I Have a Dream

After getting our mountain legs under us in Moraine Park, Tracy and I decided to hit the trail early and hike up to Dream Lake. The trail is rated at moderate and not too long and there are some great views along the way.

I, of course had a different motivation for the hike - Dream Lake is one of the high country lakes known to support the state fish of Colorado - the Greenback Cutthroat trout.

I took along the 4 wt fly rod and my box full of flies hoping to fool one of the elusive beauties.

We arrived at the Bear Lake parking lot and the trailhead for Dream Lake at a little after 6:30am and after making all the necessary preparations were on the trail before 7am. We saw a few others but it wasn't too crowded.

Tracy identified some new wild flowers along the way. We passed the small, shallow, Nymph Lake and after a quick look I was convinced that there were no fish there.

When we got close to Dream Lake, I noticed a creek flowing out of the lake and gave a closer inspection. There were several greenbacks working some shallow pools where the creek had spilled over into the surrounding area and I was eager to get a line in the water.

I decided to tie on a new nymph that Tracy had bought for me at a Table Rock Llamas fiber arts studio in Colorado Springs. The owner commissioned a local fly tyer to use llama hair and fur to tie up a pretty buggy looking bead-head nymph that looked a lot like a pheasant tail.

The first cast yielded a quick take from a nice sized fish and I set the hook.

The fish put up a nice fight before coming to hand.

It was a Greenback and possibly the biggest one in the pool.

After getting his picture taken this big boy was released to join his buddies.

I fished these pools for a while then decided to move up the trail to the spot we came for - Dream Lake.

The lake was beautiful with shallow water along the shore but a really nice dropoff within casting distance. The wind was starting to come down from the mountains and casting was becoming a challenge.

Nice backcast


Wind makes for big loops


Setting up the drift

There were fish cruising the shoreline and the dropoff. I tried the nymph but eventually switched to a dry caddis pattern. That seemed to attract the cutts and Tracy and I got to watch one come from several feet away and suck the fly in right in front of us.

Colorful Dream Lake Greenback

I caught a few greenbacks and then hooked a fish with significantly more fight. It turned out to be a non-native cutthroat which are common in the high lakes.

By mid-morning the crowds began showing up and the fishing turned off so we decided to head on down to the truck and eat some lunch before our next adventure.

I'll be dreaming about this trip for a long time!