I didn't want to derail the cutthroat thread, but it got me excited about fishing areas like this. I will be in Estes Park next week. Does anyone know any good back country hike in lakes that could potentially provide some good fishing? I would be willing to drive an hour or 2 and then hike in for some good fishing. Thanks for any help!

Jealous ...enjoy Estes Park and RMNP! Fern Lake is a 4 mile hike from the trailhead and tops out a little over 10,000ft if I remember correctly. You will have a chance to score a Greenback. The last time we were there was in late October and that was about as far up as we could go becuase of early snow but you should be able to continue on up to Spruce Lake or Odessa Lake this time of year. The trail follows the Big Thompson River and offers up some great stream fishing. Sprague Lake has a lot of brookies and you can drive right up to that one.

If you can get your hands on a copy of Steven B. Schweitzer's book "A Fly Fisher's Guide to RMNP" and will offer up alot of good info. The guys are Kirk's fly shop too can be really helpful.

I'll second the vote for Schweitzer's book if you plan to fish in the park. Some of the lakes don't have any fish in them and that book will help you to avoid them.

Also, the Thompson downstream of Estes Park is a great place to fish and has easy access.

I always wanted to fish those lakes. We went there many times during my childhood, but never with fishing tackle. We would go stay at the YMCA of the rockies. I remember hiking through some of those streams. Froze my assets off.