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Got out to the upper reaches of my favorite stream yesterday. Usually won't even try for another month and last year it was more like 2 months. After a 6 mile bike ride with intermittent snow, the last couple miles were snow covered and on foot. The stream was surprisingly clear. May be too clear as I could see all the fish that saw me coming first as well as quite a few take a look at my fly then ignore it completely. Whenever I invest so much time and energy to reach a fishing spot I always get the sinking feeling the I'm about to be skunked. Took 5 casts to end that as I hooked a small rainbow. Easily had a half dozen fish in the first 10 minutes. Fish were surprisingly active. Ended up with several dozen fish in the 2 hours I covered about a mile of the stream. Mostly browns and small rainbows ( stocked last summer) but did pick up a handful of cutts. No big cutts spawning yet or the big browns that follow them up to munch on eggs. Guess I just showed up too early this year and will have to try again in a month. Biggest trout only 14 inches and most were 8-12 inches. On the way out my dog found several sets of big cannine tracks which I am assuming belong to the pack of wolves or possible wolf hybrids they have seen in the area in the last few weeks. The camera case is 4 by 3 inches. The animal that left the tracks in the picture did so while we were fishing as it wasn't there on the way up. Beautiful day to be out. No coat needed even up at 7000 feet but sunscreen is a must.
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That looks like a great day with lots of fish and solitude. I really miss that area sometimes.
I fished a stream up here in Cache on Monday, and was surprised to find the water was crystal clear. Not even a hint of color. Luckily the fish were so focused on bwos that I was able to sneak up fairly close on a lot of them.
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Looks great. You may want to let the DWR know where that track was. I read a article that the catch crew was having a hard time locating them again because of the sparse snow.
Glad you and your dog didn't run into what ever it was.
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Looks like the hike was worth the day out. Nice report and area.
I can't tell from the picture, but if there are no claw tip marks, then my guess would be that the tracks are from a cougar.
It is hard to tell in the snow where the tracks are ill-defined. Were there enough tracks to measure the stride length?
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There were defined claw tip marks in the second set of tracks I ran into. First set was too mushy and might had melted to really tell much. Hard to get a good picture with the lower angle sun casting shadows on the snow just before 5pm. There were enough tracks to measure stride length in a few places just I didn't know to measure it. I had been on my feet for hours and a couple more to go so just snapped a couple quick pics. I run into cougar tracks fairly regularly up there in the spring to know what they look like. I marked the GPS coordinates N 40 19 138 and W 111 19. 353 where I ditched my bike off the road. The various tracks and scat were just up the road from about a half mile to a mile above that spot. Heard DWR hadn't found scat yet. Apparently there is enough predator DNA in the scat to tell what it is. I think the whole dog wolf hybrid is wishful thinking. I'll post another pic that shows the claws better
gstott, from what you've said that area is your old home turf. I'm taking good care of it in your absence. Got into a few cutts on Sunday down lower ( above the first closed gate) scouting out the area as well. The fish barrier to protect the bonnies prevent the bigger browns from migrating up any more.
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Cool! Most likely a wolf then. The stride length just helps to determine how big it is.
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Thanks riverdog for the great report. You just motivated me to get out
and throw some streamers.
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] Luckily for me, the only scary wildlife I ever ran into up there in the early spring was a skunk. It's too bad all those big browns are gone, but hopefully some of the cutts will grow large and take their place. I remember a lot of stonflies, drakes and caddis there, they should have enough food to get big.