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Thanks Brian,
I could have sworn the video I saw was a cutt…. maybe another lake in the vicinity?
Have you personally been in to swallow?My goodness, those cutts are enormous!! I hope this summer to hook into a few like that… Hope I’m not too nosey here, but could you give me a general area that may hold trout of that size? The only place I’ve heard of with cutts like that are the Hidden Lakes… saw video of a 6+ pounder being landed at the WA Sportsman’s Show, from the Hidden Lakes. An outfitter takes folks 20+miles in there by horse (Darwood IIRC.) Haven’t been in there yet myself.
I can’t wait for summer… Planning on getting to some more lakes around Mt. Daniel, including Swallow Lakes. Anyone been in there? If so, from which side did you come in? It looks doable from Robin/Tuck Lakes, maybe a fun way to go.
This is my largest high mountain lake trout yet, caught in June 07. This is a very small lake apx 4800′ on the west side, north of Mt. Rainier. It’s loaded with leaches and frogs, with a muddy bottom. An ‘old timer’ fishing buddy showed me how to get there (no trail) and told me that it contained monster rainbows. Well, I fished it for 5 years before landing this one. I also landed a couple beautifull Brookies that I didn’t know were here. I included a picture of one of them, even though it’s not close to 20″; only because of how fat and beautifull it is. Super fat… maybe 14″?
I’m guessing the Rainbow at 4lbs and 22-23″
Cameron
😯 Have you actually gone that route on a horse?
I have come down that way 2 times, and it was pretty difficult. Lot’s of brush, some slide alder,steep, not easy at all. My way in was over the ridge from Vicente Lk. I remember falling down some with a pack on, and simply couldn’t imagine a horse going UP that.
The other problem is all the downfall on the Spade Lk trail, all the way to the last switchback. It was bad in 2003, and last year. I don’t think it’s been maintained for a while. Do you just lead horses around all those logs? Not being a horse man, I guess I wouldn’t know.
Thanks for any info on this
I wear a pair of nylon North Face zip off pants on just about every outing I go on. They’re extremely tough (thicker than many nylon pants) and dry very quickly. Obviously, the legs can be zipped off. Also, the pockets are actually very functional and well designed. They hold alot, if needed, in the right spots. I have worn one pair for the last 3 years, and just love them.
I think they’re called “Paramount”Haven’t been there in fall, but would love to. I hiked down that east side, hunting grouse, and it was real nice. If you hike arround the peaks, up high on the W NW side, you’ll end up up high, looking down on the N Cascade Hwy.
Were the fish colored up when you were there? I think I caught some allmost all red, just gorgeous.
I’ve never caught a golden- I don’t think. Is there a definate way to tell?
I’ve heard that a lake must have inlet and outlet streams to sustain them. Is this correct?Some of the pics I’ve seen on the 20″+ topic of goldens look like trout I’ve considered a type of RB.
A few years back, I heard of someone getting a 5lb brookie out of one of the lakes on the Warehouser land E of Snoqualmie. I think you have to pay a yearly access fee. I ended up fishing a different lake in that area, not on their land. But I’m not familiar with that area.
I didn’t know Waptus had Brookies… I was just there, and fished one area real late- Caught 3 hard fighting RBs- 13, 15, and 17″ It was great. Wish I could have stayed there longer. I was close to that island toward the W side. Sure can get windy there.
My first attempt was to go up above Circle Lake on the N ridge, then down the W ridge, and down to Venus; and then over the next ridge. But once we got way up the ridge on the N, it got too exposed and steep for the dogs w/their packs. So we went back down and to Circle for the night. Caught some nice RB there, biggest was 15″
Next attempt was going up Shovel Ck. Got a mile up on the W side, into the large talus, and the pup’s feet were getting sore… lots of sharp rock. I’ll have to bring good dog booties next time.
So I didn’t make it, but for six days we made a lot of tracks. Caught a 17 and 18″ RB though, probably my biggest yet. Great weather too. Saw 10 goats above Circle 😀Thanks Mossback.
I think I can read routes at least decently. Don’t know if I’ll go over to the chain lakes or not. I do have three dogs with me, and they’re wearing packs. So that can be dicey in certain areas. Although, they did make it up Mt Daniel w/me.In one of the bio’s I read, someone found a dead porcupine near the top of the ridge between Shovel and Spade. It was crushed by a rock. Sure hope my dogs don’t find any of those critters.
I think you’re right. It was just so strange that I had found it under a tree, and then met the guys who left it years before on the same day.
As I had done, I’m sure others do the high hunt up there, and I thought maybe it was someone’s wall tent or other hunting supplies… But it looked so old.BTW, these fellas saw a wolverine near the north shore of Deadhead lake several years ago, when there was some snow up there. Pretty cool.
That’s crazy.. Our packer said that old timers would get up in deadhead on horseback somehow. Perhaps when the Spade Lk trail was better maintained. But man, to ride, or even lead a horse up what we came down…. slide alder, lot’s of brush and logs, all on a steep slope. I had trouble getting down myself.
I hope somebody on this forum has some direct info about this particular area. That would be great… There’s just something about finding out how people did things that seem so difficult, if not impossible.Anyhow, I’m leaving tomorrow for this area and can’t wait. Last year, bad weather locked me into deadhead for a few days, preventing me from finding Rebecca and Rowena Lakes. Looking at the map, they seem pretty remote, and probably see few people. Looks like some real flat meadows just NE of them. I climbed Mt Daniel on July 4 this year, and could see down in there.
Anyone been in there? Fishing report? What about Spade, Venus and Shovel? I hope to stop at each one. It looks like you can drop down the ridge W of Venus Lk into Rowena and Rebecca. I plan to hike out via Shovel Ck.
About that fella I met up at Deadhead… I was exploring a game trail near the outlet ck, and came upon an old tarp-covered ball of something.. supplies or something. Quite old. It was wrapped in rope.
So I left it alone, and when I got back to the lake, these to guys had shown up, which really surprised me. They said that they used to go up there alot more often, but it had been 10 years, or thereabouts. So one guy goes and drags this bag of stuff out of the woods, and it was their old raft, oars, and tent from years ago… and it still worked!!! Crazy timing.The wind kicked up so bad that it took the raft from the shore and catapulted it accross the lake to the other shore! And it hailed enough to partially collapse my tent. That was just before the last labor day weekend.
The ex-ranger said that they used to pull out 20″+ trout out of there regularly, and that an older woman used to go fish up there quite often. Maybe still does. But the average size has dropped off apparently.
