Thread: Fishing High Mountain Lakes: School Me

Whaddya got?

I'm curious about lakes that are stocked vs. those that support a trout population year after year. Good ways of determining whether the high mountain lake actually holds fish or not?

Fishing during melt-off, after, etc...

Techniques/sub-surface vs. dry, etc.

And anything else you wanna share. Me = gaper

High mountain lakes are probably the easiest place to catch trout. Hit it at the right time of day and they'll bite a piece of bark off your hook.

General rule of thumb (and statement of the obvious)...

Fish that never see a hook are the easiest to catch.

Originally Posted by flatNshallow

General rule of thumb (and statement of the obvious)...

Fish that never see a hook are the easiest to catch.

makes sense...

but if there are no fish in the lake to begin with...I suppose my #1 question is determining whether or not there are fish in the lake

I know of one good way to find out!

They are not always easy to catch either, especially the big ones. Timing is everything. I've humped a float tube with a full pack up 2,000 feet, can't say I'd recommend it. But figuring it out yourself can produce stories worthy of your grand kids.

lakes with spawning areas (for anything other than brookies) are a good bet. brookies can spawn in the lake and dont need moving water. they are damn near cockroach status up here. and hell throw anything at them. catch em on poppers... tarpon flys...chihuahuas on a hook... anything tied to a hook... it almost gets boring.

Originally Posted by SPARTICUS

it almost gets boring.

Almost, until you realize that you're finding yourself in places like these:


Catchin fishes like these:




Dunno, maybe it's the right coaster in me, but I don't think that's too terribly boring.

For big cutts in high alpine lakes prepare to be SKOOL'd.

I think fishing high alpine lakes is one of the best things you can do on Earth.

Pat, I can probably just call, but I will be a cool TGR guy today. Every time I do that Wind River trip and decide to fish a new lake I call the park rangers. Do some research, find a cool looking place to fish/camp, and call the local ranger's office. They will have information from when the lake was last stocked, what was stocked, key food sources for the fish, and how the trout population has grown or shrunk...aka fish kills. Most rangers and park's people are super friendly and don't mind sharing information as long as you have done a little of your own research. (Not calling and asking "where do I fish?") Right after melt off on lakes can be super money when trout haven't seen a fly all winter, but as the summer progresses you can get some fun dry action. I have found it a blast to go with a friend (I'll be up soon to visit and want to go rip lip!) and have one person spot fish trolling the banks and yelling out directions to another person fishing. Later in the summer you can have a great time spotting trolling trout and throwing terrestrial patterns. Also throwing scuds and bead nymphs and stripping can do work wonders. Let's talk and I can give you a list of good lakes that I know you are willing to put some work in for.

And go catch some football size brookies!

Originally Posted by akokskis

Almost, until you realize that you're finding yourself in places like these:


Catchin fishes like these:



Dunno, maybe it's the right coaster in me, but I don't think that's too terribly boring.

Agreed, was simply referring to the fishing... i find myself taking in the scenery more than fishing after about the 30th or 40th brookie...

I tried fishing some high mountain lakes in the Flattops over this last weekend and didn't catch shit. Tried streamers, dries, and some nymphs and tiny midges. One lake in particular looked perfect, but all I saw was little tiny 2-3 inch fingerlings along the banks. Everywhere you walked near the shore, there were a bunch in packs of 10-30 tiny fish. I don't know if this was a good sign or a bad sign. Assuming no one stocked this lake recently, would that indicate that there is a larger population of decent sized fish, or that perhaps that lake only supports these little tiny guys? Other than standing above a lake and seeing decently sized trout in the shallows, how else can you determine if a lake holds decent sized trout?

To be fair, it was crazy windy and I was fishing in the middle of the day with bright skies and little cloud cover.

spin rods seem to work better in the high mtn lakes. just sayin in case you are planning on fish for dinner and don't want to starve.

For what it is worth-Two weeks ago(early June) I was fishing high mtn lake at 10,000 ft, western colorado. Saw schools of nice sized, brightly colored cutthroat (12 to 16") cruising the shoreline in packs of 5 to 8 fish only 3 to 10' from shore. Tried a lot of flies (prince, SJ worm, etc)with no interest from the fish. They didn't spook;they just swam around my flies and continued on. The same packs would return periodically so they had a regular route. In talking with more experienced fly fisherman, they said I should have tried midges, ants, or beetles. These fish were on the end of the lake toward which the breeze had been blowing so maybe they were looking to collect insects that had blown up against the shore?

Stuff I've most read = neige777's experience...with the altitude most of food are often terrestrials(beetle, ants...etc) coming off the high-country growth...spiders(soft-hackles) drifting in from the stratosphere....or forage-fish(bucktail/streamers). Agree with SPARTICUS's view for brookies...however exceptions, as we know, do exist though. Also have read of success like NippleHighPow's...scuds(shrimp) and larvae/nymphal patterns.
My "have read"...HA, My trout tie-intos = NY's Adks streams at valley bottoms and Maine, about as low & wet as you can get.