trout silhouette - … I've caught several Goldens in the Beartooths. Golden Trout. Boulder Drainage (Beartooth Range) Golden Trout: Lake Mcknight, Upper Mcknight Lake Rainbow Trout: Icicle Lake, Mirror Lake, Rainbow Lake #2, Rainbow Lake #3, Rainbow Lake #4, Rainbow Lake #5, Rainbow Lake #6, Rainbow Lake #7 Yellowstone Cutthroat: Alpine Lake, Beaver Pond, Blacktail Lake, Blue Lake, In the lower reaches of the river, as it meanders through the ranch, excellent fly fishing can be experienced. They, of course, speak of palomino trout, which are a color phase of a hatchery strain rainbow, which holds no candle to the brilliant garb of a golden trout. Finally, that afternoon we caught a few beautiful Golden Trout around 16/18 inches. After a series of “last crests,” the horizon finally broke to reveal the rippling surface of Sylvan Lake, pooled at the foot of a rugged, snow-capped granite cliff. As golden lakes go, this one was nirvana. Boasting thousands of high mountain lakes and hundreds of miles of crystal clear streams, the headwaters of the only wild and scenic river in Wyoming, doesn’t get any wilder than on U.S. Hwy 212, also known as the “Beartooth … Elk sign became plentiful, and I began hopefully mistaking snow patches for mountain goats grazing on the short grass. No one had a map. The golden trout is a colorful salmonid native to the High Sierras of California, transplanted into high mountain lakes all across the west. Beartooth Mountains wring out every drop of precipitation as storms pass over this immense chunk of up thrust granite. Most of the lakes have brook trout and some have Rocky Mountain grayling, rainbow, brown, cutthroat, or golden trout. Find a Local Store; Products The aptly named Treasure State’s sharply contoured, snowcapped Beartooth Mountains, and the lucid sweetwater of East Rosebud Creek, rambling alongside the pot-holed road as I pounded a rental car into the gorge where it and our trailhead originated, had me giddy like a pirate upon gold, prodding me onward on a journey of western discovery. https://abatlas.org/from-nutcrackers-to-cutthroat/story-stocking-trout-high-lakes The demise of golden trout populations were of four causes: 1) inability to sustain; 2) winterkill in marginal habitats; 3) hybridization with other spring spawners and 4) inability to compete with brook … Sylvan Lake’s golden population is so pure that the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks regularly uses the eggs laid by goldens at Sylvan Lake for stocking other lakes in Montana. Goldens had also, however, been stocked in certain alpine lakes in the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming and the Beartooth Mountains in Montana. “Nobody knew much about the goldens until I started studying them,” he said. For a species whose trophy citizens can mostly be measured with the average caliper, they sure do demand a hell of a lot from us, and we’re happy to sacrifice. The mountain lake fishing in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area is some of the finest to be found in Montana. The streams running from the mountains are typically infertile, cold, and of a very steep … Specific studies on six Absaroka-Beartooth lakes revealed golden trout were not totally opportunistic where menu choices were available. When we recovered from our panoramic gawking, it occurred to everyone that there was no lake in sight, and the trail turned down the mountain. Since the fly sizes and casting requirements can be so different between lakes and small streams, I carry two fly rods. Rocky crags sliced the horizon line hundreds of yards distant on either side of the trail. Ken Keffer, children’s book author and Wyoming native fresh from a month of hiking the Bighorn Mountains, tossed a respectful gaze up a steep pitch into a crease where our Nearby Eaglehead Mountain and the crest of the Gallatin Range make for nice jaunts … A fit hiker can probably make it to either destination in an hour or so. The trail turned sharper against the terrain, and made gains on a mountain pass we hoped would reveal a shimmering lake. Rainbow, golden, brook, cutthroat, lake, or brown trout; grayling, walleye, or splake―whatever your dream catch, this indispensable fishing companion answers the questions every angler asks before striking out for a high mountain lake. Most of the lakes have brook trout and some have Rocky Mountain grayling, rainbow, brown, cutthroat, or golden trout. That, more than anything, was our calling. Trout Refugium: The Waters of the Beartooth Mountains Essay: by Nate Schweber; Art: “Golden Trout” by Mimi Matsuda; As a trout treasury – defined here as a landscape nurturing multiple species of rare and unique sportfish in the family Salmonidae– the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is bested by none in inland North America. There are Rocky Mountain adventures awaiting every fisherman who visits the Beartooth Wilderness area. Fellow Angler: This booklet is intended to pass on information collected over many years about the fishery of the Absaroka-Beartooth high country lakes. To catch a golden, you had to hike to them – you had to earn it. The Rocky Mountains are the major mountain range in western North America, running from the far north of British Columbia in Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States, climbing from the Great Plains at or below 1,800 feet (550 m) to peaks of over 14,000 feet (4,300 m). … Ken Keffer, a Wyoming native fresh from a month of hiking the Bighorn Mountains, tossed a respectful gaze up a steep pitch into a crease where our trail disappeared into the raveling slopes of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. I was genuinely curious about how my body would handle the climb as I took the lead and we headed up the mountain donning light packs and rod tubes. The Beartooth’s All-American Road allows access to truly wild (and lightly fished) waters. Fishing pressure is moderate to heavy. On July 6th in 2015, my good buddy Chase Schott and I were putting our packs together for the long haul to lightning lake to catch Golden Trout. Our planned route would involve a 17-mile hike up to the Beartooth Plateau and then a 5-mile off-trail traverse over an 11,000-foot peak to our target lake. Neither trail is terribly difficult. The particulars of the final day are still a little hazy for me, as I’ve attempted to flush them from my memory for the past few weeks. The fish were biting when I got there, and we proceeded to wear them out on dry flies. Beartooth Pass, the highest motor crossing in Wyoming, reaches an elevation of 10,947 feet. We arrived at the remote trailhead in the Beartooths on a Friday night, grilled some sausages over a fire, freaked each other out about grizzlies, and enjoyed some Moose Drool beer. That you can’t find goldens in roadside rivers also titillated me. ... some of the best fish are golden trout and brook trout… One area of the the state where you are likely to find them is in the beartooth mountains south of Livingston and … large sport fish silhouette set - cutthroat trout stock illustrations. The … They have brought back the raw data and … In a state known for its spectacular mountain scenery and views, the Lake Plateau in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains seems to hold a special honor among some adventurous souls. First stocked in 1938, the golden trout at Sylvan Lake are well known in Montana for their genetic purity. Rainbow, golden, brook, cutthroat, lake, or brown trout; grayling, walleye, or splake―whatever your dream catch, this indispensable fishing companion answers the questions every angler asks before striking out for a high mountain lake. a yellowstone cutthroat trout in a high mountain river. We hit the tributary first. The ecology of the Rocky Mountains is diverse due to the effects of a variety of environmental factors. (We also left the Winds engaged. When we finally arrived at the trail, we celebrated as if the Cubs had just ended their 102-year drought, and then we huffed it to the trailhead. The spectacle of Rock Creek Canyon unfolds as you weave along the pass toward Red Lodge, Montana. We backpacked deep into the backcountry, and we struck gold. If you are looking for a little longer hike, you can go over Cottonwood Pass and hit Big Whitney Meadow which is about 10 miles in. We awoke to a frozen tent and fresh snow on the mountains around us on Day Three. The last five years of drought has not caused adverse effects to our streams and rivers or their wild trout populations. Since Pat Marcuson began surveying these lakes in 1967, many individuals have hefted a heavy pack and worked the high country for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Fishing for golden trout, Beartooth Mountains, Montana When I head into the backcountry, I primarily fish lakes with a few streams mixed in to keep things interesting. One accesses Windy Pass (a nice hike in it's own right), the other heads off to the Golden Trout Lakes. “It’s the little things in life,” it’s often said, and I think the saying is just as adequately suited to golden trout as anything else. Holding such a fish in hand, it was hard not to remember the confused claims from anglers back home of having caught “golden trout” in the stocked streams in the East. We climbed through new snow to Chalice Peak – the fresh flakes made boulder-hopping with heavy packs slightly terrifying – and then we descended to the lake. Set - cutthroat trout, rainbows or grayling of drought has not caused adverse effects to streams. Be caught in golden trout official State fish of California in 1947, the other heads to! 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