JAK Traks: The Miracle Mile

Yesterday was one of those fishing days that will live on in infamy in my mind. Especially because I was alone, and I only have my own thoughts and a handful of photos to confirm what transpired.

First fish of the trip, 2nd or 3rd cast. Everything else would be gravy, or so I thought

The plan was to drive to the Miracle Mile and fish through Thursday, then camp and fish a little in the morning Friday and then check out below Pathfinder. When I finally got to the Mile around 130 pm I did some glassing and spotted some fish from the road before I chose to rig up. The first fish I caught was a beautiful male brown, the reason I drove out to the middle of nowhere. I have fished the Mile a handful of times and this was the nicest fish I had gotten so far, so the trip was made. I caught a handful of cookie cutter 16 inchers and then got a rainbow for dinner. The fishing made me think that I would stay the next day instead of going over to Fremont Canyon. I had no idea what I was in store for.

Camp meat. Hatchet Jack

The next morning I awoke to frigid temps in the teens and about an inch or two of snow. I tracked a cottontail from the tent and wished I had a small game license for Wyoming. I then walked up from camp and spotted a big brown, maybe 2 feet long. I ran back to camp and grabbed my rod but didn't put waders on. Just as I got back to the spot, 3 dudes piled out of a rig towing a raft. It was 7 a.m. at the latest and fucking cold out, so these guys were hard core. They seemed to be about my age and I talked to them to make sure it was cool that I go after the fish I saw. They were very polite, said no problem, and we all fished the run together. They were hooking up left and right, and I had to keep my focus on the single fish I was after, staged above a redd in the tail out. I hooked him, but iced guides and frigid fingers failed me on the set, and he was off in seconds.I knew it was maybe the biggest fish I would see that day, but I had to walk away, get waders on and go check out a spot I was dying to get back to (I had a bit of a misadventure to this spot in the spring). Boy did I make the right choice.

Tank of a bow. Some of the rainbows in the system are of the eagle lake strain and spawn in the fall

The grass was so much greener on the other side, and not many thoughts entered my head as I fished a pegged worm and a white sex dungeon to a multitude of large fish that rarely see an anglers pressure. I almost broke my ankle at least 4 times running after big fish as they peeled into my backing.

One of the coolest gill plates I've seen.

I probably ended the day with 15 or more fish over 20 inches, with 2 in the 26-27 range and a handful of two footers. Little to no moon, a cold front, and a shaded aspect all likely played a role in the spectacle. That and pure focus on catching fish for 6 hours with no thought of food or drink, only iced guides, broken off tippet and flies, and frozen reels.

The somewhat ugly face of an old warrior that's been caught a few times in her life. Thickness

An absolute beast, eye of the tiger.

It's too bad my lens was foggy for this guy, one of the cleanest and most jaw-dropping browns I've ever fooled

Shaka Bra! So many studs

I was blown away by the condition of the fish that I was catching. Some were spawned out, but I also caught some females that had not dropped a single egg yet. It is interesting to note in the systems that have fall/winter spawning rainbows that many of the browns spawn late as well. I watched a redd where a male rainbow and a male brown competed over a single female brown the day earlier.