Fall Colors Of a High Country lake
Lisa Savard , Fly Fishing Waters
Shortly before winter sets in and ice covers the surface of Georgetown Lake in Southwest Montana, brook trout work tirelessly to spawn and protect their fertilized eggs.
These lake dwelling brook trout spawn over spring holes which keep the redds free of silt during the long winter months when wave activity ceases.
Males, with their brilliant colors, humped backs, and jagged teeth stay close to their partner while fighting off rival males. Smaller males slide in beside the female when the spawning male is distracted by other aggressors.
The brook trout spawn at Georgetown Lake occurs after the Kokanee salmon spawn. In their final weeks of life, the Kokanee stay near their nests which the brook trout now inhabit. This makes for quite an interesting and colorful underwater scene. The once bright red-sided Kokanee, with it’s protruding, enlarged teeth, swims carelessly through groups of brook trout spawners.
Eagles watch with interest from above while ducks rest on the lake surface; it will be time to fly south very soon. It’s early November. Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” is playing in my mind as I watch the life drama unfold under the waves. By month’s end the ducks will be gone, the brook trout will have retreated to the depths, and the gentle waves which lap the surface will be icebound.
I am an intruder in this underwater world. I set my cameras quickly and return to dry land to wait and hope the brook trout will share their secrets of reproduction and life struggle with my lens.
These lake dwelling brook trout spawn over spring holes which keep the redds free of silt during the long winter months when wave activity ceases.
Males, with their brilliant colors, humped backs, and jagged teeth stay close to their partner while fighting off rival males. Smaller males slide in beside the female when the spawning male is distracted by other aggressors.
The brook trout spawn at Georgetown Lake occurs after the Kokanee salmon spawn. In their final weeks of life, the Kokanee stay near their nests which the brook trout now inhabit. This makes for quite an interesting and colorful underwater scene. The once bright red-sided Kokanee, with it’s protruding, enlarged teeth, swims carelessly through groups of brook trout spawners.
Eagles watch with interest from above while ducks rest on the lake surface; it will be time to fly south very soon. It’s early November. Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer” is playing in my mind as I watch the life drama unfold under the waves. By month’s end the ducks will be gone, the brook trout will have retreated to the depths, and the gentle waves which lap the surface will be icebound.
I am an intruder in this underwater world. I set my cameras quickly and return to dry land to wait and hope the brook trout will share their secrets of reproduction and life struggle with my lens.
