Acristickid
Well-known member
Only warmed to 13 so far so might as well write and think about fly fishing.
Made a trip to NM, UT this past fall to fish for native trout. Flew into Albuquerque then headed past Santa Fe to the Sante Fe National Forest. I fished a tributary to the Pecos River. The Pecos River is a very small river , it’s smaller then the Little J for instance but sees lots of use being next to a paved road with public access. It’s your typical small tributary ( just like a typical brookie creek) that got easier the further or high you climbed. Most of the fish I encountered were under 5 inches and these seemingly shy fish wanted to conceal their beauty by becoming unbuttoned regularly. But was able to seal the deal on a Pecos strain Rio Grande cutthroat. Largest spots of all cutthroat mainly at the tail.
After an afternoon of fishing and a long morning of travel I headed out to a hotel in Sante Fe. The next day I headed south on the interstate to the Gila National Forest to try a find it’s namesake fish.
I was able to find lodging at a small lodge that turned out to be perfect, especially the gas and food right across the street. It was a hamlet really with another motel or two- which are homes for Texas hunters during elk season.
This stream was recommended to me by the fish biologist for the Gila trout. It was a beautiful stream in a tight high walled canyon. It was nice in the shade during the hot sunny day. The stream seemed to have a good population of Gilas as I was able to catch many of them. Seem like a rainbow trout with much less coloration.
So in 2 days I caught the 2 fish in New Mexico I was hoping for. Day 3 I drove the entire day north to my next fishing destinations in Utah.
I had 5 days left and did not plan on fishing for all the native cutthroat in Utah but the state has a Cutthroat angling program.
Called the biologist for SE Utah and he was able to give me some streams that would contain the four different cutthroats in Utah. That’s when I decided I would try for Utahs cutthroat slam even though I had caught them before in other states. Being a few days ahead of schedule made this possible but makes for hours of driving and a lot less relaxing but worthwhile.
Catching these four in their native streams is the qualification for the slam.
Bonneville Cutthroat-
Bear River Bonneville strain Cutthroat-
Colorado Cutthroat-
Yellowstone Cutthroat-
Cutthroat fishing is easy. It’s not like some long difficult casts with delicate little mayflies across currents. More of your slap down a big attractor and hope the fishes mouth is big enough to be hooked. The hard is part of these trips is getting just there followed by trying to find the deeper holes in what otherwise are really tiny streams.
The stream the biologist suggested for the Colorado Cutthroat in the Manti Lasal national forest was incredibly tiny and where I crossed the stream on the road was dry. Hope was not having to hike super far to find water. The biologist probably would have directed me to another stream that was larger but this one was not far from where I was and I could continue north on the quest.
After a hour of figuring where the water was and trying to hook these small fish I came upon the hole. This small bathtub sized hole had two of the larger fish in it, getting down and sitting a lil behind the hole I was able to land a great Colorado Cutthroat. Seemed huge at 7 inches compared to mostly 4 inchers I could see. I poked around that beautiful and very quiet location for a few hours before I popped back in the rental car and couple more hours north.
The next of the list was a Bonneville Cutthroat, Utah’s state fish. A fish I’ve caught before in Wyoming but it was on the list. I headed into the Unita National Forest to another small head water stream. Similar to most other outings, up into National Forest but most of the length of this stream was along side a forest service road. Was able to catch a few Bonneville’s and then back in car headed north again.
Reached Salt Lake City and got a hotel. The next fish was a Yellowstone cutthroat which was about a 3 hour ride to the water the furthest drive and longest day. This is the most rare in Utah being only in a few streams. Because of the lack of roads I actually drive into Idaho and then south to the location in north central Utah in the Sawtooth National Forest.
Again, very small waters and was able to get the flies through the tangles of limbs but had real hard time hooking these 4 inchers. This was particularly frustrating and I bet it took three hours of fishing to land one of these. Seriously, most regular anglers would laugh trying to land these oversized goldfish that I had to fly across the country, drive hours and hike hours more to match wits with. Ultimately, got what I came for , which made the 3 hours back to the SLC area palatable.
I left one final day of fishing for the Bear River Cutthroat. It was a Saturday I remember and headed to a tributary of the Logan river. The Logan river is in a scenic canyon through Nat Forest land and sees lots of use in proximity to the great Salt Lake area. The Logan looked like a nice place to wet a line, decent size but not too big and half of the time well shaded.
It was late September when I made this trip and it was dry and blue skies each day. Conditions for a human were nice, cool in the mornings and warm to hot in the afternoon if you were hiking. The Bear River is recognized by the state of Utah as a separate subspecies and so I thought I would check this one off to leave no doubt.
I fished a tributary to the Logan it was possibly the only time cutthroat fishing in a spring creek. It had the marks of spring creek- cold clear water , many bugs observed in comparison to the other waters fished and lots of weedy watery growth.
Started to try my luck right along side the dirt forest service road. I tried with no luck. Relocated up higher to The end of the road and wasn’t far from the trailhead and got into a few. Seemed these fish were a little larger than the others but not surprise coming out of this mountain spring creek.
So in a weeks time , was successful with the Pecos strain of the Rio Grande Cutthroat and Gila in New Mexico and the four native cutthroat to Utah. Certainly successful in my eyes but a little more frenetic pace than I would have liked.
These are the native trout to the south central Rockies and I believe I fished on National Forest land in every instance.
One step forward and two steps back- after this trip I declared victory by catching all the strains of cutthroat (13 counting the Bear River) but have come to find out there are 2 more cutthroat lurking out there both in Colorado. The San Juan strain of the Colorado cutthroat and the Hayden Creek Cutthroat ( which matches genes from a long thought extinct yellowfin cutthroat in the Arkansas headwaters. More to be done.
Here’s details on Utahs cutthroats: https://dev-utahcuttthroatslam.pantheonsite.io/bonneville-cutthroat-trout/
Good luck to all fly anglers.
Made a trip to NM, UT this past fall to fish for native trout. Flew into Albuquerque then headed past Santa Fe to the Sante Fe National Forest. I fished a tributary to the Pecos River. The Pecos River is a very small river , it’s smaller then the Little J for instance but sees lots of use being next to a paved road with public access. It’s your typical small tributary ( just like a typical brookie creek) that got easier the further or high you climbed. Most of the fish I encountered were under 5 inches and these seemingly shy fish wanted to conceal their beauty by becoming unbuttoned regularly. But was able to seal the deal on a Pecos strain Rio Grande cutthroat. Largest spots of all cutthroat mainly at the tail.
After an afternoon of fishing and a long morning of travel I headed out to a hotel in Sante Fe. The next day I headed south on the interstate to the Gila National Forest to try a find it’s namesake fish.
I was able to find lodging at a small lodge that turned out to be perfect, especially the gas and food right across the street. It was a hamlet really with another motel or two- which are homes for Texas hunters during elk season.
This stream was recommended to me by the fish biologist for the Gila trout. It was a beautiful stream in a tight high walled canyon. It was nice in the shade during the hot sunny day. The stream seemed to have a good population of Gilas as I was able to catch many of them. Seem like a rainbow trout with much less coloration.
So in 2 days I caught the 2 fish in New Mexico I was hoping for. Day 3 I drove the entire day north to my next fishing destinations in Utah.
I had 5 days left and did not plan on fishing for all the native cutthroat in Utah but the state has a Cutthroat angling program.
Called the biologist for SE Utah and he was able to give me some streams that would contain the four different cutthroats in Utah. That’s when I decided I would try for Utahs cutthroat slam even though I had caught them before in other states. Being a few days ahead of schedule made this possible but makes for hours of driving and a lot less relaxing but worthwhile.
Catching these four in their native streams is the qualification for the slam.
Bonneville Cutthroat-
Bear River Bonneville strain Cutthroat-
Colorado Cutthroat-
Yellowstone Cutthroat-
Cutthroat fishing is easy. It’s not like some long difficult casts with delicate little mayflies across currents. More of your slap down a big attractor and hope the fishes mouth is big enough to be hooked. The hard is part of these trips is getting just there followed by trying to find the deeper holes in what otherwise are really tiny streams.
The stream the biologist suggested for the Colorado Cutthroat in the Manti Lasal national forest was incredibly tiny and where I crossed the stream on the road was dry. Hope was not having to hike super far to find water. The biologist probably would have directed me to another stream that was larger but this one was not far from where I was and I could continue north on the quest.
After a hour of figuring where the water was and trying to hook these small fish I came upon the hole. This small bathtub sized hole had two of the larger fish in it, getting down and sitting a lil behind the hole I was able to land a great Colorado Cutthroat. Seemed huge at 7 inches compared to mostly 4 inchers I could see. I poked around that beautiful and very quiet location for a few hours before I popped back in the rental car and couple more hours north.
The next of the list was a Bonneville Cutthroat, Utah’s state fish. A fish I’ve caught before in Wyoming but it was on the list. I headed into the Unita National Forest to another small head water stream. Similar to most other outings, up into National Forest but most of the length of this stream was along side a forest service road. Was able to catch a few Bonneville’s and then back in car headed north again.
Reached Salt Lake City and got a hotel. The next fish was a Yellowstone cutthroat which was about a 3 hour ride to the water the furthest drive and longest day. This is the most rare in Utah being only in a few streams. Because of the lack of roads I actually drive into Idaho and then south to the location in north central Utah in the Sawtooth National Forest.
Again, very small waters and was able to get the flies through the tangles of limbs but had real hard time hooking these 4 inchers. This was particularly frustrating and I bet it took three hours of fishing to land one of these. Seriously, most regular anglers would laugh trying to land these oversized goldfish that I had to fly across the country, drive hours and hike hours more to match wits with. Ultimately, got what I came for , which made the 3 hours back to the SLC area palatable.
I left one final day of fishing for the Bear River Cutthroat. It was a Saturday I remember and headed to a tributary of the Logan river. The Logan river is in a scenic canyon through Nat Forest land and sees lots of use in proximity to the great Salt Lake area. The Logan looked like a nice place to wet a line, decent size but not too big and half of the time well shaded.
It was late September when I made this trip and it was dry and blue skies each day. Conditions for a human were nice, cool in the mornings and warm to hot in the afternoon if you were hiking. The Bear River is recognized by the state of Utah as a separate subspecies and so I thought I would check this one off to leave no doubt.
I fished a tributary to the Logan it was possibly the only time cutthroat fishing in a spring creek. It had the marks of spring creek- cold clear water , many bugs observed in comparison to the other waters fished and lots of weedy watery growth.
Started to try my luck right along side the dirt forest service road. I tried with no luck. Relocated up higher to The end of the road and wasn’t far from the trailhead and got into a few. Seemed these fish were a little larger than the others but not surprise coming out of this mountain spring creek.
So in a weeks time , was successful with the Pecos strain of the Rio Grande Cutthroat and Gila in New Mexico and the four native cutthroat to Utah. Certainly successful in my eyes but a little more frenetic pace than I would have liked.
These are the native trout to the south central Rockies and I believe I fished on National Forest land in every instance.
One step forward and two steps back- after this trip I declared victory by catching all the strains of cutthroat (13 counting the Bear River) but have come to find out there are 2 more cutthroat lurking out there both in Colorado. The San Juan strain of the Colorado cutthroat and the Hayden Creek Cutthroat ( which matches genes from a long thought extinct yellowfin cutthroat in the Arkansas headwaters. More to be done.
Here’s details on Utahs cutthroats: https://dev-utahcuttthroatslam.pantheonsite.io/bonneville-cutthroat-trout/
Good luck to all fly anglers.
