I’m brand new to your message boards. I have a question about hiking, camping and fishing on the Boulder Mountain.
My wife and boys (ages 6, 10, 13) want to do a backpack fishing trip for several days in mid June. I would really like to take them to the Boulder Moutain but I’m not very familiar with the area. Can you point me to a lake or lakes where we can backpack a short distance (1-3 miles), find a nice camping spot and have a chance for my boys to catch some brookies (I’m more interested in a place where my boys can catch a few fish than someone’s secret spot)? We have a 4x4 truck so we can handle most passable mountain roads.
Welcome to the board. Hang in there. We have some members who either live down south or who fish there often enough that they can provide some info for you.
Lots of the brookie waters have had “makeovers” and now have cutthroats, but there are still some there.
1-3 miles, nice camping, brook trout: Fish Creek / Beaver Dam.
check out the area. There is a road that goes all the way to Beaver Dam. I wouldn’t advise driving all the way in (although a few people still do). I would suggest backpacking from the parking area down lower, and setting up camp near Beaver Dam (south inlet).
In the area you have:
Beaver Dam – Sterile brook trout. There most likely won’t be any trophy sized fish as of yet, but you could get into some 14-16" brook trout.
Fish Creek – Splake, CR Cutts, Tiger Trout. These fish should be getting pretty nice.
Pear – can produce good brook trout, but frequently winter kills. If the brook trout made it through this winter, you might find some decent brook trout.
Blind – Great fishery for cutts, rainbows, splake, and a few brook trout.
I agree with PBH. That would have been my first recomendation. You may also want to try the Donkey Lake area, even though there are only a couple lakes in the area that require hiking. The reason I recommend Donkey is the amount of catchable brook trout in that lake. They are hungry and fairly easy to catch. Your kids would love it there. The other lakes in that area all have fish and should be a good day trip to most of them. Not much backpacking and hiking, but some great fishing.
Short Lake in the King’s Pasture area…3 mile hike, good camping, good fishing for small brookies. In the area, you also have Boulder Creek with good fishing for brookies and cutts, Grass Lake with good fishing for larger brookies, and the upper Garkane impoundment with good fishing for small brookies. Also, Deer Lake, Moosman, Green Lake, and Deer Creek are within 1-2 mile walking distance from the highway…these lakes also offer good camping and fishing for brook trout. These lakes are also accessible from the King’s Pasture area…
I can’t help you much on where to fish now, but this brings back some fond memories from my childhood. We used to fish and hunt on Boulder about every year. One trip stands out because of two events. We had a '61 Ford Wagon loaded with kids and gear. My dad loved to take the “scenic route” that usually involved water crossings. We drove through one creek with the usual scrapping and dragging. On the other side the car died. So dad gets out to figure out what happened and the gas tank was laying in the middle of the creek. Time and bailing wire fixed that. That trip was a rainy one and dad decided we should go over the mountain to see what was there. There was a fairly steep muddy hill with a meadow at the bottom and probably 10 or 15 cars parked in the meadow. Of course dad was going to show them that he could get up the hill. He didn’t. So we sat around for a few hours (the rain had stopped) to let the road dry a bit. There was a European guy that found a deer antler in the meadow and was absolutely ecstatic. When things were dried out some, one by one, everybody helped push the cars as they drove up the hill, then walk back down to push the next one. It was a great trip and a good lesson in working together.
Great memories and a great place to take your family. Have fun.
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Short Lake in the King’s Pasture area…3 mile hike, good camping, good fishing for small brookies.
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Dude! Did you forget something? Me and you were the last people to catch brook trout from Short! It was poisoned a couple days later! I believe it will be hit one more time with the good 'ol rotenone before being reintroduced with CR Cutts.
but, the rest of the area mentioned by the worm-and-bobber man is good.
Welcome to the board. Hang in there. We have some members who either live down south or who fish there often enough that they can provide some info for you.