Fishing Forum

TDT and I have always backcountry skied White Pine Fork in Little Cottonwood Canyon every year. Over the years we have passed the White Pine Lake, never considering fishing it. That was the past, and today we felt that we needed to change that. Here is a shot from last season of TDT after coming off that face in the background.


We invited FlyFishingLover and Bscuderi, but both bailed on us...one with a friendly text...the other with a not so friendly no show[]. Just the 2 of us...good....no one to slow us down! With 5 miles to go, every adventure must start with the 1st step. Oddly enough this hike starts by going downhill.


We continued with the battle against gravity, gaining not only elevation, but good background views too.


But as far as we had come....we still had to PASS the mountain in the background!


A mile from the lake the views opended up and the flowers did too.


Call us hardcore, but being backcountry skiers, we avoided the last 3/4ths of a mile of the trail and boulder hopped/bushwacked our way up a short cut. The steep slope after the boulders in the pic below is as steep as it looks.


A pic showing how we avoided the "tourist trail"


Finally after several hours of hiking we got our 1st beautiful views of the lake!



It took only 3 casts for TDT to nail the 1st fish of the day! This cutty was shinny and new.


Me...........I was leaning more twards the fly rod...and it only took 2 casts to nail my 1st cutty on the "Mini Olive Bunny".



Soon TDT switched to fly rod and nailed 3 nice Cutthroat Trout




My "rod, reel and fish" shot that those "orvis dorks" are so famous for.


TDT nailed his largest fish of the day on the fly.


And got yet another on the fly.


The scenery was just outstanding, and just demanded a picture. I am thinking about blowing up this shot. Simply paradise!


I got my brand spankin new waders/boots on and nailed my biggest Cutthroat of the day. This guy fought like hell.


With 1 hour to go, we decided to move to the inlet for faster action...it was a risky move.


However it was well worth it!




We did not want to hike down in the dark...so at 6:30pm we started the long 5 mile hike back down. Our efforts were rewarded with great views.


A couple miles in, we turned yet another switch back corner......only to be greeted with the view of a mother moose and her calf....30 feet away! It was like the good, bad and the ugly. We quickly backed off, and headed straight into the bush. Lucky for us the next section of the trail was only 15 yards through the bush...even more lucky there was no noise of a mamma moose coming at us! So I snapped a pic when we finally quit running from the scene.


We both had this odd feeling that our troubles were not over yet. And that feeling was right! About 2 miles later we stopped at a switch back to get some water. TDT said, "hey moose, moose, moose"! Sure enough a block away were 3 BIG Bull moose standing on the trail. They did not know we were there, but now we had a BIG problem. How do we get down? Luckily our multipul past ski tours in the area helped out on this one...but this time the slope was not covered by snow. We had a lovely 1/2 mile terrible, steep, thick as could be bushwack down a STEEP slope. This is what the bushwack looked like...can you spot TDT in the picture?


With some sections so thick you could not even see your hand.....we were more than happy to hit the wide trail agian. This is where we popped back out on the trail...those bushes are nearly 8 feet tall!


We beat the sunset, survied the moose encounters and warned a few hikers about the moose ahead (they all quickly turned around).

Overall we got 29 Cutthroat Trout at White Pine Lake......and ALL of which were released to swim another day.
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how do you bushwhack your way through forest that thick, 8 feet high, with all those poles sticking out of your pack? that must be awful.
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Nice report and pics like always. Glad to see there was still water in it. (makes for prettier scenery) Seems like there are always moose on that trail, I've had many encounters, some stare downs, all have ended well []
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[quote bassassinator]how do you bushwhack your way through forest that thick, 8 feet high, with all those poles sticking out of your pack? that must be awful.[/quote]

And somehow my hair withstood the bushes! AMAZING!!!

That was part of the stress of having to do that. I was convinced that the rod tips (3 of them) were goners. It took 45 mins to get through that mess and the worst part was when we realized that this could become a after dark event in the forest. A lot of times I took off the pack straps to one shoulder and ran the pack horizontal.

Somehow the rod tips survived and the money, cell phone, and car keys stayed in my pocket after I fell so many times. There were sections that felt like I was gorge of the jungle as I held on to branches and the like to try and reduce the impact of the falls.

Forest that thick sucks BIG TIME!
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I had a good reason to not go because my 13 almost 14 years old dog was not feeling good and i went to the vet and they say if we dont treat your dog asap she might get kidney disease so ya id rather miss a fishing trip to keep my dog alive for another 4+ years any day over fishing. Hope you guys had fun at least.
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nice, sounds like ahell of a hike in the heat. i woulda joined you but works calls. dangitt[frown]. some nice cuttys there
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Great pictures and report. What a great trip. I'm glad your efforts were rewarded.

gaetz
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Pictures are way cool and glad it was "Just the 2 of us...good....no one to slow us down!"

A lot of hiking in the summer for sure, but woth it.

Great idea to take pictures of one fly casting. Helps you correct your cast (and tighten up the line loop) Nice colors all over the place.

Tight lines
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What an adventure! Pics are awesome but why no shot of all the moose?! Do you carry or take bear spray with you guys? Just curious.
I saw you guys yesterday as I was leaving Smiths on 45th/9th. Someday I'll be able to meet ya or go on one of your excursions! Thanks for sharing pics of awesome country!
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[quote Jazzperch1]nice, sounds like ahell of a hike in the heat. i woulda joined you but works calls. dangitt[frown]. some nice cuttys there[/quote]

You missed a good one Mr. Jazz...those cuttys are suckers for the olive mini bunny. We found a small shallow bay with a few of them cruzing in...and they would follow the fly within inches of our feet and then bite the fly. After a few though, those fish figured out that the 2 leggers were foes, not friends, and took off.
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[quote 78Caddis]What an adventure! Pics are awesome but why no shot of all the moose?! Do you carry or take bear spray with you guys? Just curious.
I saw you guys yesterday as I was leaving Smiths on 45th/9th. Someday I'll be able to meet ya or go on one of your excursions! Thanks for sharing pics of awesome country![/quote]

No pics of the moose this time. The 1st encounter (mom and calf) was very close (30 feet) and we had to make a quick dash for the bushes before she would charge. That was a VERY close call!

The 2nd encounter with the 3 bulls was not frightening, however being a block away my Pentex could not get a good shot. My $1000 cannon with the telephoto lens is still not reading SD cards[frown], so it is still collecting dust in my closet...about to buy another one since it takes such great shots, and way quicker too.

We were at Smiths buying some lunch for the trip...those big ham sandwhiches hit the spot up there! Not as good as the Wiper, Walleye and Bass we had for dinner that night tho!

Anytime you want to fish or tag along with us feel free to PM us. Typically have Thurs, Fri and Sunday's off. TDT's schedule is not consistant...however he always has sundays off.

Send me a PM with your phone number and we can add you to the "text invite" list. There are 40 fourm members on that list so feel free to just ignore the text if you can not make it.

Glad you liked the post!
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[quote 78Caddis] Do you carry or take bear spray with you guys? Just curious..........[/quote]

Forgot to answer that....TYPICALLY yeah we do carry the bear spray. This time we forgot it in the trunk of the car! Go figure...we forget it and the animals just come right out of the wood work!
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I loved that lake, been a few years since I was there but it is beautiful and the water is always cold. Great job!!!!!
Beautiful pics , Thanks for sharing
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Great post and trip! Ive got to do at least one hiking/fishing adventure this year.
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Awesome adventure. Almost made me want to put the archery gear away and break the flyrod back out. Question, have you two ever thought about trying archery hunting? With the way you like to mix the extreme into your hobbies I think it would be a great fit for your enthusiasm. Also what's the big deal with the bull moose? Mamma I can understand but the bulls won't bother you this time of year. Maybe a little bluff charge is all.
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Well I have considered archery hunting geese. But I have heard it is more expensive than fishing! Trust me the idea sounds great and one day I will. For now the funds get in the way.

I have had a bull moose chase me in LCC once. After that I am a chicken. Yep I run like a total wuss.
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[quote back2fish]Great post and trip! Ive got to do at least one hiking/fishing adventure this year.[/quote]

PM sent!
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Is this place a lake or a reservoir?
I think I see a dam in your picture.
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From what I understand here...and I could be wrong...it was a natural alpine lake, that had a very small dam put in place to make it bigger, deeper and longer lasting. Have yet to take a fish finder up there to check the depth (probley will this winter), however the same thing happened to Lake Mary. It was drawn down big time and the depth at the dam was 8 feet. The other end of the lake was 50 feet!

At White Pine Lake it appeared more shallow at the dam when compared to the rest of that steep and deep shoreline. At full pool there really is not as much shoreline to fish as you would expect.
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Cool, thanks.
Nice pictures.
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