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Wind River Mountains...theirs gold in them hills

7K views 34 replies 28 participants last post by  freestoneangler 
#1 ·
I remember the first time I learned of a Golden trout. It was a couple years after I began flyfishing and bought a fly tying book by Randall Kaufman. I was blown away by their colors. From then on it has been on "the must do list". I made an attempt last year to a lake in MT but got my butt kicked by the mountain we were trying to cross over and had to abort that mission. I have been doing the research to get to the Wind River Mountains for a long time now and my girlfriend (who is an avid backpacker) was into it as she wanted to see the views and I told her "I heard there was some trout up there...I should bring the rod just in case" Well, she is smarter than that as she said "ugh hugh, ok" lol.

I won't be naming trailheads or specific lakes for the record.

Our main destination took us 2 days of hiking to get too as we would cover approx 15 miles in those two days. The first day was rough as our packs were heavy (we like to eat) since we would be in for 6 nights and we had much elevation to gain. The 2nd day of backpacking wasn't so bad as most of the elevation gain was already completed.

Here are a few pictures of the journey along the way.













Upon arrival at our main camp it was about 6pm. I hustled to get the tent set up and everything organized and I started putting my rod together..my girlfriend looked at me and said "Just go" I said I would be back by dark and could have dinner then. I just had to probe the lakes we were by as well as the feeder stream. The lakes didn't show any signs of life that night…fished by a little waterfall to no avail. I then started probing the feeder stream…to my surprise I couldn't believe what I saw about 6 big trout holding in a pool. I got real excited as this water is suppose to be only Golden trout water. I threw my black caddis in there and after a few casts I had a trout on and my reel was screamin! I was able to land him and he was actually a little scarred up, didn't have the best color, but he was still gorgeous in my eyes. Then I went upstream of the pool and was dancing the caddis in the pool and was able to catch a real nice female out of the pool. Took a couple pictures and went back to the tent one happy man. I had the biggest smile and she was like "what happened"….I could only say it was unbelievable.





The two trout from the first night at the golden lakes


The female


The next morning we fished more around the water by where we were camping. After lunch we would set off on a day hike to a lake that was my main target. The goal was to fish it all afternoon and leave around dusk. After arriving at the lake and doing some initial scouting I was just amazed. Big golden's just crusing the edges of the drop off's. I had to start fishing…very quickly hooked into a nice fish. He immediately went into a violent head shake like I have never experienced and low and behold the fly came out. I couldn't believe it….so dejected. Back at it...I hooked another fish about a half hour later. It was the same routine violent head shaking…a few jumps then a run straight out to the middle of the lake. What a freight train. I brought him in and then he did another run out to the middle of the lake. Finally, he was in the net. This would be the biggest golden of the trip 19.5" male. Deep crimson on his side like nothing I have ever seen. Stunning fish…I was shaking when I was holding him. As soon as I released him I did look up into the clouds to say a "thank you" and then I noticed very dark clouds rolling in! We both thought we better get the heck out of here before this storm hits. Sure enough, as soon as we made it back to camp we got hammered by rain.

Looking out and across from the lake we hiked up to.


The biggest Golden of the trip 19.5"




I already decided the next day would be the same plan. Fish around the tent in the am…a little exploring, then over to the mystery lake. We hiked up there right after lunch and I was able to catch 3 beautys. First, a male of 18" right where I caught the golden the day before on the East side of the lake. Action slowed for the next couple hours after that. I decided we would go probe the North end of the lake. Good thing we did…it was a little shallower and I could see more trout…again..big trout…Golden trout…as that is all this lake held. After a few casts I hooked another trout. More violent head shaking, runs to the middle of the lake and cartwheeling. This trout looked very different from what I could tell. I didn't see the crimson side on this one. Sure enough, it was a gorgeous female of 17". I saw a nice trout rising on the other side of the North end of the lake and I set up Juliana on that fish. Sadly (as she is a new angler) she couldn't reach him with her casts. I was really wanting her to catch a Golden today. She had some tough refusals by some smaller fish. After about a hour she had had enough trying to catch him and said I could try. Well, on my 3rd cast he took my fly. I felt horrible…she could at least smile at me. It was a magnificent, crimson sided male of 19". It was a perfect note to end the day on. A truly amazing day I will never forget with a fly rod and being outside.

18" male.




The 17" female




The last Golden of the trip, a 19" crimson sided male




The next day we decided we would start our hike back out so we could take our time and probe more water. It was tough to leave, but at the same time, I couldn't be happier with the 6 Goldens' I had caught. I felt very complete. On the way out I was so happy that Juliana was able to catch her first trout. A nice cutbow. I was able to catch some decent cutbows from 14" to 16.5". On a hike to another lake we were probing I found a small pond that had some brookies so I was able to catch a brightly hued brookie pretty quickly. At another lake we caught many pure rainbows…up to 13". Had some maddening refusals by big boys in that lake in the evening…very frustrating.





16.5" cutt










Yes, hiking out in a snowstorm...their was hail just before the snow lol.


Some wild horses we saw on the drive back home on land that was set aside for them.


We were able to see some moose and mule deer…the marmots were everywhere and fun to watch. This was a trip of a lifetime for both of us. We covered 35 miles with our backpacks….probably another 8 or so day hiking.

We are already talking about going back….

Thanks,
Wayne

Here are a couple quick/rough vids my fantastic g/f was able to take with my little camera. Later we learned that using the zoom looses video quality..oh well lol. Yeah, I was a little excited in the first video :) A half hour before I had last a decent one.



 
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#27 ·
Thanks guys. My thoughts are the fish just finished spawning. I didn't notice any eggs in the females falling out or milk in the males.

One of the lakes I was fishing had a small creek that connected to another lake nearby. It had some trout in it that I fished and have a few pictures of. But most of the lakes (golden lakes) did not have feeder streams of any size.

I finished 1 short vid of my 19.5" golden last night. I am going to see about uploading it tonight. I will be sure and post it here. Should be entertaining lol.
 
#29 ·
It's gonna be tough to top that trip! You've set the bar high for yourself. Cherish the memories - I backpacked/fished the Winds in the summer of 1972 and I think I'm still trying to out-do that experience! Wish I had such great photos to help remember that summer. Very nice!
 
#30 ·
Fantastic!

I live right near where you went hiking and can see those mountains from my house!! I am glad to see such beautiful fish coming out of those lakes (I can recognise the backdrop). A few years back they were almost devoid of fish, and were re-stocked with goldens--and they look like they are doing fantastic!

The Wind's are amazing. My wife and I did a 7 day trip this summer and and caught;cutthroat, brook, rainbow, brown and lake trout--all from one single drainage!!
 
#31 ·
Great report and photos. They really took me back; those were my summer haunts in the 1970's; I've been to all the summits, but wasn't into fishing then. I did, however, see many large goldens caught in those lakes and streams back then.

Since then, I've been back a few times to fish. In 1995, I fished your unnamed lake and the ones in the valley below and we didn't catch a golden over about 9". I was surprised and disappointed. Maybe Wyobio's comment about being devoid of fish explains it. In Finis Mitchell's book, he referred to golden trout in that area averaging 18"! Mitchell was personally responsible for stocking many of the lakes in the Winds. That statement seems like an exaggeration, but I recall walking past a camp of fishermen one day in late summer (maybe about 1975) and seeing a row of about a dozen golden trout that size chilling in a snow bank next to their camp. I marveled at the size and beauty of those fish (I had never seen a golden trout before). A couple days later I was walking passed their campsite again and noticed that they had moved on. Sadly, the fish still lay there in the melting snow, a little past their due date.

More recently (2006), I crossed the divide near there to reach some REALLY remote golden trout water. Again, the fish weren't as big as you found, but the experience was undescribable. We didn't encounter another soul for 4 days.

I hope I can get back in there again, but every year the trail gets longer and the passes higher. Keep posting the reports; they keep my hopes alive!

Dick
 
#32 ·
I was wondering how long it would take until people recognized some of the peaks/area. Its been really fun to read the reports from others on here who have been there and their experiences from the Winds. I have done a few fishing trips here in MI since....man, really makes you realize how special certain places are.
 
#35 ·
I've bookmarked this one to refer back to sometime about mid January when I'm just about ready to go mad... this will either hold me over or send me over the deep end!
Obviously there is truth in the old saying, "walk at least one mile past the parking lot before staring to fish"!
Thanks for sharing.
 
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