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“Jonathan, GeorgeB was up there last year. He said the road is rough, but could be driven by a good 4×4.”
“I’ve never caught an Atlantic salmon, though I have been at a lake when someone else in the party caught one. Here’s a list of fish I’ve caught in high lakes in a sort of ranked order:^^^^1. Rainbow^^2. Golden^^3. Cutthroat (I’ve caught westslope, coastal, and Yellowstone cutts in high lakes)^^4, Brown^^6. Mackinaw^^7. Grayling^^8. Bull trout^^9. Brook^^And last, and by far least…^^10. Sucker. I really did catch one in a wilderness high lake in Wyoming. It was 17.^^”””
That is a major bummer. But perhaps all is not lost for Ross. Jonathan has a drive to lake to stock. Perhaps he can take Ross on that one. ^^^^My dad is 71 this year. We are still doing yearly 8 or 9 day trips somewhere around the country. He keeps in shape by playing handball 3 times per week.
“I think Sauk Mtn has to be one of the premier short hikes in the state. Another one I really enjoyed is Bear Creek Mtn down in Goat Rocks country. It is completely different from Sauk Mtn, but is another fairly short hike that offers amazing views. I love the diversity this state’s mountains have to offer.”
“I was in to Sauk Lake on July 13, last year. It was wide open on that date with some snow covering the trail where it drops down to the lake on the north side of a ridge. It is amazing how much later it is this year.”
“Those are exactly the things to look for. Also look for amphibians (alamanders, frogs), and zooplankton (red copepods) in the water. ^^^^All of the above observations will be valuable, but since it has no stocking history we will most likely never be able to stock it. “
“Bivouac has never been stocked with anything. At just over 1 acre it is plenty large enough to hold fish, but I’ve never been there and I don’t know if it is deep enough to support fish. Pear/Pearl is nearly 8 acres.”
High lake trivia: That little sliver of a lake SE of Pear Lake is called Bivouac Lake. Pear Lake was originally called Pearl Lake.
We weren’t allowed to go into the Lucifer Lake basin because of grizzly activity. They had that entire basin closed. It kind of messed up our trip because we had planned on going up on the west side of the crest right through those lakes. Which area you headed to this time?
“I’ve hiked in many of the out of state places you mentioned. I haven’t done the Cabinets, yet, but I’ve hiked in the Missions and the Great Bear Wilderness that are both fairly near. I’ve done a lot in the Selway-Bitteroot, and the Sawtooths. Easily the greatest out of state trip I’ve ever done was the Gates of the Arctic NP in Alaska. It taught me what true wilderness is and it was the first time that I realized what we call wilderness in the lower 48 is just are sanitized recreation areas that we pretend are wilderness. In the lower 48 parts of the Bridger in WY and the Absoroka-Beartooth in MT should also be mentioned. Mike, we’ll have to compare notes on some of the places we’ve been.”
“Fawn was last planted in 1989 and 1996. Fish can live to be 12 years and older in Pasayten Wilderness lakes. I don’t know the size distribution of the fish you caught, but that size range could be explained by either planting. I don’t know enough about the fishery there to say one way or the other, but there could be some limited natural reproduction contributing to the catch, too.^^^^In general, fish will grow very quickly for the first 3 years. At that point they reach sexual maturity and the production of gametes takes a lot of energy. Where lakes are overpopulated fish will grow slowly and then completely stop growing as all energy is put into egg and sperm production and you’ll get a lake full of 8 fish. If a lake is extremely productive and the population of fish is low enough the fish will put on a lot of early growth and then keep growing after they have sexually matured. Most lakes fall somewhere in between. They will keep growing after 3 years, but only very slowly. ^^^^A couple years ago there were a ton of logs across the trail to Fawn. Are those still there or have they been cut out?”””
None of the lakes you are planning on hitting happen to be on the stocking list this year. I’ve only got a couple lakes to do this year and neither are terribly exciting 🙁
I ran into a guy lying about where he’d been on another discussion board a few weeks ago. He was trolling for information on a lake. I guess he figured if he claimed to have been there someone might be willing to give him more info. He hadn’t realized the lake was frozen solid at the time he claimed to have been there. When pressed on details it became clear the guy had never even looked at a map in any detail.
Things are starting to open up. We were up at Otter and Azurite (4520) over the weekend. Both were open and there wasn’t a lot of snow around.
That’s a tough question McPilchuck. My favorite area tends to be the last place I visited and the place I want to go next is somewhere I’ve never been. I suppose if I were forced to pick a favorite area it would be the area inside NCNP because it is so rugged and beautiful but I’d have to mention some stuff in the Glacier Peak area and I wouldn’t be able to forget much of the Alpine Lakes and …
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