My wife and I try to celebrate our anniversary with a hike somewhere featuring larch trees in golden fall colors. This can be absolutely glorious, but also runs the risk of being hit with an early season storm. We've had some great days but experienced nasty, cold, snowy conditions too. This year it was smoke, and our Plan A destination had a forecast for unhealthy air quality. We switched to an alternate North Cascades location which just happened to feature a few high elevation lakes. The approach is about half trail and half boulder field. I used to love boulder hopping and would gambol along like a baby goat. Now, I pick my way across and wouldn't consider going without my trusty trekking poles.
I'd been by this lake several times 20+ years ago hauling climbing gear and really didn't give it much thought. I was honestly not expecting the fishing to amount to much, but brought my high lake Tenkara kit just in case. Go ahead and groan, but it's actually a nifty hack. My entire kit weighs 8.5 oz, and with a 12'6" rod and 26' of line I can reach most of the fish most of the time. Sure, there will be the ones you can't reach, but that is always going to be the case.
It's such a kick to pull into distant view of the lake and see that first rise form. I was expecting some entertaining 6-8" trout, and figured that would do just fine; I really wasn't here just to fish, right? We set up camp on a nearly knoll and wandered down to the water to see what the fish were up to. Whoa, that is NO dink! It was getting cold and dark, and we still hadn't had dinner, so they'd need to wait until morning; Anniversary Day.
I'd been by this lake several times 20+ years ago hauling climbing gear and really didn't give it much thought. I was honestly not expecting the fishing to amount to much, but brought my high lake Tenkara kit just in case. Go ahead and groan, but it's actually a nifty hack. My entire kit weighs 8.5 oz, and with a 12'6" rod and 26' of line I can reach most of the fish most of the time. Sure, there will be the ones you can't reach, but that is always going to be the case.
It's such a kick to pull into distant view of the lake and see that first rise form. I was expecting some entertaining 6-8" trout, and figured that would do just fine; I really wasn't here just to fish, right? We set up camp on a nearly knoll and wandered down to the water to see what the fish were up to. Whoa, that is NO dink! It was getting cold and dark, and we still hadn't had dinner, so they'd need to wait until morning; Anniversary Day.