I wanted to get a quick 1-nighter backpack trip under my belt for 2026 to make sure I was ready for high lakes season so I hit the road early on Saturday. The new Gregory Baltaro 75L pack was a CyberMonday purchase and a huge improvement from my old 40L pack for fitting everything I need for an overnight. The hike started in timberlands, but quickly transitioned to an old growth forest with some amazing trees.
I was the first one to the lake and was lucky enough to find a spot that came with a Tommy Bahama chair. Thanks?
Once camp was set up I got the Wilderness Lite in the water and was fishing around 11am. I caught a few rainbows right away and the pump showed that they were feeding on mayfly and damsel nymphs. I changed flies several times, but pretty much everything worked until 1:30pm and then it just went dead for a few hours. Then at 4pm the switched turned back on and it was game on again. The majority of the fish were in the 13"-14" range with a few 17"-18" thrown in. I lost one that was about 20" that jumped several times.
The excitement really started with a nice 18" fish. I caught it on a dropper Black Pennell (aka Westburg special) and had a FAB on the point fly. After releasing the fish, my rod immediately bent again...it was the exact same fish, but this time on the FAB. In unhooking the fish I inadvertently pulled the fly into the inside knuckle of my finger. Then I realized that I hadn't debarbed it (must have been one of my older ties). After about 5 minutes of moving it around to figure out whether forward or back was the best option I finally gave it a big yank back with my hemostats and it hurt like hell, but it came free.
I let my line out and trolled for a few minutes while I sucked the blood from my finger and tried to decide how much longer I wanted to fish since it was 6pm and I'd already been sitting in the tube for 7 hours. Then my rod went down hard and I could immediately tell it was the biggest fish of the day. As I got it closer I snapped a few photos because I don't take a net backpacking and I wasn't sure I'd be able to land it.
Thankfully I was able to get it onto the tube after a few minutes. Hard to get an exact measurement, but in the 24"-25" range which is pretty rare in a hike-in mountain lake. This one was caught on the Black Pennell also.
After releasing it lightning struck twice. My flies had just been sitting out there while I took the photo within a few feet of the tube. When the rod went down it only took a minute, but it was the monster again...this time on the FAB (now barbless). I caught and released it again. My theory is that both fish saw that FAB chasing them during the fight and once they were released they decided that they wanted revenge...pretty crazy for that to happen on back-to-back fish though. A 30 fish day and the biggest mountain trout I've caught here in Washington made for a pretty great first backpacking trip of the season.
I was the first one to the lake and was lucky enough to find a spot that came with a Tommy Bahama chair. Thanks?
Once camp was set up I got the Wilderness Lite in the water and was fishing around 11am. I caught a few rainbows right away and the pump showed that they were feeding on mayfly and damsel nymphs. I changed flies several times, but pretty much everything worked until 1:30pm and then it just went dead for a few hours. Then at 4pm the switched turned back on and it was game on again. The majority of the fish were in the 13"-14" range with a few 17"-18" thrown in. I lost one that was about 20" that jumped several times.
The excitement really started with a nice 18" fish. I caught it on a dropper Black Pennell (aka Westburg special) and had a FAB on the point fly. After releasing the fish, my rod immediately bent again...it was the exact same fish, but this time on the FAB. In unhooking the fish I inadvertently pulled the fly into the inside knuckle of my finger. Then I realized that I hadn't debarbed it (must have been one of my older ties). After about 5 minutes of moving it around to figure out whether forward or back was the best option I finally gave it a big yank back with my hemostats and it hurt like hell, but it came free.
I let my line out and trolled for a few minutes while I sucked the blood from my finger and tried to decide how much longer I wanted to fish since it was 6pm and I'd already been sitting in the tube for 7 hours. Then my rod went down hard and I could immediately tell it was the biggest fish of the day. As I got it closer I snapped a few photos because I don't take a net backpacking and I wasn't sure I'd be able to land it.
Thankfully I was able to get it onto the tube after a few minutes. Hard to get an exact measurement, but in the 24"-25" range which is pretty rare in a hike-in mountain lake. This one was caught on the Black Pennell also.
After releasing it lightning struck twice. My flies had just been sitting out there while I took the photo within a few feet of the tube. When the rod went down it only took a minute, but it was the monster again...this time on the FAB (now barbless). I caught and released it again. My theory is that both fish saw that FAB chasing them during the fight and once they were released they decided that they wanted revenge...pretty crazy for that to happen on back-to-back fish though. A 30 fish day and the biggest mountain trout I've caught here in Washington made for a pretty great first backpacking trip of the season.
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