Mystery trout?? New or Old

[Acristickid]

A biologist from Colorado sent me a text yesterday stating he was surveying a stream that had never been stocked or surveyed previously.

This is from the Upper Arkansas River tributary.

There is an extinct Yellowfin Cutthroat in Arkansas River tributary/lake relatively close by.

2 years ago a fished for a newly discovered Cutthroat that has CO Cutthroat genes but unlike any others and is east of Colorado river and continental divide.

Called a Hayden Creek cutthroat that existed in just a few miles of stream and was moved to fishless refuge stream due to a fire. No records for this fish either.

Anyway the fish he sent looks different than the Hayden creek. Will see what the testing reveals. On one level it’s great to have something that was thought extinct to be rediscovered and alive and then for me personally, I prefer not to discover any more Trout.

 

[CLSports]

Aren't the greenbacks in that drainage too? I do not know too much about them, but I thought once they were "rediscovered" that they were introduced back to several tribs in the area.

Greenback

 

[Acristickid]

You are correct. Many WNTI guys on the text thread.

From what I recall is they came I believe through the upper Colorado river and Crossed somewhere near Rocky Mountain National Park to cross over divide. Ice sheets, glacier stuff.

The greenback was found in one stream. I think it was called Bear Creek, which is sort of close to pikes Peak. Biologists had collected some and took them back to hatchery and separated them for breeding to plant in additional streams. In any event, that fish was not native to that stream. It’s thought that there was a hotel owner that planted those greenbacks from elsewhere to provide his guests with an opportunity to fish his stream on his property.

As a matter of fact, the first time I went greenback fishing was like around 2010 or so and at that time the biologist recommended that you go to Fish the big Thompson in Rocky Mountain National Park above “the pool”.

That turned out to be a disaster.

Because the stocking program they had the wrong jeans mixed in, and it was really a Colorado cutthroat Trout and not a greenback and of course, now the technology/dna and so on is more precise.

There are a number of greenback streams now one of which in all of my native trout trips fished this Greenback probably within 100 yards of Interstate 70. It’s funny I I’m no genius, but I’m pretty successful at catching these fish just like most you guys would too, but it’s funny like everybody wants to hike up the mountain and go up and catch these fish. I go the other way I get down towards the interstate I walked about 100 yards and catfish guys hiked 3 miles straight up crazy to me.