Hot Spot Hike In?

[HappyFishers]

Hello Flies and Lies,

So, I just got a float tube and am stoked to try it out this weekend! As of now I am planning on hiking into Mirror Lake to give it a shot and do some camping.

Anyone have a better idea for a hike in only where there is more and/or bigger fish with some camping?

Fly suggestions?

Thanks alot guys and gals,

HappyFishers :cheers:

[BlackfeetFF]

Good Choice to head up to the solitude of these hike in lakes in the fall. I live for fishing small streams and hike in lakes, its all I do. If you are heading up to the Mt. Hood area you have many choices, there are some great lakes up there. Here are some lakes I had success with this summer.

Veda Lake- close to trillium lake, its about a 1 1/2 mile hike and is a steep one. it has cutts and brookies, not very large, but plentiful. There is also, some great campin spots.

Lower Lake-on the way towards Ollalie lake, this deep lake is an easy hike and holds some NICE cutts. I caught a 16 inch fattie out of there this year. Its an excellent float tube lake. bring your sinkin line and go deep. Troll an Olive woolie bugger, or bead head prince nymph. If spin fishin use a rooster tail.

Now last, but not least my fav lake of all
Dinger lake-
A Gem of lake, bout a 2/3 of a mile from Timothy Lake. Nice brookies, and is an ideal lake for the fly fisher because of shallowness. I caught 10 brookies while i was there last month all averaged 13 inches and the biggest 15. The problem is findin the lake. Its a bushwack hike and is a pain in the butt too find. I luckily found it.

I hope that helps out. If you want some more info on a particular lake or area im sure i can lend a hand, ive been hikin around all summer. If you are adventurous and want to take a shot at finding dinger, drop me mail and i can give u the best directions i can.

[Wiggley1]

My all time favorite lake is Elk Lake down by Detroit lake. I hit it in June and cought a pile of cuts and brookies. It was nice because I was catching and releasing and picking Morel mushrooms along the way. Just before I got back to camp I kept the last 2 fish and fried them up with the mushrooms. In 4 days, I barely ate any of the food I brought. Nothing like trout, morel mushrooms and eggs in a skillet over an open fire for breakfast. Aw who am I kiddin... breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can never get tired of fresh alpine lake trout... can ya?

[papa bear]

How I go to hike-in lakes:

http://www.epud.net/~bears/gand3.jpg

[deefly]

Nice choice of a lake. I have caught some very nice and BEAUTIFUL cutts out of Mirror lake. Lots of brookis too (not so big) For my liking there are too many people. (though few fish) I would recommend looking at Middle Rock lake over by Hideaway lake (a short hike in) Lots of nice brookes to 15 inches or so. Middle rock is like walking into a cathedral! What a view and great fishing for rainbows and brooks. Ive seen some very nice fish come out of there in years past.
Good Luck! :grin:

[HappyFishers]

Wow! Thanks guys. Why can't I spend all summer hiking around up there hitting all the lakes - from mud puddles to Timothy...Patience.

Dinger is a total Gem :grin: . I didn't get out there until dark on Friday, so I drove right past it and set up camp off the road. Next day, hiked into it about 8am. Hooked a little brookie and directly transferred him to my belly. Nothing like fresh fish. His stomach was full of little green pupae. I'm not sure what it was yet, but I am figuring it out with Dave Hughes book. Of course, I didn't have anything in the box to match it and probably wouldn't of know how to present it if I did. graemlins/1zhelp.gif

After that, things were pretty slow. The sun was high and the water was low (I had a hard time not stirring up debris in my tube). In the evening they were slurping some tiny bug off the top.

I can't wait to hit it with a bit more water in there (and with the right flies :shrug: ).

Unfortunately, some inconsiderate SOB left a bunch of garbage down there, so I had to come out with a full large garbage bag.

Next on the list - don't know, but I'll be there as soon as I can!

Thanks again,


HappyFishers :cheers:

[PittsburghD]

Thanks for the clean-up HF. Dinger is just close enough to a road for rednecks to make it in with a truck and 24 Mickeys.

I'll use my bag to reciprocate at the Coast this weekend.


--D

[papa bear]

You have the right idea! Have been vacation 1 day at a time on weekdays, fishing when no one else is around.

Had my best hike in of the summer last Friday. It's a 2 mile hike, wilderness area, 12 acre lake, 3 acres fishable. For some reason the rainbows they stocked it with are reproducing, even though there is no creek. And they get, compared to other lakes around, big, like over 16 inches, lots of girth. Always something hatching, damselfies, dragons, etc. I have seen the water coated all the way across with mayfly shucks.

Friday there were spiders drifting across on spiderweb sails. Fish were jumping at them. I have a 7' rod I carry into these places that's a lightweight spin rod, put on a fly reel, sinking line, 9 foot 4 lb leader and green woolly bugger. When they hit, these trout are a bit big for me, I have to really concentrate on not breaking them off. Am learning to strip in, let them strip out.

Caught 5 trout. total 6 pounds.

One of them hit just as the wind came up, was blown back into the lily pads. He wrapped around a pad stem. I waited. He unwrapped. I boated him. This was about a 3 minute fight, it felt like 1/2 hour.

I live for days like that.

[HappyFishers]

Papa, you taking me with you next time?

[Paddlefish]

Since you guys are so "open and sharing" :smile: about this, I'll share Boulder Lake, southeast slope of Mt. Hood. It's about a 1/4 mile hike, all uphill. Primitive campsites. (You'll have to share with the deer and, this time of year, the huckleberries.) I always make one hike with the camping gear and a second one with the canoe.

Some years we get rainbows; usually brookies. And in an amphitheater-like setting which seems to amplify the sound of the ospreys diving into the lake. :cool:

All the usual methods seem to work adequately. It's a great place for kids and bubble-and-fly, to get them enthused about the potential of fly fishing. (One of my sons caught a brookie BEFORE his first cast, trailing his fly on a long leader while walking out on a log. :cool: )

Two years ago, by chance, we watched helicopter stocking of fingerlings, then witnessed the most musical, harmonic thunderstorm we (n)ever imagined.

Oh, and there's another unspoken but inviolable rule: the youngest kid always catches the biggest fish. :smile: I'll have to try to scan and share the photo: a 7-year-old with a 13-inch, male, spawning color brook trout and a 14-inch grin. :cool:

[Whopper Stopper]

One of my favorites is Burnt Lake on the West slope of Mt Hood. Nasty 3 1/2 mile hike but fat Brookies and an awesome view of the mountain. I've also had good luck hiking into Serene Lake and Big Slide lake. I camped a couple of nights at Shining Lake a couple of years ago and got nothing. I had the same experience at Gifford Lake last summer.... No fish, NO planting, winter kill... or just no skill. :shrug:

[BlackfeetFF]

Yes Burnt lake is an excellent lake, It sure seems longer than 3 1/2 miles but what a view. There is another lake nestled up there called devils lake. I didnt fish there, but there were fish rising. I went to Gifford Lakes this summer and found the same thing you did, a beautiful lake, but fishless, unless my skills have diminished! I actually caught one lil rainbow out of lower gifford (smaller one of the two). Since these lakes are so unpredictable, I always make a plan that puts me close to other lakes just incase they winterkilled. Ollallie lake area is my favorite since they are so many lakes, so close together, the odds are good you'll eventually find one that is producing. High rocks area, and bull of the woods are other good areas to hike into a few lakes during a day trip. I made a trip up the old fish creek road 20 miles into Skookum, High, and Surprise Lake, and was astonished by these lakes. Every cast I had a fish and some of decent size. Maybe it was so easy to catch fish because no one has been there for awhile, I found hardly any traces of people bein back there for a long time. Skookum used to have a nice campground and its kind of cool to see the old campground sign and what remains. Man im depressed for winter, it seems like eternity til the snow melts and you can make it into these gems. Lets pray that the fish can survive and make this summer as good as the previous ones.

[garyk]

I've not been doing the back country fishing since we've bought a serious fishing boat, but a few I've enjoyed are:

1. Round Lk, on the uppermost Clackamas drainage. Brooks, bows and supposedly a few browns; inlet stream support natural reproduction.

2. Opal Lk. uppermost part of Opal Creek drainage and the origin of the creek. A few miles west and over Beachy Saddle (sp?) from Elk Lake mentioned above.

3. Linton Lk. western side of Three Sisters Wilderness, 1 mile hike into beautiful old growth setting, big stream flows in and supports brown trout reproduction and attracts the fish to it.

[MarlinMark]

Lots of good info here. Come on guys. No Zipperlips!!! Where to go in the spring????

Mark :cheers: