Redington’s Find Your Water: High Mountain Lake Heaven

Old days, with the Mooseman, Wind Rivers, Wyoming

If you watch this video and you’ve fished high-mountain lakes in past years, you’re going to say one thing at the end: I should do that but my window is running short. And by saying that, you’d be right.

High-mountain lake fishing—meaning the entire experience—is vastly overlooked. The fishing can be phenomenal, the exercise and hiking are great, camping out and cooking in the mountains is a fun challenge, and the scenery is unbeatable. Period.

It’s also an outing that’s restricted by spring, fall and winter weather, meaning your only windows are during summer and early fall. And even in early fall you can get shut out. That happened to me one year at 10,000 feet in Wyoming’s Wind River range when a storm rolled in and dumped heavy snow on me. I was set to hike and fish solo at that elevation for a week but figured continued life took priority. The following year I was back at it, in August, chasing golden trout and slamming mega-cutthroat. That was a trip of a lifetime and way more memorable than my average day on the water.

So, let’s see. Late August. Tomorrow is September. It rained in Seattle yesterday. Cloudy in western Montana today. Weekend? With my girls? At 10,000 feet? I’ll have to look closely but my gut is telling me no. But then, my gut has said that in the past and my fishing addiction has taken over. So, I say this with a warning: when you watch this great video, the best in Redington’s Find Your Water series for sure, you’ll want to hit the mountains this holiday weekend. Do it at your own risk and let me know how you do. Maybe I’ll have some notes to share. —GT

Find Your Water: Season 2, Episode 5: Alpine Rises from Redingtongear on Vimeo.

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