snake7676
7/9/2010 9:05:00 PMWow that is a cool looking fish awsome colors on that bad boy thanks for the pics !
blufin loui
7/9/2010 9:30:00 PMExcellent pics, and exceptional colors on those guys. Noting the white tipped finnage, could there be a Brookie cross possibly? Thanks Mike for sharing your high lake adventures, and glad to hear you're back into hiking the hills again. Stay well and safe
nickbell
7/9/2010 10:04:00 PMWow, beautiful fish! Nice colors. I need to get some fish creek spinners! They seem to get something in every report i read.
MotoBoat
7/9/2010 11:46:00 PMCould the white tipped fins indicate that fish to be native? I have no experience with native trout, so thought I might throw that possibility out there to ponder. I have experienced cold water caught rainbow to have brilliant coloration, and being a mountain lake......cold water is the assumption. Do you have some go too, favorite flies Mike?
Mike Carey
7/10/2010 12:03:00 AMthanks all. The trout were of course planted years ago I'm sure by a group called the "hi-lakers"? My understanding is these alpine lakes were sterile of fish originally. which is why C&R is so important, because I would think the Forest Service odds of allowing new stocking to be ZERO. Once planted the fish obviously do sustain their own population. The FCS work great as a search pattern, this trip the trout were very picky. Montana nymphs have always worked well for me, but today the wooley bugger was the best producer. Brook trout from what I've read have white wormy markings on a dark backround. The more I look the more I think it is a cutt. Maybe the red slash was too faint to easily see.
VooDuuChild
7/10/2010 10:59:00 AMYeah, rainbow trout almost certainly. If'n it were a cutt, you'd see the slash as with colors as vibrant as yours, it'd be easy to see. Definitely not lookin like the brookies I've caught; just a beautiful rainbow if ya ask me. Well done and in this rare case, size doesn't matter. Gorgeous fish.
Spider
7/10/2010 12:09:00 PMIs this a Snohomish county Lake Serene entry, with Lake Serene just north of Lynnwood near Hwy 99? Or is it anothere serene?
Pretty fish and clear water.
Pretty fish and clear water.
MotoBoat
7/10/2010 9:47:00 PMCould the white tipped fins indicate that fish to be native? I have no experience with native trout, so thought I might throw that possibility out there to ponder. I have experienced cold water caught rainbow to have brilliant coloration, and being a mountain lake......cold water is the assumption. Do you have some go too, favorite flies Mike?
MotoBoat
7/10/2010 10:00:00 PMSomething strange has occurred on this site. I replied yesterday at 11:46am. A copy of that reply has appeared today at 9:47pm....more than a day later...............very strange. Any idea how this would happen, Mike? Maybe a better question for Aaron. I definitely didn't retype my first reply word for word, and resubmit !!!!!!!!. I have seen quirky, but this is one to add to the list of quirks for this site.
natetreat
7/11/2010 11:23:00 PMYea, those are native rainbows. You can tell because of their jaws, and Cutty has a lot bigger one extending a ways beyond the eye. But if the lake had native cutts before the rainbows were planted, it's likely that the fish interbred, creating over many generations these pretty fish. I've found that each alpine lake has a slightly different variation and it's nice to see great pictures! I've also found fishing those lakes that you have to switch up lures often, because they can tell after a few casts that it's not a real food. Wiley little buggers!
Mike Carey
7/12/2010 3:55:00 PMI agree with that, the fish are eager to strike initially but then start ignoring lures.