Lake Of The Horns - Experiences?

[loviatt]

Planning on doing some mid-july or august fishing and have the chance to get some horses and head up to lake of the horns. Has anyone fished it before, and will I need a pontoon to make it worthwhile, or can I make do on the shore alone? Any surrounding smaller lakes that are also worthwhile in that neck of the woods? Thanks in advance.

[rhuseby]

You don't have to have a tube or pontoon to do well on the high alpine lakes. If the fish are feeding they are usually reachable from shore. If you want to take one anyway, it won't hurt. The final approach to the lake is up a steep rock band and getting the boat up could be tricky. Carnarvon Lake is in the next valley south, Loomis Lake 2 valleys north. All three lakes have cutts stocked and are usually good fishing. The long approachs keep pressure down. The entire Highwood is a beautiful area, enjoy your trip.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Biggest hint after doing the Carnarvon last year....while the side that doesn't have the wind is obviously the most appealing, the fishing is dismal compared to where the wind is...

 

Bigger drys work way better then small ones we found, our best fly was a number 4 Chernobyl Ant.

 

Fish the big drop off, if Lake of the Horns is anything like Carnarvon, fish 2 feet off the bank to where it looks like an abyss, and cuttys will scream at your fly all day

 

don't expect anything big, we didn't catch anything over 12"

 

A float tube would be a pain in the ass to go up the headwalls, and a waste of time in my mind, just way too windy in that area. When the wind was pounding on the way down, the waterfall was actually putting water back onto the headwall where the climb down was, and it was beyond sketchy....having anything more then a small backpack, would have made life a whole lot scarier

 

 

I'll be doing Carnavorn again i think, and want to hit all of the lakes in that area this year, but we'll see

[McLeod]

You can walk to the foot of the lake in a few hours from the main hwy..As mentioned the hike from the valley up to the the lake is very steep and you want to pack lightly. Never saw any fish over 12 inches as the lake is not that productive but there may be a few bigger ones..There are a few dams at the bottomin valley and they have lots of nice 10 inch fish that you can sight cast to. Let us know how you make out..

[fishinmagician]

You can walk to the foot of the lake in a few hours from the main hwy..As mentioned the hike from the valley up to the the lake is very steep and you want to pack lightly. Never saw any fish over 12 inches as the lake is not that productive but there may be a few bigger ones..There are a few dams at the bottomin valley and they have lots of nice 10 inch fish that you can sight cast to. Let us know how you make out..

By a few hrs. do you mean 2 or 3 or more. I would like to fish these lakes this summer. Tks.

[McLeod]

By a few hrs. do you mean 2 or 3 or more. I would like to fish these lakes this summer. Tks.

 

Thjere is a really good trail to the lake..all flat ..you cxan hike to the base of th lake in 2 to 3 hrs ..you could bike there in an hour or less.. but from the base ..you need to hike up the side of a mountain..20 minutes to an hour depending on the shape your in..the lake is located in a mountain bowl and very high alitude..

Also you must ford the highwood river at the start ..

[Guest bigbadbrent]

Carnarvorn is a lot more uphill, we biked as far as we could, and then hiked the rest, and it still took us around 2 hours

 

then again, it only took us 45 minutes to get back to the car at the end of the day

 

you need great shoes/boots for going up the shale trail up to the headwall, then you go up the chains, which if the wind is pushing the water back onto it, you need good grip, or you're slipping

[Pipes]

I bring my pontoon boat up to these lakes. For the most part, you can easily fish from shore. Another hint. The wind is usually strong, but if you stay over night the wind almost always dies to nothing for evening and early morning. There may even be some fish over 12 inches!

There's also a grizzly sow that spends alot of time around the trail. She had some larger cubs last year that have probably left her. Never had a problem with her though.