Back to my two weeks of fishing......
After getting back from our trip, another fellow patroller came up to go fishing. Warren is, to describe him kindly, quite a character. He's one of those guys that seems to know everybody, and it always amazes me how many people I meet who know Warren.
To continue... Warren had told me he had a meeting at 0830 and we could leave as soon as he was finished. Come 1430 (2:30 PM) he finally called to say he would be ready shortly. He had mentioned that he wanted to go to Burgdorf and fish Lake Creek. I had fished it a couple of times and had no luck at all. Oh, well, we'll give it another try.
After driving a little over an hour, we arrived at the camp ground with access to the creek. Warren went upstream and I, downstream. Again, the only fish I came across was a couple of salmon that had came up to spawn. No brookies, no rainbows, not even a whitefish.
The high point of the trip was sitting on a rail fence, having a shot of scotch. Only having a cigar could have made it better.
The next day Warren said he had never been up toward Hazard Lakes and would like to check it out. Hazard is one of my favorite places to camp, and at times fishing can be great, but you need some way to get out on the lake to fish. We had nothing, so just looked at the lake and got back into the truck.
Next we drove down to the headwaters of Goose Creek. Another of my favorite streams, but I usually fish it a few miles down stream. But it was good! Sort of. Right off, Warren caught a beautiful little brookie, and right after that, I caught one. They were only about 8-10 inches, but, damn, we finally caught some fish. We played around for about an hour, caught a couple more, then had to leave so Warren could pick up his wife and drive home.
About noon on Monday Sean came by and asked if he could borrow some stuff. He was going to hike into a high mountain lake he had had an incredible trip to last year. He asked if I would like to go, but my old, out of shape butt could no way make the trip into the lake. It's three miles and about 1500' in elevation gain. No way I could make that.
He had came by to borrow a pistol because we have a big time wolf problem in Idaho. They were introduced about ten years ago, and have thrived in the back country. These are not the timber wolves that used to be here, but big, aggressive grey wolves brought down from Canada. They have been seen just a few miles out side of McCall. They have really reduced the elk population, though Fish and Game, to cover their asses, will tell you that is not true. Sean wasn't worried about himself, but was concerned for his dog.
Anyway, he was off with high expectations. And a big pack!
The next day he called about 1030. He was already back in town! And no fish. Said it was depressing. Would I like to hike into Louie Lake? This is another great lake to fish. It's about a mile hike with a 600' elevation gain. A steep, dusty, rocky trail, but I can handle that hike.
I was really surprised his wife would let him take off on another fishing trip. He has only been married for ten days, and has been fishing for four of those. My sister asked me why I took Sean on his honeymoon. Hahaha! Jenn must be pretty understanding.
He picked me up and we made the trip to Louie. Nice day, not too hot after the summer we've had so far. Took my dog, Huck. He's not quite two, and trying to get him trained has been a real challenge. So far he has ate two pair of flip flops, three hats, and a pair of hiking shoes. He also got into my fly tying materials one day. He almost saw his final day over that. But he's turning into a good dog. Growing kind of attached to him.
Made the trip in and to our delight, there was only one other fisherman there, and he was in a float tube out in the lake. We hurried and got set up and started fishing. About my fifth cast, and big one took the fly and dove for the bottom. Along with my tippet and fly. I hadn't change the 3# tippet I had be using, and Louie has big, fighting cutthroats.
Tied on another tippet and fly and went back to fishing. I kept hearing Sean cuss. He was getting hits, but nothing was taking the fly. We both tried flies different than our always great, can't go wrong, Chernobyl Ants. I got another strike and landed a nice 9" cut. Pretty fish, but consider that a fingerling in this trophy lake. After another half hour, I got another hit. A big one! Too bad he pre released.
Mean while, Sean hadn't caught anything. It was too bad, in that this was his favorite lake to fish. He went in there by himself last year and said he hooked over twenty fish. Of course he was by himself, and not one could substantiate his count, but we all know fishermen never lie.
Sean had finally had enough, and was ready to call it a day. We packed our gear and headed down the mountain. He saw some huckleberries, and figured taking home enough for huckleberry pancakes would help smooth things over with the new missus, so we stopped and picked about a pint. I should say I watched and he picked. I really don't like picking berries.
On to the car, and the drive back to town. We talked about how it was strange that every where we went, the fishing was weak. Was it the heat? Water has been warm everywhere. He had heard somewhere that when the salmon come up to spawn, the trout get out of town. Don't know about that, but something had the fish not biting.
It was a great two weeks. Didn't catch many fish, and definitely, no large ones. But I got to spend quality time with my son and two good friends.
The fishing was great!
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