Fishing three lakes

Everybody knows by this time I just can't sit still! A blind man wearing sun glass can see it! To prove this fact I have hiked into three different lakes in the past three weeks, for the sole purpose of lowering it's water level by pulling out fish. Luckily for me and maybe not so luck for my prey, I have been sucessful.

My first lake was a repeat of the trip I did in June, when I walked to three different lakes and started with North Brush Creek Lake. I caught a boat load of fish so I thought I would go back and just spend time at this lake. I drove down to Westcliffe Colo on Sunday nite Aug 22nd and stayed at the cabin. During the night and into the next morning it rained. I tried to drive on a back road to the trailhead which is tough when it's dry and with the road being like baby poop, it was damn near impossible. I had my truck in four wheel drive and was just slip sliding away. I stopped and bought three newspapers and sat in the cabin with a fire going and waiting for the roads to dry, which they did.

The next day the trail was dry and I was able to make it to the lake in a couple of hours, and what a difference 24 hours makes. Blue skies and no baby poop. It's mushroom season in the mountain so hundred of different kind of mushroom where popping their little heads out. I walked all the way around the lake and found a spot that looked perfect. Since I wasn't doing a lot of mileage on this trip I carried a few extra supplies. I brought a cooking pot that I have used for years on a fire and it has 1/2 inch of black soot on the bottom. I also brought a container to make solar herbal tea, oh yea, we are going first class baby. After gathering firewood and setting out my solar container I was ready to make the fish fear me.

I tried the same lure as last time and caught one fish after a thousand casts. Than I switched to a fly with a bobber, I had more fun watching the fish come up and hit that fly. I was sitting along the shore line facing the sun, with my shirt off for a few hours and I turned into a rotisserie chicken. After catching my fair share of fish, I decided to eat lunch and find some food that might go with my fish cook out. I found a King Boletus mushroom and some Squaw Berries,to put in the pot. I had carrried in some noodles, so I ended up having a fish pasta dish.

That night it got cold in the high country and my sleeping bag's zipper decided to go strike and called it quits. The zipper would zip up but then it would open, and my back side got cold, being exposed to the cold air. The next morning I tried to figure out the problem, without coming up with a solution except to leave a day early. I was going to walk up the the Upper Brush lake and give it a try before I walked back to the truck. Half way around the lake I met another camper and his trusty dog. The hiker and the dog where having a time out. It seems man's best friend had found a fresh pile of horse manure and did a royal roll in the stuff. The dog came back to camp all proud of his new coat and climbed into the tent, as his master was taking a cat nap. The hiker told me he kept thinking it was something outside the tent that smelled rotten until he turned over and put his hand on the dog's back and left a hand print. He had come to the high country to get away from his troubles but he had put his hand on it. He had gotten into a drag out, knock down fight with his better half and I guess she has a few pounds on him and did knock him down. When I walked up he was talking to himself, like asking and answering his own questions."Maybe I should take her hunting?"he said.

I hiked tothe lake and was going to give myself two hours to catch some fish to take home. I caught seven in forty five minutes and they where all nice size.

Last Monday I walked up to Shelf Lake with a friend Dave C. The lake is located west of Grant Colo. and it's a two hour walk with a elevation gain of 2,000 feet, give or take. The skies where getting greyer as we got closer to the continental divide. When we reached the open tundra above tree line the rain started with a driving wind. When I saw the lake, snow flakes where landing on the surface. We both where shaking from the cold, like a leaves in a wind storm. We tried to hide from the wind in some rocks and that helped a tad. In between shaking I managed to get my fly into the water and hooked a 16 inch cut throat trout. I don't care if we do get hypothermia, there is fish to be harvested. The sun managed to come out and we caught six nice size fish. But after several hours of shaking from the cold we decided to head to the truck and warmth. As we turned to say good bye to the lake we saw 7 white goats on the mountain side, they seemed to be dressed better then us!

Just got back today Tuesday Sept 7th from walking up to Chicago Lakes which is a one hour drive from Denver in the Mt Evans wilderness area. I parked at the old resort and started my two hour walk to the lake. The scenery was great as I hiked into the Chicago Creek drainage. I walked by Idaho Springs lake, which is a catch and release, instead of a catch and grease, which I wanted! A couple of with a pit bull where camped along the lake, with a eye towards a ranger since there's no camping. I think they where trying live off the land, but they didn't seem to be catching any fish and the dog was starting to look like a dinner.

The lower lake was surrounded by shoulder high willow, that made a iron curtain to be penetrated. I had to walk through a swampy area but made it to the lake. I must have caught forty fish here and the weather was perfect, as a bonus. I kept two for dinner. Speaking of dinner Pam and I have come up with a fish recipe. Corn Flake cooked fish. smashed Corn flakes with cajun seasoning, flour, pepper,than mix beer, egg in another bowl-dip fish in beer and then dry mix and broil-it's like heaven mate!