I’m a little delinquent in posting a report, but a couple weeks back I decided to fish some higher elevation lakes as the local water was still a bit warm. I had driven past Meadowlark Lake a few times and thought it might be worth a shot. It’s a put and take lake in the Big Horn mountains and sees a lot of pressure during the summer, but with school in session I was hoping for less traffic. There is also a small higher elevation lake, Upper Ten Sleep Lake that was nearby and I figured a short trip would be fun. The little town of Ten Sleep is a great jumping off spot and the brewery there just happens to make my favorite summertime beer, Speed Goat golden ale. They also have camping spots available, so it was a win/win.
Day one (Tuesday) I set up camp and then ran up the hill to Meadowlark for a few hours in the afternoon. I had the lake pretty much to myself, with only a couple kayakers and one guy fishing from shore. Got into several fish, all rainbows, but after a couple hours the wind picked up so I headed back down for beer and dinner.
Day two, I took the loooong bumpy dirt road to Upper Ten Sleep Lake. It’s a beautiful little lake that is a short walk from the parking area. I wish I had brought the Cruzer as it would have been fun to fish it from a boat. I was able to wade out deep enough to get some brookie action on the 3wt, but it would have been great to get into deeper waters, maybe next time.
Day three, I went back to Meadowlark in the morning to get a longer fishing day in before the usual late afternoon winds picked up. Explored a lot of area and got lots of action. Between 9:30 and 3:00 had over 15 to the net (lost count after a while) mostly rainbows with a few brookies and browns mixed in. All my fish came off the northwest shore which has a much steeper drop than the rest of the lake. The fish were most active in around 10-15 ft depths and throughout the day I was hooking up anywhere from down near the bottom to a few feet below the surface. When the wind picked up, I called it a day, went back down, packed up and headed home. A great little trip!
My spot at the brewery .
Day 1 Meadowlark Lake
Day 2 Upper Ten Sleep Lake
Day 3 back to Meadowlark
All my brookies at Meadowlark came off these weedy spots.
This is how Ten Sleep got its name.
Day one (Tuesday) I set up camp and then ran up the hill to Meadowlark for a few hours in the afternoon. I had the lake pretty much to myself, with only a couple kayakers and one guy fishing from shore. Got into several fish, all rainbows, but after a couple hours the wind picked up so I headed back down for beer and dinner.
Day two, I took the loooong bumpy dirt road to Upper Ten Sleep Lake. It’s a beautiful little lake that is a short walk from the parking area. I wish I had brought the Cruzer as it would have been fun to fish it from a boat. I was able to wade out deep enough to get some brookie action on the 3wt, but it would have been great to get into deeper waters, maybe next time.
Day three, I went back to Meadowlark in the morning to get a longer fishing day in before the usual late afternoon winds picked up. Explored a lot of area and got lots of action. Between 9:30 and 3:00 had over 15 to the net (lost count after a while) mostly rainbows with a few brookies and browns mixed in. All my fish came off the northwest shore which has a much steeper drop than the rest of the lake. The fish were most active in around 10-15 ft depths and throughout the day I was hooking up anywhere from down near the bottom to a few feet below the surface. When the wind picked up, I called it a day, went back down, packed up and headed home. A great little trip!
My spot at the brewery .
Day 1 Meadowlark Lake
Day 2 Upper Ten Sleep Lake
Day 3 back to Meadowlark
All my brookies at Meadowlark came off these weedy spots.
This is how Ten Sleep got its name.
