07-02-2012, 05:42 AM
Finally got the internet working so here's my report as to why I missed the Oakly outting [frown]. Headed into the park w/ some coworkers Saturday and we ended up hiking in to Shoshone Lake. Not a bad hike. 3 miles each way and relatively flat. A few small rolls along the way, but hardly notable. Bugs weren't too bad. A few here and there but I didn't feel like I needed the bug net. Once we got to the lake the view was stunning. Blue sky day, crystal clear water, and the distant mountains still had visible snow fields on them. We quickly inflated the float tubes and headed off shore looking for the weed beds. About 15 in and 4 of us had hooked up our first macinaw! None of them huge. All were in the 18-22" range. After that it was pretty slow for an hour or so. Finally one of the guys came on a hot spot not too far from the creek inlet. Two of us hooked up on 80% of our casts in 10 minutes landing about 10 fish between us. Two of these I caught were brookies around 15" range. Later we moved further out and caught several more fish before they started to slow down. Hiked back out around 430 and made it to West for dinner by 7 pm. Had a great time and caught lots of fish. Lowest number landed by anyone in the group was 5 w/ at least that many lost. Most of us boated over 10. The hike alone was worth the trip. Best part of all.... since it was back country the average IQ was significantly higher than on the main roads this time of year[
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