A fine Lahontan High
I had a decision to make last night. Fishing related of course.
My dilemma was weather to make a trip for Smallies and LMB, test out a theory on a new creek, or head uphill for some Golden trout.
Once I saw the weather report it was a slam dunk for the mtns.
I hit the road at 6 in order to be at the mountain at 8:30. Notice I didn't say trail head, just mountain. Here's what I had to deal with in order to fish this lake.
On the upper right the cliffs go on for a bit further to the right, my lake is at the cliffs base.
I brought both of my new toys today, the new toon and the rich man's rod.
This was the pack ability test for the toon. All my other lakes are much easier than this, but I wanted to get a real hard assed perspective on packing this thing. I rolled the 'toons in to make a more compact load. My stuff bag still fit in between, bungeed to the frame.
This walk in would have it all, dense timber, Alder thickets,brush fields, cliff climbing, both down and up, and, oh yeah, mosquitos. Lots and lots of skeeters.
The walk starts on level ground in a bunch of old logging slash. Ugly as hell, but look at this.
Ten minutes in and I'm already breathing hard. I gotta lose some weight. Only this far along.
Finally!
The Pond!
The Pond!
Nope, not there yet, but this is where I stop and take a break.
Above and to the right of the pond you see a line going up to the right. My lake is up that a ways.
Airs getting thinner as well as hotter. It was as hot at 8000 feet as I've ever seen it.
Yep, stopping to gasp for air.
A look back down at the pond from there.
And a look up the hill from there, still not done climbing yet.
Oh, the joy! That's what I call the Sentinel Rock. It stands on the entrance to the tarn that holds the lake.
You'll notice it's still uphill, steep uphill.
And Viola, here's my goal.
Now, I know I said I was going after Goldens. That's what I've been catching here for years. But as I stopped by the water to rig up a couple trout cruised by. And they did not look like Goldens.
So I flipped a fly out to one of them, he took, but I already knew what it was. The water here is so clear it's like looking at fish in an aquarium.
A beautiful little Lahontan Cutt. I don't know when this changed, it's been about 3 years since my last visit and there were Goldens then.
I caught another before even putting waders on.
Since the rising had stopped and I found no activity related to the shoreline, I ended up slowly trolling a pt and then,since these are cutts, a woolly bugger. The bugger produced most of my fish today. I caught somewhere between 6 and 12. I just don't count fish after 2 or 3.
Got some pics though.
Now the results of the 'pack ability test'.
Thumbs up. Way up. I put this thing through the ringer, as well as myself. It holds tight to my back, no side to side slipping. That's real important when cliff climbing, log balancing, stream hopping, and,well, just getting through the day up at altitude without hurting yourself.
My starting point, where I parked, is at 7000ft, and the lake is at 8000.
I'm tired.
Ed
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it.
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I'm in a quandary about how to feel in regards to the fish. On one hand there are now very nice Lahontans, on the other there used to be very nice size/colored Goldens.
Looks like you're going to have to find a different "meat grinder" to take Scotty to for some Goldens.
Thanks for the pix and the report.
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