Our Greatest Passion
Golden trout are a truly unique creature and live in very special places in our Wind River Mountains. As many know, they are not native to the Winds but were stocked here in the 20's or 30's. The world record was taken from Cook Lake in the Winds in 1948, weighing 11 lbs. 4 oz. There are perhaps 50 or more lakes in the Winds with pure golden trout in them. In the lake environment they can grow quite large, certainly into the 6 to 7 pound range. In streams, they stay quite small unless they are washed from a lake above. In streams they behave more or less like normal trout. Their food sources are what is available, usually mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, and midges. But in the lake environment, goldens may feed very selectively on this same fare, relying instead on zooplankton. We rarely find stunted goldens in lakes largely because of this food preference (there appears to be a lot of it) and because they do not tend to overpopulate. Goldens, whether in the stream or lake, do not really like light. They shy from the surface. In lakes we find them off steep dropoffs, where they can disappear easily. You may see them near the surface on windy days.