I'm a few weeks away from finishing grad school and haven't had much time to get out on the water for the past few months. A last minute meeting cancellation freed up my morning so I decided to take advantage and get out on the water, weather be damned.
This time of year historically presents the difficult decision between a lowland lake or the salt (we're so fortunate to have options this time of year). The decision typically relies on whether I want to get soaked working a beach or soaked sitting in a tube. Working a beach usually sounds more appealing but today I opted for the latter and decided to push my luck at a subalpine lake that I haven't been to since last spring. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't influenced by another recent post on here about "that subalpine lake calling."
The road in got a little slippery in a few spots but nothing too bad. As soon as I hit the snow I got a little worried that the lake may be iced-over. It's about a half mile hike to the put-in from the forest service road, so the only option was to load up, hit the trail, and find out.
Only a bit of ice on the western edge, fortunately still able to put in at my normal spot. I've never caught more than a handful of fish here but they're always quality and the views are unbeatable for a spot that's less than an hour from home.
Started with the usual woolly buggers and leeches on the full sink with no avail. At about an hour and half in I was ready to call it, as the intermittent wind and snow had it so that I couldn't feel my fingers and toes. Despite numb fingers, I managed to switch to the dry line and a prince nymph under a strike indicator to work the shallows as I kicked in. Just before pulling out, I finally hooked into a fish. Lost it. Of course I couldn't go out like that, so I spent another 30 minutes working an area near the ice shelf. Fortunately managed to find a couple players. Wish I would have put the prince nymph on sooner.
It was a tough walk out on numb feet but it sure was worth it.
This time of year historically presents the difficult decision between a lowland lake or the salt (we're so fortunate to have options this time of year). The decision typically relies on whether I want to get soaked working a beach or soaked sitting in a tube. Working a beach usually sounds more appealing but today I opted for the latter and decided to push my luck at a subalpine lake that I haven't been to since last spring. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't influenced by another recent post on here about "that subalpine lake calling."
The road in got a little slippery in a few spots but nothing too bad. As soon as I hit the snow I got a little worried that the lake may be iced-over. It's about a half mile hike to the put-in from the forest service road, so the only option was to load up, hit the trail, and find out.
Only a bit of ice on the western edge, fortunately still able to put in at my normal spot. I've never caught more than a handful of fish here but they're always quality and the views are unbeatable for a spot that's less than an hour from home.
Started with the usual woolly buggers and leeches on the full sink with no avail. At about an hour and half in I was ready to call it, as the intermittent wind and snow had it so that I couldn't feel my fingers and toes. Despite numb fingers, I managed to switch to the dry line and a prince nymph under a strike indicator to work the shallows as I kicked in. Just before pulling out, I finally hooked into a fish. Lost it. Of course I couldn't go out like that, so I spent another 30 minutes working an area near the ice shelf. Fortunately managed to find a couple players. Wish I would have put the prince nymph on sooner.
It was a tough walk out on numb feet but it sure was worth it.
