06-23-2008, 01:25 AM
I do not want to come across as secretive but some small lakes and streams can not take huge amounts of fishing pressure so I will not name the first two lakes.
Steelfisher and I started out on Sat. loading up our gear at 5:30. We intended on backpacking into a small lake inside the Southern boundary of Yellowstone park. I had checked a weather station in the area on a daily basis and in one week the snow melted from 38" to 8" according to the internet which we all know is always right.[
] The first part of our trip was uneventful and the roads seemed allright as we climbed in elevation. At around 7,000ft. we hit snow. We tried to work our way through the first few drifts and mud holes but after about a mile we hit a series of drifts that were unpassable. We do not know how close we got to the trailhead but we do know that nobody is getting there for another two weeks. Some of the drifts were three feet high and a hundred yards long in the shade.
We ended up turning around but we did not want to lose a day of fishing so we went to a nearby high mountain lake that only required a short walk in. We had never fished this lake so it took us a while to figure it out. Steelfisher scored first with a spinning rod. There were only a couple of places that he could get to from the shore so his choices were limited. He ended up catching 5 nice brook trout between 14-17".
It took me longer to figure things out from the float tube and with flies. I went through about 7 flie changes before a fish took BS flies California leech. I quickly hooked three more brook trout once I found out where they were. I only landed three fish but they were all 17-18" brook trout. They fought like crazy and really made my day. Steelfisher tried to take some pictures of my fish but they all released themselves as I positioned them for the pictures. Ya right I know...
The fishing was slow and technical but those brook trout would be considered huge anywhere but at Henrys.
At 2:00 we decided to hike out and go explore horseshoe lake. Neither one of us had been to horseshoe lake in a long time. I mention the name because it is stocked with planters. After the tough technical fishing at the first lake horshoe lake made us seem like pros. I do not know how many 10" finless freddies we caught but it was a lot. I would highly recommend this lake if you have kids that need to catch a fish. We caught ours on small size 8-12 leeches and nymphs. Olive seemed to be the color last night. The fish were hanging in the top of the water column and I caught most of mine with a type II line. The water is very clear so a long leader was necessary even for the planter fish. Some people were doing ok using a fly and bubble. Finally we decided we had had a full day and headed home.
Hopefully Steelfisher will chime in and provide some pics of our adventure.
I can not believe the amount of snow that is still in the mountains at the end of June. Hopefully all this water will help the fishing long term.
Windriver
[signature]
Steelfisher and I started out on Sat. loading up our gear at 5:30. We intended on backpacking into a small lake inside the Southern boundary of Yellowstone park. I had checked a weather station in the area on a daily basis and in one week the snow melted from 38" to 8" according to the internet which we all know is always right.[
] The first part of our trip was uneventful and the roads seemed allright as we climbed in elevation. At around 7,000ft. we hit snow. We tried to work our way through the first few drifts and mud holes but after about a mile we hit a series of drifts that were unpassable. We do not know how close we got to the trailhead but we do know that nobody is getting there for another two weeks. Some of the drifts were three feet high and a hundred yards long in the shade. We ended up turning around but we did not want to lose a day of fishing so we went to a nearby high mountain lake that only required a short walk in. We had never fished this lake so it took us a while to figure it out. Steelfisher scored first with a spinning rod. There were only a couple of places that he could get to from the shore so his choices were limited. He ended up catching 5 nice brook trout between 14-17".
It took me longer to figure things out from the float tube and with flies. I went through about 7 flie changes before a fish took BS flies California leech. I quickly hooked three more brook trout once I found out where they were. I only landed three fish but they were all 17-18" brook trout. They fought like crazy and really made my day. Steelfisher tried to take some pictures of my fish but they all released themselves as I positioned them for the pictures. Ya right I know...
The fishing was slow and technical but those brook trout would be considered huge anywhere but at Henrys.
At 2:00 we decided to hike out and go explore horseshoe lake. Neither one of us had been to horseshoe lake in a long time. I mention the name because it is stocked with planters. After the tough technical fishing at the first lake horshoe lake made us seem like pros. I do not know how many 10" finless freddies we caught but it was a lot. I would highly recommend this lake if you have kids that need to catch a fish. We caught ours on small size 8-12 leeches and nymphs. Olive seemed to be the color last night. The fish were hanging in the top of the water column and I caught most of mine with a type II line. The water is very clear so a long leader was necessary even for the planter fish. Some people were doing ok using a fly and bubble. Finally we decided we had had a full day and headed home.
Hopefully Steelfisher will chime in and provide some pics of our adventure.
I can not believe the amount of snow that is still in the mountains at the end of June. Hopefully all this water will help the fishing long term.
Windriver
[signature]