TR: Ring around the Brewer
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 7:36 pm
This trip I knew we were in store for 3 things: 1) Big Scenery 2) Great Fishing 3) Challenging terrain. The third was more of a result of getting the first two. Even though a big focus was on fishing, I thought the report was relevant here as well as the area is a beautiful one for backpacking. I'm personally not particularly tight lipped about destinations, but I know that some are. I've opted to leave the names of the lakes out, but it shouldn't be tough to determine their locations.
Day 1:
Three of us set off from Roads End on July 31 with a good nights sleep in Fresno and ready for a big first day. I had been particularly nervous about smoke from the Aspen Fire ruining our big trip, but most of it was blowing north. There was a little haze in the canyon that morning but we never saw signs of it again. Day 1 had 13 miles of trail to cover and 4500' of elevation to gain to reach our destination lake. The miles ticked off fairly quickly and we stopped for lunch along beautiful Bubbs Creek. The crossing wasn't challenging at all in this low snow year with the water only up to our knees. We worked our way up the side canyon and we rolled into camp around 4pm and found a great campsite at the outlet of the lake. Camp was quickly set up, and fishing rods rigged so we had the majority of the evening to fish. Each of us caught at least 20 or so browns in the 9"-10" range with a couple of larger rainbows to maybe 12". While fishing was good, we were a bit disappointed none of us hooked into the much larger 18" rainbows that supposedly reside here. We kept 1 brown and 1 rainbow for a taste test. The rainbow won...easily.
Day2:
A leisurely start this morning had us heading up the drainage to another beautiful lake around the 10,000' level. I had read the lake had small goldens in abundance and the reports were spot on. We fished for maybe 30 minutes each pulling in a couple of fish but none of any size. We moved on, leaving the trail for the next 4 days and headed up the major obstacle for the day: a 12,300' tricky class III pass. Progress up the talus was fair and before we knew it we were below the loose class III chute. We took turns scrambling up the final 100' to avoid rockfall. Really, this pass has 1 difficult move and is much easier going up than it would be to descend. Once we were all at the top of the pass, my buddy asked if that was the toughest part of our trip. I hesitated.....Day 4 is not easy I said. We made our way over the pass and into the huge basin in front of us. Though incredibly dry it was beautiful and we made our way over to unnamed lake that I had heard reports held big fish. Once, we were at the shoreline I knew it would be good. I could see several large cruisers along the rocky shoreline. Giddy, I rigged up and BAM had a nice strike on my first cast and pulled out a nice 13" rainbow. We spent a good 2 hours fishing this lake where I landed 12 fish between 12"-14". The other guys did just as well. Never before had I fished a lake with such quantity and quality of fish. We nicknamed it Chernobyl Lake - after the fly that was working so well there. We somewhat reluctantly left this lake but with big smiles on our faces as we still had another mile or so to get our campsite lake located around 11,000'. We arrived after a long day around 7pm and set up camp on a peninsula and then fished that lake for a bit. Fishing was good for 10-11" goldens who were a little bit stunted (large head and skinny bodies). 3 were consumed for dinner.
Day 3:
This was our layover day and a chance to explore the basin. A big goal of the trip was to fish the lake at the head of the basin near the 12,000' level. We had read reports calling this lake a "storied lunker" and couldn't wait to get there. We set off with day packs and fished a bit on the way there but really wanted to get to our destination lake. After gaining about 1000' the lake appeared and I almost ran to the shoreline to start fishing. We scanned for cruisers and saw nothing. I had a spin rod because I was worried that the fish would be deep with this low water year and sent kastmaster's out as far as I could hoping for a strike. We fished for maybe 30 minutes and nothing. My buddy, the pure fly fisherman, headed around the east shore and then yelled out that he saw one. Moments later - Fish on! "It's a big one" he yelled as I ran over there to get a picture. Indeed...he had hooked into a beautiful 15 1/2" golden (hybrid?). Amazing fish and the largest golden I'd seen in the backcountry. I switched over to a fly and bubble setup and threw on a big grasshopper assuming one of those suckers had to land in the lake every once in a while. We were target fishing now, scanning the depths off shore looking for a big cruiser. It took me another 20 minutes or so but then I saw a good size fish swim away as I approached him. I quickly lobbed one out in front of him and took it! I could tell it was a good size fish but he didn't actually fight much. I reeled him in and had a nice 15" golden....my biggest to date. We fished the lake for another 2 hours without landing another fish (my buddy did hook into an even bigger one, but wasn't able to pull him in). Despite wanting to catch another nice golden, we were getting a little frustrated with not catching anything and decided to head back to Chernobyl. We headed across the basin back to our favorite lake and fished a couple of lakes along the way. My buddy pulled out the most beautiful golden I've seen. Small but gorgeous. Back at Chernobyl the fishing once again proved to be excellent. We each caught another 10 12" rainbows there before we called it a day and headed back to camp. Not quite a "layover" day but we were all quite happy.
Day 1:
Three of us set off from Roads End on July 31 with a good nights sleep in Fresno and ready for a big first day. I had been particularly nervous about smoke from the Aspen Fire ruining our big trip, but most of it was blowing north. There was a little haze in the canyon that morning but we never saw signs of it again. Day 1 had 13 miles of trail to cover and 4500' of elevation to gain to reach our destination lake. The miles ticked off fairly quickly and we stopped for lunch along beautiful Bubbs Creek. The crossing wasn't challenging at all in this low snow year with the water only up to our knees. We worked our way up the side canyon and we rolled into camp around 4pm and found a great campsite at the outlet of the lake. Camp was quickly set up, and fishing rods rigged so we had the majority of the evening to fish. Each of us caught at least 20 or so browns in the 9"-10" range with a couple of larger rainbows to maybe 12". While fishing was good, we were a bit disappointed none of us hooked into the much larger 18" rainbows that supposedly reside here. We kept 1 brown and 1 rainbow for a taste test. The rainbow won...easily.
Day2:
A leisurely start this morning had us heading up the drainage to another beautiful lake around the 10,000' level. I had read the lake had small goldens in abundance and the reports were spot on. We fished for maybe 30 minutes each pulling in a couple of fish but none of any size. We moved on, leaving the trail for the next 4 days and headed up the major obstacle for the day: a 12,300' tricky class III pass. Progress up the talus was fair and before we knew it we were below the loose class III chute. We took turns scrambling up the final 100' to avoid rockfall. Really, this pass has 1 difficult move and is much easier going up than it would be to descend. Once we were all at the top of the pass, my buddy asked if that was the toughest part of our trip. I hesitated.....Day 4 is not easy I said. We made our way over the pass and into the huge basin in front of us. Though incredibly dry it was beautiful and we made our way over to unnamed lake that I had heard reports held big fish. Once, we were at the shoreline I knew it would be good. I could see several large cruisers along the rocky shoreline. Giddy, I rigged up and BAM had a nice strike on my first cast and pulled out a nice 13" rainbow. We spent a good 2 hours fishing this lake where I landed 12 fish between 12"-14". The other guys did just as well. Never before had I fished a lake with such quantity and quality of fish. We nicknamed it Chernobyl Lake - after the fly that was working so well there. We somewhat reluctantly left this lake but with big smiles on our faces as we still had another mile or so to get our campsite lake located around 11,000'. We arrived after a long day around 7pm and set up camp on a peninsula and then fished that lake for a bit. Fishing was good for 10-11" goldens who were a little bit stunted (large head and skinny bodies). 3 were consumed for dinner.
Day 3:
This was our layover day and a chance to explore the basin. A big goal of the trip was to fish the lake at the head of the basin near the 12,000' level. We had read reports calling this lake a "storied lunker" and couldn't wait to get there. We set off with day packs and fished a bit on the way there but really wanted to get to our destination lake. After gaining about 1000' the lake appeared and I almost ran to the shoreline to start fishing. We scanned for cruisers and saw nothing. I had a spin rod because I was worried that the fish would be deep with this low water year and sent kastmaster's out as far as I could hoping for a strike. We fished for maybe 30 minutes and nothing. My buddy, the pure fly fisherman, headed around the east shore and then yelled out that he saw one. Moments later - Fish on! "It's a big one" he yelled as I ran over there to get a picture. Indeed...he had hooked into a beautiful 15 1/2" golden (hybrid?). Amazing fish and the largest golden I'd seen in the backcountry. I switched over to a fly and bubble setup and threw on a big grasshopper assuming one of those suckers had to land in the lake every once in a while. We were target fishing now, scanning the depths off shore looking for a big cruiser. It took me another 20 minutes or so but then I saw a good size fish swim away as I approached him. I quickly lobbed one out in front of him and took it! I could tell it was a good size fish but he didn't actually fight much. I reeled him in and had a nice 15" golden....my biggest to date. We fished the lake for another 2 hours without landing another fish (my buddy did hook into an even bigger one, but wasn't able to pull him in). Despite wanting to catch another nice golden, we were getting a little frustrated with not catching anything and decided to head back to Chernobyl. We headed across the basin back to our favorite lake and fished a couple of lakes along the way. My buddy pulled out the most beautiful golden I've seen. Small but gorgeous. Back at Chernobyl the fishing once again proved to be excellent. We each caught another 10 12" rainbows there before we called it a day and headed back to camp. Not quite a "layover" day but we were all quite happy.