexicon:

The Blank Slates: Unnamed tarns that have never been documented because they don't even have a name on the map. I have quite a few of these marked on the map and some of them, so far at least, have had fish in them. Unfortunaely, many of these are very difficult to extremely difficult (and therefore very time concumsing) to access which is why they do not have names.

The Ghost Lakes: Named, prominent alpine cirques that should have an active online footprint, but instead possess a total lack of public information, forcing you to hunt a rumor or suspicion. These are the lakes you could fish once and mistakenly conclude are barren.

That's the fun/frustrating part. You could hit 10 or 20 barren or overpopulated lakes until you find a really good one.

One year I put some effort into tracking down flight stocking data and came up largely unsuccessful. Plus I think some of those pilots go a little rogue and stock lakes not on the schedule. I base that on witnessing one of the pilots doing some insane acrobatic flying in the Indian Peaks once. He would fly low over a 12k ridge and then dead stick into a nose dive down to the lake before pulling up at the last second. So I know they can stock some really difficult to access lakes that the lay person wouldn't think they could.

There aren't a lot of us out there that are really committed to fishing those extreme access lakes, probably due to the effort and hazard involved. Most people stick to the ones along or near trails and the Instagram heros go to the same over-fished lakes and take photos that make 18 inchers look like 5 pounders. Your strategy, although daunting in many ways, will really pay off when you hit one with legitimate 5 pounders. The photo below was from a lake I nearly skipped because it was small, looked kinda shallow from above, and had no trail down to it.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Bitching about 17 tarpon in 3 days????

Time for new friends.

Yeah it’s really strange, I still wonder what his expectations were for the trip. Maybe he’s still bummed about hooking like 50 and landing 17? That’s sort of just part of tarpon fishing. I was really shocked, we were getting action all day for all 3 days and he’s like “back home we would have had a lot more fish”. Whatever bro.

Same guy complains about only catching 3-4 good rainbows on a day of fishing. Like I said, I’d take 3 good rainbows over 50 bluegills.

 

[Poser]

One year I put some effort into tracking down flight stocking data and came up largely unsuccessful. Plus I think some of those pilots go a little rogue and stock lakes not on the schedule. I base that on witnessing one of the pilots doing some insane acrobatic flying in the Indian Peaks once. He would fly low over a 12k ridge and then dead stick into a nose dive down to the lake before pulling up at the last second. So I know they can stock some really difficult to access lakes that the lay person wouldn't think they could.

I 100% agree that some pilots have gone rogue in the past. Maybe they had a surplus of fish that day and conditions were good or maybe they just wanted the challenge or satisfaction of landing some fish in a deep, unnamed cirque that was partioculary difficult, or figured if they were dropping some fish in a named lake, might as well see what happens if they drop some in the unamed feeder lake tucked away a little higher.
Its not out of the question that, on a handful of occassions, a pregnant fish was snatched by a bird of prey who didn't manage to hold on to the fish and accidently dropped it in a neighboring lake.

There are definitely some unnamed lakes that, for no good reason, do or do not have fish vs. other unnamed lakes that have better or worse habitat and do or do not have fish in them and the only way you can explain it is that some pilots were just having too much fun.

 

[BLJ]

That's the fun/frustrating part. You could hit 10 or 20 barren or overpopulated lakes until you find a really good one.

One year I put some effort into tracking down flight stocking data and came up largely unsuccessful. Plus I think some of those pilots go a little rogue and stock lakes not on the schedule. I base that on witnessing one of the pilots doing some insane acrobatic flying in the Indian Peaks once. He would fly low over a 12k ridge and then dead stick into a nose dive down to the lake before pulling up at the last second. So I know they can stock some really difficult to access lakes that the lay person wouldn't think they could.

There aren't a lot of us out there that are really committed to fishing those extreme access lakes, probably due to the effort and hazard involved. Most people stick to the ones along or near trails and the Instagram heros go to the same over-fished lakes and take photos that make 18 inchers look like 5 pounders. Your strategy, although daunting in many ways, will really pay off when you hit one with legitimate 5 pounders. The photo below was from a lake I nearly skipped because it was small, looked kinda shallow from above, and had no trail down to it.

View attachment 1072119

Looks like that one had been in there a while.

 

[Hnthrdr]

That's the fun/frustrating part. You could hit 10 or 20 barren or overpopulated lakes until you find a really good one.

One year I put some effort into tracking down flight stocking data and came up largely unsuccessful. Plus I think some of those pilots go a little rogue and stock lakes not on the schedule. I base that on witnessing one of the pilots doing some insane acrobatic flying in the Indian Peaks once. He would fly low over a 12k ridge and then dead stick into a nose dive down to the lake before pulling up at the last second. So I know they can stock some really difficult to access lakes that the lay person wouldn't think they could.

There aren't a lot of us out there that are really committed to fishing those extreme access lakes, probably due to the effort and hazard involved. Most people stick to the ones along or near trails and the Instagram heros go to the same over-fished lakes and take photos that make 18 inchers look like 5 pounders. Your strategy, although daunting in many ways, will really pay off when you hit one with legitimate 5 pounders. The photo below was from a lake I nearly skipped because it was small, looked kinda shallow from above, and had no trail down to it.

View attachment 1072119

Hubby hubba! that’s a beaut!

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Hubby hubba! that’s a beaut!

Sun shines on a dog's ass some days.