High Country Fishing Trip

[Hnthrdr]

I fish a lot up there, but don’t really like early July as the cuts are still all stacked up on the outlets and inlets spawning.


Sadly one of my favorites was littered with people, maybe an influencer found it, but for 20 years never saw a person fishing it. 7 people on it Sunday. Fish size was way down as well.

I hope people aren’t totally decimating it. Would be shame!

 

[Coveyleader]

Who knows, I used to average 16-18 inch cuts in there. Some closing in 20 + inches which is giant when they get fat. Don’t even see a fish like that. For fish to get that big, it’s deep enough and winterkill is not an issue, and escapes fishing pressure. The latter was never an issue as the fish were dumb as a rock, so people must be taking a few home.

 

[Poser]

Who knows, I used to average 16-18 inch cuts in there. Some closing in 20 + inches which is giant when they get fat. Don’t even see a fish like that. For fish to get that big, it’s deep enough and winterkill is not an issue, and escapes fishing pressure. The latter was never an issue as the fish were dumb as a rock, so people must be taking a few home.

I'd wager its more just attrition rate from being caught, the use barbs, mishandling, whipping the fish out of the water etc.

 

[Coveyleader]

I'd wager its more just attrition rate from being caught, the use barbs, mishandling, whipping the fish out of the water etc.

Maybe, like I said it was like a private lake every time Infished it. I hiked up to it normally around the 4th of July weekend, and again one more time in August it was always money. Just big cruising crusher cuts. Its 7 miles one way to get up there so you think it would leave the riff raft behind, but that’s nothing these days once someone gets wind of it. I have another lake about 2 miles in that has big fish, Inwill hit that before summer ends. Staring to focus on archery seasons , so fishing is back burner now.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Maybe, like I said it was like a private lake every time Infished it. I hiked up to it normally around the 4th of July weekend, and again one more time in August it was always money. Just big cruising crusher cuts. Its 7 miles one way to get up there so you think it would leave the riff raft behind, but that’s nothing these days once someone gets wind of it. I have another lake about 2 miles in that has big fish, Inwill hit that before summer ends. Staring to focus on archery seasons , so fishing is back burner now.

Sucks when your spots stop producing. I knew a place I could take a packraft to, never ever saw a single person back there or heard anybody talk about it. It took ~ 4 miles of paddling a creek and lining the raft but that pond was packed full of northern pike.

It was great, there was a shallow bay, weedy, the fish weren’t a kiddish at all, I could sight fish for them with my fly rod. There were also some large 40+ inch fish in there.

Apparently a few winters ago somebody took a snow machine there and ice fished the shit out of it because about 3 years ago there were only small fish in it, the past 2 years I can’t caught a fish in that place or even gotten a follow….nothing.

 

[Poser]

Maybe, like I said it was like a private lake every time Infished it. I hiked up to it normally around the 4th of July weekend, and again one more time in August it was always money. Just big cruising crusher cuts. Its 7 miles one way to get up there so you think it would leave the riff raft behind, but that’s nothing these days once someone gets wind of it. I have another lake about 2 miles in that has big fish, Inwill hit that before summer ends. Staring to focus on archery seasons , so fishing is back burner now.

Yeah, 7 miles, espiecally with some elevation gain, is usually enough to keep out the riffraff out. People that are doing 14 miles roundtrip are usually trail running/fastpacking and people who are doing some fishing while backpacking are usually just carrying a tenkara and doing some quick, opportunitsic fishing along the way. -don't tend to see many people who are out doing dedicated backcountry fishing trips. I'm thinking back over the course of the last 3 summers, I've visited 40+ "backcountry" lakes and I can count on one hand the amount of "backcountry anglers" I've seen and two of those people were with a outfitter. I'm sure you'll see more people doing that in proximity to large population areas such as Denver where there's far more competition, but the only people I tend to see deeper in the backcountry are true ultralight backpackers who wouldn't consider carrying any extra weight and they are only on the trail systems and don't tend to spend much time relaxing. You get to a lake at 10 am in the morning, even if its on a semi to more popular trafficked trail, you'll tend to have the lake to yourself until 5,6,7,8 PM before anyone else decides to camp for the night as they are often prioritizing daily mileage above all else.

Sucks, though. In my one of regular visited areas, an outfitter bought an old mining claim for $250,000 and established a permanent camp to bring in fishing clients in the summer and hunting clients in the Fall. Since they have a private stretch of land, they even offer a helicopter option. I wouldn't say its blown out the fishing as its all supervised under a guide, but you can definitely not expect to have solitude. Hunting wise, I came within 200 yards of "almost" killing the biggest bull I've ever seen on the hoof on the exact spot they erected a yurt and cleared a landing area for a helicopter. Quite disappointing.