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Do you or your father have much experience fishing in the high country? Destination specifics are probably best not discussed on an open forum like this where posts last forever, but some idea of the types of trips you’ve done would allow readers to better advise you. Generally, you start looking at maps and reading trip reports (nwhikers.net) from areas that have lakes (even if folks didn’t fish) and then PM active posters (here or at nwhikers) for help with what might be possible given your experience. You have at least two months before the lakes above 4,000 ft. will melt, plenty of time to consider many possibilities.
Nice find! You guys interested in being a part of the Trail Blazers and/or the Hi-Lakers? Come to a meeting soon and share your adventures. Dave.
There was a river otter in Grand Lake (ONP) in Fall 2005. The Brook Trout seemed larger than they seemed in years past.
I sure appreciate the scouting report SWH, thank you. After looking at the map, do you suppose the washout is at Hilt Creek? Keep up the good work!
Rich, HL’er & TB’er members, other forum users, those who just happened to stumble on this thread,
Thanks to all who have taken the time to view this thread and its linked photos. My intent was to share some pictures from trips that don’t usually appear on the public side of the internet to start a discussion about the pros and cons of this practice.
First, a note about the degree of sharing I have chosen. The two picture collection links in the thread include a map of the area in question without any off-trail route information. Pictures included have no caption information indicating exactly where they were taken without prior knowledge of the viewer. The intention is to show photos and fish from an area in our back country to encourage others to use the area and explore on their own without concentrating usage resulting in abuse. To repeat what I posted earlier in this thread; this is the level of sharing I have chosen for the ‘HL’er Poster Project’, started about a year ago for HL’er meeting attendees. When displayed at HL’er meetings, HL’er & TB’er Winter Social, fishing club meetings where I have presented a program, WTA Trailsfest, I share more specific information with those persons who engage in a conversation with me. Usually the interested person tells me about their experiences in the area and we end up trading information. So, the intent is really three-layered: 1) share some pretty pics with the non-hiker/fisherman; 2) encourage the hiker/fisherman who has not been in the area to expand their horizons; 3) challenge both myself and those hiker/fisherman familiar with the area to get to those hardest to reach lakes.
The picture Sandy posted of the fish head in my mouth and the four cleaned fish was taken at Deep Lake. Deep Lake is a reproducing CT and RB lake which would benefit from some increased fishing pressure. Fewer fish competing for the lake’s limited resources would lead to larger fish, imo. I would think this disclaimer relieves any ideas the general public might have about disrespect to a fragile fish population; the Deep Lake fish are not such a population, from what I could see. In my experience, HL’ers and TB’ers keep fish when it is wise to do so (over-reproduction, mature non-reproducing). To say we are all catch and release all the time or is just not true, imo.
I hope more discussion of degree of information available to the general public would occur. Are inclusion of the two links to photo essays too much information to include on a public website? Dave Weyrick.
What do you think about sharing info of this degree of specificity on public websites? Might this cause too much concentration of use? This is the same type of info I now put on HL’er posters, which I share at HL’er meetings, fish club slideshows, WTA Trailsfest, and displayed for a month at Central Market in Poulsbo. My goal (besides bragging) is to increase use, therefore advocacy, without causing the concentration of use resulting in abuse.
Brian- That shot is currently my desktop.
Allison- That’s exactly what Sara said when she saw that shot.
Hans- Thanks buddy! We found and ate many King Boletes around Deep Lake; delicious!
Kat,
As a fellow lightweight fisherman, I’m intrigued to know what sleeping/shelter system you might be using.
I’m currently on the ground (after some hammock experimentation) using an Exped 7 short downmat, REI 20 degree down bag, and a 9 oz. silnylon tarp which I support with trekking poles. DW.
I’ve paddled around a high lake (Camprobber, ALP) on my Prolite 3 on a warm summer afternoon. IMO you would have no problem using the pad as an emergency device if you had a problem in your Curtis raft.
Gold 1/4 oz. Thomas Bouyant. Usually the only lure I fish.
Just had a blast in Lincoln Pot (Skokomish Wilderness) catching CT to 13″ with a size 8 stimulator. Poor bastards couldn’t leave it alone,
“I'm usually storing up good karma with the better half this time of year to be cashed in during the prime hiking season but have a few ideas….^^^^Check the WDFW fishing pamphlet to see what is open and get some more ideas.^^^^Most high lakes are open for fishing year round, so if you must have a fix, drag an auger up to the location of your choice. Sunday Lake in the North Fork Snoqualmie drainage may be ice free even now.^^^^Cady Lake near Belfair on Kitsap Penninsula is worth scouting out. Pass Lake near Anacortes is also worth a look, not sure if either is open.^^^^The Yakima River between Ellensburg and Roza may still have a midday Baetis hatch happening to bring the rainbows to the surface. Though the fishing was exciting, the catching was slow three weeks ago.^^^^Rocky Ford Creek near Soap Lake in Eastern Washington is worth checking out as the rainbows may be up from Moses Lake getting ready to spawn soon.^^^^Good luck fishing…. Report back about your adventures, we'll all be wishing we'd gone too!”
“This is info from many years ago….still married to the ex I wished lived in Texas. Stayed a night at Grand Lake (ONP), fishing the evening of arrival and again the next morning, catching many skinny, 6-8 inch EB. Found a raft someone had constructed still floating and was large enough to stand on. So I'm polling around, casting and catching an occasional fish when I spook a large fish. Happened again later when I reached another section of the lake. My guess, clouded by youthful optimism and many year's passage is they were 18 inch fish. Never been back to try the EB minnow imitations, either wet flies or spoons to try to catch the relative monsters. My guess is that these few fish switched to eating EB young and were quite successful at it. Since Brian says this usually doesn't happen, I wonder why sometimes it does? One mechanism I imagine is some sort of food intake boost that gets just a few trout past some size threshold allowing them to start eating the young ones. Maybe a severe winter kill leaving all the nutrients for a few surviving fish to grow large enough to later eat their young….or an influx of food only a few fish take advantage of (crawdads?)….or some designer drug injected or placed inside a few fish that inhibits reproduction for a few years allowing growth past critical size. Whatcha think?”
