I was tossing and turning at 5 this morning and finally gave up the fight. The big laker I’ve been after all week at Jenny Lake must have been calling me. At 6 I was loading my Exploder and heading back to Grand Teton National Park in darkness.
By the time I arrived the sun was up, what sun there was anyhow. This morning was mostly cloudy and I drove through some scattered showers between Victor and Jenny. The elk were bugling and a cold wind was busting whitecaps up on the gravel beach I hiked too.
I started fishing with my 7-weight RX and a Uniform Sink Type V but after 15 minutes of casting and stripping without a bump I switched to my 5-weight that was rigged with two nymphs. With this I made some short casts just past the drop-off and started a three finger hand twist. That was it. On my first retrieve I hooked and landed a 21” laker and followed him with five more lake trout in five more casts!
Landing the lake trout I got up early for on my 5-weight probably wasn’t going to happen so after my fun of catching a few I went back to my 7 and continued dredging. Absolutely not a strike. At 10 I was thinking of packing it in because I have plenty of work to do at home but the wind intensified and I could see a storm brewing and blocking out the Tetons. I hoped it would be the storm that triggered the big fish bite. I casted aggressively through the entire hour long lasting squall but still not a bump. By 11 the storm was gone and Jenny slowly calmed down from whitecaps to a gentle waves. That’s when I hooked up to something stronger than a cookie cutter mackinaw.
My heart jumped a few beats but I could feel awkwardness. I had a sizeable fish but it wasn’t making the typical big lake trout run. After a minute of stubborn fighting, up to the surface came a glowing sucker. A sucker! While most anglers would have been disappointed, I was stoked. I balanced my camera on a rock and got me a sucker hero shot. Good fun!
That was the excitement for today. I pulled out from Jenny at noon cold and wet. I have packing to do. I’m headed for Wisconsin to try for my 50” musky later this week – priorities!
Roughfish are wonderful on a fly rod!
They are not trash fish to Jeff… more along the lines as recycled fish 🙂
MNFishhunter, I’m happy to say I’ll be in Duluth this time tomorrow. Will play some pool then head for the rich musky waters of Manitowish Thur. You live in a great place also – all those great species!