I had a long weekend, so I took a few days off on the front end and headed to a favorite spot in the mountains with lots of lakes to choose from. Some are accessible by boat while others were hike in with float tube.
Short Version for those that just like pictures: 7 lakes fished out of 9 visited. Caught brook, brown, rainbow, tiger, west slope cutthroat, and golden. PBs caught for tiger, golden, and brown.
Full Report:
Day 1: Headed out from Tacoma, set up camp, and was on one of my favorite lakes before noon. Mayflies were hatching, but the cutts were being spooky and selective, so I fished indicator for a bit and caught a tiger and a brook before losing a big fish that I never got to see. I decided to troll the lake for a bit and see what I could drag up off the bottom. Gomphus on point paired with Peacock Pennell dropper on intermediate line for the win. 17" brown, 19" tiger (new PB), and a 18" tiger made for a great start to the trip.
Day 2: I have been wanting to catch a golden trout for a few years, so I targeted a few lakes within driving distance of my campsite for this trip. The lakes are recognizable, but given the effort it takes to get to them and the fact that stocking data for goldens is easily available I don't consider this hotspotting. They also have the worst mosquitos I have ever encountered (which is saying something) and require some bushwacking to get to. The first lake I fished looked promising with a chironomid hatch in progress and swallows everywhere, but in 2 hours of hard fishing I was not able to connect with a fish...maybe they were just hiding down deep? I was discouraged enough that I fully deflated the float tube and repacked it expecting to encounter the same situation at the 2nd lake. When I arrived at the other lake and immediately observed fish rising. After trying unsuccessfully from shore for rising 9-11" fish for a while I gave in and reinflated the float tube. They were shy of all my dry flies, but I was finally able to connect with an 11" fish under the indicator...it was beautiful, but it flopped off my apron before I could get a photo of my first golden. After a few more hours I was about ready to call it quits. I threw on a small black leech for one last trip around the lake. Casting into the shallows on my 2nd cast it was instantly attacked and it turned out to be way bigger than anything I had seen so far. Beautiful 17" golden made for an amazing way to wrap up the day.
Day 3: I fished a lake with some extended flats in the 5'-8' depth. The cutts were keyed in on flying dragons and damsels all day and not shy at whatever I threw at them. I would catch a handful and then change flies whenever one went cold. 30+ fish day with the average fish looking like this beauty below.
Day 4: I decided to try a few new lakes in the area. I drove a maze of forest service roads to get to the first lake and headed out in the float tube. The lake was shallower than it looked in the satellite images with about 9'-10' depth max. I was able to catch the brown (below) and a brook of the same size, but the fish were pretty spooky given how sunny it was. I then hiked down a ravine into the "little" lake of the same name (2nd photo), but it looked even shallower and I didn't see fish, so I headed out. I fished a big deep lake (3rd photo) near the campsite that I hadn't fished before...lots of brookies, but it was a little too deep for ideal fly fishing. That evening I went back to the lake I fished the first day and hooked into a big one under the indicator...turned out to be a beautiful 19" brown (PB) with a ton of red spots, but it flopped out of the net before I got a photo, which I was pretty bummed about.
Day 5: Last day I started at one lake and picked up a few browns, a cutt, and a brook. Then I decided to head out to the lake I had done well for cutts in the flats on Day 3. The fish were much more selective in the flats this time around. Despite spending 80% of my time casting in the flats, by mid-afternoon I realized that 3 of my 4 fish had been caught trolling the deeper area of the lake, so I decided to commit to that for a while. I've always seen the big fish (tigers and browns) sitting on the bottom of this lake so I had my type 4 line set up with a gomphus to target them along with an intermediate line with a leech. The catch rate was improving with trolling especially as more areas of the lake received shade. About 6pm my gomphus line went down hard and it was immediately apparent it was a big fish. 5-10 minutes later I had this 21" beauty in the net. A great way to cap off an amazing week of fishing.
Short Version for those that just like pictures: 7 lakes fished out of 9 visited. Caught brook, brown, rainbow, tiger, west slope cutthroat, and golden. PBs caught for tiger, golden, and brown.
Full Report:
Day 1: Headed out from Tacoma, set up camp, and was on one of my favorite lakes before noon. Mayflies were hatching, but the cutts were being spooky and selective, so I fished indicator for a bit and caught a tiger and a brook before losing a big fish that I never got to see. I decided to troll the lake for a bit and see what I could drag up off the bottom. Gomphus on point paired with Peacock Pennell dropper on intermediate line for the win. 17" brown, 19" tiger (new PB), and a 18" tiger made for a great start to the trip.
Day 2: I have been wanting to catch a golden trout for a few years, so I targeted a few lakes within driving distance of my campsite for this trip. The lakes are recognizable, but given the effort it takes to get to them and the fact that stocking data for goldens is easily available I don't consider this hotspotting. They also have the worst mosquitos I have ever encountered (which is saying something) and require some bushwacking to get to. The first lake I fished looked promising with a chironomid hatch in progress and swallows everywhere, but in 2 hours of hard fishing I was not able to connect with a fish...maybe they were just hiding down deep? I was discouraged enough that I fully deflated the float tube and repacked it expecting to encounter the same situation at the 2nd lake. When I arrived at the other lake and immediately observed fish rising. After trying unsuccessfully from shore for rising 9-11" fish for a while I gave in and reinflated the float tube. They were shy of all my dry flies, but I was finally able to connect with an 11" fish under the indicator...it was beautiful, but it flopped off my apron before I could get a photo of my first golden. After a few more hours I was about ready to call it quits. I threw on a small black leech for one last trip around the lake. Casting into the shallows on my 2nd cast it was instantly attacked and it turned out to be way bigger than anything I had seen so far. Beautiful 17" golden made for an amazing way to wrap up the day.
Day 3: I fished a lake with some extended flats in the 5'-8' depth. The cutts were keyed in on flying dragons and damsels all day and not shy at whatever I threw at them. I would catch a handful and then change flies whenever one went cold. 30+ fish day with the average fish looking like this beauty below.
Day 4: I decided to try a few new lakes in the area. I drove a maze of forest service roads to get to the first lake and headed out in the float tube. The lake was shallower than it looked in the satellite images with about 9'-10' depth max. I was able to catch the brown (below) and a brook of the same size, but the fish were pretty spooky given how sunny it was. I then hiked down a ravine into the "little" lake of the same name (2nd photo), but it looked even shallower and I didn't see fish, so I headed out. I fished a big deep lake (3rd photo) near the campsite that I hadn't fished before...lots of brookies, but it was a little too deep for ideal fly fishing. That evening I went back to the lake I fished the first day and hooked into a big one under the indicator...turned out to be a beautiful 19" brown (PB) with a ton of red spots, but it flopped out of the net before I got a photo, which I was pretty bummed about.
Day 5: Last day I started at one lake and picked up a few browns, a cutt, and a brook. Then I decided to head out to the lake I had done well for cutts in the flats on Day 3. The fish were much more selective in the flats this time around. Despite spending 80% of my time casting in the flats, by mid-afternoon I realized that 3 of my 4 fish had been caught trolling the deeper area of the lake, so I decided to commit to that for a while. I've always seen the big fish (tigers and browns) sitting on the bottom of this lake so I had my type 4 line set up with a gomphus to target them along with an intermediate line with a leech. The catch rate was improving with trolling especially as more areas of the lake received shade. About 6pm my gomphus line went down hard and it was immediately apparent it was a big fish. 5-10 minutes later I had this 21" beauty in the net. A great way to cap off an amazing week of fishing.
