Backcountry elk + fishing

Seriously!! On my backcountry elk hunts it's sleep, hunt, eat, sleep, hunt eat and I don't really have enough time for the eating and sleeping to stay caught up. Can't imagine finding time for fishing :)

Agreed, there’s too much to do already, with hunting, sleeping, eating, keeping gear organized and prepping for the next day.


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I have two different backcountry setups -

A Daiwa Presso 7' or so 4 pc. rod and some kind of reel I paid like 75 for. This is my nicer setup.

One is a Ugly Stick micro reel/rod combo(think I paid some 50 bucks for it 5 or so years ago). Its like 4'6" rod. Has held up great.

I bring the Presso when I don't plan on doing more than bank fishing - the longer rod is great to reach out a little further. I bring my older setup when I bring my boat - its a lot easier to manage the shorter rod in my packraft.

As far as lures go, grab you a handful of Kastmasters - just make sure a couple are gold. Some days they'll hit other colors, but for some reason in my experience gold is almost always productive.
 
This year I’m bringing a short 8’ tenkara rod. It telescopes down to about 15” long. Can be fishing in 30 seconds.


You can’t cheat the mountain
 
Any one try hand reels? Seems the most compact. This would be for small creeks/ponds at high elevations. Thanks 1625737491919.png
 
I usually don’t bring a rod as I tend to get distracted too much from hunting LOL. But when I do, or if I am scouting, I bring a little 4 piece fly rod. It fits perfectly in my pack along with the reel and a small floaty fly box, weighs very little. High country cutthroats are my favorite fish to catch!


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I bring a fishing pole along and will take a morning to fish after awhile, especially if im hammering an area with elk in it, just to give the mountain side a chance to "reset" without me on it. Worked like a charm last year, got my elk the day after the fishing break.

Favorite lure for catching trout here in CO : one of those tiny rapalas, 0.5 ounce or whatever, in a brown trout pattern, bend down the barbs cause i hate mangling the fish, miss a few extra but it gets so many bites its no big deal.

If you bring a fly rod, and there are certain waters that ONLY fly fishing is allowed, cant go wrong with a box of caddis and a few nymphs if theyre down deep.
 
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