Golden Trout - Bridger Wilderness Outfitters
By: Tims S
I'm worried as I ride up the switch backs on ole Morgan, my trusty
mountain horse. The last several weeks had been unusually cold and the
snow melt seems to be behind schedule. I had tried my best to schedule
this Golden trout pack trip to hit ice off for this high alpine
lake but as we get closer my doubts grow stronger. As Morgan picks his
way through the rocky trail, I'm looking at the surrounding peaks and
even though the scenery is spectacular, I’m getting that sinking
feeling that there is still too much snow left up here. As I get up
and over the first rise there is nothing but a sea of white in front of
us. There is no going on, we must turn around and come up with another
plan. But you know, sometimes when you're on a special quest, things can take a negative turn, but more often than not there is something special out there waiting for you if you just keep the faith. This trip actually started coming together over a year and a half ago when I received a phone call from Lynn Bilger one December morning. He informed me that he had the dream of catching a big Golden Trout. He said that through his research he saw that I had guided several line class world records on the Golden. He told me that in his pursuits to date, all he had been able to achieve were Goldens in the 8 to 10 inch class and even though any Golden is exciting, he hoped one day he would catch one of those elusive monsters known to be found in Wyoming's Wind River Range. I think I must have talked with him for close to an hour. His
excitement was addictive and I was thinking I would enjoy taking this guy back into one of our special spots and hook him up with a Golden that would just blow him away. Lynn said this sounded just like the trip he had been dreaming about. Lynn said he didn't know just when he could go but he wanted to get his adventure underway.
He told me he did not have the full deposit required, but he said he
could send in $100.00 now as a deposit and add to it as the funds became
available - if that was ok with me. Being an astute business man, I said, "Heck ya".
Well, a month later I get a check from Lynn for $25.00 so I put it on his account. In February he sends me another $25.00, but now he has me a little confused and I'm wondering what date he is going to be able to
go on this trip. I call up Lynn and ask him when he wants to schedule the trip, but he informs me there is no way he could possibly get enough funds together
to go this year. After kicking at the bush for a bit, trying to feel this guy out, it all of a sudden dawns on me that this is a young kid on the other end of the line. Lynn Bilger is in High School and is working at Shaky's Pizza after school and on weekends, trying to save
up enough money to make his dream come true. Lynn had saved up for
over a year and a half to be on this pack trip. We had tried in January to predict when "ice off" would hit this spring, we locked down the dates, but now an ocean of snow turns us back.
This is a 6 day pack trip into the high country. The weather has been perfect the last few days and the melt is well under way. With luck we might be able to get back up here the end of this trip and hopefully the snow will have melted enough to allow us access to at least reach the lake. Just getting to the lake is no way a guarantee, as anyone who has ever fished for Goldens can tell you, these are very difficult fish to catch. Our plan is to drop elevation and go for different types of trout with a plan to come back here on our last day before packing out to see if there is any chance of getting in.
The Golden Trout (Salmo agua-bonita) is one of the most colorful and
elusive trout in the country. These fish are very vividly colored, with
yellow gold to rosy red bellies and sides. A crimson band runs
laterally through 10 oval parr markings in younger fish. The tail is
spotted and the dorsal, pelvic and anal fins have a white leading edge.
Goldens do best in isolated lakes by themselves as they are easily
hybridized or they soon become victim to more aggressive fish. Goldens
are spring spawners and will usually be found moving to spawn areas when
the water temperature reaches 36 degrees.
The Goldens arrived in our area by train. The story goes that right after
the railroad connected the east and west coasts, a wealthy railways
executive tried to send some Kern River California Goldens back to his
home in Pennsylvania. The train stopped in Green River Wyoming to take
on wood for fuel and water. A cowboy noticed these colorful fish,
convinced the appropriate persons that many of these were dying and said
that they needed be taken off the train. He rigged up a pack system for
his mule consisting of two old metal milk jugs one on either side of the
pack saddle loaded with fresh water and fish. As the mule walked, the
water inside would splash keeping enough oxygen in the mix to keep the
fish alive. These fish were taken way up into the Wind River Mountains
and there turned loose. Most of these high elevation lakes were free of
fish but full of food and the Goldens thrived with many turning into
football size trout. The world record Golden was caught up here,
weighing in at 11 lbs 4 oz.
The Bridger Wilderness Area is made up of 550,000 acres within the 3 ½
million acre Bridger-Teton National Forest. In this wilderness area
alone, there are over 1,300 lakes and 800 miles of rivers. This area is
so special that it inspired the United States Forest Service policy we
now have. The Bridger-Teton National Forest became our country's
very first Forest. Currently there are about 34 lakes in the Wind River
Range known to hold Goldens. Anglers from around the world come to
chase this elusive fish and soon come to find out that if fishing is the
sport of patience, Golden trout fishing hones a fine edge on that
patience.
We are all sitting around the fire with the last day of fishing for this 6 day trip coming into plan for the morrow. We have had excellent fishing on Cutthroat, Rainbow, Brookies and Grayling. Our party is made up of 5 other fishermen in addition to Lynn. We have had a great week and the
question is thrown out "What do you guys want to do on your last day of wilderness fishing?" The enthusiasm is overpowering from these older guys who want to head back down to a spot that gave up lots of big fish. As the excitement grows I see Lynn slowly take on the weight of
realization that his hopes of catching a large Golden are fading as the whole group wants to go in the other direction. I can see his acceptance to the group decision. I announce that the group decision seems to be that they want to head down to this other lake and sure enough I'm going to send them down there with my other guide as Lynn and I have a mission ahead of us to get a Golden. You could see the change immediately in Lynn.
Little did Lynn know my resolve on this, but a high school kid saving up money for a year and a half to try and catch a Golden hit me hard. I didn't care what it took, he was going to get in there and have his chance. We left early the next morning by horseback. Our plan was to
ride as far as possible and when we can go no further by horse, tie up and continue the rest by foot. All we could see was a sea of white but the last few days had been very warm. Our hope was to try and get to the inlet.
The hiking was very difficult. When you're walking on top of the snow and then suddenly break through to your crotch, they call this post-holing but somehow the name falls way short of the difficulty involved. Through the growing exhaustion all I could think was, "Please
be some open water at the inlet." We keep driving on until finally we get to a little rise where the inlet is visible and there it is, open water. The ice is back about 50 yards from the shore for about 250 yards of shoreline. As we rig up you notice huge fish lying on the bottom of the lake right below the ice line. The rigging required a
weighted (black and maroon with flashabou) leach pattern and a fast sinking line. The best technique was to caste out onto the ice, let the line sink by stripping off the real as the line, between me and the fly on the ice, sank. After the line had a fairly large "I would pop the line just enough to pull the fly off of the ice. As the fly sank I kept feeding line watching the area to look for fish movement. At
times they struck on the drop, at others the fly would sink to the bottom. If nothing happened on the drop, I would let it set for a
while on the bottom and then a couple short hard strips and then a few
more normal strips. I would usually hook up by the second or third
strip. If not, I'd let it sit for about 30 seconds and give it
another few strips.
I showed Lynn the technique and then sat back to watch. The first few attempts nothing. The third wham! The line pulled tight, the rod bent to the water and the real began to sing. You could tell by Lynn's concentration that he was in the thick of it. That ether that is a mix of everything the trip has to offer and the adrenaline that binds it all together takes control. How in the world does it work that
things fly by so fast and furious but somehow we shift into that awareness level that everything runs through the senses in slow motion. You can remember every minute detail. What a feeling. Well, Lynn caught his big Golden. Not only that but he broke a fly rod line class world record doing it. He was written up in the Denver Post
and the Rocky Mountain News.
Tim Singewald is the owner operator of Bridger Wilderness Outfitters. He has guided the Wind River Country for 25 years. He has guided 5 IGFA line class world records for Golden Trout. For more information contact
Bridger
Wilderness Outfitters at PO Box 561, Pinedale, WY 8294
Check out: Bridger Wilderness Outfitters
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