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Fish are aged by reading scales or otoliths. When fish grow they leave rings on their scales much like tree rings. Otoliths are inner ear bones and they are often easier to read then scales. The problem is that to be able to read scales or otoliths you need both experience and a microscope.
If a fish is from a lake that does not have natural reproduction an age can often be guessed based on the stocking records.
Do you have a fish from a particular lake in mind?
Scuds have specific water chemistry requirements and, as far as I know, they already appear in all lakes that are suitable. Where there are too many fish in the lake they keep the population cropped down completely so you no longer see them. There are a couple examples where over reproducing populations were eliminated or thinned and scuds very quickly started showing. In one case, back in the seventies, a series of lakes were identified as having suitable habitat so the population of spawning EBs was eliminated with rotenone. They went in the following year with scuds to plant in the lake but discovered they were already there.
I’ve been there. It is a beautiful spot. We were there in August and it was cold enough that we found the lake frozen over with a surprisingly thick layer of ice in the morning. Stiletto Peak is worth walking up, too.
Goldens (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita) are a subspecies of rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Goldens will have most of their spotting near their tail and they’ll typically be larger spots then RB have. Look for rosy cheeks and adults will normally carry parr marks, though as evidenced by sooperfly’s fish they can lose them. In that fish notice the red on the body. You won’t see a RB get red from the lateral line down to the belly like that. The color of the body tends toward gold or yellow. Don’t be confused, however, if you should run into Yellowstone CT which also have a gold or yellow color.
I know someone who hangs around this forum knows where the state record golden was caught, but I wouldn’t count on him telling…
Middle Fork=Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie. We hiked up past Williams Lake and over to Rebecca and Rowena. That was back in the eighties. My uncle as last at Deadhead in the mid-nineties.
I have been to Rebecca and Rowena but I came from the Middle Fork side so I can’t help with routes from the Deadhead/Waptus area. They’re worth the trip.
I just did some checking. My uncle said there was an old horse trail from Spade but that stock aren’t allowed on the Spade Lake trail any more.
I haven’t been to Deadhead so I can’t give you a direct answer, but I have been amazed where they’ve gotten horses. If you go to Rainbow Lake above Stehekin from the North Cascades Highway you get to one section of trail where there is a sign that says there are no horses allowed. I wondered about that because the trail was good. But then up the trail a ways the reason for the horse ban was obvious. The trail went over a very steep snow bank. Absolutely impossible for horses. We got down to Rainbow Lake and set up camp. A bit later someone comes riding down the trail on their horse. They’d traversed that steep snow that I thought would be impossible and when I asked him about it he basically just shrugged his shoulders and said it was no problem.
I went in to Gold via Dingford Creek. Up to Myrtle Lake and straight up to Foolsgold then across to Gold. The trip would certainly be easier from either Dotty or the Hardscrabbles but I thought I’d throw that into the mix.
Those are both nice areas. The Necklace Valley is a much longer walk and gets more traffic, though both are popular areas. The Necklace Valley area is a bit more scenic. Both areas offer lots of lakes to fish and you really won’t go wrong with either area.
Elk hair caddis is my favorite dry fly. It never hurts to have some of the other basics like Adams, Coachman, etc. Bring along some Carey Specials, Wolly Worms, or Buggers, and some nymphs if you need to go sub-surface.
