Golden trout

Arguably the most beautiful trout in it's wild form. I only had three days for a solo high country trip this time. I felt a little rushed and one really needs 4 or 5 days up there to slow the pace down a little. With that said, I still had a great time and will try and make one more short trip with a certian two lakes in mind and concetrate on those excusivly, we'll see.  With the window rapidly closing in on the high country fishing for 2011 i'm glad I went. My target was Goldens mostly, but I caught lots of small rainbows and delicious Brookies along the way.

Weather over all was perfect with highs around 70 and lows in the nights in mid 40s, clear and windy as hell. No storms at all. The stars were amazing at night. It was almost like a planetarium effect they were so thick and clear.  Fishing was a little slow as it usually is in mid August. The lakes with Brookies and Bows were silly for small fish on dries but above, the goldens were really keyed in on tiny midges. Very tiny midges. There isn't much bug life up above 10k. I did see the odd caddis or even hopper if tundra was close to the waters edge but they wouldn't touch any for me.  It was tough to get them top go the first day. I just cant see those small dries. The first lake/day i blanked on the Goldens. I did notice the better quality would cruize in loose schools and appeared to be looking for fry.

Back at camp, I was racking my brain and going through fly boaxes looking for a small fry pattern and I remembered I had brought along my carp box (just in case) and I had some very sparse small bonefish flies I occasionally toss at clear water Carp that are on tiny fry. Also works great for Lohanton Cutties when they are cruising tight. That was the ticket! Target the solo cruising fish. Spot and lead with really fast strip to get a reaction. Other than a few on a tiny dry before first light and late, that is how I targeted them all day once the wind picked up a little. It was slow but visual and that was fine with me and a lot of fun. If everything went right and they didn't bust you, they would go crazy looking foir that bug and give you multipule shots if they missed it the first time. Still a good amount of ice fields to navigate up high but overall I cant complain and had a great trip.