Call me un-American but I hate fireworks. They're loud and wake me up, dumb drunk people play with them, and they catch shit on fire (I also prefer the metric system but thats a different story). So my wife, kid and I escaped the city (and heat over a long 4th weekend to head up into the mountains for some backpacking and fishing. While not a particularly long hike, the miles added up and my kid hit her first double digit trip (10 miles total--2.5 the first day, 5 the second day, and 2.5 the last day).
The goal was to get up to a backcountry lake that we really like going to. Early in the season, the lake fishes great from shore but once it warms up, the fish drop to the depths (it's 120' deep) as well as drop into the outlet and outlet creek. As expected, it had it's typical phytoplankton bloom for the month of July (this is a comparatively rich high lake for Oregon), so the creek was the quarry (which I was hoping for). It's a VERY fast creek, with really tight brush and minimal pockets where fish can hide. But the fish are decent size--up to 16-17" and when they get into the fast water the playing field is even and who knows who's going to win. I specifically got a 7' 10" 5 piece 5wt fiberglass rod to fish this creek. It's short, stout nature helps me get below the brush while still having the butt to turn fish in really fast current.
There's also the lake outlet that was just the biggest bowl of bug soup I've ever seen--stones and caddis were EVERYWHERE. This was the first time I've ever been in a blizzard hatch and I had to keep my mouth shut. It was really cool.
I didn't bring a net so I don't have a ton of fish pictures but the biggest fish came out of this hole (center back). It was 16-17" and thankfully I had 3x on because there was no way I was keeping it out of the wood without 3x. I landed it, and as I was trying to get the hook out, I dropped it back in the water and it instantly broke off.
While fishing in the evening, I caught two fish back to back and I was startled by the second fish. It didn't look like the traditional bow that comes out of the lake and creek. It was missing it stripe and had a bit more spots on it. After looking at my photos when I got home I found a distinct slash below it's jaw (sorry for the blurry picture). I found a report from the 70's about the lake and apparently there's two records of cutthroat stocking (1946 and 1954), and that there's been a very small established wild population. I'm assuming this is a hybrid, but still pretty cool. With the small brookie I landed, I landed the trifecta (with a hybrid asterisk
).
One fun thing I did for my kid was make her a scavenger hunt. She was so into it! She's usually really good out in the woods and loves learning about things, but she was so focused on learning and looking for things it was amazing. I highly suggest it (if you have a small kid)! In the end, she got everything but Paint Brush (we were too low in elevation). We didn't think we were going to find a Frog either but while down between the falls, we found a garter snake eating a frog. We sat and watched the whole event.
We've been to this lake a handful of times but never scrambled down between the falls. My kid really wanted to this time so we did, and yes, of course I brought my rod. I love a good waterfall pool. I caught one and lost 4. One of the cooler places I've caught a fish (and yes, @Matt B I actually have a picture where you can see the this ). A funny thing happened: On our way back to camp, we saw the ranger (it's under the permit system) and he asked if I was the person fishing down there. Apparently he ran into someone that saw me from the top of the falls, and wouldnt stop making fun of me to the ranger saying things like "that idiot thinks there's fish down there" he even took a picture of me to send to his kid. The ranger brushed him off and was pumped to hear I caught a fish. And yes, when he was off he took his tenkara down there and got an eat 
.
I love this place, it's so cool and the creek is such a unique fishery. I'm heading back tomorrow, but just for a long day trip.
The goal was to get up to a backcountry lake that we really like going to. Early in the season, the lake fishes great from shore but once it warms up, the fish drop to the depths (it's 120' deep) as well as drop into the outlet and outlet creek. As expected, it had it's typical phytoplankton bloom for the month of July (this is a comparatively rich high lake for Oregon), so the creek was the quarry (which I was hoping for). It's a VERY fast creek, with really tight brush and minimal pockets where fish can hide. But the fish are decent size--up to 16-17" and when they get into the fast water the playing field is even and who knows who's going to win. I specifically got a 7' 10" 5 piece 5wt fiberglass rod to fish this creek. It's short, stout nature helps me get below the brush while still having the butt to turn fish in really fast current.
There's also the lake outlet that was just the biggest bowl of bug soup I've ever seen--stones and caddis were EVERYWHERE. This was the first time I've ever been in a blizzard hatch and I had to keep my mouth shut. It was really cool.
I didn't bring a net so I don't have a ton of fish pictures but the biggest fish came out of this hole (center back). It was 16-17" and thankfully I had 3x on because there was no way I was keeping it out of the wood without 3x. I landed it, and as I was trying to get the hook out, I dropped it back in the water and it instantly broke off.
While fishing in the evening, I caught two fish back to back and I was startled by the second fish. It didn't look like the traditional bow that comes out of the lake and creek. It was missing it stripe and had a bit more spots on it. After looking at my photos when I got home I found a distinct slash below it's jaw (sorry for the blurry picture). I found a report from the 70's about the lake and apparently there's two records of cutthroat stocking (1946 and 1954), and that there's been a very small established wild population. I'm assuming this is a hybrid, but still pretty cool. With the small brookie I landed, I landed the trifecta (with a hybrid asterisk
).One fun thing I did for my kid was make her a scavenger hunt. She was so into it! She's usually really good out in the woods and loves learning about things, but she was so focused on learning and looking for things it was amazing. I highly suggest it (if you have a small kid)! In the end, she got everything but Paint Brush (we were too low in elevation). We didn't think we were going to find a Frog either but while down between the falls, we found a garter snake eating a frog. We sat and watched the whole event.
We've been to this lake a handful of times but never scrambled down between the falls. My kid really wanted to this time so we did, and yes, of course I brought my rod. I love a good waterfall pool. I caught one and lost 4. One of the cooler places I've caught a fish (and yes, @Matt B I actually have a picture where you can see the this
). A funny thing happened: On our way back to camp, we saw the ranger (it's under the permit system) and he asked if I was the person fishing down there. Apparently he ran into someone that saw me from the top of the falls, and wouldnt stop making fun of me to the ranger saying things like "that idiot thinks there's fish down there" he even took a picture of me to send to his kid. The ranger brushed him off and was pumped to hear I caught a fish. And yes, when he was off he took his tenkara down there and got an eat .I love this place, it's so cool and the creek is such a unique fishery. I'm heading back tomorrow, but just for a long day trip
.
