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| Left Fork of Iron Bog Creek |
After the last trip I'm always thinking ahead about the next outing. The beginning of summer is always tricky to get into lakes without them being frozen over but if you plan and hit it just right the fishing can be at its best. For about two weeks now I was looking forward to this trip, the opportunity to catch up with some high school friends while enjoying the great outdoors always ends in a good time. Over the two weeks I was contemplating on which lake we should go to. The options came down to Mill Creek Lake over in the Little Lost, which I was positive that it was open or Iron Bog and Fishpole Lake that had a pretty good chance that Fishpole would be frozen but probably Iron Bog would have a few spots that would be thawed off. Im not a huge fan of Antelope Creek in the summer because its so dry and and temperatures just seem to be a lot hotter but in the spring time with the peaks powdered with snow its an alright place to be.
We left Mackay with a full car and hopes of a beautiful spring day with highs into the 70's, but it was nothing like that. It was gloomy all morning with cooler weather which was nice to hike in but terrible to fish in. On the way up the trail I could see by the surrounding mountains that Fishpole was going to frozen over still but there was still hope for Iron Bog. By the time we hit the top we could see that we would be able to have a few spots to fish. After crossing the snowfield, Justin and I worked are way over to the inlet. The inlet is about the only place that I do catch fish in this lake. Once we got set up it was only a matter of mintues before I snapped my line on the first cast. Losing a nymph to the first cutty of the day. After that it, it was all about circle through the nymph fly box to see what they take. After changing my set up about three or four times it came down to the San Juan Worm. Once I tied that bad boy on, I had three cutty's in hand ranging from 11 inches to 15 inches.
Once I was satisfied with my catch, I wanted to go check out Fishpole and to make sure that it was absolutely frozen over. So I recruited Justin to come with me because he has never been to Fishpole. After an hour and numerous snowfields that wore the both of us out we made it to Fishpole to confirm that it was still frozen over. I think that it will be thawed off enough to fish it in about two weeks of 70 degree weather. On the way back we had the opportunity to do some skiing across some of the steeper snowfields, I think its a must do at a high mountain lake when the fishing is slow. When we got back to Iron Bog Lake we talked for a bit with other guys and decided to fish for a bit longer before we called it a day. The fishing wasn't very great so I had a lot of time to ponder on how lucky we our to have all these beautiful places around us and to be able to share it with family and friends. I'm especially lucky to have grown up in a place like Mackay where a high mountain lake is just an hour drive away.
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| Head of Iron Bog Creek |
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| Fishpole Lake |
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| Iron Bog Lake |
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| The Crew |
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