15 minute read
ASCEND TO TROUT HEAVEN
Well-named Hidden Lake, tucked away in far northern Idaho, is one of dozens of mountain lakes that host good fishing in summer. Hidden is stocked every other year by biologists, most recently in 2020 with
Ascend To Trout Heaven By Mike Wright A s fishing season transitions into the dog days of summer, the avid stillwater trout angler In the heights of Idaho’s Panhandle are a good number is in a bit of a quandary concerning destinations. Weeks and weeks of of alpine lakes to fish during summer’s dog days. heat have increased weed growth in many of the lower elevation lakes to the point of making it difficult to find unobstructed open water, and when you do find some, many of the fish have developed a slight case of lockjaw due to the increased water temperature. Added to these woes is the fact that in many of the easy-access lowelevation lakes there is a noticeable decline in the number of trout available to the angler. Stocking of these lakes usually takes place in March, April or May, so by the later part of July and early August, most of these fish have ended up on someone’s dinner table or fallen victim to ospreys, eagles or a host of other predators. Since the survival rate for trout planted in late summer is very poor, the stocking program generally ends in late spring or early summer at the latest. All these factors combine to make trout fishing in low-elevation lakes in late summer a rather grim prospect. However, there is an option for those anglers who don’t want to put away their fishing gear and wait for the cooler temperatures of early fall. THERE ARE OVER 3,700 alpine lakes in the Gem State, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and a large number of them are stocked with trout. Most of these waters are in remote, mountainous areas, only accessible by foot or horseback, but there are a small number of lakes that can be reached by motorcycle, ATV or in some cases by car. The fish in these lakes have a very short growing season, so they tend to be very aggressive and will attack anything they perceive to be food. These lakes also tend to
Author Mike Wright counts Queen and Copper Lakes as among the easier-to-reach alpine waters in the Panhandle, but others require a bit more effort – although the rewards just might be greater. (MIKE WRIGHT)
receive very light fishing pressure, so the trout are not particularly leadershy and are not easily spooked.
Most of the same strategies used in fishing lowland lakes will also work well in high waters. If downed timber is present in a mountain lake, chances are very good it will act as a magnet to attract insects and thus is a good place to find hungry trout. However, if there is no wood, dead vegetation or other obvious structure available, it would be a good strategy to work a fly, lure or bait close to the shoreline. Often trout will cruise close to the edges or around the drop-offs. There really isn’t a need for long-distance casting.
It is also not a bad idea to include a float tube with your fishing equipment when visiting a highaltitude body of water. There are times when casting from the bank can present a problem, so it would be easier to be in the water and fish back toward the shore.
For the avid dry fly fisherman, it is very rare to have much surface action on mountain waters. For that reason, small nymphs such as Pheasant Tails, Princes and gold-ribbed Hare’s Ears, as well as downsized leeches and Woolly Buggers, will prove to be far more effective. Hardware anglers will find that the more flash and movement on their lure, the more successful they will be. For anyone using bait, worms, PowerBait, corn and marshmallows are always good choices.
ONE THING TO remember about alpine lakes is that spring comes late and winter arrives early, so the fish have a rather short amount of time to gain weight. That means there is probably not much need to have a taxidermist on speed dial.
Still, that doesn’t mean bigger ones can’t be found. In 1993, bull trout were stocked in two Panhandle lakes, Roman Nose No. 1 and Upper Glidden. This was done to reduce brook trout abundance and improve their size. It was found that this program worked and brookie size improved significantly. However, since hatchery bull trout are not readily available (among other reasons), the program was discontinued. At Lake Estelle, brown trout were stocked in 1992 and still present in 2008. Unfortunately, surveys since then have not found any browns in the lake. According to Andy Dux, IDFG regional fisheries manager, there are no current plans to revive these stocking programs either, and, unfortunately, these larger species have apparently died off.
Another stocking program that has been studied to improve the size of the trout in alpine lakes was the use of triploid cutthroat. Since the triploiding process renders fish incapable of reproducing, they do not lose weight in the spawning process, as is fairly
common with diploids. In addition, triploids can’t interbreed with native trout, thus maintaining pure genes.
Although there will be more studies on the triploid cutthroat program, the first indications have not been encouraging. Growth rates between triploids and diploids have not shown an appreciable difference and the life expectancies of both seem to be nearly identical. This study will be going on for some time, but at the present time it looks as though this program will not increase the size of the cutthroat in high lakes.
A 2008 REPORT by then regional manager Jim Fredericks, fishery biologist Ryan Hardy and fisheries technician David Ayers looked at 51 alpine lakes in the Panhandle Region that were being stocked on a twoyear cycle. They investigated how long it took for cutthroat to reach a length of 250 millimeters, just under 10 inches. It was found that in lakes where stocking was significantly reduced, the amount of time required to reach that measurement was also rather dramatically reduced – by over a year and a half.
IDFG instituted a policy that, along with other factors, took into consideration the elevation of the lake and reduced the number of fish stocked in higher waters. Followup studies seem to indicate that this program is working fairly well. Since the food pantry in many of these alpine lakes is a little bare, having a little less competition for resources seems to help increase the size of the fish.
There have been some refinements to this program, but for the most part it is still in place. In addition, rainbows have been added to the stocking plan. This will not make a major difference in catch size, but since rainbows have a little longer life expectancy, it does make it possible to catch somewhat larger fish in a number of the higher elevation lakes.
At one time, some of the more remote lakes in the Panhandle district were stocked with golden trout and grayling. Although there has not been additional stocking for some time, there still may be a possibility of catching one of these more exotic species.
FISHING MOUNTAIN LAKES was found to be
the second most popular Idaho angling activity, according to a 2017 IDFG survey. Only river and stream fishing ranked higher. There are probably few people who would disagree with these
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findings, especially considering the outstanding scenery, cooler temperatures and the availability of eager-to-bite fish. The mountains of the Idaho Panhandle can provide all three of these appealing attributes, plus they host an ample supply of ripe, delicious huckleberries to help fuel your trip.
These high, forested ridgelines have long provided outstanding opportunities for a wide variety of outdoor activities and IDFG has worked very hard to ensure that anglers willing to sweat their way uphill have the opportunity of enjoying a very rewarding endeavor. The fish always seem to be hungry and are very cooperative, no matter what enticement is offered to them. They may not be in contention to set a new state record – a catch-andrelease record might not be a stretch, however – but they are strong and healthy and will put up an excellent fight.
While a number of these lakes require long, strenuous hikes to reach their shores, others such as Antelope, Elsie and East Roman Nose have logging roads almost to the edge of the shores. Others such as Spruce, Queen and Copper Lakes can be reached via a short, leisurely walk.
It might be helpful to pick up a map at the Bonners Ferry Ranger Station (208-267-5561). And it would be wise to check with IDFG’s Coeur d’Alene office (208-769-1414), since there are some lakes that are not stocked and have no natural reproduction. After all, it might be a bit embarrassing to spend the day fishing a lake that contained no fish. NS
One of summer’s pleasures is wading into a stream and searching for crayfish – catch enough and they can make a good appetizer or ingredient for gumbo. (RANDY KING)
On Mud Bugs And Gumbo
The summer heat sends me to swim the river a few times each year. I am looking to cool off, By Randy King CHEF IN THE WILD but also for rocks that might hide crawfish underneath. I’ll snorkel in a few feet of slow-moving water; the quiet of snorkeling is simply rejuvenating.
The water has a strange effect on vision. It makes what are actually little crawfish look like underwater super predators, something capable of taking off a hand – and not just the tip of a finger.
Indeed, the adrenaline rush of grabbing a little water cockroach and not getting hurt is the fun part about snorkeling for crawdads. You get to be active and you get that little bit of fear. One wrong move and you are pinched. (It was only later in life that I started wearing gloves to catch them. Even then, a solid grab on a gloved finger is no fun.)
Tactically speaking, the best method to gather crawdads that I have found is to work your way upstream. Start by slowly lifting rocks into the current, allowing the water to push the debris downstream and away from your field of view. Look for movement and the lobsterlike bodies of crawdads. Slowly slide your (gloved!) hand into the water and get within a few inches of the crawdad. Quickly thrust your hand down and grab the mud bug.
This can become quite the sport. Make it a contest with the kids or a buddy.
I think of it as a poor man’s lobster dive, with a lot more mosquitos. Crawdads are never really the “main” part of my dish, so after I gather about 20 or so – I simply get too sunburned to keep going – I can start to plan a meal.
SPEAKING OF, GUMBO is the everyman’s everyman food. It can be, and often is, just about any combination of ingredients, from oysters and crawfish, to chicken and
NOAH’S GUMBO
Despite being a chef, my gumbomaking experience is limited, but for some reason my 19-year-old son Noah took a shine to the process and has “perfected” his recipe.
Warning, this recipe creates a metric crap-ton of gumbo. It’s enough for a party or even to fill up multiple teenage boys. Even better, generally speaking, the dish knocks it out of the park.
It’s also a recipe you want to prepare for, rather than one you can assemble while the rest of it is cooking. And you will need a 12-quart stock pot or something similar, or you can cut the recipe in half for a smaller portion size.
The Roux
1 cup canola oil 1 cup all-purpose flour
Add the oil to the bottom of a large stock pot. Heat until nearly smoking. Add the flour in small batches. Stir nearly constantly until the flour reaches the color of milk chocolate.
Gumbo Base I
12 4-ounce andouille sausages, diced 1 white onion, diced 3 green bell peppers, diced 12 stocks celery, diced 12 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped 1 bunch green onion, sliced 2 12-ounce bags of frozen okra
Next add the sausages and white onion to the roux. Let cook for five minutes, until the onion is translucent. Then add the remaining vegetables.
Gumbo Base II
2 32-ounce cartons of low sodium chicken stock 4 bay leaves ½ cup “Cajun seasoning” 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon gumbo filé seasoning ¼ cup Slap Ya Mama seasoning 6 ounces of tabasco (half of a 12-ounce bottle) 3 drops liquid smoke
When the veggies are all “hot,” add the ingredients above. Bring to a boil, then turn to low heat. Stir frequently.
Meat
1 pound cooked white meat – grouse, wild turkey, quail, chicken – pulled 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp 20-ish crawdads
When the “base” for the gumbo is ready, it is time to add the meat. The nice part about gumbo is that the meat can be just about anything you want, from leftover taco meat to shrimp and crawdads. Have fun, experiment and use up leftovers.
Add the white meat first, then the seafood. When the crawdads are red all over, remove the pot from the stove and let stand for five minutes. Serve with white rice. Enjoy!
For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK
Noah’s gumbo, with andouille sausage, okra and crawdad, among other ingredients. (RANDY KING)
Kiran Walgamott shows off a crawdad he captured on a Western Oregon creek that he biked to. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)
sausage. A few vegetables, a few scraps of meat and a little love can make gumbo that is not only satisfying but also delicious.
The history of gumbo is hotly debated. But a few things are known and can be credited. First is the roux that is used in the cooking. Roux is a combination of flour and butter that is used as a thickener in cooking. The addition of roux has a clear French origin since it is one of the classic thickening methods from French cuisine.
Second is the addition of filé – ground sassafras leaves. The credit for this food product is often Choctaw in origin, as sassafras is a New World cuisine item. Third is okra, a West African plant. Combining those all together you get perfect Southern cooking, a blend of New and Old World and Africa.
The funny part about those three items is that they are all thickeners to some degree. Gumbo “purists” will argue that okra gumbo does not need roux and that the addition of filé will ruin a dish. Honestly, it is very hard to be a purist with a dish created around three different culinary traditions. In this instance I typically toss tradition out the window and go with what tastes good. And that – for me and many others – is a combination of all three in a dish. Roux, filé and okra grace my gumbo and it is better for it.
Another interesting note about gumbo is that it is often associated with hunting camp and male cooks. Doing research, it is hard to pinpoint why the dish has these implications, but it is often dependent on the success of a hunt. I think, as with many game dishes, the addition of a braised meat that is “tough” often helps. The dish even has a “build” connotation, as if it is not a recipe but something under construction.
Tomato is also a sore subject for gumbo nuts. Some argue that it has no place in the dish, others the opposite. This issue’s recipe does not have tomato, mostly because its author does not like tomatoes all that much. It is not some statement or purity test on the gumbo. NS
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