spilunkr
08-08-2009, 04:24 PM
From Monday to Thursday this past week I was helping Chris, the fishery biologist in Rocky Mountain National Park. This was the second week of a mark and recapture population study of Lake Louise. The first week even though Chris had several people to help the weather was pretty miserable and he did not mark as many fish as he wanted. In fact one evening one of the participants got lost in the late afternoon fog that rolled in and it took almost four hours to find him. The weather we encountered was a bit better. But for the second week Chris had only Scott and myself to help.
The trail in to Lake Louise is about 11 miles long from the trail head. For the trip in we had both pack and riding horses to get to Lost Lake where we would be camping. Lost Lake is about a mile short of Lake Louise. The trip in was enjoyable and typical of every morning, nice and sunny. With the above normal amount of rain we have had this summer the wildflowers everywhere have been spectaular.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78488b0cd4d00000060O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Bighorns on the trip in
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78552c3ed1f00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
The pack horses and Scott on the ride in
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78402cdcd7500000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Meadow of wild flowers near our campsite
It took about 3 1/2 hours for the ride in. Surprisingly I was not as sore as I was after last years trail ride in to the Lost Lake campsite. Last year we had unsuccessfully attempted the same type of study on Lake Husted 1/2 mile west of Lost Lake. After setting up camp we headed up to Lake Louise where we would spend Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday adding to the number of fish caught, marked and released.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78462364c8e00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Lake Louise with I think Mount Dunraven the peak to the left of the lake.
Lake Louise as you can see in the picture sits in a cirque below Mount Dunraven. The lake has a surface area of about 10 acres and a maximum depth of about 25'. The picture is oriented such that you are looking from roughly east to west. The eastern 1/3 and the entire northern shoreline out to about 30' from shore is only about 3 1/2' deep allowing one to wade easily far enough off shore so as not to hook the krumholtz (shrubby alpine vegetaion) that lines most of the shore.
Clouds started rolling in over the continental divide about 2:00 and the rest of Monday alternated between brief showers, periods of wind and periods of calm. Whenever the lake surface would get calm fish would start rising. I had the best afternoon with 10 greenbacks, Scott had 8 and Chris 0. Fish size ranged from 8" to 16". While the population is considered to be greenback cutthroats it is not pure strain as old stocking records indicate that Colorado River Cuts and Yellowstone Cuts had also been stocked. As a result that is quite a lot of variation in spot patterns and coloration.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784919b0cc200000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Chris getting weight & length info prior to fin clipping and releasing
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78575912cf600000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
A couple of greenbacks, largest one being a hair over 16" long, top of tail fin is clipped
Tuesday we got up the lake about 9:45 for another day of catching and marking. My morning was tough. For the first two hours I had several hits on various nymphs and wooly buggers but no hook ups. Scott fishing about 50 yds away seemed to have a fish on every time I looked over. Chris I could not see well as he was in a cove at the west end while Scott and I worked the north shore drop off. Finally about noon I hit on a fly and technique that resulted in landing 3 fish in quick succession. I was using a kind of small golden colored emerging stonefly nymph that I stripped quickly just under the surface. At lunch I came in with my 3, Chris had 3 and Scott 9 fish. After lunch things got even tougher as the wind really started kicking up and my earlier technique seemed to stop working. After about 45 minutes of frustration and only one fish in my basket a fish came up to hit something on the surface about 10' in front of me. it did it again a couple minutes later. So I said what the heck, i'll give a dry a try. So I put on a #16 elk hair caddis - bang fish on. That fish hit the fly while it was stationary; but I soon found that if I skittered the fly along the surface or let the wind do that the fish would come up from out of nowhere to hit the fly. I wound up with 9 fish for the afternoon while Scott got 4 and Chris 1. That bought the total of marked fish released back into the lake at about 150 in total.
Wednesday would be a work day. We would be using a gill net to catch hopefully 100 fish,m as opposed to using flyrods like we had to catch the 150 which were marked. Between 9:30 and 6:30 we made 13 sets of the net and caught 75 fish of which 13 were fin clipped. The largest fish we got this past week came on the next to last net set; it was a bit over 16 1/2". Last year when I fished Lake Louise for a couple of hours I had caught 8 fish with one fish a bit over 19 1/2" and two others a 17" but for some reason none of this years fish were that big. Running the numbers later that evening I came up with the lake containing roughly 900 fish over 7" long which was the smallest fish the mesh size would catch and we never got anything smaller than that hook and line fishing.
The pack horses to carry our gear out on Thursday were not supposed to arrive until 11:00, so after getting my stuff together there was still time to get some fishing in. Neither Scott nor Chris were quite as efficient, so i was the only one to fish. There are three very small lakes in a string below the outlet to Lake Louise. I had also fished them last year without getting so much as a hit. But in hiking back to our camp Wednesday evening the wind disappeared and we could see numerous rises on the two larger of the three small lakes. Scott also had told me that the waterfall we could see on North Fork of the Big Thompson which comes comes down off the south slope of Mt. Dunraven before joining the outlet from Lake Louise had a nice plunge pool where he had caught some nice cuts several years earlier. So my intent was to try all three spots and get back to camp before the pack horses showed up.
First stop was the larger of the two small unnamed lakes that had rising fish the night before. This lake is probably not much more than 1/2 acre in size. I fished the inlet area where I found numerous rising fish; landing about 10 in a half hour all on a #14 ant. I was using an ant as we had seen flying ants on the water the day before. The fish were all on the small size at 8" give or take a half inch. The next stop was the other lake about 200 yds away. This lake was only half the size of the first and in 20 minutes of fishing I landed another 4 fish ranging from 7" to 10" and missed a rise from a nicer 13" cut. Finally, it was bushwhacking time to the waterfall a half mile away. When I got there you would be hard pressed to ask for a prettier pool. I could see several fish in the bottom and a couple more in feeding lies - all 8"-9" in length. I wound up landing 6 fish in 15 minutes including the one in the second picture below. The waterfall may not look like much, but 80% of the cascade is actually blocked by the treees above me.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784d5490c3200000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
If you look closely, I have a fish on.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784dd710c0e00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
He was a bit over 14" and was the 4th of 6 fish caught in that pool
It was time to head back to camp as I still had to take my tent down. I had left it up to dry out as we had had quite the storm the night before complete with thunder, lightning and hail. We also had a brief shower while eating breakfast. I got to camp and was taking my tent down when the pack horses showed up a half hour early. But that was not a problem as while the other gear was being loaded on the horses I finished getting mine together. I guess since it was downhill hiking out the decision had been made to hike out to save the cost of additional horses to ride out (about $150 per day per horse). But, the hike out wasn't that bad. I actually kept up with the pack horses so that someone would be there when the wrangler iunloaded our gear. The hike out for me was 2 hrs. 45min. Chris and Scott showed up about 45 minutes later.
This was my second trip helping Chris. Two weeks ago I helped on a day trip to Ypsilon Lake (a 12 mile round trip) for a genetic study. The Ypsilon fish are supposed to be almost pure strain Colorado River Cuts. I may also be able to help on a 3 day trip later this month and a couple of 1 day electrofishing days in early October.
Guy
The trail in to Lake Louise is about 11 miles long from the trail head. For the trip in we had both pack and riding horses to get to Lost Lake where we would be camping. Lost Lake is about a mile short of Lake Louise. The trip in was enjoyable and typical of every morning, nice and sunny. With the above normal amount of rain we have had this summer the wildflowers everywhere have been spectaular.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78488b0cd4d00000060O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Bighorns on the trip in
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78552c3ed1f00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
The pack horses and Scott on the ride in
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78402cdcd7500000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Meadow of wild flowers near our campsite
It took about 3 1/2 hours for the ride in. Surprisingly I was not as sore as I was after last years trail ride in to the Lost Lake campsite. Last year we had unsuccessfully attempted the same type of study on Lake Husted 1/2 mile west of Lost Lake. After setting up camp we headed up to Lake Louise where we would spend Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday adding to the number of fish caught, marked and released.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78462364c8e00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Lake Louise with I think Mount Dunraven the peak to the left of the lake.
Lake Louise as you can see in the picture sits in a cirque below Mount Dunraven. The lake has a surface area of about 10 acres and a maximum depth of about 25'. The picture is oriented such that you are looking from roughly east to west. The eastern 1/3 and the entire northern shoreline out to about 30' from shore is only about 3 1/2' deep allowing one to wade easily far enough off shore so as not to hook the krumholtz (shrubby alpine vegetaion) that lines most of the shore.
Clouds started rolling in over the continental divide about 2:00 and the rest of Monday alternated between brief showers, periods of wind and periods of calm. Whenever the lake surface would get calm fish would start rising. I had the best afternoon with 10 greenbacks, Scott had 8 and Chris 0. Fish size ranged from 8" to 16". While the population is considered to be greenback cutthroats it is not pure strain as old stocking records indicate that Colorado River Cuts and Yellowstone Cuts had also been stocked. As a result that is quite a lot of variation in spot patterns and coloration.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784919b0cc200000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
Chris getting weight & length info prior to fin clipping and releasing
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec78575912cf600000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
A couple of greenbacks, largest one being a hair over 16" long, top of tail fin is clipped
Tuesday we got up the lake about 9:45 for another day of catching and marking. My morning was tough. For the first two hours I had several hits on various nymphs and wooly buggers but no hook ups. Scott fishing about 50 yds away seemed to have a fish on every time I looked over. Chris I could not see well as he was in a cove at the west end while Scott and I worked the north shore drop off. Finally about noon I hit on a fly and technique that resulted in landing 3 fish in quick succession. I was using a kind of small golden colored emerging stonefly nymph that I stripped quickly just under the surface. At lunch I came in with my 3, Chris had 3 and Scott 9 fish. After lunch things got even tougher as the wind really started kicking up and my earlier technique seemed to stop working. After about 45 minutes of frustration and only one fish in my basket a fish came up to hit something on the surface about 10' in front of me. it did it again a couple minutes later. So I said what the heck, i'll give a dry a try. So I put on a #16 elk hair caddis - bang fish on. That fish hit the fly while it was stationary; but I soon found that if I skittered the fly along the surface or let the wind do that the fish would come up from out of nowhere to hit the fly. I wound up with 9 fish for the afternoon while Scott got 4 and Chris 1. That bought the total of marked fish released back into the lake at about 150 in total.
Wednesday would be a work day. We would be using a gill net to catch hopefully 100 fish,m as opposed to using flyrods like we had to catch the 150 which were marked. Between 9:30 and 6:30 we made 13 sets of the net and caught 75 fish of which 13 were fin clipped. The largest fish we got this past week came on the next to last net set; it was a bit over 16 1/2". Last year when I fished Lake Louise for a couple of hours I had caught 8 fish with one fish a bit over 19 1/2" and two others a 17" but for some reason none of this years fish were that big. Running the numbers later that evening I came up with the lake containing roughly 900 fish over 7" long which was the smallest fish the mesh size would catch and we never got anything smaller than that hook and line fishing.
The pack horses to carry our gear out on Thursday were not supposed to arrive until 11:00, so after getting my stuff together there was still time to get some fishing in. Neither Scott nor Chris were quite as efficient, so i was the only one to fish. There are three very small lakes in a string below the outlet to Lake Louise. I had also fished them last year without getting so much as a hit. But in hiking back to our camp Wednesday evening the wind disappeared and we could see numerous rises on the two larger of the three small lakes. Scott also had told me that the waterfall we could see on North Fork of the Big Thompson which comes comes down off the south slope of Mt. Dunraven before joining the outlet from Lake Louise had a nice plunge pool where he had caught some nice cuts several years earlier. So my intent was to try all three spots and get back to camp before the pack horses showed up.
First stop was the larger of the two small unnamed lakes that had rising fish the night before. This lake is probably not much more than 1/2 acre in size. I fished the inlet area where I found numerous rising fish; landing about 10 in a half hour all on a #14 ant. I was using an ant as we had seen flying ants on the water the day before. The fish were all on the small size at 8" give or take a half inch. The next stop was the other lake about 200 yds away. This lake was only half the size of the first and in 20 minutes of fishing I landed another 4 fish ranging from 7" to 10" and missed a rise from a nicer 13" cut. Finally, it was bushwhacking time to the waterfall a half mile away. When I got there you would be hard pressed to ask for a prettier pool. I could see several fish in the bottom and a couple more in feeding lies - all 8"-9" in length. I wound up landing 6 fish in 15 minutes including the one in the second picture below. The waterfall may not look like much, but 80% of the cascade is actually blocked by the treees above me.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784d5490c3200000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
If you look closely, I have a fish on.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d629b3127ccec784dd710c0e00000050O09AZM2bZu2bA9 vPgA/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
He was a bit over 14" and was the 4th of 6 fish caught in that pool
It was time to head back to camp as I still had to take my tent down. I had left it up to dry out as we had had quite the storm the night before complete with thunder, lightning and hail. We also had a brief shower while eating breakfast. I got to camp and was taking my tent down when the pack horses showed up a half hour early. But that was not a problem as while the other gear was being loaded on the horses I finished getting mine together. I guess since it was downhill hiking out the decision had been made to hike out to save the cost of additional horses to ride out (about $150 per day per horse). But, the hike out wasn't that bad. I actually kept up with the pack horses so that someone would be there when the wrangler iunloaded our gear. The hike out for me was 2 hrs. 45min. Chris and Scott showed up about 45 minutes later.
This was my second trip helping Chris. Two weeks ago I helped on a day trip to Ypsilon Lake (a 12 mile round trip) for a genetic study. The Ypsilon fish are supposed to be almost pure strain Colorado River Cuts. I may also be able to help on a 3 day trip later this month and a couple of 1 day electrofishing days in early October.
Guy