After that tough hike the day before, I decided to try a more level, but much longer hike to a small lake I haven't fished in 9 years. On previous outings to this lake I'd only found fish to 16 inches, but have heard of 20 inchers in years long ago, probably from before it became infested with spiny rays.
The scenery is really something in this area. I didn't fish this lake in the foreground, as I didn't see a single rise on that flat, calm water, but fished the smaller lake behind it, where I did see some small fish rising. However, I only found small rainbows in the 7 to 12 inch range. After a few hours, I portaged over to another lake in this group where I've previously caught huge bluegills, but on this outing, I found nothing in the lake. Saw no rises, saw nothing on my fish finder, and hooked nothing. It was like the lake was sterile. At least it has one of the prettiest desert basin waterfalls I know of:
On the hike back I came across a bunch of Yellow Bells, one of the earliest of the spring wildflowers and had to take a photo:
No sunset on the hike out, but the lighting was still dramatic:
At least I got a good aerobic workout... I wouldn't recommend these lakes this year for the fishing.
Rex
The scenery is really something in this area. I didn't fish this lake in the foreground, as I didn't see a single rise on that flat, calm water, but fished the smaller lake behind it, where I did see some small fish rising. However, I only found small rainbows in the 7 to 12 inch range. After a few hours, I portaged over to another lake in this group where I've previously caught huge bluegills, but on this outing, I found nothing in the lake. Saw no rises, saw nothing on my fish finder, and hooked nothing. It was like the lake was sterile. At least it has one of the prettiest desert basin waterfalls I know of:
On the hike back I came across a bunch of Yellow Bells, one of the earliest of the spring wildflowers and had to take a photo:
No sunset on the hike out, but the lighting was still dramatic:
At least I got a good aerobic workout... I wouldn't recommend these lakes this year for the fishing.
Rex
