Opportunity To Have Your Voice Heard on Tennessee Fishing Regulations

Here in Tennessee, TWRA will solicit comments through from hunters and anglers about the regulations they would like to see implemented. Right now, that is happening through mid September for fishing regulations for the 2025-2026 years. While I generally have little hope of any serious changes happening that will result in improvements in our fisheries, there is always a chance.

I have written in and made several recommendations. Here are some of my ideas along with commentary on why it would be useful. 

First, all of my comments revolve around trout fishing primarily, but the general principles will apply to other fisheries as well if that is what you care about. A little background is important to understand my perspective. 

I have been fly fishing for somewhere close to 30 years and fishing the Caney Fork for probably 25 or more of those years. When I first started fishing the Caney Fork River, it was before Center Hill Dam was "repaired" for leakage and the continuous minimum flow was stupendous. The biggest thing that the minimum flow did, other than keep cold oxygenated water in the river, was to make it harder for people to access every nook and cranny in the river. In other words, the fish had plenty of places they could hide to avoid the heaviest fishing pressure. 

Fast forward to now, and not only is the minimum flow lower than it was then (despite whatever the Corps of Engineers claims) but the number of anglers and other river users has sky rocketed. That's not all bad, but it has been hard on the trout fishery. While many anglers pursue catch and release, there are also many people who choose to harvest their catch, some legally and others without regard for the regulations. That last bit is a separate issue, but the main point here is that more fish than ever are leaving the river. 

As long as I've been fishing the Caney Fork, it has been more cyclic than any other water that I fish. Some of that is driven by weather and environmental factors, but a huge component is simply fishing pressure. It goes something like this. Each cycle begins with the river fishing poorly. Word gets out that fishing on the Caney is terrible, and people quit wasting their time and money to come and fish it. For the next 2-4 years, the fishery gradually improves as more and more fish are able to hold over due to one simple factor: they are being left in the river. Unfortunately, word eventually gets out that the Caney Fork is back and fishing is on fire. All the anglers who want to catch and keep their limit return in force. Soon, everyone is talking about how it is like the good old days. Plenty of fish including lots of nice ones are being caught. However, the river can only lose so many fish before the fishery yet once again collapses and the cycle continues.

Right now, we have special regulations on the Caney Fork River. Those regulations allow for only one fish over 20" a day to be harvested. I've seen anglers with stringers of big trout, so enforcement would help a lot, but that is not the only problem. The fact that fish over 20" can be harvested means that there are very few fish over 20" in the river. Brown trout have to be a minimum of 24" and you can only harvest one per day. What does that mean? As soon as browns hit that 24" mark, they are usually harvested. If not right at 24", almost always within just 2-3 inches of that mark. Thus, while the Caney Fork could be absolutely full of big trout, they get harvested right about the time they are getting to a truly special size and you can forget about many ever getting to truly impressive dimensions. 

This brings me to my first recommendation. I would like to see a 30" minimum size for brown trout regulation enacted on both the Caney Fork River and the Clinch River. Both rivers are capable of growing big brown trout about as fast as one could hope for. While it is great that we have reasonably decent numbers of smaller brown trout on the Caney Fork, I am far more interested in catching browns over 24" than I am in catching brown trout under 24". Imagine, if you will, a river where catching brown trout over 24" is almost a given. That is what the Caney Fork could be. However, it not only needs to be protected through vigorous enforcement, but also with special regulations.

Both the Caney Fork and Clinch have the same problem with rainbow trout. Both rivers have a 14"-20" protected length range (PLR). Fish in the PLR must be immediately released. That means that both rivers have some nice fish between 14" and 20", but as soon as fish hit 20" they are harvested. I would propose expanding at least the top end of the PLR to 24" and it wouldn't hurt my feelings to expand the bottom end on the Clinch. 

Speaking of the Clinch River, as it is now acknowledged as a wild rainbow trout fishery, albeit a somewhat fragile one, it needs a significant overhaul on regulations. First, the daily 7 fish limit needs to be significantly reduced. I would suggest a two fish a day limit if we can't just have a catch and release river. Furthermore, I would suggest making everything from the bottom of Miller Island upstream to the weir dam a catch and release zone. While unlikely to be implemented, catch and release zones are crucial to protecting spawning fish. For examples, look to some of the best trout waters in the country which have seasonal catch and release zones or even total closures (which I could support as well if it can be determined when most of the spawning success happens). There is a reason why everyone wants to go fish the White River in Arkansas, and the quality fishery is largely driven by special regulations, catch and release zones, and seasonal closures. 

Finally, at a minimum, the Clinch needs to have a seasonal fishing closure from just above (say 50 yards upstream) the mouth of Clear Creek extending down to the weir. There are a variety of reasons why this section is so crucial, but it all revolves around spawning class fish. The water above the weir dam often has major water quality issues with low dissolved oxygen in the late summer and early fall. Clear Creek contributes water with very high dissolved oxygen (DO) and fish spawn in Clear Creek as well. Thus, just prior to spawning, spawning fish will stack up in the high DO water coming out of Clear Creek. Unfortunately, a lot of people know this and catch these spawners and put them on stringers. Right now, that is completely legal albeit not ethical. Changing the regulations to protect these fish will go a long ways towards rebuilding the wild rainbow trout fishery on this river to what we saw 5-10 years ago.

If you are interested in seeing better fisheries here in Tennessee, then reach out to TWRA and share your thoughts on what can be done to improve our fisheries. I would suggest asking for a 30" minimum size limit on brown trout on the Caney Fork and Clinch. I would also strongly suggest a seasonal closure OR catch and release zone on the Clinch River around Clear Creek down to the weir dam at minimum. Submit your comments at:

https://stateoftennessee.formstack.com/forms/2024fishingregcomments

The Wyoming Saga: Changing Gears Onward to the Green River

Most fishing trips have unexpected moments. Our first came rather early in the trip with the bad wind day, but timing-wise it allowed some neat things to happen since it freed up a couple of days on our loose itinerary. We just wouldn't find that out until later. Still, this was my first Wyoming fishing trip outside of Yellowstone National Park. The very expensive non-resident fishing license had deterred me in the past and likely will in the future. It is hard to justify paying that kind of money for a fishing license when I can get a Yellowstone National Park fishing license and enjoy some of my favorite streams and rivers anywhere with excellent fishing. Still, there were moments in this trip that will require revisiting for further exploration. The Wind River golden trout trip is definitely going to happen again, for example.

Hiking Out of the Winds

Our goal that morning was simple: bust our butts back down the trail to John's truck, drive over South Pass, and on to Pinedale. Just north of town, John knew of a little campground that was right on the Green River. He also knew some good places to eat in Pinedale and even though it hadn't been long, backpacker dinners were starting to get old. That was motivation enough for me. I'm always a sucker for food. 

We started hiking out early while the shadows were still long and it was nice and cool. We weren't in such a hurry that I forgot to take some pictures both in camp before leaving and also along the way. There was a small patch of fireweed just behind our camp. That morning, the rising sun light up the flowers perfectly while deep shadows lingered behind. 

"Fireweed." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

A little further above camp, a small colony of pikas had shown themselves while we were hiking up to the golden trout lake. They have to be one of my favorite (maybe even THE favorite?!?!) alpine and subalpine critters, and it is always a major highlight of my trips to the higher mountains out west to see them. I chased them up and down this rocky gully for a bit before the thought of that good food in Pinedale got me moving. 

"Pika." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Fishing On the Hike Out

Hiking out, we didn't see too many interesting critters. There were a lot of squirrels active, however. It was getting a little late in the season and they were working overtime to get ready for the next winter season. I'm always a sucker for any animal photos, so I would periodically stop and try to get a creative shot of them.

"Just another red squirrel." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

A bit more interesting than squirrels was the fishing. We stopped at the first lake we had hit on the hike in. There were just as many fish cruising around even if the wind was much worse than on our hike in. Still, we found a sheltered shoreline where many fish were cruising. Not only did I add another big (to me) tiger, but I also added a cutthroat to my total trip catch tally. I caught more brook trout as well, but didn't bother to photograph anymore because none of them on this day were noteworthy. 

"Wind River Mountains cutthroat trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"A nice tiger trout!" ©2023 David Knapp Photography

I also managed a selfie that showed me looking a lot more tired than I was actually feeling. It also showed the Peak Design capture clip. Notice a clip on both shoulder straps which enabled me to balance the strain on each side of my body by switching back and forth from time to time. This proved key to keeping my back, shoulders, and neck happy and not too sore. I tend towards having back and neck problems, so this innovated way of carrying the camera probably would NOT work well for me if I was just carrying it on one side the entire hike. As it was, I really enjoyed the system and got a few pictures that I wouldn't have otherwise of gotten. 

"A rare selfie!" ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Driving Out of the Winds to Pinedale

The road out was decent but not great. I was glad that we had John's truck instead of my car. The car would have made it, but we made much better time in the truck and it took the ride just like it was supposed to. As we started to turn the corner from the east side of the Winds into South Pass, the already breezy day really started to howl. 

The winds were cranking through South Pass. By the time we were approaching the Green River basin, the sky was full of dust and haze from blowing particulates. This was a windstorm of epic proportions and we were both thankful to not be hiking high in the Wind River mountains trying to camp or get a camp stove to burn long enough to boil water for our meals.

At this point, I was just hoping that the winds would relax enough to pitch camp on the Green so I could get a good night's rest. We still had that stop in Pinedale as well. 

Town Trip to Pinedale

By the time we cruised into Pinedale, both of us were hungry. Things like getting groceries for the next several days of camping or stopping by the local fly shop could wait. We had to find something to eat. John had been to the Wind River Brewing Company before and knew they had good food. We pulled in and found one of the last few parking spots. A full parking lot is always a good sign for food quality even if it means you'll end up waiting longer for food. 

Thankfully, they had our food out quickly. I had the Street Tacos with sautéed veggies and they were delicious. It doesn't take much to make me happy, and a good meal after backpacker dinners really hit the spot. After taking care of that, we headed to the grocery and made a stop by the local fly shop. 

The guys in the Two Rivers Fishing Co. were helpful and friendly, something I've come to realize isn't to be expected in all western fly shops. They gave us a few tips and we quickly finished our shopping in town. The hour was getting late and we still needed to go find a campsite and get setup before dark. 

Camping at Whiskey Grove Campground

Heading out of town, we turned up 352 towards the vast National Forest land in the headwaters of the Green River. The Whiskey Grove Campground was just a short distance down the rougher gravel/dirt road that continued all the way up to Green River Lakes. John knew of a great fishing spot behind the campground, so it didn't take much more to convince me that this would make a good base camp. 

We pulled in and got lucky with one of the last good spots down by the river. I would get to fall asleep to the sound of a fine riffle on the Green just behind my tent. However, I didn't go to bed before catching my first Green River trout. The pool behind camp was just too good and I wanted to work a jig streamer. I rolled several very nice trout, and finally landed a nice little brown trout to continue my collection of different species on my trip list. This was a great welcome to a new-to-me section of the Green River. I had only previously fished the Flaming Gorge tailwater in Utah. It was a promising start to the biggest part of our trip in terms of time..

"First brown trout of the trip." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

The Wyoming Saga: Golden Trout Found and Plans Adjusted

A Perfect Day For Finding Golden Trout

Fishing high elevation lakes is a gamble at best. Weather can change very suddenly, fish seemingly appear and vanish at random, or never appear at all. On some days you'll catch fish, while on others, you might think there are no fish to be found. I've been on a streak of having excellent luck while fishing high lakes, so I was likely due for a clunker. 

We got up early to try and beat the wind. That is often the biggest challenge of fishing these lakes. The wind almost always comes up every single day. If it gets bad enough, you simply cannot fish. We were hoping to get there ahead of the diurnal breezes. 

Getting up early has some benefits. There is a special magic to being outdoors first thing in the morning. Someone who is better with words than I can probably articulate the mystery, but I'll have to let my pictures do the talking. This is the lake we were camping on before the sun got over the horizon. Glassy smooth water teased the possibility of a perfect day for finding golden trout.

"A perfectly calm sunrise." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Hiking To Our Golden Trout Lake

After a quick breakfast, we hustled on up the hill. I was feeling good with no ill effects lingering from the episode the evening before. We were already long past having an "official" trail (many of the better golden trout lakes are off trail), so we just struck out in the right directly from camp, angling uphill to try and intersect the social path that had to be there. While there are not official maintained trails, there are still trails or paths going most places you want to go. In this fragile high elevation ecosystem, it is probably best to stick to those paths when possible to limit impacts to the landscape. 

"Getting up quickly." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"John hiking up a steep section of hill." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Gaining elevation rapidly, we crested an obvious bench and soon found the "trail." Making better time on the flatter tread that meandered across the small bench, we continued on. In places, dramatic views opened up where the ridge we were climbing broke away abruptly on one side or the other. One of those big views showed us another small lake that had me intrigued. I didn't feel like dropping down to check it out, however, when our main goal was just over the next hill above us, or at least that's what we hoped. 

Sure enough, we crested a few false rises, and then, as I've come to expect with most alpine lakes, we saw our goal ahead and a little below. Wonder of wonders, it was mostly calm. A few ripples out in the middle hinted at what could be, however.

"Our destination lake." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Fly Fishing for Golden Trout On An Alpine Lake in the Wind River Mountains

Reaching the water's edge, we got our equipment put together and started fishing. It didn't take too long before we saw fish cruising the edges. Having targets to sight fish for made a big difference. A dry/dropper seemed appropriate. I wanted to catch fish on dry flies, but many of the fish were down just a little in the water column, probably eating nymphs for the hatch we hoped would materialize.

I missed a fish or two. The first fish jitters had me going strong, especially when my long dreamed of golden trout were cruising so close by. John got things dialed in a little faster and got the skunk off for us as a team. That helped a lot. His prior experience catching golden trout made a difference getting started that morning, but I would eventually hit my stride as well.

"First golden of the trip." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"John with his catch." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

After getting the appropriate documentation of that fish, it was my turn. It took a few minutes longer than it should have when I missed a couple of fish, but finally I hooked one that decided to stay on the line for me. My own first golden trout. It barely happened in time. The wind was starting to kick a little harder. Soon, those fish cruising the edge would disappear. Did they go elsewhere? Or were they there but I couldn't see them in the chop? 

"My first golden trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Gotta get my picture taken with my first golden trout." ©2023 John Bates

We walked that edge back and forth a little longer before starting the usual progression of wondering about the other side. You know, the grass is greener syndrome. Still, with the wind starting to blow and fish becoming scarce, it made sense to start searching them out. Thus, we started our circuit of the alpine lake. I had some other things I wanted to do as well. 

Touring the Golden Trout Lake

I have more pictures than anyone reasonably would want to look at from this day. So if you aren't here for pictures, feel free to keep scrolling. This next part will just highlight my trip around the lake. We slowly fished our way around 2/3 of the lake before mostly just making time on the last third. At some point, I climbed way above the lake for some shots from above. I also took time looking for wildflowers and wild critters. You know me, I can't stay away from those things for very long, even when there are fish to be caught.

"Can you find the pika?" ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"John casting into the wind in the Winds." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Fishing for golden trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Elephant heads are always one of my favorites." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Harebells." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Walking on mountains, taking in views." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Easily your best clue..." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"A birds-eye view was worth the climb." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"More wildflowers." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Back to Catching Golden Trout in the Wind River Mountains

As I started angling down the hill from my perch, I started noticing something interesting. As a good fly angler, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the water for long. Sure enough, dark shadows were cruising here at the upper end of the lake. John was still off down the lake somewhere, but when I yelled that I had found a bunch of fish, he started working his way over as well. 

Best of all, these fish were cruising for a sparse hatch that was coming off. Some type of small dark mayfly was hatching and the fish were feasting. Cutting off the dropper, I went with a single parachute Adams and that proved to be the ticket. 

"What doesn't a Parachute Adams catch?" ©2023 David Knapp Photography

The fish were cautious, but would eat if you got the fly where they could see it. If you caught a fish or missed a fish, that little area was spooked for a few minutes. You could either wait them out or move a few yards down the bank. 

"Golden trout." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

"Stunning golden trout colors." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

We started bouncing up and down the bank, casting to eager risers and catching just enough golden trout to keep us focused a bit longer. Still, all good things must come to an end. As the rise started to ease off, we realized we were both tired from sun exposure, exercising at high elevation, and our early morning start. Some food back in camp was sounding better and better. 

"A departing selfie." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Hiking Back To Camp After Fishing For Golden Trout

By this time, the wind was kicking pretty good. We had found those fish rising in the back corner of the lake on the one shoreline with a little "calm." There, the bugs stayed on the water long enough for the fish to find them instead of being blown off. Once we moved on around the lake back to our starting point, the full force of the high elevation wind was in effect and we were anxious to drop back down into the trees and hopefully find a little calm. 

Sure enough, things got moderately better as we made our way back to camp. At that point, we wanted just enough calm to boil some water for our backpacker dinners. The hike back down went much faster than the hike up, mostly because we weren't working as hard physically going downhill. Coming straight up to 11,000+ feet in elevation from Tennessee was challenging, but we were doing better than I think either of us had expected. 

"Red squirrels provided some great photo ops." ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Our hike would periodically be interrupted by red squirrels scolding us or birds chattering away, but we never saw any larger mammals this day. The biggest surprise was when a grouse spooked almost underfoot. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick photos before it disappeared. Not my best shot ever, but I did get documentation. 

"Grouse!" ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Decisions To Make

With a highly successful first day starting to wind down, it was time to consider our options for the next several days. The original trip plan involved hiking cross country the next day and dropping into another drainage to explore some more golden trout lakes. These were lakes that supposedly produced larger fish, so that was exciting. 

What wasn't exciting was the forecast from John's Garmin inReach Explorer+. We already knew that our backpacking portion of the trip was potentially in jeopardy after the first couple of days. A weather system was supposed to move through and produce very high winds over the Wind River Range. With spot forecasts for our campsite showing winds potentially near hurricane force, we debated back and forth but ultimately decided that it would be smart to bail the next morning. Going to bed that night, we didn't know how significant this decision was for the rest of our trip, but time would eventually show us that...

Random Musings

A word on our destination lake. If you happen to have read my blog for many years, you've probably noticed a trend away from naming streams and waterbodies to giving rather vague info on where my adventures happen. That is all on purpose. 

Just the other day, I saw someone lamenting online about how a favorite trailhead in the Smokies was not "secret" anymore and was always super crowded. They of course then proceeded to share pictures of said trailhead (easy to identify) and describe in great detail their day of fishing. All of this while posting to a fly fishing specific Facebook group. I could basically go retrace their steps and I'm sure there are some people who will do that. That's a formula for NOT protecting and preserving wild places. If people are willing to put in the time and effort to figure these things out for themselves, they are probably harmless. The people looking for quick and easy answers, not so much. 

I have long ago made the decision that I'm not going to directly be the guy outing all these spots. Shoot, there are some places you can't pay me enough to take you. So, if you do just a little basic research, this lake is already "known," but I'm not going to continue that trend myself. To do so would go against everything I believe about backcountry fishing. That said, there is more than enough info on this post to figure it out fairly easily. If you have questions, feel free to reach out. I would be glad to discuss further via email, call, or text, but not on the inter webs for the whole world to read...

The Wyoming Saga: In Search of Golden Trout Day One

Planning For Adventure

For many years, I've kept a rather loose bucket list. Unlike most people who have a bucket list, I'm not particularly organized. I've met more than a few people who are carefully working through a list, checking off adventure after adventure. That's not me. Rather, I have a vague mental collection of places I would like to someday visit. Since I'm well beyond the young footloose stage of life, these adventures are almost always intentional, but generally rare. Adult responsibilities are always getting in the way, so most of my adventures these days are a little more tame than in my younger years. That is clearly a problem I need to rectify, and I've been working at it little by little.

A backpacking trip in the Wind River range of Wyoming has been high on my mental bucket list since, well, probably just about since it occurred to me that I even had a bucket list. For many years, I thought the whole notion was kind of goofy. Then, one day, I realized that I really wanted to do a trip in the Wind Rivers. Next, it occurred to me that I also really wanted to visit New Zealand, mostly to fly fish, but also to hike and soak in the scenery. Even if my bucket list is only two destinations long, I now have one.

If I think long enough, I can come up with quite a few other places I want to visit and revisit. Some of my dreams are vague and unlikely, like spending every summer in West Yellowstone. Others are specific and easily attainable, I just need to make them happen. These are things such as finally visiting Hazel and Eagle creeks in the Smokies. Those are the only two major Great Smoky Mountains National Park drainages I haven't fished. 

My buddy John had been to the Winds. After his first trip, I started contemplating attempting a trip. Not long after, I found a rather dangerous interactive map online. With all the knowledge I would ever need to plan a golden trout trip in the Wind Rivers at my disposal, I started the process that would ultimately lead to the kind of adventure that I'm always craving. 

Golden Trout in Wyoming

The main problem with planning a golden trout trip (and one I'll perpetuate) is that no one who knows anything is saying much. There is some information out there on the inter webs, but most of it requires some sleuthing to figure things out. While golden trout are scattered around a few different western states, Wyoming is THE place to fish for them unless you want to chase them in their native California in the Sierra Nevada range. There are at least a handful of other western states where they can be found, but the Wind River range in Wyoming is the most similar to their native Sierra Nevada. 

At one point, golden trout eggs were brought to Wyoming and the rest is history. Apparently, the golden trout did so well in Wyoming that the Wyoming Game and Fish started their own hatchery program. Wyoming is the best place to obtain some golden trout if you are a state or other entity in the market. They have the only genetically pure brood stock hatchery program with golden trout.

While they can be found in streams, these fish are best in the high alpine lakes that they prefer. Anyone who has ever fished a high alpine lake knows that they can be finicky at best. When a high country lake is fishing well, it will make you feel like the best angler in the world. If it is fishing poorly, you might conclude that it simply doesn't contain any trout. 

Once, when I was fishing a high country lake in Arizona probably 20 years ago, I started to arrive at a similar conclusion. Having worked my way nearly the entire way around the lake, it seemed obvious that the fish just weren't there. Mother Nature had the last laugh when a huge bald eagle swooped down and grabbed a trout that looked like it had to be at least two feet long. 

After consulting with my buddy John who already had a rough itinerary in mind and then clicking through endless alpine lakes on the Wyoming interactive online map, I felt confident that we had a good plan. Still, we wouldn't know until we were there and fishing if our choice was a good one.

Anticipation Builds

On the drive out to Wyoming, I was almost in shock. It had been so long since I had embarked on a fishing trip out west that I had forgotten how exciting it all was. The drive is always fun in a way, because I much prefer seeing the countryside go by from up close. You never know what interesting things you might see. On this trip, however, there really wasn't anything particularly unusual about the drive. Wanting to be fresh for the backpacking trip, we timed our travel to spend a night in Laramie. That would let us get up, drive to Lander, and be on the trail in time to get into camp before dark. 

We made it to Lander in record time. The higher speed limits out west are a real treat, especially for someone with a heavy foot. We took the time to stop at the Wind River Outdoor Company as I needed some new bear spray. Next, we went to the Middle Fork for an early lunch to fuel up for the trail. If you are in Lander, do yourself a favor and stop there for breakfast or lunch. The food was excellent! I had the quinoa power bowl with scrambled eggs and it was delicious!

After lunch, we headed up the mountain towards one of several trailheads. On the way, I had to stop at Rise of the Popo Agie to view all the monster trout. 

Places like this make you try to figure out how to sneak in and fish! The pictures naturally don't do justice to the scene, so I'll just say the fish were huge and plentiful. The scenery was dramatic as well, ample reward for the months of anticipation. 

Hiking Into the Popo Agie Wilderness

Both of us had only minor preparations to make to hit the trail, our packs already being packed. We started out at a surprisingly good pace considering that we both were coming from the flat lands of Tennessee. Thankfully, the elevation didn't bother me on this trip, although it might be hard to convince my buddy John of this. More on that shortly. 

While we were on the far southern extend of grizzly country, we both had our bear spray strapped on and easy to hand. I also had a DSLR clipped on my shoulder strip using a Peak Design Capture system. While it does have some limitations, the benefits mostly outweigh any negatives. I foresaw the primary potential problem of having too much weight pulling on one shoulder strap over the other. My solution was simply to buy two of the Capture clips, one for each shoulder strap. I was able to switch the camera back and forth, balancing out the load so to speak. While I didn't get any crazy special shots, I did get a few that I wouldn't have been able to get if the camera was buried in my pack as usual. 

My favorite, while not a great shot, was a moose. I also managed to get a picture of a deer before it ran, and made the time to snap some other shots that would have been skipped if I had to dig my camera out of the pack. Here are a few of my favorites from the hike in.

Mule Deer ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Popo Agie Wilderness Sign ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Fireweed ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Moose ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Someone had lunch here! ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Fishing in the Popo Agie Wilderness

I had prepared for both dedicated fishing days and also quick pit stops. I had a Tenkara USA Rhodo in my pack for quick sessions along the way and an actual fly rod for the more dedicated all day fishing excursions. One of the lakes we were passing was supposed to have tiger trout. Having never caught one, I figured this might be one of my best opportunities. 

Reflections ©2023 David Knapp Photography

When we dropped our packs for a quick break, it didn't take long to start spotting trout. They were everywhere. It also didn't take long for us both to hook up. I caught a few brook trout which were a treat even if they are invasive species out west. Since they are my native trout (er, char) here in Tennessee, I always have a soft spot for them. They were beautifully colored up as well. 

A Familiar Quarry ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Another brook trout on my backpacking trip. ©2023 David Knapp Photography

The brookies were fun, but I really wanted a cutthroat or tiger. Then, finally, it happened! I caught my first tiger trout, and in fact, I caught a couple. The cutthroat were a little spookier, but I figured I would have more opportunities. Besides, I've caught lots of cutthroat over the years including most of the easily accessible subspecies, so I wasn't too worried about catching them. 

My first tiger! ©2023 David Knapp Photography

Setting Up Base Camp

While the fishing was excellent, we still had a ways to go. Strapping our packs back on, we quickly headed out. The trail continued up hill (why do trails always go uphill?) and we trekked onward towards our chosen camping spot. When we arrived, both of us were tired enough that we almost stopped too soon. However, a quick exploratory trip yielded a much better camping spot. Soon, we were setting everything up as the light grew dimmer. A good place to hang our food packs wasn't too terribly far away. 

As I started getting supper together, a migraine that had been lurking for a bit started to hit me hard. I hurried my food along as sometimes getting some food in me can help. Unfortunately I didn't get everything together quick enough. I got sick which was unusual but not out of the realm of possibility for me, but to all spectators, it looked an awful lot like elevation sickness. My buddy John was at least a little concerned. I could tell he was nervous and since I've had both elevation related sickness and routine migraines, I could tell that this was just a migraine. Assuring him that all I needed was a little water and a good night's rest, I headed off to bed. The next day would hopefully be a fishing day. If it turned out I was impacted worse by the elevation than I thought, it might be the day to hike out... 

...to be continued...