Amazing High Country Trip w/ Branuss 2025
fourbizz reply :
So, brandon and i have this little running joke. He tends to be the sucker that falls for some of my more outlandish/miserable/suicidal fishing trip ideas. He calls them "Jay's Sightseeing Adventures". Mostly because I come up with some wacky plan to go somewhere stupid and try a ridiculous technique. These usually involve many hours of driving and at least one other condition to make them miserable. Night fishing in January for example. ;D
Since I have been on a lengthy break from trophy bass fishing, the only thing on my mind were big trout. After extensive research, I found a little jewell up in the high country. My plan was to get up at 3:30am, drive to Brandons parents house, pick up two mountain bikes, a bike rack, and some float tube fins. Already perfect conditions for one of Jay's Sightseeing Adventures, which he was all to ready to express. By 5:30 we were again on our way. After much nodding off by yours truly we arrived at approximately 8am and drove right past the parking area. After finding a campground host and probably waking him, we were informed that we had overshot our target by about 7 miles. 
. Upon re-arrival at the parking area we got the bicycles off the rack, the 30lb packs on our back and got all the aforementioned over 2 barbwire fences (legally). We rode for 100 yards... We thought we were gonna die. We are out of shape. After another 2miles and probably 10 breaks to evaluate our sanity and dry heave, we locked the bikes to an aspen to make the final 3/4 mile ascent, afoot. The lake was just over the hill. No, its just over THIS hill. NO...IT HAS TO BE JUST OVER THIS HILL! It wasnt, we were ummmmmmm disappointed. After another 100 feet the lake appeared just to our right, previously obscured by a small hill. Success! There was much rejoicing. It was 9:45. Just over 5 hours to reach our destination. Another 30 minutes of unpacking, and setting up rods, gear, tubes, waders, etc we were on the water.
It was a relief to just be sitting and more or less at rest, lol but we had no fish in the first 45 minutes. It appeared this may very well be one of my infamous misadventures. It was incredibly windy, overcast, and cold. But then I see Brandon rear back with his horrible orange tipped abhoration that he calls a trout rod 
. After an exciting fight for all parties, he was rewarded with his first ever Lahontan Cutthroat. A nice one too!
He proceeded to catch a few nice brook trout while i worked for one missed bite. We worked our way across the lake to the only real point where brandon proceeded to hook and land a very nice 21" Cutt that ripped drag for some time.
After much high fiving and such, I rolled my fly out about 30 ft and as soon as it hit bottom i felt a wonderful thunk thunk. I swept the rod and was immediately informed that the fish on the other end would prefer to be in control . After a minute or so of drag ripping i caught a peek of her tail. She was big. I became scared. If I were to dump that fish, there is a real possibility of me crying. After five or six minutes, Brandon had both of our nets at the ready. Mine is smaller, but is less harmful to the fish's fins and slime coat. He tried that one first. Fail. He tried his second. Fail. Then he attempted some sort of double-net salad spoon maneuver that made me cringe. I decided to abort the net idea and luckily succeeded in cradling her up over the edge of my tube and into my lap. HOLY CRAP! My first ever Lahontan Cutt will probably be my lifetime PB. 26 inches from a small high country lake! Not a heavy fish, but BIG!!
I was beside myself. This grueling suicide trip had just become completely worth it! She swam off, hopefully to be enjoyed by another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMFiLrQx270
Brandon was catching tons of fish, with probably 4 brookies to every cutt. Probably 15 fish for him on the spinning rod. I worked up 2 more cutts on the fly one @ 20 and the other @ 19 inches. Couldnt get any brookies so when brandon ate lunch i used his crap rod to catch three brookies of 15, 16, and 17 inches. The brookies pictured are both of our new PB's 16" for brandon and 17" (tie) for me.
These are my other two Cutts. Throughout this post you can see the awesome variation in coloring for these fish. Each variation is gorgeous but i am partial to the one that i have in the water. Pic doesnt do it justice!
There was snow in the forecast and we looked up to see some pretty ominous clouds rolling over the peaks on the horizon. With such a long grueling trip ahead of us, we hustled off the water having had an awesome day. The trip out was tiring but nothing compared to the trip in. What an amazing day. Had a great time with brandon, even apart from the fishing it was just a fun experience.
jrhennecke reply :
Great post and pics. Sounds like you guys had a great time.
burleytog reply :
What, no fire on the shore and some fresh trout on a stick?
:-?
fishinfiend reply :
Very nice. Those fish are beautiful.
Tin reply :
QuoteWhat, no fire on the shore and some fresh trout on a stick?:-?
They live in Cali, what do you expect?
Grey Wolf reply :
Thanks for sharing. Great pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
.dsaavedra. reply :
great trip great pictures!
i wish i lived in the mountains.....
salad spoon maneuver made me laugh a lot! ;D
RobbyZ5001 reply :
Fourbiz you have some beautiful pictures there. Those native trout have amazing color. I am the same way with my trips, and I am glad I am not alone. It is nice to have a couple of buddies that know what they will be getting into, and still go with you for the show. It is nice to have some sick friends to drag into these trips!
=Matt 5.0= reply :
QuoteQuoteWhat, no fire on the shore and some fresh trout on a stick?:-?
They live in Cali, what do you expect?
Seriously tho Biz, awesome pics! Great report. 8-) If I had to drive 5 hours to go fishing I'd be in Pennsylvania! ;D
daviscw reply :
Neat post. Trout fishing is huge around here.
Branuss04 reply :
"Epic Trip" hardly describes this trip guys. One thing jay forgot to mention was that we were above 7,000 feet in elevation. I live a a comfortable 500 feet elev. and he lives around 1,500 feet elev. So neither of us were in shape, yet alone ready for the thin air. Personally after jumping the first fence and going 50 yards, my legs were burning and I could hardly breathe. Dry heaving was a regular occurrence on every break along with debating whether the bikes were a good idea.
Like Jay said, apart from the fishing, it was such a great experience. But with a trip like this, the satisfaction that comes from hiking/biking some god awful 4 miles into some remote lake with 35# sacks on your back, is WAY better than a lake off of the side of the road. It just feels like we accomplished something. It was a great trip, even with our 7 hour triathlon (Biking, Hiking, float tubing). Definably one of jays better "Sight Seeing Adventures"
fourbizz reply :
Man! I'm progressively getting more and more sore, lol. Too much fun bud! I'm ready to do it again!
Big-O reply :
Tremendous photos fourbizz and my favorite is the first one where you were in the tube in front of the scattered brush line.....Gives credence to the true wonderment and love for fishing. AWESOME.
Big O
Mattlures reply :
Jay that has to be one of the best reports ever. What an awsome place. Did you see any deer? or other big animals? That looks like good hunting area.
You should be writting magazine articles. Seriously
fourbizz reply :
Thanks Matt! Writing for magazines would be so cool. I have no idea how to pursue that though.
I'll tell you dude, that country reminds me sooo much of my old stomping grounds in Colorado. Between the Aspens, Sage, Rabbit Brush, and weather, while I was walking around with my frame pack, in my head I kept waiting for a big bull elk to come bugling down out of the aspens. Just felt like I was back home hunting. But more to the point, we saw some deer when we overshot the parking area, but didnt see any big game while on the hike in.
preach4bass reply :
QuoteThanks Matt! Writing for magazines would be so cool. I have no idea how to pursue that though.
You need to figure it out. When I see that you have started a thread (fishing related or otherwise) I almost always read it because I know it will be easy to read, keep my attention, and more often than not, make me laugh. You would be a great monthly column writer for an outdoors magazine.
Great story and great pictures. Thanks for sharing.
fourbizz reply :
Geez, thanks man, glad to know there are a few people out there that enjoy the read 
deepsessions reply :
some great lookin' fish man I can see why your chaisin' them! if your interested in writing try and start a blog somewhere the more readers you can take with you the more marketable you are....good luck
Infidel. reply :
Way to go man! I take it you are tying your own flys? If you are let me know because I just ran across a couple packs of Tiemco hooks from my fly tying days. I'll send them your way.
fourbizz reply :
Thanks guys! Jared, I'm really hoping to avoid fly tying. Last thing I need is some other craft to spend money on equipment and materials, lol. For now I'm ordering flies for crazy cheap online. like .27 cents for little midges and stuff to $1.40 for big tricked out bass flies that i see go for like $7 everywhere else. quality seems pretty high too.
Infidel. reply :
I hear you on that Jay. I used to be up until 2 or 3 the night before trips tying. I haven't been flyfishing in years and thought I had gotten rid of all the tying stuff. Seeing those pics makes me want to get back into it though. Sure beats the little wild guys we have in the creeks down here.
Jimzee reply :
Freaking awesome pics Jay.
bdog4x4 reply :
looks like yall had a good time
Mrs. Matstone reply :
GREAT REPORT! Awesome pics and fish too. Call me crazy but I think your adventures look like a whole lot of fun. I am looking forward to hearing all about your guys next adventure. I hope it is as or more productive as this one too. Congrats!
Branuss04 reply :
QuoteGREAT REPORT! Awesome pics and fish too. Call me crazy but I think your adventures look like a whole lot of fun. I am looking forward to hearing all about your guys next adventure. I hope it is as or more productive as this one too. Congrats!
Mrs. Matstone, don't let this trip fool you, For everything one epic trip jay has, he usually has 3 or 4 that are downright STUPID : : :
Either way though they are usually fun in one way or another
-HAWK- reply :
Awesome trip guys! I really wish we had some scenery like that down here. All we have is swamps and beaches, And thats It!
darren reply :
I sure enjoy reading your threads fourbizz. I know they will have lots of pictures of beautiful scenery with a great story behind it...you guys are so lucky to have that country as your backdrop...keep um comin.....
baboosicbass08 reply :
Wow looks like you guys had some fun, great pics! I wish I had somewhere around here like that place.
JUST reply :
Dinkin Flicka, those are some great fish, I'll have to try to make the next one.
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