Author Topic: High mountain lakes in Montana (Read 9940 times)

Mt.Bucket · « **on:** Nov 04, 2008, 08:04 PM »

Anyone ever check out any lakes around 6 or 7 thousand feet for ice yet? I am going to this weekend or before, maybe tomorrow as I can,t take it any more. There are a ton of lakes reachable by four wheeler. Please let me know if any ideas and I'll let ya know what I find.

wingnutty · « **Reply #1 on:** Nov 04, 2008, 08:27 PM »

u r nuts

Heck, ice will be here soon enough and come march I'll be saying "man, I want some open water" or "wish I could duck or pheasant hunt!"

I'm still keyed on birds. I'll switch into ice mode in mid-dec though

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #2 on:** Nov 05, 2008, 11:05 AM »

The one lake Im keepn an eye on is Hyalite which is at about 6700ft and Cataract Reservoir as well.

Neptune · « **Reply #3 on:** Nov 05, 2008, 09:08 PM »

Quote from: cutbow_07 on Nov 05, 2008, 11:05 AM

The one lake Im keepn an eye on is Hyalite which is at about 6700ft and Cataract Reservoir as well.

Are there still big rainbows and Browns in Hyalite. When I was a kid, I use to go fishing there with my Grandfather and my Great Uncle. Worms and cowbells and you had big trout 'til you stopped fishing. Use to catch them from the shore with Bobbers too...

spedray · « **Reply #4 on:** Nov 07, 2008, 03:13 PM »

I was up South Willow creek above Pony yesterday and some of the high lakes were frozen enough to walk on. Cataract though just had a skim of ice in the morning.

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #5 on:** Nov 07, 2008, 03:50 PM »

Oh the fishing at Hyalite has treated me very well when I've hit it through the ice for trout and GRAYLING!! If you're ever down in the area PM me if you're interested.

Spedray, whatd ya doin up in my neck of the woods??? Hunting I suppose?

I was actually goin to head up and check on Cataract today but since ya been there I dont want to waste the gas or experience a possible "pucker" factor going over the rock on garnet grade since it's been getting worse.

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #6 on:** Nov 16, 2008, 09:36 PM »

Anyone been up to Hyalite?

colterpierce · « **Reply #7 on:** Nov 18, 2008, 04:08 PM »

Quote from: Da-Jigger on Nov 04, 2008, 08:04 PM

Anyone ever check out any lakes around 6 or 7 thousand feet for ice yet? I am going to this weekend or before, maybe tomorrow as I can,t take it any more. There are a ton of lakes reachable by four wheeler. Please let me know if any ideas and I'll let ya know what I find.

I know there is some ice on my ponds outside of dillon but then i took a lil hunting trip to the big hole by lemi high pass and the high mountain lakes are open as can be and in a few more weeks your gonna have to get there by snowmobil

hunterdan1 · « **Reply #8 on:** Nov 20, 2008, 07:29 AM »

I was up to hyalite sunday it is still open.I live about ten miles from hylite I'll let you know went it ices up.

fishin mt · « **Reply #9 on:** Nov 20, 2008, 07:49 PM »

Usually highlight reservour doesn't get ice until the middle of december I usually we go and get a christmas tree the weekend of thanksgiving and it has only had ice on it one year that i can remember out of the last 8 at this time of year. I will be up there as soon as its frozen.

Seedtree · « **Reply #10 on:** Nov 20, 2008, 08:17 PM »

Not "high mountain lakes", but some of the smaller ponds in SE MT that are in higher elevation (4000'+) shaded spots have skeened over with ice. Definitely not safe to fish, but getting there.

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #11 on:** Nov 21, 2008, 01:14 PM »

Hopefully the ice will finally start coming here at the end of the month.

spedray · « **Reply #12 on:** Nov 21, 2008, 03:41 PM »

cutbow I live in Churchill, so we problay fish a lot of the same lakes. I was up there elk hunting. Passed on a 6x6 about 3 miles up the trail. I was up there again on saturday at Cataract and it still didn't have any ice. I am heading up by Virgina City today to hit some lakes. Hopen I still can drive a truck up there with this weather we got today. Going to be hitting a few lakes to go fishing. I will let you know if I see any ice.

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #13 on:** Nov 21, 2008, 07:39 PM »

You passed on a 6x6???

spedray · « **Reply #14 on:** Nov 22, 2008, 08:13 PM »

I shot a big mule deer and already have a big freezer full of meat. Plus he had really short tines. On the plus side I went ice fishing today on a small lake at 6700 feet. There was about 2 inches of ice on part of the lake but there was still some open water. I caught one trout that was 6 pounds and lost one that was even bigger. Ended up catching 6 fish with the smallest one that was 3 pounds and missed atleast a dozen.

Bullelk34 · « **Reply #15 on:** Nov 23, 2008, 10:29 AM »

I was up above Clancy yesterday hunting, and Park Lake is still mostly open. I hear it has good trout and grayling though I haven't fished it yet.

Carl

fishin mt · « **Reply #16 on:** Nov 23, 2008, 04:34 PM »

yeah right what have you been smoking

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #17 on:** Nov 24, 2008, 06:56 PM »

I got.......ICE!!!

couple of the private ponds I fish are frozen halfway and I walked out about 10yds to check em out. One pond was completely iced over as of this morning. These are in the valley so I imagine cataract and hyalite gotta have something.

spedray · « **Reply #18 on:** Dec 09, 2008, 08:33 PM »

I am thinking of going up hyalite this sat. I have never really had any luck up there doing any type of fishing. Anybody have any pointers.

fishinwithbrittanies · « **Reply #19 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 10:50 AM »

Quote from: spedray on Nov 07, 2008, 03:13 PM

I was up South Willow creek above Pony yesterday and some of the high lakes were frozen enough to walk on. Cataract though just had a skim of ice in the morning.

I was just wondering where Cataract is or how to get there

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #20 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 06:53 PM »

Cataract is about mile and a half to two miles to the west of pony. Go through Pony, turn at the 2nd cattle guard (i think there's just 2) there is a set of old corrals and there is a turnoff to the right that follows the hillside. Take that turn to the right and stay on the road. I imagine that the lake is only accessable by truck with chains, fourwheeler with chains, or a snowmobile. The nastiest part is right before the lake where a spring crosses the road through a culvert and the culvert freezes shut and the water runs down the road and under the snow. The big climb at the beginning isnt the safest thing in the world when there's snow and ice. There are brookies and cutthroats in cataract. BE SAFE! There is no room for error goin up Garnet Grade. Good Luck

MrMarty51 · « **Reply #21 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 07:03 PM »

Quote from: cutbow_07 on Dec 10, 2008, 06:53 PM

Cataract is about mile and a half to two miles to the west of pony. Go through Pony, turn at the 2nd cattle guard (i think there's just 2) there is a set of old corrals and there is a turnoff to the right that follows the hillside. Take that turn to the right and stay on the road. I imagine that the lake is only accessable by truck with chains, fourwheeler with chains, or a snowmobile. The nastiest part is right before the lake where a spring crosses the road through a culvert and the culvert freezes shut and the water runs down the road and under the snow. The big climb at the beginning isnt the safest thing in the world when there's snow and ice. There are brookies and cutthroats in cataract. BE SAFE! There is no room for error goin up Garnet Grade. Good Luck

Years ago I used to fish in a reservoir on top of a mountain.This reservoir was across Willow Creek from the campground near the hotsprings.Caught a lot of Cuthroat out of there using grasshoppers.
What would the name of the reservoir be?

cutbow_07 · « **Reply #22 on:** Dec 10, 2008, 07:09 PM »

My personal favorite flyfishing hole

Goes by the name of Duncan Reservoir locally and Campcreek Reservoir in politically correct terms. Dam got ripped out in......the 40's or something I think. If you look closely while you're fishing you can see where the water line of where the lake used to be before they blew a hole in the dam. Would of been a sweet lake if they'd left it.

fishinwithbrittanies · « **Reply #23 on:** Dec 11, 2008, 07:04 PM »

Hey thanks for the directions on how to get to catarac. I will try to make it over there one of these days. Fished Hyalite this afternoon/evening and got worked. Caught one brookie of good size early and nothin for like four hours. Decided it was time for plan B. Saw a spot that looked like it had quite a bit of activity so I loaded up and moved over there. Another guy was fishing but he was friendly enough to let me sneak into some holes. He caught quite a few but I didn't do so hot. Couple cutts and two of three dinker brookies. Fished the pond but the mall the other day because I had been thinking about ice fishing a lot and needed to get out. Caught like 30 in about an hour and a half. The first seven I couldn't even set the depth let alone fish two rods. Not my favorite place in the world but it be a great place for someone to take their kids.

spedray · « **Reply #24 on:** Dec 12, 2008, 05:59 PM »

What where you using for bait on hyalite? I am heading up there tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too bad out.

MSU Jay · « **Reply #25 on:** Dec 12, 2008, 06:35 PM »

Quote from: fishinwithbrittanies on Dec 11, 2008, 07:04 PM

H Caught like 30 in about an hour and a half. The first seven I couldn't even set the depth let alone fish two rods.

What type of fish were you catching?

fishinwithbrittanies · « **Reply #26 on:** Dec 14, 2008, 06:26 PM »

Quote from: spedray on Dec 12, 2008, 05:59 PM

What where you using for bait on hyalite? I am heading up there tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be too bad out.

When I was up there I was using meal worms but the guy I was fishing with was using nightcrawlers. Haven't been able to find any maggots yet but I haven't checked recently enough.

fishinwithbrittanies · « **Reply #27 on:** Dec 14, 2008, 06:37 PM »

Quote from: MSU Jay on Dec 12, 2008, 06:35 PM

What type of fish were you catching?

They were all little 5-6 inch stocker rainbows. But I know there are sunfish(bluegill) and perch and bass. They also used to but the hogs from the hatchery in there when they weren't good for spawning anymore. Kind of gross fish...clipped fins deformed heads but 6 pounders a 6 ponder.

MSU Jay · « **Reply #28 on:** Dec 14, 2008, 10:09 PM »

thanks

spedray · « **Reply #29 on:** Dec 22, 2008, 07:33 PM »

I fished Hyalie yesterday afternoon. Did ok I caught 2 cuts and 3 brookies. The brookies were three feet under the ice in about 25 feet of water. I finally picked up a shack this week and when we closed all the windows we could see the fish right under the ice. Pretty fun fishing. The cuts were two feet off the bottom. We had a lot of bites but had a rookie along who was missing them. Ice was about 8 inches by the damn.

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Author Topic: High mountain lakes in Montana (Read 9940 times)

Bullelk34