The wind howled off a bare ridge a hundred feet above us, fast enough that the breath caught in my throat as I tried to inhale in the thin air at just over 11,000 feet. The lake we’d come to fish was full of whitecaps, but the far shore was sheltered enough that I could still make out the drop-off that looked like the best place to start fishing.
This lake was at the top of a basin high in the Wind River Mountains, at the end of a six-mile hike through some of the most stunning country in the world. My buddy Bryan and I had passed up a half-dozen other lakes on the hike, although we’d stopped to fish a small creek that looked too good to ignore. It was full of decent-sized cutthroat, and I’d had to tear myself away to continue the hike up almost as high as we could go.
This lake had golden trout in it. I’d made other trips to the Winds for goldens before and come up empty, so I hoped this time would end up differently. Bryan and I rigged up our rods on the far shore, where the wind kept hurling itself down the slope and through the valley we’d hiked up.
If the wind hadn’t been howling, we would have spent longer analyzing the lake and looking for likely places to fish. I could make out what I thought were shallow weed beds, but beneath the whitecaps, I couldn’t quite see if the fish were hanging there. There was a nice-looking point on the south shore, but again, the wind made it tough to judge the depth and whether the drop-off around that point was sharp and sudden or gradual.
So, we stuck to the structure we could see, and started fishing nymphs underneath indicators on the drop-off. It wasn’t long before Bryan hooked up. He caught a decent golden of maybe 12 inches, then quickly put another of almost the same size in the net. Finally, my indicator shot under, and I had my first Wyoming golden in the net.
I picked this story to share because it illustrates well the hard-learned lessons I’ve learned over the years when chasing trout in high alpine lakes. Success in these fisheries boils down to your ability to observe structure and your willingness to move and cover as much water as possible. In the case of these golden trout, I didn’t have to cover much water, but the key of fishing around the right structure likely made the difference in coming home with a few trout instead of hiking back skunked.
Most of what I’ve learned about alpine lake fishing has come from experts in the field—authors like Rich Osthoff, and then my fishing buddies who always seem to catch big trout from these relatively small bodies of water. The tips collected below aren’t meant to be an exhaustive list of how to fish the high country, but they should be a great jumping-off point.
Let’s Chat Rigs
When I fish these lakes, I prefer two approaches—either a dry-dropper rig that I can easily cast to cruising fish, or a nymph rig under a slip-strike indicator. A regular ol’ sink-tip line for stripping leeches and scuds is a good setup if you have the room for an extra reel or spool, too, but I tend to just fish those off my floating line.
The nymph rig is versatile because that slip-strike indicator releases as soon as you set the hook. That means you can fish as long a leader as you want, and you won’t have the bobber get in the way of reeling in your line. This is great when you’re fishing glacial lakes with steep and deep drop-offs. You can put nymphs down at 14 or 15 feet, and not worry about how you’ll land that fish.
The nymph rigs are also great for setting a specific depth, then dragging slowly across weed beds, along edges, or placing nymphs next to submerged logs. If I could only bring one setup for fishing high-country lakes, it’d be a nymph rig with a slip-strike indicator.
Shallows Are The Key
Trout, for the most part, aren’t all hiding out in the deep parts of any given lake. They’re looking for the same things trout are in rivers – easy access to food and water that’s the right temperature.
And just like in rivers, fish are going to congregate where they can eat as much food as possible, with as little effort as possible. In lakes, that means the shallow flats and exposed weed beds are going to be your best friend.
The shallows are the first spots to warm up in the spring, and that’s where most of the aquatic plant life in a high-country lake is found. That plant life is key for the aquatic insects – mayflies, midges, caddis, and freshwater shrimp, to name the big-ticket items. Trout are going to spend as much time in these areas as possible to eat as much food as possible, so long as the water doesn’t warm up past tolerable levels.
However, trout don’t spend all their time here. Often, trout will cruise the shallows in the morning and evening, eating as much as they can during those periods of low light. During the heat of the day, a lot of trout will take off for deeper, cooler water, where they’re more sheltered from overhead predators.
A lot of trout will cruise the edges of these shallows and weed beds, looking to ambush other fish or critters like leeches. Shallows are a great place to start fishing in any alpine lake, because you can observe if the fish are cruising, get an idea of what they’re eating (are they keyed in on midges? Just snacking on anything they can while cruising?), and see if there’s any other structure that might be a place for fish to hang out.
It’s also a good idea to strip small scuds and leeches across the top of weed beds, even if you can’t see trout cruising on them. Sometimes, the fish blend in so well with the weed beds that it’s tough to spot them until they eat your flies.
Fish Around Structure
Trout rarely want to feed out in the open, except in periods of low light or hatches that are too thick to ignore. They love to hang out around structure, both to feel safe and as a potential spot to ambush other fish.
Shallows and weed beds are just two types of structure. Any places where the shore juts out into the water (a point), a sudden depth change, or submerged rocks and logs are ideal places for fish to hang out. Points and drop-offs are my favorite pieces of structure to fish, because they tend to be the most productive for me. A good sunken log, though, usually has a few fish hanging around it, too.
Points are key because, as fish cruise the lake, they’re forced to go around that point. It’s one place where you can be sure trout will eventually come to. If you don’t see fish in the flats, and drop-offs aren’t producing well, setting up with a nymph or dry-dropper rig near a point can be effective. Fishing off and around points is one of the go-to strategies at Pyramid Lake, for example.
The general rule, though, is that fish will be near structure for a large portion of the day. Even when they head off to deep water between morning and evening, chances are they’re congregating down deep next to drop-offs or boulders.
Sight Fishing to Cruisers
Another tactic that produces well on lakes is sight fishing. This isn’t the exclusive domain of dry flies, either. Last year, I had a ton of success casting a single nymph, with no indicator, in front of cruising fish. The trout would hone in on the nymph and vacuum it up, sometimes too quickly for me to set the hook.
But dry flies are very effective for throwing in front of cruising fish. Depending on the lake, and whether the trout are keyed in on a specific hatch, even tossing a small hopper or cricket can elicit strikes from fish that otherwise aren’t keen on eating. And of course, when a hatch is popping off, it’s an absolute blast to try and guess which way fish are going to run, toss your flies there, and hope the fish see them.
If you’re able to get in a position where you can watch an entire flat, and observe the fish cruising over it, you can have a lot of success by casting well ahead of them with a large scud, then retrieving that scud with a hand-twist (I’ve also heard it called the figure-8) retrieve. The short, jerky movements mimic a scud fairly well, and fish tend to go crazy over these flies.
The Flies
Generally speaking, high-country trout don’t get too picky. They’re often living in relatively sterile lakes and have a short growing season. They have to take advantage of the food they have when it’s there, and so long as you’re not going too off-the-wall with your selections.
Of course, there are lakes and moments where the fish key in on the midges, or mayflies, and you better have some close matches, or the trout will ignore you. A selection of midge and mayfly emergers is great to have in your box, in various sizes and colors.
But the flies I’d never be without are plenty of variations of scuds, chironomids, and leeches. These flies produce for me when nothing else is doing much, and I think I’ve probably caught more fish on a size 12 chironomid than any other pattern I’ve ever fished on a lake. Chironomids are largely active throughout the season, and they’re an easy meal for trout. They’re an indispensable part of any high-country angler’s box.
Leeches are great, too, especially tied in small sizes on nymph hooks. These leeches can be suspended in a nymph rig beneath an indicator, or slowly stripped across a weed bed. Scuds, of course, are another must-have fly. I like these in sparkly, flashy colors, so that they stand out among all the real bugs.
See What Works
While I stand by all the tips and thoughts laid out here, I’ll also say this – I don’t know any two anglers who approach high-alpine lake fishing the same way. I’m much more inclined to immediately rig up a pair of nymphs, while my buddies default to stripping streamers. If I see risers, though, all bets are off, and I’m working out how to get a dry fly out to them.
So what you should really take from this is the need to go out and develop your own methods and systems. The only hard-and-fast rules that exist in this kind of fishing are the ones about fishing near structure. Trout aren’t in 100% of the water all the time. They occupy specific areas, at specific times, mostly for food and comfort. Find those places, and you’re very likely going to find some fish.