I trolled Badger with my father and younger brother a couple of days ago, and caught scads of undersized, white fleshed, hatchery rainbows. We primarily trolled flatfish and triple teasers on leaded line; however, these dead-on sardine impersonators appeared to be willing to bite on just about anything. Fish ranged from 8 to 13 inches (in my mind there's something wrong with 13 inch carryovers in a traditionally strong trout lake) with the majority of fish being rainbows. One encouraging sign was the number and girth of the first year cutthroats. Of the approximately 50ish fish we caught and released over the course of 6 hours, about 10 were fat, 10 inch cutthroats. For anyone who remembers Badger's cutthroat fishery of the past, these are meager numbers; however, if all the "well, I got my limit" bozos don't wipe them out, maybe next year's holdovers will include some beautiful red-bellies.

If not a spectacular fishery this year, Badger at least boasts largely unpopulated shorelines, impressive basalt formations, and the largest vulture population I've seen in the area (probably circling to feast upon the drunken plunkers near the launch, should one of them fall). The crowd at Badger is fairly large, but not quite intolerable. If you're satisfied with catching undersized, anemic trout, or if you want to take a kid fishing, Badger is a good bet.

---