Monday, September 20, 2010

Lawn Lake: Rocky Mountain National Park


















It was hard to imagine the fishing getting any better then the Roaring River. But we strapped on our boots and headed up to Lawn Lake where we would camp for the night. Most of the hiking guides we read stated the hardest stretch of trail was the first 3 miles. We thought they were way off! The second part of the hike took us from 9,500 ft to 11,000 feet in 3.5 miles but seemed a bit harder then day 1. The 1st set of switchbacks were long and steep, seemed to go on forever. After 2 1/2 hours of trekking up the mountainside we finally arrived at our destination. We set up camp and set up the rods very quickly as we were excited to see how the lake would produce.
The three of us started slamming hoppers close to the shoreline and soon enough we were catching plump 12-16 inch Greenbacks! Cast after Cast produced big fish coming out to gobble our hoppers. We even ventured our casts out further into the lake and fish were coming out from the bottom to eat them. For 8 hours the catching of fish continued and once the wind died down it got even better! We switched to a Royal Wulff at night and at one point my brother and I were catching or missing fish on every cast for 30 minutes straight! This was by far the greatest experience of the trip for us. I think with it being my first back country camping experience in the Rockies and the setting of the Lake it was one of the best fishing experiences of my life for that matter. The solitude and beauty of the lake and fish will be something my brothers and I will never forget. If you are in Rocky Mountain National Park do not let the 6.3 mile hike scare you away, the grueling journey is quickly forgotten once you hook into a few greenbacks. Enjoy the pics, they don't do it justice........

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