Wind River Mountains Fishing - 2010

[branhap]

Well I finally wetted a fly line today. No luck on the fly line, but with the wind up, I was also fishing some standard tackle as well.

Started off the fishing in Bass Lake using my newly acquired 9' 9wt rod with some poppers on it. (Earlier in the day, I caught a nice LM bass on standard tackle with a popper). Must say that casting a 9wt is significantly different than casting a 5wt. It's going to take some getting used to fishing that heavy of a rod. Had the wind stayed down, I probably would have stuck with my 5 wt.

For those interested, my 9wt rod is an Orivis PM-10 9' 9wt, paired with a Pfleuger reel.

Nice to get the 2010 version underway. My next fishing trip will be for trout.

Paul

[Poke 'Em]

Awesome. I'm heading that way the first week in July. Hopefully runoff will be done by then. It's been a weird year though, so who knows

[branhap]

What area? Most areas should have runoff done by then I would imagine. Dickinson Park may be impossible to get to, At this point, I just keep hoping the road up the mountain opens soon. (Either that, or I need to buy a horse so I can go up the trail now. heh). Last week's report said that still had 1-5' drifts at the top of the switchbacks just outside of Lander. *sigh*

Paul

[branhap]

Well the Southern winds are almost fully accessible now. Went up to Frye Lake and Worthen Meadows. It was a windy day, so not much luck, and the rivers are still very swollen around here. It was a nice time, great to get back into the cool mountain air.



Here's a panoramic shot of Frye Lake white capping with the steady 20-30mph winds.

I did see one fish rise where Roaring Fork dumps into Worthen Meadows, but I could not entice him to several offerings.

[branhap]

Well spent last night, finally getting my fly rods switched over to right hand retrieval. It's amusing how different a fly reel can be made in order to get it switched over appropriately.

My pfleuger u turn a small pin 180 degrees and flip the catch plate.
My white river, the simplest of all, you just flip the center nut (which contains a one-way bearing in it).
And my Scientific anglers, where you flip the catch plate.

Very excited now for my next adventure as I'll be able to cast and reel without switching which hand the rod is in! Woohoo.

Paul

[branhap]

My family is visiting, along with my 84 year old grandfather. One of his requests knowing that we go out fishing was to catch and bring home some fish. He hasn't had fresh caught fish in probably 15 to 20 years that I can recall. So with that in mind my Dad and I headed up to Worthen Meadows with Brook Trout in mind.

A busy day was had. My Mom joined along and sat by the bank reading a book, while my Dad and I hit the lake fishing. It was an active day as the fish were biting and hungry.

Not much fly fishing here as my Dad doesn't do that. (and with one eye is can be difficult for him to judge distances.) However, while trolling away, I had my first two fish on at the same time, one on each rod. While we paused the boat so I could reel them in my Dad cast out and caught his first fish of the day as well. First 3 fish were 2 brook trout, and a cutthroat. As is my standard custom, the cutthroat was immediately released. The brookies added to the stringer. As the day continued on the fish kept hammering at the lures. In most cases if they missed the first hit, they would come back and hit it a second and third time. It was a bit windy, but as long as we stayed towards the north shore we were shielded from the wind and able to do well. The fish are starting to rise, but again the wind wasn't calm enough to let them rise on a regular basis. By days end, a total of 12 fish were landed, about a half dozen more LDR's. Some small duns and midges were hatching in the calmer sections, and I saw at least one female dropping eggs. Most fish appeared to be rising to the larger terrestrials that were being blown off the northern shore.

Overall it was a successful day. 7 brookies and 1 rainbow trout were brought home to feed the family. My grandfather was happy, and though his weight is down because he hasn't been eating enough, he went back for seconds on the fish. Definitely something that made us all a bit happy. It was nice to see my grandfather so happy about a meal. And also my Dad catching his first real trout and figuring out just how strong they can be. Dad was very surprised when near the end of the day, as I was turning the boat back into the shallower water while in 30' water he had a strike and the fish quickly made its way to the bottom (Our lures were swimming at 4') and got him hung up in some rocks. Unfortunately that fish got away, but it showed him the true power of trout.

Below is a picture of the lake with the cirque towers in the background.

Paul