The Trout Zone: Backpacking

Showing posts with label Backpacking. Show all posts

Friday, August 09, 2024

The Wyoming Saga: Golden Trout Found and Plans Adjusted

A Perfect Day For Finding Golden Trout

Fishing high elevation lakes is a gamble at best. Weather can change very suddenly, fish seemingly appear and vanish at random, or never appear at all. On some days you'll catch fish, while on others, you might think there are no fish to be found. I've been on a streak of having excellent luck while fishing high lakes, so I was likely due for a clunker.

We got up early to try and beat the wind. That is often the biggest challenge of fishing these lakes. The wind almost always comes up every single day. If it gets bad enough, you simply cannot fish. We were hoping to get there ahead of the diurnal breezes.

Getting up early has some benefits. There is a special magic to being outdoors first thing in the morning. Someone who is better with words than I can probably articulate the mystery, but I'll have to let my pictures do the talking. This is the lake we were camping on before the sun got over the horizon. Glassy smooth water teased the possibility of a perfect day for finding golden trout.

Dawn at a lake in the Wind River mountains

Hiking To Our Golden Trout Lake

After a quick breakfast, we hustled on up the hill. I was feeling good with no ill effects lingering from the episode the evening before. We were already long past having an "official" trail (many of the better golden trout lakes are off trail), so we just struck out in the right directly from camp, angling uphill to try and intersect the social path that had to be there. While there are not official maintained trails, there are still trails or paths going most places you want to go. In this fragile high elevation ecosystem, it is probably best to stick to those paths when possible to limit impacts to the landscape.

Looking back downhill towards camp and sunrise

Hiking to find golden trout in the Wind River Mountains

Gaining elevation rapidly, we crested an obvious bench and soon found the "trail." Making better time on the flatter tread that meandered across the small bench, we continued on. In places, dramatic views opened up where the ridge we were climbing broke away abruptly on one side or the other. One of those big views showed us another small lake that had me intrigued. I didn't feel like dropping down to check it out, however, when our main goal was just over the next hill above us, or at least that's what we hoped.

Sure enough, we crested a few false rises, and then, as I've come to expect with most alpine lakes, we saw our goal ahead and a little below. Wonder of wonders, it was mostly calm. A few ripples out in the middle hinted at what could be, however.

Alpine golden trout lake in the Wind River mountains

Fly Fishing for Golden Trout On An Alpine Lake in the Wind River Mountains

Reaching the water's edge, we got our equipment put together and started fishing. It didn't take too long before we saw fish cruising the edges. Having targets to sight fish for made a big difference. A dry/dropper seemed appropriate. I wanted to catch fish on dry flies, but many of the fish were down just a little in the water column, probably eating nymphs for the hatch we hoped would materialize.

I missed a fish or two. The first fish jitters had me going strong, especially when my long dreamed of golden trout were cruising so close by. John got things dialed in a little faster and got the skunk off for us as a team. That helped a lot. His prior experience catching golden trout made a difference getting started that morning, but I would eventually hit my stride as well.

Golden trout in the Wind River Mountains

After getting the appropriate documentation of that fish, it was my turn. It took a few minutes longer than it should have when I missed a couple of fish, but finally I hooked one that decided to stay on the line for me. My own first golden trout. It barely happened in time. The wind was starting to kick a little harder. Soon, those fish cruising the edge would disappear. Did they go elsewhere? Or were they there but I couldn't see them in the chop?

We walked that edge back and forth a little longer before starting the usual progression of wondering about the other side. You know, the grass is greener syndrome. Still, with the wind starting to blow and fish becoming scarce, it made sense to start searching them out. Thus, we started our circuit of the alpine lake. I had some other things I wanted to do as well.

Touring the Golden Trout Lake

I have more pictures than anyone reasonably would want to look at from this day. So if you aren't here for pictures, feel free to keep scrolling. This next part will just highlight my trip around the lake. We slowly fished our way around 2/3 of the lake before mostly just making time on the last third. At some point, I climbed way above the lake for some shots from above. I also took time looking for wildflowers and wild critters. You know me, I can't stay away from those things for very long, even when there are fish to be caught.

John casting into the wind for golden trout

Fishing for golden trout in the Wind River range

panorama of Wind River mountains alpine lake

More wildflowers while looking for golden trout

Back to Catching Golden Trout in the Wind River Mountains

As I started angling down the hill from my perch, I started noticing something interesting. As a good fly angler, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the water for long. Sure enough, dark shadows were cruising here at the upper end of the lake. John was still off down the lake somewhere, but when I yelled that I had found a bunch of fish, he started working his way over as well.

Best of all, these fish were cruising for a sparse hatch that was coming off. Some type of small dark mayfly was hatching and the fish were feasting. Cutting off the dropper, I went with a single parachute Adams and that proved to be the ticket.

The fish were cautious, but would eat if you got the fly where they could see it. If you caught a fish or missed a fish, that little area was spooked for a few minutes. You could either wait them out or move a few yards down the bank.

We started bouncing up and down the bank, casting to eager risers and catching just enough golden trout to keep us focused a bit longer. Still, all good things must come to an end. As the rise started to ease off, we realized we were both tired from sun exposure, exercising at high elevation, and our early morning start. Some food back in camp was sounding better and better.

Hiking Back To Camp After Fishing For Golden Trout

By this time, the wind was kicking pretty good. We had found those fish rising in the back corner of the lake on the one shoreline with a little "calm." There, the bugs stayed on the water long enough for the fish to find them instead of being blown off. Once we moved on around the lake back to our starting point, the full force of the high elevation wind was in effect and we were anxious to drop back down into the trees and hopefully find a little calm.

Sure enough, things got moderately better as we made our way back to camp. At that point, we wanted just enough calm to boil some water for our backpacker dinners. The hike back down went much faster than the hike up, mostly because we weren't working as hard physically going downhill. Coming straight up to 11,000+ feet in elevation from Tennessee was challenging, but we were doing better than I think either of us had expected.

Our hike would periodically be interrupted by red squirrels scolding us or birds chattering away, but we never saw any larger mammals this day. The biggest surprise was when a grouse spooked almost underfoot. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick photos before it disappeared. Not my best shot ever, but I did get documentation.

Decisions To Make

With a highly successful first day starting to wind down, it was time to consider our options for the next several days. The original trip plan involved hiking cross country the next day and dropping into another drainage to explore some more golden trout lakes. These were lakes that supposedly produced larger fish, so that was exciting.

What wasn't exciting was the forecast from John's Garmin inReach Explorer+. We already knew that our backpacking portion of the trip was potentially in jeopardy after the first couple of days. A weather system was supposed to move through and produce very high winds over the Wind River Range. With spot forecasts for our campsite showing winds potentially near hurricane force, we debated back and forth but ultimately decided that it would be smart to bail the next morning. Going to bed that night, we didn't know how significant this decision was for the rest of our trip, but time would eventually show us that...

Random Musings

A word on our destination lake. If you happen to have read my blog for many years, you've probably noticed a trend away from naming streams and waterbodies to giving rather vague info on where my adventures happen. That is all on purpose.

Just the other day, I saw someone lamenting online about how a favorite trailhead in the Smokies was not "secret" anymore and was always super crowded. They of course then proceeded to share pictures of said trailhead (easy to identify) and describe in great detail their day of fishing. All of this while posting to a fly fishing specific Facebook group. I could basically go retrace their steps and I'm sure there are some people who will do that. That's a formula for NOT protecting and preserving wild places. If people are willing to put in the time and effort to figure these things out for themselves, they are probably harmless. The people looking for quick and easy answers, not so much.

I have long ago made the decision that I'm not going to directly be the guy outing all these spots. Shoot, there are some places you can't pay me enough to take you. So, if you do just a little basic research, this lake is already "known," but I'm not going to continue that trend myself. To do so would go against everything I believe about backcountry fishing. That said, there is more than enough info on this post to figure it out fairly easily. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. I would be glad to discuss further via email, call, or text, but not on the inter webs for the whole world to read...

Thursday, August 01, 2024

The Wyoming Saga: In Search of Golden Trout Day One

Planning For Adventure

For many years, I've kept a rather loose bucket list. Unlike most people who have a bucket list, I'm not particularly organized. I've met more than a few people who are carefully working through a list, checking off adventure after adventure. That's not me. Rather, I have a vague mental collection of places I would like to someday visit. Since I'm well beyond the young footloose stage of life, these adventures are almost always intentional, but generally rare. Adult responsibilities are always getting in the way, so most of my adventures these days are a little more tame than in my younger years. That is clearly a problem I need to rectify, and I've been working at it little by little.

A backpacking trip in the Wind River range of Wyoming has been high on my mental bucket list since, well, probably just about since it occurred to me that I even had a bucket list. For many years, I thought the whole notion was kind of goofy. Then, one day, I realized that I really wanted to do a trip in the Wind Rivers. Next, it occurred to me that I also really wanted to visit New Zealand, mostly to fly fish, but also to hike and soak in the scenery. Even if my bucket list is only two destinations long, I now have one.

If I think long enough, I can come up with quite a few other places I want to visit and revisit. Some of my dreams are vague and unlikely, like spending every summer in West Yellowstone. Others are specific and easily attainable, I just need to make them happen. These are things such as finally visiting Hazel and Eagle creeks in the Smokies. Those are the only two major Great Smoky Mountains National Park drainages I haven't fished.

My buddy John had been to the Winds. After his first trip, I started contemplating attempting a trip. Not long after, I found a rather dangerous interactive map online. With all the knowledge I would ever need to plan a golden trout trip in the Wind Rivers at my disposal, I started the process that would ultimately lead to the kind of adventure that I'm always craving.

Golden Trout in Wyoming

The main problem with planning a golden trout trip (and one I'll perpetuate) is that no one who knows anything is saying much. There is some information out there on the inter webs, but most of it requires some sleuthing to figure things out. While golden trout are scattered around a few different western states, Wyoming is THE place to fish for them unless you want to chase them in their native California in the Sierra Nevada range. There are at least a handful of other western states where they can be found, but the Wind River range in Wyoming is the most similar to their native Sierra Nevada.

At one point, golden trout eggs were brought to Wyoming and the rest is history. Apparently, the golden trout did so well in Wyoming that the Wyoming Game and Fish started their own hatchery program. Wyoming is the best place to obtain some golden trout if you are a state or other entity in the market. They have the only genetically pure brood stock hatchery program with golden trout.

While they can be found in streams, these fish are best in the high alpine lakes that they prefer. Anyone who has ever fished a high alpine lake knows that they can be finicky at best. When a high country lake is fishing well, it will make you feel like the best angler in the world. If it is fishing poorly, you might conclude that it simply doesn't contain any trout.

Once, when I was fishing a high country lake in Arizona probably 20 years ago, I started to arrive at a similar conclusion. Having worked my way nearly the entire way around the lake, it seemed obvious that the fish just weren't there. Mother Nature had the last laugh when a huge bald eagle swooped down and grabbed a trout that looked like it had to be at least two feet long.

After consulting with my buddy John who already had a rough itinerary in mind and then clicking through endless alpine lakes on the Wyoming interactive online map, I felt confident that we had a good plan. Still, we wouldn't know until we were there and fishing if our choice was a good one.

Anticipation Builds

On the drive out to Wyoming, I was almost in shock. It had been so long since I had embarked on a fishing trip out west that I had forgotten how exciting it all was. The drive is always fun in a way, because I much prefer seeing the countryside go by from up close. You never know what interesting things you might see. On this trip, however, there really wasn't anything particularly unusual about the drive. Wanting to be fresh for the backpacking trip, we timed our travel to spend a night in Laramie. That would let us get up, drive to Lander, and be on the trail in time to get into camp before dark.

We made it to Lander in record time. The higher speed limits out west are a real treat, especially for someone with a heavy foot. We took the time to stop at the Wind River Outdoor Company as I needed some new bear spray. Next, we went to the Middle Fork for an early lunch to fuel up for the trail. If you are in Lander, do yourself a favor and stop there for breakfast or lunch. The food was excellent! I had the quinoa power bowl with scrambled eggs and it was delicious!

After lunch, we headed up the mountain towards one of several trailheads. On the way, I had to stop at Rise of the Popo Agie to view all the monster trout.

Places like this make you try to figure out how to sneak in and fish! The pictures naturally don't do justice to the scene, so I'll just say the fish were huge and plentiful. The scenery was dramatic as well, ample reward for the months of anticipation.

Hiking Into the Popo Agie Wilderness

Both of us had only minor preparations to make to hit the trail, our packs already being packed. We started out at a surprisingly good pace considering that we both were coming from the flat lands of Tennessee. Thankfully, the elevation didn't bother me on this trip, although it might be hard to convince my buddy John of this. More on that shortly.

While we were on the far southern extend of grizzly country, we both had our bear spray strapped on and easy to hand. I also had a DSLR clipped on my shoulder strip using a Peak Design Capture system. While it does have some limitations, the benefits mostly outweigh any negatives. I foresaw the primary potential problem of having too much weight pulling on one shoulder strap over the other. My solution was simply to buy two of the Capture clips, one for each shoulder strap. I was able to switch the camera back and forth, balancing out the load so to speak. While I didn't get any crazy special shots, I did get a few that I wouldn't have been able to get if the camera was buried in my pack as usual.

My favorite, while not a great shot, was a moose. I also managed to get a picture of a deer before it ran, and made the time to snap some other shots that would have been skipped if I had to dig my camera out of the pack. Here are a few of my favorites from the hike in.

Fishing in the Popo Agie Wilderness

I had prepared for both dedicated fishing days and also quick pit stops. I had a Tenkara USA Rhodo in my pack for quick sessions along the way and an actual fly rod for the more dedicated all day fishing excursions. One of the lakes we were passing was supposed to have tiger trout. Having never caught one, I figured this might be one of my best opportunities.

When we dropped our packs for a quick break, it didn't take long to start spotting trout. They were everywhere. It also didn't take long for us both to hook up. I caught a few brook trout which were a treat even if they are invasive species out west. Since they are my native trout (er, char) here in Tennessee, I always have a soft spot for them. They were beautifully colored up as well.

The brookies were fun, but I really wanted a cutthroat or tiger. Then, finally, it happened! I caught my first tiger trout, and in fact, I caught a couple. The cutthroat were a little spookier, but I figured I would have more opportunities. Besides, I've caught lots of cutthroat over the years including most of the easily accessible subspecies, so I wasn't too worried about catching them.

Setting Up Base Camp

While the fishing was excellent, we still had a ways to go. Strapping our packs back on, we quickly headed out. The trail continued up hill (why do trails always go uphill?) and we trekked onward towards our chosen camping spot. When we arrived, both of us were tired enough that we almost stopped too soon. However, a quick exploratory trip yielded a much better camping spot. Soon, we were setting everything up as the light grew dimmer. A good place to hang our food packs wasn't too terribly far away.

As I started getting supper together, a migraine that had been lurking for a bit started to hit me hard. I hurried my food along as sometimes getting some food in me can help. Unfortunately I didn't get everything together quick enough. I got sick which was unusual but not out of the realm of possibility for me, but to all spectators, it looked an awful lot like elevation sickness. My buddy John was at least a little concerned. I could tell he was nervous and since I've had both elevation related sickness and routine migraines, I could tell that this was just a migraine. Assuring him that all I needed was a little water and a good night's rest, I headed off to bed. The next day would hopefully be a fishing day. If it turned out I was impacted worse by the elevation than I thought, it might be the day to hike out...

...to be continued...

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Small Details

For some people, this will be a boring blog post. If you are here for fishing info, you can skip this one. Hopefully this will resonate with someone other than myself when I say this, but I don't go fishing just to catch fish. There is the old cliche story about first you want to catch a fish, then a lot of fish, then a big fish, then a lot of big fish, then you come full circle and just want to go fishing. Well, this is similar to that concept, sort of.

It is probably the photographer in me, but patterns, shapes, colors, light or the lack thereof, and interesting flora and fauna all interest me. In fact, that is one reason you are just about as likely to find me roaming the woods with a camera (or even just my cellphone) as with a fly rod. However, it is the small details that often greatly enrich my fishing trips, adding immense value to what is already a special experience.

Sometimes, those small details are the fish themselves. A closeup of a native southern Appalachian brook trout never gets old and why I have way more fish pictures on my phone and computer than necessary. Even after seeing thousands of wild and native fish, I still have to snap a picture because they are so pretty.

Still, it is often more about things other than fish. In other words, it is easy for a fish to catch your eye. That is what you are targeting after all. But how about that interesting mushroom? How about stream side wildflowers and other plants? Or maybe spiders? Seriously. All of these are things I tried to take pictures of on my recent backpacking trip in the Smokies.

Near camp, these ferns growing off a bridge caught my eye. The contrast of bright green against the watery background kept me coming back again and again. In the end, I settled for what my cellphone could do, but left wishing for my "good" camera.

Sometimes, my efforts aren't particularly successful. I found some neat pink turtleheads, but my cellphone pictures were less than stellar. They didn't make the cut to share. Maybe next time I'll have a "good" camera. The few bright leaves around also drew my eye and at least a couple of them weren't half bad. Can you find the angler in the background on this one?

This next one was one of my favorites. I'll call it the "Cat's Eye" for obvious reasons. No joke, this is exactly how I found these leaves. Nature never ceases to amaze me. What are the odds that these two leaves just happened to link up so perfectly?

Even the smaller details near camp were interesting. I found jack in the pulpit seeds, bursting bright red and ready to grow the next generation of these interesting flowers. I found spider webs with spiders who weren't camera shy. This was another one that begged for a better camera, but the cellphone did not do too badly either.

One of my favorites from the trip was also one of the plainest. Something about the meeting of deciduous and evergreen here made me happy when I saw it. Of course, with so many evergreens in the Smokies eliminated by things like woolly adelgid, I'm just happy to discover one that is happy and healthy along a trout stream.

I like to eat, so every time I see some type of mushroom, I always wonder if it is edible. This one was no different, although I wasn't really prepared on this backpacking trip to cook a mushroom. It would have been a fun task back in camp if I was. There are only a very few wild mushrooms I feel comfortable with. If you are versed in wild mushrooms, let me know what this one is and if it is good to eat!

By now, you are probably beginning to get an inkling of the types of things that catch my eye while on a trout stream. Often it is birds or other wildlife, but they are usually too quick for me to catch with my cellphone. On these backpacking trips, that is usually all I carry. Too much weight with the other options. Even on day trips, it is all the extras that bring completeness to my experience. Without the small details, it would just be a fish catching excursion, and those aren't always super successful. Fishing trips, however, are always successful. Catching a fish is just icing on the cake...

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Annual Fall Backpacking Trip 2022: Day 3

If you haven't read about the first couple of days of my fall backpacking and fly fishing trip adventure, you might enjoy reading those first. If you are already caught up, then skip these two stories and continue on with day 3!

Annual Fall Backpacking Trip 2022: Day 1

Annual Fall Backpacking Trip 2022: Day 2

During the lead up to this backpacking trip, my friend Buddy and I had many detailed conversations about gear. As a retired engineer, Buddy is more diligent than most about counting every ounce of weight in his pack. I got to reap some of the benefits, because it motivated me to pay more attention to pack weight than usual. One of the things Buddy had decided to do to limit his overall weight was eliminating his fly rod and just fishing Tenkara rods on this trip. While I enjoy casting and wanted a "regular" fly rod, I often carry a Tenkara rod as backup and decided this would be the perfect excuse to finally fish this rod for a whole day, something I hadn't done in a good long while.

The rod I usually take on brook trout trips is a Suntech Kurenai HM 30. It is an excellent choice for a backup rod because it weighs under 1 ounce. In other words, I'm not adding much extra weight by taking it. This rod was gifted to me by a good friend and quickly become one of my absolute favorite rods. I also have some nice Tenkara USA rods which are fantastic fishing tools themselves, but this rod is by far and away one of the nicer rods I own. Anyway, if you have any questions about this rod, don't hesitate to ask.

The morning of our second full day in the backcountry and third day out overall dawned just about perfectly. Skies were partly cloudy, and there was just enough cool air at this high altitude to remind me that fall was on its way. I was excited about the day of fishing and ready to get going. After a quick breakfast, Buddy and I hit the trail. My favorite fly rod was stashed back in camp, and I was going for a Tenkara only experience.

To complete my setup, I had a size 3.5 level line and 6x tippet. While we wanted to fish dry flies, I had got started on a bad trend the day before fishing a Barbie Bug. It had worked so well, I knew it wouldn't take me long to put one back on. Sure enough, after not finding any fish willing to rise early in the day, I went to the Barbie bug and never really looked back. I was fishing the whole setup like a high stick nymph rig. The Kurenai rod enabled me to place the fly wherever I wanted and was so delicate that even the smaller brook trout felt like monsters.

Small native southern Appalachian brook trout

While the numbers were incredible, the overall size seemed smaller on this stretch of water. Buddy prefers a stretch just a little higher than where I fished on day two with Russell. For me, in addition to the insane numbers of fish, the highlight of the day was fishing a little higher up this drainage than I have ever been. I also took the opportunity late in the day to scout further up the trail and look for additional new access points to that upper end of the drainage. I don't know about the whole way up, but I did find an access point that could be used to enter or exit the stream far enough up to open up almost another whole day of fishing.

Next time, I intend to explore this stretch. That said, with the overall average size being down compared to further downstream, I don't expect to find too many monsters. Of course, around here, we don't go fishing for brook trout with the expectation of catching big fish. The trip is about so much more than the size of the catch. Otherwise I would have quit these excursions long ago. Here is one of our better fish size wise this day.

The majority of fish in this section didn't seem to be as bright with their colors either. I don't know why that is, but it has tended to be the same on other trips as well. Either way, this was probably one of the prettier fish of the day.

By the time we had fished up into new to me water, the day was getting late. I wanted to snag one more to reach a nice round number for the day. I rarely count, but very occasionally on these highly productive small streams I do. This is mostly just a curiosity. For example, when it feels like you caught a ton of fish, was it 40? 50? 70? 100? Most days I don't have the first clue, but occasionally it is fun to keep track. On the other hand, I don't want to take things too seriously, so I also tend to forget as soon as possible. I have good memories of days spent on the water with friends, and pictures of gorgeous native char or wild trout. What more do I need?

After reaching the trail, I hustled up to look for new/additional access points. One likely spot that I had originally located from the stream bed turned out to be even better than I had hoped for. It will be the entry point for a future expedition to push ever farther up this favorite drainage. I'm still eyeing some spots MUCH further up the drainage for possible entry/exit points, but so far haven't turned anything else up.

Buddy had started back towards camp when I headed up the mountain, but I caught him nearly back at camp on the way down. We got back and enjoyed one last evening in the mountains before hiking out the next day. There is always a bit of a letdown as the end of the trip approaches. Yet, at the same time, there is also excitement to get home and see my family, eat home cooked food, and sleep in my own bed. My backpacking setup has gotten pretty cushy thanks to a Big Agnes Q Core deluxe sleeping pad, but it is still sleeping on the ground no matter how comfortable the setup gets. Still, there is nothing better than spending the night in the woods next to a rushing mountain stream, so it is always best to end a trip soon enough to leave you wanting a little more. This trip was just a warmup for an epic adventure merely a few days later, but I'll save that story for another time...

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Annual Fall Backpacking Trip 2022: Day 2

After a soggy but good start to my backpacking trip, I was excited for a couple of dry days. There are so many great places to fish in the Smokies, and I was ready to sample a few. The main target species on this trip is native brook trout. Wild rainbows are abundant as well. There would be no shortage of fish to catch.

On this first full day of fishing, Buddy was heading for his favorite section of water. Another friend, Russell, was hiking in for the day with plans to fish my favorite section with me. In many ways, this is a better way to do some of my favorite backcountry trips. You don't have the 40 pounds of gear on your back which makes hiking in and out much easier. However, it is a long day to fish some of the water we like to hit and still have time to hike out.

Russell has been known to hike out in the dark on occasion. Personally, I am a little nervous about hiking in the dark during the warm months. There are too many rattlesnakes and copperheads roaming the trails for comfort. In the cold months, I love night hiking and have done it on a few different occasions. There is something about being in the woods at night. This is especially true for night hiking without extra light during a full moon. Talk about an amazing experience!

Anyway, to get back on track, Russell showed up a little earlier than expected after making good time on the way in. I was getting close to finishing breakfast. Russell and Buddy spent some time catching up while I ate, cleaned my breakfast dishes, and packed my waist pack for the day. This includes fishing gear, lunch, a water bottle, water filter, knife, and lighter and matches plus fire starter. In other words, I wouldn't want to, but I could probably spend the night semi comfortably with this small pack's contents.

None of this took long as most of my gear was already packed. I just needed to add my lunch/snacks and we were ready to roll. A short walk later, we were standing at the edge of my favorite stream just above a fairly good sized waterfall. This whole area has numerous falls and plunges. In other words, it is exactly the type of water you think of when you think about brook trout fishing. Russell and I started a fast paced leap frog style of fishing, and we were soon catching some beautiful fish.

Russell fishing up a small brook trout stream

This stream is incredibly beautiful. Sometimes it is hard to focus on the fishing. I have been known to carry a DSLR camera with me on stream. I've largely gotten away from that for weight considerations, but I still spend a lot of time with my camera out. On this trip, in addition to scenic stream shots, I also found some interesting wildflowers. This black cohosh was blooming a little late in the year, but definitely not outside the realm of possibility.

black cohosh in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

While I looked for wildflowers, Russell was busy catching some fish. In fact, he found our largest brook trout for the day. Here is a closeup of his special fish.

Trophy native southern Appalachian brook trout

Interestingly, while we both caught plenty of good fish, the average size seemed down slightly from years past. If anything, numbers were higher than ever which would make sense if the size is down a little. These fish have a very limited amount of food in their small ecosystem, so an increase in numbers usually corresponds to a decrease in size across the board. Still, the fish were nice sized. We are talking differences of an inch or so, nothing more. The colors were also subtly less then on past trips. That is likely because this trip was 2-3 weeks earlier than I normally go. When you hit it right before the spawn starts, they are all dressed up in their fall best. We were there during the transition season between summer and fall outfits.

Colorful southern Appalachian brook trout

The day seemed to go on and on while the number of fish we caught approached the absurd. This section of stream is fairly lengthy. You can't rush either. The rugged terrain would make quick work of anyone in a hurry. Slow and steady definitely wins the race here and gets you back to camp in one piece. We were keeping a general eye on the time, however. As it started to get late and Russell needed to make the long walk out, we eventually picked up our pace.

One last beautiful southern Appalachian brook trout

I was starting to think about supper by the time we got out on the trail to walk back to camp. Buddy was already there and busy with his evening meal preparations and I soon joined him. After a relaxing evening, I went to bed early to rest up for another big day of fishing on day three...

Check out day 3 HERE.