Just had to get away and walk into a mountain lake. I picked Upper Hazard Lake because it is an easy two mile walk, it is pretty and I wanted to see how the introduction of nearly 500 six inch tiger-muskies two years ago has affected the fishery. The lake was its usual beautiful self. I walked around in a clockwise manner the edge of the lake til I came to a very large rock which one can sit on about ten feet above the water and have clear casting for the back cast. Thirty-eight years ago I sat on this rock and caught a fish so large that I could not get it to come in towards me and broke it off (not on purpose, mind you). Since the lake only had Eastern Brook Trout, I must have hooked one of the old big fish that some people caught back in the day so to speak. My old time backpacking buddy, Otto, is married to a lady who as a little girl visited her grandfather in McCall each summer for a few months. She is about 74 so this was about 65 years ago. Her grandfather managed the McCall fish hatchery and she remembers a story her grandfather tells of having to dump all the fish in the hatchery because the State ordered a closure of all hatcheries when WWII started. He planted several of the mountain lakes in the area with these brookies which are not native to the Western U.S. I don't know why the fish were in the hatchery to begin with, but suspect the plan was to plant streams in central Idaho. Brookies are very successful reproducers and these lakes began to become overpopulated with stunted fish about six to seven inches with heads that would better fit a twelve to fifteen inch fish. Upper Hazard has been a favorite of mine for taking kids to because the walk is just right for little ones and the brookies were thick and easy to catch and they taste really good when cooked alongside the lake. A great experience for kids. The Idaho Fish and Game has long pondered this problem of overpopulated lakes and about fifteen years ago planted large lake trout in the lakes with the idea that they would clean the lakes of the smaller brook trout. For some reason that did not work. Maybe fishermen caught the lake trout. The latest idea is to plant tiger-muskies which will devour the brookie fry and then as the t-m grows begin to work their way through the adult population of the lake. So I had to check that out.
I caught a total of five fish. Four were brookies of about nine to ten inches. They are a beautiful fish. I released them. So the plan seems to be working. Also, there were very few rises on the lake compared to before the plant of the t-m. I put on a #20 emerger with the idea of catching one of the three inch fingerling and succeeded. I wanted to see what kind of fish those fingerling were. I got the little guy up on the rock, but he fell off between my legs and wiggled his way back into the lake before I could get a really good look, but I think he was a rainbow. If so, then the F G has started planting the lake too soon. F and G does not show a planting in this lake this year, so I will have to wait for a few months for them to catch up on their record keeping. But, the little guy may have been a brookie. I will go up there every year to watch the progress of the experiment. I met a retired couple from McCall who were geo-caching. They have lived in McCall for 18 years and before that 25 years in Coeur d' Alene. They knew the family that lived on a farm next to my grandfather and grandmother on Lake Coeur d' Alene. Fun talking to them. They live in McCall six months of the year and six months in Maui. Tough life, but as he says, "Somebody has to it." Well. I told him I did not think he was tough enough to live through a McCall winter (I was not trying to make a friend here) and he agreed. Haha.
The bonus of this trip was that I saw some really neat mushrooms and got some good pictures. I will have to work on identifying them, but three I am sure of, they are boletes and considered to be one of the very best eating mushrooms and only make their appearance in the fall. Kind of nature's counter balance to the morel which appears in the spring.
I had only traveled a mile or so down the gravel road from the transfer parking lot on the way home when I came upon a band of sheep on the road. The herder had the Ford 350 PU along with the trail horse parked blocking the road. (the other herder was at the head of the band about a mile down the road). He told me that they were moving the herd down the road a mile or so then would move them up above the road to bed them down for the night. I would have to wait an hour or so. I told him I was okay with that. I asked the herder (Peruvian whose English was quite good) if he was herding for Harry and Angie. He says, "You know Harry and Angie?" He was surprised. He said this was one of three bands and that each band numbered 2,200 sheep before the wolves made dinner of a few during the summer. When he learned that I knew Harry and Angie, he told me that I could drive through the band. I have done this several times before about thirty years or so ago. If one just steadily moves along about five miles an hour the sheep will part and let one pass through. Took about 20 minutes to drive through. Fun to watch the Great Pyrennes doing their guarding. I never got to see the shepherd dogs, but I knew they working hard because sheep kept flowing down on to the road and up to the road. The five dogs can control a whole band of 2200 sheep. It really is an amazing feat, in my mind at least.
For some reason the upload function of the blog service is not working at this time, so I will close and come back tomorrow and hopefully can upload some pictures of the mushrooms, fish, scenery and the sheep, guard dog and one of the herders.
Later,
Papa Coyote
I caught a total of five fish. Four were brookies of about nine to ten inches. They are a beautiful fish. I released them. So the plan seems to be working. Also, there were very few rises on the lake compared to before the plant of the t-m. I put on a #20 emerger with the idea of catching one of the three inch fingerling and succeeded. I wanted to see what kind of fish those fingerling were. I got the little guy up on the rock, but he fell off between my legs and wiggled his way back into the lake before I could get a really good look, but I think he was a rainbow. If so, then the F G has started planting the lake too soon. F and G does not show a planting in this lake this year, so I will have to wait for a few months for them to catch up on their record keeping. But, the little guy may have been a brookie. I will go up there every year to watch the progress of the experiment. I met a retired couple from McCall who were geo-caching. They have lived in McCall for 18 years and before that 25 years in Coeur d' Alene. They knew the family that lived on a farm next to my grandfather and grandmother on Lake Coeur d' Alene. Fun talking to them. They live in McCall six months of the year and six months in Maui. Tough life, but as he says, "Somebody has to it." Well. I told him I did not think he was tough enough to live through a McCall winter (I was not trying to make a friend here) and he agreed. Haha.
The bonus of this trip was that I saw some really neat mushrooms and got some good pictures. I will have to work on identifying them, but three I am sure of, they are boletes and considered to be one of the very best eating mushrooms and only make their appearance in the fall. Kind of nature's counter balance to the morel which appears in the spring.
I had only traveled a mile or so down the gravel road from the transfer parking lot on the way home when I came upon a band of sheep on the road. The herder had the Ford 350 PU along with the trail horse parked blocking the road. (the other herder was at the head of the band about a mile down the road). He told me that they were moving the herd down the road a mile or so then would move them up above the road to bed them down for the night. I would have to wait an hour or so. I told him I was okay with that. I asked the herder (Peruvian whose English was quite good) if he was herding for Harry and Angie. He says, "You know Harry and Angie?" He was surprised. He said this was one of three bands and that each band numbered 2,200 sheep before the wolves made dinner of a few during the summer. When he learned that I knew Harry and Angie, he told me that I could drive through the band. I have done this several times before about thirty years or so ago. If one just steadily moves along about five miles an hour the sheep will part and let one pass through. Took about 20 minutes to drive through. Fun to watch the Great Pyrennes doing their guarding. I never got to see the shepherd dogs, but I knew they working hard because sheep kept flowing down on to the road and up to the road. The five dogs can control a whole band of 2200 sheep. It really is an amazing feat, in my mind at least.
For some reason the upload function of the blog service is not working at this time, so I will close and come back tomorrow and hopefully can upload some pictures of the mushrooms, fish, scenery and the sheep, guard dog and one of the herders.
Later,
Papa Coyote
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