Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Just one more fish and I've got my Trout Grand Slam !

We've got this "secret lake," known only to the locals who know somebody where I've tried for years to catch the elusive Golden Trout. Well, after back packing in there, so I could fish early and late, I finall did it after four previous failures using a day hike.
It took a #18 Adams, which was small enough, but not quite the right color. I missed the first strike, another got off after the second, and I missed the third strike, but finally hooked up on the fourth hit. And landed a nice scrappy, 9 inch golden. My very first golden, and done with a dry fly no less.
I've done lots of rainbows, a brown or two, and a brookie on flies, now I have to get a cutthroat. Not very common in my country. Oh well, that's the fun and challenge of fly fishing.
I find it a bit odd that prior to my retiring, and moving near the mountains, I did lots of other fishing as well as a little fly fishing. But, since being so close to it, I did so little fishing of other forms, that I sold the boat I've had since 1973.
I guess I'm really hooked.
Now, to the local fly shop to get the exact match to what those goldens were feeding on. They seem to much prefer just the right fly, a creamy white little thing with kind of a thickish body. Perhaps a very small caddis ? They definately seem to prefer it fished dry, on the surface, not submerged either. E

I used to catch Golden trout in the Sierras in California high mountain lakes using a soft hackle pattern.

Elk hairs and parachute Adams worked well too.


Have you managed to catch a red band yet.

What is a red band ? E

Red band trout.Found in parts of OR, ID WA.

Another quest for you

Splitters vs. lumpers...

On a fly rod...

I've caught lakers, brookies, dollies, and arctic char...

Rainbows, cutties (West-slope, Yellowstone, coastal), but no red bands, or goldens...

Browns, land-locked Atlantics (sea-run, too), and all the NA Pacific salmon... And I am still more than a couple double-digits away from any complete slam...

R,

What do you say we go get some Lahontan Cutt's this summer? I picked up the Greenback and Bonneville subspecies this year. I would like to see if Maggie and I can do all the Cutt subspecies. Though Paiute's are going to be problematic, at the very least. I wish I'd fished the Silver King below the falls before that was closed. Other waters are problematic as well. It may involve some substantial hiking, as well as plenty of hours on the water.

As far as Red Bands are concerned, I think there are 3 subspecies found in CA. More info on the Heritage Trout Challenge page at the DFG. More bad news - there are 11 different CA trout listed on that page. But they are all subspecies of either Oncorhynchus Mykiss, or Oncorhynchus Clarkii (Rainbow or Cutthroat).

There were supposedly some Redbands introduced into a lake near me, but in my years of fishing there, I've only taken warmwater species.

Scott

I picked up a few dozen lahontan cuts last month here in WA. Do any lakes carry lahontans in California?

and am heading Over to ID and WY for west slope cuts next month.

Hopefully will heal after my recent surgery and be strong enough to hill in the 6 miles to a local alpine lake that holds golden trout.

Hi Scott ! Long time no see.
Finding some Lahontan Cutts won't be hard. Red Lake and Red Lake Creek, that flows from it, is full of them. My spies tell me that the backup brood trout for DFG restoking program are in the lake. Based on what my fish finder tells me, it's true.
They are very tough to see when in a stream due to their dark backs. I walked 2-3 miles of Red Lake Creek two summers ago and think I only saw 4-5 fish. But, when I hit the lake in June of '11,' they were packed in the outlet to the lake while the lake had all sorts of them trying to spawn in the shallows along the dam.
Yes ! I'm up for it. Send me a PM when you think we can go and I'll arrange my schedule for it. E

Hey E, is that Red lake off of 88? Looks like split pea soup right now.

Yes, it does. But I saw two adult and one juvenile Osprey working the lake when I there Sunday.
It is not a clear lake in any case. But, if you walk the shoreline in the back, the shallows are usually filled with tiny fry right near the shore. In the spring, the Cutts line the damn in their efforts to spawn. E