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LOAH
08-18-2008, 05:38 PM
I've been determined to hike to a lake in the Fish Lake area for the past few weeks but have always ended up elsewhere every time.

I heard word that the fish weren't really very big and possibly not worth the strenuous hike (much of it off trail), but I'd already made up my mind and just getting there was my main focus at this point.

I was on the road by 4:30am and decided to take the scenic route down Gooseberry Road. That's some pretty country.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2641.jpg

Once I got closer to my destination, I couldn't resist flipping a spinner into the slow meander of 7 Mile Creek, just North of Johnson Reservoir. I didn't catch anything nor did I see any fish, but I noticed the temperature was pretty low, especially when I realized that my guides had frozen up for the first time since winter. :shock:

Just down the road, I saw a trademark of the landscape that I'd come to dread later:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2643.jpg

I was planning for a 2 mile hike from the trail head and I knew that the last (the steepest) leg of the hike would be straight up the mountain, without a trail.

I'd spent the hours studying my maps and planning just the right spot to turn off the trail, so I was confident when I started my hike.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2646.jpg

I didn't plan for livestock, however, and was quite humbled by the large beasts that didn't seem very enthused by my presence. I gave them a wide berth, sweet talking them the whole time, but there were several times that I felt safer busting brush to get around them, especially when some of the bulls started stomping their hooves.

Somewhere along the line, I missed my turn. Like I mentioned, no trail. It was hard to see through the thick forest that surrounded me and I couldn't see my position relative to the adjacent mountain which I had to ascend.

I consulted a basic topographic map several times along the way, but the feature I was looking for (signaling my time to turn) had never shown itself. The trail I'd studied was supposed to cross the stream bed twice and upon the second crossing, I was supposed to find the outlet of my lake and simply follow that up.

:roll:

In true LOAH form, I'd hiked twice as far as necessary and quite a ways higher in elevation than where my lake was. :lol: Once I saw where I was, I knew I had gone way off course. I figured the quickest and easiest way I could get anywhere would be to lose the trail, hike across the ravine and onto a giant rock slide so I could avoid the dense brush of the forest.

Getting to the rock slide was an adventure of its own with all the dead fall everywhere and tightly knit trees, but I sweat it out and made it in one piece. The rocks at the Western base of the slide had water trickling between them and showed evidence of some serious fluctuation in water level:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2650.jpg

It was pretty though:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2651.jpg

Okay, to the far Eastern side of the slide and down. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

Here's part of the rock slide:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2654.jpg

It doesn't look so bad until you're trying to maneuver through it with a heavy pack (oh, did I mention I packed in my tube, waders, fins, etc?). The boulders were quite large and it proved difficult to get from one to the next without jumping. I did my best to scramble through it with as little resistance as possible, but I probably still wasted a mile in steps just to navigate the slide. At times, I wondered if it would end (I was supposed to be on the far east side of the slide, not west).

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2660.jpg

At least the lichens were neat looking enough to keep me somewhat amused:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2657.jpg

After chugging away on the slide for an eternity, I finally came within sight of my target, far below me:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2662.jpg

I couldn't get down the rocks fast enough and once I'd gotten a bit closer, I could see a few fish right by the shoreline (look closely):

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2668.jpg

Ah, made it! Aberdunk, or Lake Louise (depending on your map) was now at my mercy.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2667.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2670.jpg

Heck of a nice place to be. I wished I'd gotten there sooner. :oops:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2683.jpg

I had hopes of large brookies, tigers, and cutts and knew that wouldn't be the case as soon as I arrived. I saw a larger brookie of about 18 inches, but he wouldn't have anything to do with my offerings. He made it a point to come and check on me quite often though.

In fact, I couldn't get anything to hit at first. Nothing on my favorite spinner, nothing on the Jake's, and nothing on the fly rod (streamers and buggers) before I destroyed my leader and gave up on it...What gives?

I decided to play dirty and rigged up a worm under a bubble. I lobbed out to an area that I'd seen a few rises at and waited while throwing hardware. Nothing.

:?

Time to switch spots. Armed with a night crawler, I crunched my way through some thick brush into an area that was practically boiling with surface action. I could see a good amount of fish working a hatch and I cast out a little ways past them. Nothing again. I reeled in slowly to get my night crawler higher up while being towed and that's when I saw the fish react to it. I watched as a small tiger slurped up the worm and quickly set the hook.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2679.jpg

Just a kid and hooked right in the lip, I let it go. I threw the remaining chunks of worm into the water and watched the eager fish come right up and eat them, so I knew I could keep catching with worms, but I wasn't interested in doing that for fish of this size. Odds are that I'd have to weed through a bunch of dinks to find a decent sized fish and it was even more likely that I'd end up gut hooking some dinks on accident before finding any bigger ones.

I didn't want to fish with worms, I didn't want to blow up my tube (that I'd lugged all the way up here), jigs weren't working, my usual tricks weren't working...So I basically stopped trying to fish. I was quite fatigued from the trek in (and around) and didn't have the energy to keep working at it, especially if I ever wanted to get home again.

I basically just sat around and enjoyed the solitude and the scenery for awhile. This guy stopped in to give me a shot:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2675.jpg

While sitting around, I observed the feeding habits of the fish for awhile and then tried to trick one into eating a bare hook. It was a small black drop shot hook. I lightly dotted it on the surface a few times, stopped, another tap, tap, and then I let it drift down for a moment.

What do you know? I actually tricked a near by brookie into biting my hook! No kidding!

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2681.jpg

How odd that these fish wouldn't take any of the traditional spinners, flies, or jigs, but as soon as I quit trying, I scored with nothing. That was a first for me.

For some reason, I'd lost my drive to catch these fish. I'm sure the exhausting hike had something to do with it, but I just wasn't feeling normal.

I was still quite content to sit there by my lonesome with my thoughts though. Like I wrote earlier, I just wanted to get to this place. That goal had been met.

While sitting next to a group of feeding fish, I pulled out my camera and got really lucky while taking underwater video of a medium sized brookie. Check this out:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/th_IMGP2690.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/?action=view&current=IMGP2690.flv)
(Please excuse the grainy video...It looks much better without the compression of Photobucket.)

Pretty cool to see it take that wasp and spit it out a few times. I wouldn't eat it either. :lol:

The sun had long since peaked in the sky and I was unsure how long it would take me to get back down. I knew I had my work cut out for me so off I went, intent on following the outlet back to the trail.

The outlet was nothing more than a trickle that quickly went underground leaving only ferns as evidence of its path:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2704.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2703.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2702.jpg

It still wasn't easy to follow the ferns and stinging nettle since this area wasn't exempt from the dead fall and other tangling obstacles. I zig-zagged for another eternity and just about lost my head when I finally came to the trail.

Whew! What a pain! I was glad to have brought my new water filter (save space/payload in the pack) and got some fresh stream water from Tasha Creek. After a well deserved rest, I was off with the wind at my back.

I'd forgotten about the beef though. :lol: Those sluggish, stubborn slabs of meat were still grazing in the intermittent meadows and I had to break even more bark to get around them AGAIN! They showed me no respect this time and that took another heavy toll on my progress.

At long last, I made it back to my car. I was beaten, beefed, bruised and bewildered at how a simple 4 mile hike (round trip...on paper) could turn into such a tiresome ordeal, but I feel it was a necessary experience for me. I had set out to find this place and I did. It wasn't easy at all, but I made the journey. It builds character right? :lol:

So for any of you who have ever looked at the DWR's fish stocking reports and wondered what Aberdunk was all about, well now you have an idea. It's a brutal hike (even if you know what you're doing/where you're going) once you leave the trail and the fish are no better than most drive-to lakes.

I will say, however, that it offers spectacular scenery and peaceful solitude for the willing.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

Last Child
08-20-2008, 09:53 AM
That was interesting. Love the video!

JP
08-20-2008, 10:41 AM
Great adventure to read :mrgreen: I do feel sorry for ya, getting there was kind of elusive.

Jaxx
08-20-2008, 11:20 AM
very cool. Love the video. Nice pics as always.