My friend Nate called me recently and said he heard about some great fishing at a high mountain lake near his house in Breckenridge. There was only one catch; the lake was 5.5 miles up the trail and gained 3,000 feet of elevation. After talking about beef jerkey, strippers, poker, and beer (like real men), we convinced ourselves we could make it if it were a “man trip”. We grew some balls and planned to start our journey that Friday.
We started out after a night of car camping and it was grueling. The first 3 miles were STRAIGHT uphill, and the last 2.5 were not downhill either. Once we got a glimpse of the lake it was pure heaven. There are truly only a few things more beautiful than a high mountain lake that is rarely visited. When we got to the inlet (where we were going to be camping), the altitude sickness kicked in. Some of us fought it off with Whiskey and others did not. I was one of the Whiskey guys, and it paid off. The fishing was phenomenal and a day of 100+ fish between three anglers was something I had waited for all summer.
We caught mostly Brookies in the two lakes, but there were a few Greenback Cutthroats mixed in. Throwing a #12 Green Stimulator seemed to be the ticket, and a pink San Juan worm also worked well. There is nothing like catching trout on big dry flies; watching a fish come up from the sand and smack the top of the water is breathtaking.
