Tiger Country

Tiger trout are fun to catch, especially from alpine lakes. It seems appropriate that these fish live in the high country, surrounded by dense forests and other wild animals. It is where you would expect a fish that resembles a tiger to reside. Their markings are a maze of yellows and browns, with red and white tipped fins that bring euphoria when brought to hand.

 A month ago, Mike, my dad and I set our sights on tiger country. I honestly felt that this just might be the trip where I land something special.

We picked a great campsite which sat lower down on the mountain. It had everything you would ever want and need. There was a big fire-pit, a table, lots of room for parking and tent space, and a stream that ran through camp. The latter being the best feature in my opinion. As soon as we set camp, I hurried to the stream with my 3wt and tossed my dry fly over and under thick brush. It was tight casting quarters, but I managed to bring a few small brookies in.

The following day we hiked into tiger trout lakes. Mike had brought his new row boat and we decided that we would hike it into these lakes in hopes of getting a better angle on the fish. The boat was not terribly heavy, but surely tested our endurance and muscle strength. The hike in was a mile and a half, but felt longer carrying the boat. We took turns carrying the boat at different angles with various techniques until we finally found the best way. Carrying the boat side by side, trading sides/hands every so often was the least strenuous on our bodies. It was not easy, and we concluded we would probably never do it again (unless it helped us catch monster tigers).

Rigging up

Are we there yet?

After finally reaching the lake we stumbled upon a couple guys fishing. We exchanged words in the usual fisherman manner, and then set out in the boat. Fishing from the boat proved to be a difficult task. For one, I had never rowed before so that took practice. Second, We had no anchor system, (yet) so when two grown men tried to cast and battle the wind at the same time it was quite difficult.

Later on Mike went into MacGyver mode and rigged up an anchoring system with a rock and rope. This system helped us to keep the boat steady, and enabled us to each cast without worrying about the boat slamming into the bank.

Tight Loops

We all caught some cutthroats at the lake, but the big tigers eluded us. I blamed our misfortune on the two angler we talked to earlier. They had been camped there for a few days and must of scared the big boys away. I wasn't too bummed though, there was another lake nearby.

While rowing out in the middle of the next lake, Mike and I heard a faint hiss of spitting water-the sound of a small stream of air hitting water; a leak. Mike found it, and though it was small, we decided we better beach the boat. We concluded the leak had to of come from one of the many trees downed by beavers. They were everywhere, and made the small hike in a bit challenging.
















On shore I found a big rock near the corner of the lake. I tossed a bright chironomid pattern right beside it and waited patiently, A good size tiger soon erupted and engulfed the fly. It was no trophy, but it would be my biggest tiger this trip. My trophy would come another day.

This lake proved to be much more successful than the first. We all caught lots of tigers and enjoyed a full day of hooking and releasing these beautiful fish.

The following day we hiked into and fished four lakes. We had success at all of them, catching one of my favorite species, brook trout. I'll let the pictures do the talking.