S
Spydeyrch
On Saturday, my dad, brother, cousin, and I went on a nice hike and even got some fishing in. We originally were going to drive 5+ hours to hike the northern side of the Olympics in Washington. But I didn’t want to drive 10+ hours round trip just to do a day hike. I hate driving long distances for short activities. If I have to drive 5+ hours one-way, it had better pretty good and worth it, something spectacular, or I won’t go for a single day trip. There are always the exceptions, right. 
Anywho, so we hiked the Cache Meadows Trail, trail # 702, and met up with the Rocks Lake Basin loop trail. From there we hiked to Serene Lake. It was amazing!! The hike was a wonderful hike. We say lots of alpine meadows with flowers in full bloom. There were more wild blue-berry bushes than I had seen on a single trip previously. But only a few of them had ripe berries. They usually don’t get ripe until mid-end August. My dad is a fanatic of wild blue-berries. He will stop for 2 hours at a time and just munch on blue-berries non-stop. It is pretty funny. He looks like a bear with his mouth stuffed full of blue-berries and his hands searching for more. There isn’t much that will stop him on an adventure/hike but blue-berries is one of them. :lol:
So after about 3.5 miles of hiking, very easy hiking too, we got to Serene lake. There were more people there than I had thought there would be. We intentionally came in from the back route that no one really uses. People typically come in from the Frasier Mountain trail or the Rocks lakes trails and campgrounds. The lake wasn’t crowded at all, not even close. But I honestly thought that we would have seen less people. I saw probably around 15 – 20 people, some camping, some coming, some going.
I think the best part was the fishing though. This was my first time up to the lake and on those trails. I had done some research a number of years ago and posted a map of the different lakes in the area. You can find it in High Lakes thread that Eggs started back in 2010.
In my research, I had found which species of fish were supposedly in each of the lakes. Supposedly Serene Lake had Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout. I didn’t know how big, or small, the fish were so I brought my 2 5wts, my 3wt, and my 1wt. Once we got to the lake, I took my 19 year old cousin over to the far side of the lake. There are two rock slide/fields that empty right into the lake. One has a huge boulder right next to it that you can climb up on and then jump into the lake. We were on the rock field opposite that one.
From the rocks, we could see the fish cruising around and rising. They looked to be pretty small, probably around 5 – 7 inches. And they were all brookies. So I pulled out the 3wt and 1wt. I got my cousin setup on the 3wt with a Yellow Aussie size 16. I set up myself on my 1wt with a Red Aussie with silver ribs. It was dry fly action all day!!!
I gave my cousin some simple tips and instruction on fly casting, setting the hook, stripping in line, etc. Within about 5 mins, he had his first strike, and about 5 mins later, first fish to the bank. It was a little female brookie about 6 inches. He loved it! He had only been fishing once before in his life and caught a fish. It was a hatchery trout and they didn’t even eat it.
But he loved fly fishing! He had a total of about 4 fish landed, another 4 or 5 hooked but un-buttoned before getting them to the bank, and so many other strikes where he was a little late on setting the hook. He had a good time. And we stayed in the same area the whole time. Only moved maybe about 20 – 30 feet really! They were rising the whole day. It was a blast.
I got my dad over and got him fishing too. He doesn’t like fishing that much because he says that he doesn’t ever do very well. But he said he would fly fish because every time I have taken him fishing, he catches fish! So I took him over to where my cousin and I had been fishing. First cast, first strike but missed the hook-set. The same thing happened for like the next 3 casts. But he finally hooked up with a nice male brookie. Then he proceeded to catch another 2 or 3 fish. He really enjoyed it, especially on the 1wt! :lol:
I didn’t keep track of how many fish I landed but according to my dad’s count, he said it was more then 15. I was just enjoying the area, the company, and the fishing. The weather was great. The male brookies were starting to get into their spawning colors. Those reds, oranges, and whites are just stunning!!!! One of the most beautifully colored fish I have seen. Absolutely magnificent. ?
I think the one down side were the plentiful mosquitoes!!! My arms were eaten alive! Hahahah :lol:
All in all, it was a great trip, only had to drive 2 hours one way. Much better than 5+ hours one way! :shock:
I definitely recommend the area to anyone that wants a great area to hike, camp, and fish. But definitely go about it from the back route and avoid all the crowds!
And sorry, we didn’t take any pics. I had a camera with me, I was the only one, but I always forget to take pics. It would have been nice to get some of the amazingly colored male brookies.
Take care y’all!
-Spydey
Anywho, so we hiked the Cache Meadows Trail, trail # 702, and met up with the Rocks Lake Basin loop trail. From there we hiked to Serene Lake. It was amazing!! The hike was a wonderful hike. We say lots of alpine meadows with flowers in full bloom. There were more wild blue-berry bushes than I had seen on a single trip previously. But only a few of them had ripe berries. They usually don’t get ripe until mid-end August. My dad is a fanatic of wild blue-berries. He will stop for 2 hours at a time and just munch on blue-berries non-stop. It is pretty funny. He looks like a bear with his mouth stuffed full of blue-berries and his hands searching for more. There isn’t much that will stop him on an adventure/hike but blue-berries is one of them. :lol:
So after about 3.5 miles of hiking, very easy hiking too, we got to Serene lake. There were more people there than I had thought there would be. We intentionally came in from the back route that no one really uses. People typically come in from the Frasier Mountain trail or the Rocks lakes trails and campgrounds. The lake wasn’t crowded at all, not even close. But I honestly thought that we would have seen less people. I saw probably around 15 – 20 people, some camping, some coming, some going.
I think the best part was the fishing though. This was my first time up to the lake and on those trails. I had done some research a number of years ago and posted a map of the different lakes in the area. You can find it in High Lakes thread that Eggs started back in 2010.
In my research, I had found which species of fish were supposedly in each of the lakes. Supposedly Serene Lake had Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout. I didn’t know how big, or small, the fish were so I brought my 2 5wts, my 3wt, and my 1wt. Once we got to the lake, I took my 19 year old cousin over to the far side of the lake. There are two rock slide/fields that empty right into the lake. One has a huge boulder right next to it that you can climb up on and then jump into the lake. We were on the rock field opposite that one.
From the rocks, we could see the fish cruising around and rising. They looked to be pretty small, probably around 5 – 7 inches. And they were all brookies. So I pulled out the 3wt and 1wt. I got my cousin setup on the 3wt with a Yellow Aussie size 16. I set up myself on my 1wt with a Red Aussie with silver ribs. It was dry fly action all day!!!
I gave my cousin some simple tips and instruction on fly casting, setting the hook, stripping in line, etc. Within about 5 mins, he had his first strike, and about 5 mins later, first fish to the bank. It was a little female brookie about 6 inches. He loved it! He had only been fishing once before in his life and caught a fish. It was a hatchery trout and they didn’t even eat it.
But he loved fly fishing! He had a total of about 4 fish landed, another 4 or 5 hooked but un-buttoned before getting them to the bank, and so many other strikes where he was a little late on setting the hook. He had a good time. And we stayed in the same area the whole time. Only moved maybe about 20 – 30 feet really! They were rising the whole day. It was a blast.
I got my dad over and got him fishing too. He doesn’t like fishing that much because he says that he doesn’t ever do very well. But he said he would fly fish because every time I have taken him fishing, he catches fish!
So I took him over to where my cousin and I had been fishing. First cast, first strike but missed the hook-set. The same thing happened for like the next 3 casts. But he finally hooked up with a nice male brookie. Then he proceeded to catch another 2 or 3 fish. He really enjoyed it, especially on the 1wt! :lol:I didn’t keep track of how many fish I landed but according to my dad’s count, he said it was more then 15. I was just enjoying the area, the company, and the fishing. The weather was great. The male brookies were starting to get into their spawning colors. Those reds, oranges, and whites are just stunning!!!! One of the most beautifully colored fish I have seen. Absolutely magnificent. ?
I think the one down side were the plentiful mosquitoes!!!
My arms were eaten alive! Hahahah :lol:All in all, it was a great trip, only had to drive 2 hours one way. Much better than 5+ hours one way! :shock:
I definitely recommend the area to anyone that wants a great area to hike, camp, and fish. But definitely go about it from the back route and avoid all the crowds!
And sorry, we didn’t take any pics. I had a camera with me, I was the only one, but I always forget to take pics. It would have been nice to get some of the amazingly colored male brookies.
Take care y’all!
-Spydey
