Hey All,
Got back a little over a week ago from a trip out to the Wind River Range in Wyoming with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Before I delve into the fishing report/trip recap, I want to thank everyone on the forum who answered my various questions including John Smith, Lane Thurgood and Rob Shane on all matters high lake trout fishing, Tom Perkins for speaking with me about his NOLS experience in Baja California and the entire thread who helped me pick the right hiking boots and sock setup (75 miles of tough hiking and not even the slightest hint of a blister!). With that out of the way, now to the fun part:
The fishing up in the Wind River Range is completely insane. I caught some cutthroats, rainbows and about a hundred brook trout and strakes (lake trout/brookie hybrids), plus one tiger trout (brookie/rainbow hybrid). The fishing was exactly as Lane and Rob described, sight fishing to targets about 3-4 feet in front of trout cruising the shallows. I spent the mid-day hours working the drop offs from the shallow shorelines shelves to the deeper lake water with size 12-16 copper johns, brassies and bead-head pheasant tail nymphs. Sub-surface takes were often very tentative and I definitely yanked plenty of flies right out of trout's mouths.
One Strake and one Brook Trout, largest I caught was about 17"
Before anyone asks, yes, I ate some trout on my trip, and yes, they were delicious, and no, I don't plan on heading up to Gunpowder or BHC and bashing in the heads of any fish I catch around the Mid-Atlantic. The brook trout especially were so numerous, that anytime people in my group went swimming, the trout were often flitting between their legs due to their sheer numbers. Late evening, at about 6:30, the topwater fishing turned on like a light. I used parachute adams, terrestrials (shout-out to Rob Snowhite for the chernobyl ant lesson at the July beer tie, the trout were loving those), but the pattern I had the best success with was a local pattern I found at the Lander fly shop. A cross between an ant and a big fluffy dry fly, I almost always had a bite within ten seconds of placing the fly within the remote vicinity of a trout. The takes were often dramatic (by trout standards) and I was able to eat well in large part thanks to that pattern. My single best fishing memory from the trip involved sight fishing in the late evening. The glare would be so bad on the water that in order to see where the trout were crusing, i would have to run uphill about 25-30 yards to various rocks and cliffs, look down from about 30-40 ft, spot the fish, sprint down the hill and immediately cast to about where I estimated the fish would now be headed. Almost broke my ankle as well as my rod several times, but it was a unique experience and definitely not something I expected.
A smaller brook trout I caught on the fluffy ant pattern, held by my girlfriend Eileen (we met on the trip)
Fishing wasn't a significant part of the trip as far as the instructors and other students were concerned and I only had 4 or 5 chances to get out on the water, but it was definitely worth the journey. Crossed cutties off the fly-fishing species bucket list and generally had an awesome time. The real experience was learning how to survive in the backcountry. I learned tons of skills from how to set up a tent, provision and feed myself, navigate, protect against bears, adverse weather, and plenty of hiking. I lost at least five pounds, which I of course have gained right back, thanks to Chipotle. The photography was pretty insane, and made incredibly easy by the location. As this is a fly-fishing forum, I won't expound at length about the other aspects of the trip, but suffice it to say, it was two of the craziest weeks of my life.
My tentmates and I. Always repping TPFR, even 2k miles away.
I made a film of the trip. It doesn't feature fly fishing particularly heavily, though there's a few cool clips in it. A few more pics from the trip below. Thanks again to everyone in TPFR who helped me in my preparation for the trip. My feet (seriously, I was the only student not to get blisters) and I hank you all, though the fish I caught and ate probably aren't as appreciative.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/179277676" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/179277676">NOLS Wind River Wilderness 2016</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/washingtonianinthewild">AReichardt88</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/179277676">NOLS Wind River Wilderness 2016</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/washingtonianinthewild">AReichardt88</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
http://www.tpfr.org
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