I had the opportunity to go on a fishing trip with Ryan and two of his brothers over the last couple of days. We headed up to a group of lakes west of Escalante, where his family has a very long history of hunting and fishing.
They know the land well, and we had fun to last for weeks, even if the Brook Trout we caught will not last much past tomorrow afternoon. Lasting supplies of that species for us would take up much more of my life than I am able to spare at this point in time, though. I am grateful for any time I can spend in that pursuit, nevertheless.
The view from the Griffin Top, an area at the highest point in the Escalante Mountains southwest of the Boulder. About five hundred feet down in elevation from here is the area of lakes that we fished.
Here I am at Long Willow Bottoms. It's a lake where I paddled and casted quite extensively, only getting one strike during around two hours. But hey, it's a great place to be for much more than two hours.
Joe Lay lake. A few strikes, but no fish landed. Even more beautiful than the Willow Bottoms, though.
Here are the Syme Brothers suiting up for another expedition onto Joe Lay.
Here is one of the lakes that yielded amazing enjoyment and quite a few nice-sized and exceedingly beautiful Brookies, Flat Lake. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending upon perspective) there is an up and down walk of a mile or so to the lake from the trailhead and about fifty feet of floating mat that is very permeable to human feet between the ground and where one can cast or put in a float tube after that walk . It's difficult to fish to boot, with all of that cover for the fish to tangle line and cause much frustration.
Of course, all this serves to discourage over-fishing and non-brookie fanatics from hanging out there for very long, so it's a heavenly place, to my sensibilities.
They know the land well, and we had fun to last for weeks, even if the Brook Trout we caught will not last much past tomorrow afternoon. Lasting supplies of that species for us would take up much more of my life than I am able to spare at this point in time, though. I am grateful for any time I can spend in that pursuit, nevertheless.
The view from the Griffin Top, an area at the highest point in the Escalante Mountains southwest of the Boulder. About five hundred feet down in elevation from here is the area of lakes that we fished.
Here I am at Long Willow Bottoms. It's a lake where I paddled and casted quite extensively, only getting one strike during around two hours. But hey, it's a great place to be for much more than two hours.
Joe Lay lake. A few strikes, but no fish landed. Even more beautiful than the Willow Bottoms, though.
Here are the Syme Brothers suiting up for another expedition onto Joe Lay.
Here is one of the lakes that yielded amazing enjoyment and quite a few nice-sized and exceedingly beautiful Brookies, Flat Lake. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending upon perspective) there is an up and down walk of a mile or so to the lake from the trailhead and about fifty feet of floating mat that is very permeable to human feet between the ground and where one can cast or put in a float tube after that walk . It's difficult to fish to boot, with all of that cover for the fish to tangle line and cause much frustration.
Of course, all this serves to discourage over-fishing and non-brookie fanatics from hanging out there for very long, so it's a heavenly place, to my sensibilities.