speyflyfisher
Steelhead
The weathers nice and not to hot and the air is still clear (hopefully it will stay that way).
I planned to head out on Tuesday, so I looked at the maps and chose a location. Not too long
of a hike, a little over two miles minimum with options to press on the a few additional lakes.
Out the door early enough not to get caught in rush-hour traffic and headed for the forest service roads.
I could drive fairly close to the trail head before the encroaching brush had me park in a pull out. Wild
flowers are still out which brightened the walk until I gained enough elevation to get some views.
The trail (a decommissioned road) was not much to look at for the first section but eventually transition into a more scenic forest trail
Finally, the first lake came into view. My intention was to float tube the first lake that was stocked with west slope cutthroats and a brushy shoreline.
While I was gearing up, frequent rises arose around the lake. Many you could tell were smaller fish but hopefully a few older siblings could be found.
Strung up the Monsos made Payne 102 with a floating line and a blae and sooty olive wet fly. Always a good sign when the first cast results in a hook up.
The next few hours was pretty much constant action for cut's ranging from ~7 inches to the largest of 13" with most of the fish ranging in the 10 to 12" range.
With a floating line and an unweighted wet fly, the takes were at or near the surface. Being able to see and target fish adds to the joy.
I've always found westslope's to be one of the most attractive fish that our high lakes have to offer. The fly didn't matter much as I tried many of the new
to me classic wet fly's recently found in fishing reports on this forum.
Needing a change, I decided to pack up and head to a second lake. From the aerial photo's I figured I could fish from the shore in a few locations. I rarely had the initiative to unpack and inflate my tube on multiple occasions on a day hike, so
some shore access was in my plan from the start. After a small amount of route finding to get to the lake after the trail petered out. Again, fish were looking up and rising at my arrival. I could see they were from a more recent planting and appeared to be in the 7 to 8" range. This time I started with a size 14 Blae and Black. My first relatively short cast towards the rising fish landed in the shadow of a large pine that was on the bank behind me. Before I could pull more line of the reel, I was tight into a fish. No need to pull line as the first run almost had me into my backing. While I only observed the smaller class of fish, the shadows obscured what I hope was present. The rainbow put up a worthy battle but ultimately slid into my net (just barely).
After releasing this fish, I watched swim away only to be join by another fish of equal size. After catching a few of the smaller fish one of the larger fish started to cruise in my direction. I layout a black pennell in the fishes projected path and was reward with another take. This time I could watch it happen. This fish was as hot as the first with multiple screaming runs. I figured this was a great end for a wonderful day.
I planned to head out on Tuesday, so I looked at the maps and chose a location. Not too long
of a hike, a little over two miles minimum with options to press on the a few additional lakes.
Out the door early enough not to get caught in rush-hour traffic and headed for the forest service roads.
I could drive fairly close to the trail head before the encroaching brush had me park in a pull out. Wild
flowers are still out which brightened the walk until I gained enough elevation to get some views.
The trail (a decommissioned road) was not much to look at for the first section but eventually transition into a more scenic forest trail
Finally, the first lake came into view. My intention was to float tube the first lake that was stocked with west slope cutthroats and a brushy shoreline.
While I was gearing up, frequent rises arose around the lake. Many you could tell were smaller fish but hopefully a few older siblings could be found.
Strung up the Monsos made Payne 102 with a floating line and a blae and sooty olive wet fly. Always a good sign when the first cast results in a hook up.
The next few hours was pretty much constant action for cut's ranging from ~7 inches to the largest of 13" with most of the fish ranging in the 10 to 12" range.
With a floating line and an unweighted wet fly, the takes were at or near the surface. Being able to see and target fish adds to the joy.
I've always found westslope's to be one of the most attractive fish that our high lakes have to offer. The fly didn't matter much as I tried many of the new
to me classic wet fly's recently found in fishing reports on this forum.
Needing a change, I decided to pack up and head to a second lake. From the aerial photo's I figured I could fish from the shore in a few locations. I rarely had the initiative to unpack and inflate my tube on multiple occasions on a day hike, so
some shore access was in my plan from the start. After a small amount of route finding to get to the lake after the trail petered out. Again, fish were looking up and rising at my arrival. I could see they were from a more recent planting and appeared to be in the 7 to 8" range. This time I started with a size 14 Blae and Black. My first relatively short cast towards the rising fish landed in the shadow of a large pine that was on the bank behind me. Before I could pull more line of the reel, I was tight into a fish. No need to pull line as the first run almost had me into my backing. While I only observed the smaller class of fish, the shadows obscured what I hope was present. The rainbow put up a worthy battle but ultimately slid into my net (just barely).
After releasing this fish, I watched swim away only to be join by another fish of equal size. After catching a few of the smaller fish one of the larger fish started to cruise in my direction. I layout a black pennell in the fishes projected path and was reward with another take. This time I could watch it happen. This fish was as hot as the first with multiple screaming runs. I figured this was a great end for a wonderful day.
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