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I just found some at Cabelas on-line. They have some other interesting looking lines that are similar.
We were way north in BC in Atlin Park. It is almost in the Yukon. Here’s a page that talks a bit about the park
http://www.spacesfornature.org/greatspaces/atlin.html
My dad caught a 37″ northern pike on 4 pound mono. The biggest I landed was 32″. Those things are really toothy and scary.
“None of my local shops carry Fireline in 4 lb test. I didn't even know they made it. That might have saved the 6 to 8 lb lake trout I lost the other day up in northern BC. I'll track some down and give it a try. Do you find that it ages, like mono? Or are you able to use the same line for several years?”
“Nice trip report. I went into those lakes many years ago. It was early in the year and we were heading to a lake from Slate Peak. We started hiking but soon found ourselves postholing through deep snow and the weather was horrible with snow falling. We bailed out and went down to Twisp and picked up a FS map of the area. We picked out the Craters as our alternate destination because we figured we could get there without a topo. If we had known they were over 7000 feet we probably would have figured they were frozen and not bothered. We went in and the lakes were wide open. They seem to get warm air coming directly up from eastern WA and open up very early. The weather was perfect not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't believe it, snowing on Slate Peak, cloudless on the Chelan Crest. It sounds like the fishing hasn't changed much in the last 20 or 25 years, though I don't think we caught anything nearly as large as 14″ so maybe its gotten a bit better.”
“Hey Ed, can you send me your email address? send it to trailblazer@mac.com.^^^^Brian”
“Welcome to the forum, Scott. The funny thing about high lakes is that the fishing is always worth the trip, even when you don't catch anything. The scenery and setting is worth the trip all by itself. Fishing in the most beautiful places in the world is reward enough. So, yes, the fishing is worth the trip. Is the fishing good? You'll have to go up and find out for yourself :D”
“The question of how much fish impact the high lake environment is a good one. There has been a lot of recent research on the subject. The science section of this site has links to an extensive study in the NCNP. Basically, they could find no significant impact by fish in low densities. Fish in high densities, where they are naturally over-reproducing, or are over stocked, can impact the long-toed salamander. These finding dovetail nicely with WDFW stocking practices. Their emphasis in high lakes is on low densities of fish and they are searching for effective ways of controlling spawning populations.^^^^There has been a lot of press about impacts of introduced trout on endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs in the Sierras of California. This is a legitimate problem that stems from over stocking of lakes by California Fish and Game and the life history of that particular frog that puts it at particular risk. The MYL frog depends on large deep lakes where it spends up to 4 years as a tadpole. This is in direct contrast to the situation here where the long-toed salamander, common throughout its range, prefers shallow water habitat that is often not even suitable for fish.^^^^There was some research on Idaho in which they failed to see salamanders in lakes with fish. So they did an experiment where they stocked several ponds with fish to determine exactly what impact they had. They could find no impact from the introduced fish and this left the researchers stumped. They didn't see it, but the answer was only as far away as the Idaho Fish and Games stocking records. The lakes in the region were being severely over stocked and the massive quantities of fish were stressing the fauna of the lakes in which they were stocked. ^^^^Carefully managed low stocking rates allow us to stock fish for recreation while retaining the full range of native species in the lake.^^^^Many people against fish stocking feel that no fish should be introduced into park (or wilderness) lakes just because they have an impact, no matter how minor. I find it interesting that many of those same people are blind to other impacts in parks and wilderness areas. Trails are the best example. Trails have an impact in wilderness. If they want zero impact on wilderness then, to be consistent, they have to be against trails, too. Well built trails are built and maintained to minimize impacts while supporting recreation. Just like lakes are stocked to minimize impacts while supporting recreation. In almost every discussion of fish stocking in wilderness I've ever seen you can substitute trails for fish and almost everything still applies, from either side of the respective issues.^^^^Everything we do has an impact on wilderness. Just by visiting we have an impact. We need to decide which impacts are worth the benefit and which ones are too destructive. IMO, carefully managed fish stocking is a huge benefit with little impact that should continue.”
“Charlia contained eastern brooks until 1973. In that year the stunted brookies were removed with rotenone. A couple species of fish have been planted over the years but they are now managed for cutthroat. You need to examine your maps more closely to determine the best route in. You can always find a place to fly fish if you carry a boat.^^^^I've never been to Royal, but I know it does have fish.”
Getting out in Indian Heaven with no mosquitos is always a special treat. I lived in Portland for a few years and crawled around that area a lot back in those days but there are still a ton of lakes I need to explorer around there. Thanks for the report.
“Here's my routine for extended trips. The one thing that unites everything here is that there is no cooking beyond boiling water:^^^^Breakfast–freeze dried precooked eggs. (precooked is important here)^^freeze dried sausage patties^^freeze dried applesauce^^^^We alternate the above with granola and applesauce. We either package one serving of granola with powdered milk so it is a just add water serving, or eat granola bars.^^^^Lunch: Peanut butter and Rye Crisp with bacon bits and 4 cookies alternating with a hot soup lunch. One of those large cups. We normally repackage the contents and make it in a cup.^^4 cookies.^^^^Dinner: Nuts (different nuts every night) and an ounce of alchohol (Everclear or 151 rum) mixed with Kool-Aid for a predinner appetizer.^^A soup packet (Cup-a-Soup)^^Freeze dried dinner. ^^4 cookies or instant pudding.”
“Virtually no high lakes in the state have truly native populations. Many of the introduced populations are now naturally reproducing. The few that do have native fish are large valley bottom lakes like the Hidden Lakes, Black, Waptus, and Packwood. All the fish in Olympic Mountain high lakes were introduced. Some were planted by Trail Blazers, but that has never been a primary area for the club and all current stocking there is done by the WDFW using helicopters.”
I definitely don’t have a better answer. I think your answer is excellent. I tend to have some lures with treble hooks and some with single in my tackle box. The ones with trebles are there, more often then not, because I was throwing the lure in at the last minute and hadn’t remembered to change the hook, not because I wanted the treble hook on. I always regret having it on when it mangles a fish.
I have found, however, that single, barbless hooks are far less effective at hooking fish when trolling from a raft, where I have to hold the rod between my legs, for rainbows. They hit the lure, come out of the water and immediately throw the hook.
Glad to have you here ltlcleo. I’m a west Sounder living here in Silverdale.”
There is no easy, and no short answer to your questions. If you are catching a bunch of small fish it is possible, even likely, that there are no big fish in the lake. If a lake has fish that are naturally reproducing too efficiently they will become skinny and large headed when they sexually mature at age 3 or 4. There are too many fish for the food supply and they stop growing longer and put all their energy into producing gametes. In lakes with stunted populations you will catch small ones one after another and there will be no large ones in the lake.
Sometimes, you will be in a situation where there is a large population of recently planted fish, and a few large hold overs. Or, perhaps, more frequent stocking or limited natural reproduction such that there are fish of a range of sizes. Every lake is different and I can think of a myriad of contradictory examples to any generalization I make, but here goes anyway. Often the big ones will be down deep. I’ve been to lakes where fish were rising around the shore and fishing was decent. The easy thing to do would be to fish to the rising fish all around the shore. In one particularly good example of this situation I abandoned the 12-13″ fish along the shore and went deep off a rock slide. I worked one spot I liked for 45 minutes with no luck until I figured out the proper depth and technique. I had a strike or fish on 8 of the following 10 casts with the smallest fish going 17″. The technique is to go deep with a reasonably heavy spoon like a 1/4 oz Krocodile and retrieve very, very slowly. Find the bottom by counting how long it takes to sink and time the start of your retrieve on subsequent casts to start just barely off the bottom. Rock slides are particularly productive locations for this technique.
Often large rainbow will cruise the middle of the lake. A flatfish, f5 or f7, trolled in the middle can be very effective. I’ve seen situations were shore anglers might catch an occasional small fish while we couldn’t keep large fish off out in the boats.
I prefer catching fish on flies. There is no good way to keep small fish off if you are using flies. I can remember one partially frustrating day at a lake in Wyoming where the goldens were cruising the shore in schools. One large fish surrounded by a bunch of small fish. I would sneak up on the shore, spot the fish, and catch one of the little ones every time. Most of the time it is a matter of persistence and luck. Last summer I was at a lake with my daughter and we were catching lots of 8-10 inchers from the previous plant. Finally at the far end of the lake I told my daughter to cast her fly over along the shore and she caught a beautiful 16″ CT. It was a matter of putting the fly in a good spot and getting lucky that the big one hit it that time instead of a little one.
Sometimes you just have to get lucky and get to a lake that for whatever reason wasn’t fished much in the previous few years and there are some fish left over from an old plant that haven’t been caught. It might be another 10 or 15 years before fish like that can be found in the lake again.
As an aside, I always fish with a fly rod (5 wt). When I’m spin fishing I just put my spinning reel on the normal fly reel seat and use it as a spinning rod.
I never really care if I catch fish at all. The setting is good enough, fish are just a bonus. Big fish are an extra special bonus.
“I don’t know anything about Frog Lake. It is a low lake. Heather and Pinnacle are both nice but you won’t find much solitude at either. In fact, you won’t find much solitude at any lakes that fit your time criteria. But going in July opens up a whole lot more possibilities. Anything along the I-90 corridor. Mason/Kulla Kulla Lakes, Lodge Lake, Snow Lake, Melawkwa Lake. Loch Katrine (the road is gated so it is more of a hike then the map shows). Take the Crest Trail north from Stevens Pass to visit a bunch of lakes. Janus Lake from Smithbrook Road. Hyas Lake, out of Salmon La Sac fits your criteria. “
