Acristickid
Well-known member
Spent most of the last week in fly fishing the Bridger-Teton National Forests of Wyoming for the WY Cutt-slam.
Wyoming was once home to 6 native cutthroat trout- Bonneville Cutthroat trout- aka Bear River Cutthroat , Colorado River cutthroat found in the Green River drainage, Snake River fine spotted cutthroat trout found in the Snake river drainage, Yellowstone Cutthroat found in Yellowstone river and region, the Westslope Cutthroat is not part of the program due to the trout being limited to only two of its native waters and the Greenback Cutthroat is extinct.
The Bonneville can be found in south west Wyoming in a few streams and rivers but it is the rarest WY cutthroat in terms of being limted to a few drainages. Fished the Smith’s Fork river- it was great good sized and it was very remote. I would rate it fishing as excellent. Hooked good sized Bonneville’s with big foam attractors. Some of the roads were very rough- fine for a 4x4 but not a midsized SUV.
We drove up the LaBarge drainage to fish for the native Colorado cutthroat. The area is rich with pioneer history- tens of thousands of settlers slogged over the mountains in this area of SW WY and evidence of their passing here is well documented. It was a beautiful area, meadows flowers, vistas…. Struggled to catch a CO cutt there though. Maybe we didn’t fish the right stretch.
The next day we floated the Upper Green river in the Wind River Wilderness area. It was very remote peaceful area with great views of the Winds. It’s not the Bighorn it terms of numbers but there were many pods of rising fish in the afternoon- half of which were whitefish. But we both managed good sized fish.
The mosquitos in and around the Pinedale area were the worst I have ever experienced!!!! The first night we arrived in Pinedale we took a ride around and ended up at an access to the New Fork River and were greeted with many risers only to be driven away by hundreds of hungry mosquitoes. (even after deeting up)
On the advice of our guide we drove up the Horse Creek valley to see if we could get into a CO cutthroat. More beautiful wilderness area with next to no people around. We did well there and picked up many colorful CO’s. It was very pleasant wading and fishing with big foam attractors.
The next day we thought we would mix it up and fish Meadow Lake outside of town. It was a bumpy road for a few miles but we did made fine in a midsized SUV. The attraction to Meadow Lake is the greyling.
It was a nice change of place to fish without walking or wading much and we both had takes from the quarry but I was unable to bring any to hand- Andrew landed 2. I tried to get into some but the wind became too much and left without punching the greyling ticket. Guess there is always a 3rd time. ( I didn’t catch a greyling in the Big Hole either)
The next day we drove an hour up the road and passed the still stained Hoback River and gave one of it’s clearer tribs a try- Granite Creek. This river system is in the Snake River drainage and contains the Snake River Fine spotted cutthroat trout. The mountains that surround the creek here are simply amazing. I hooked into a large cutty but to no avail. We didn’t have much luck but it sure was pretty.
We drove another hour and spent a night in Jackson WY. I had fond memories of my college road trip there nearly 25 years ago. The town is not the same- tripled in size with Sports Authorities, Kmarts etc…. and scads of traffic. Shame.
The last fishing day of the trip we needed to catch a couple Snake River cuts to complete the slam. We headed up the Greys River- again another beautiful mountain river valley. The road goes up the mountain for 60 miles- we stopped at about 30 when we got to the size of the stream we like to fish. It was a roaring river the size of the yough 20-30 miles down the valley but up in the meadows where we fished it was a more manageable 15-40 feet wide.
I caught several Snake River cutts pretty quickly but Andrew struggled for the first hour and then a second hour. He had some takes and even had a few on and brought to the feet but no picture evidence that is needed for the state certification.
It was about this point where he switched to nymphs (ha, I hadn’t tied a nymph on all week) in a desperate attempt to land one. We had a 5 hour drive back to SLC and I sure he was starting to think he used up all his luck on the greyling. When his nymphs had a tangle I gave him my rod to keep fishing while I re rigged it. As soon as I started to cut off the tangle he was into a nice one with the same foam attractor I had used most of the week. Got a nice picture and the pressure was off. We fished another hole and then started the walk back out.
It was a great trip. We took a foray out into the wilderness each day and stayed a hotel each nite. I had a caught Yellowstone Cutthroats on other trips from years past but I will use the first one I ever caught in Yellowstone’s Lamar River.
The Cutt Slam is very achievable in a weeks time. There is no time limit to complete it. From SLC your about 2 and half hours from the Bear River system for Bonneville’s and if you drop over into the Green River Valley you can get your CO cut. Just north of the Green an hour you can drop into the Snake River drainage. From there you can head north or east another hour or 2 for your Yellowstone. Great area.
Pinedale is a good base for 2 of the cutts and greyling plus Green and New Fork rivers if you would like to try. Very friendly town and the deer crossing signs on main street are funny.
Pinedale is where the mountain men rendezvous took place (ala Jeremiah Johnson).
Still need to catch a greyling- I’m ready to go back already.
Some pics- Ill add some more later maybe.
WY Cutt Slam
Wyoming was once home to 6 native cutthroat trout- Bonneville Cutthroat trout- aka Bear River Cutthroat , Colorado River cutthroat found in the Green River drainage, Snake River fine spotted cutthroat trout found in the Snake river drainage, Yellowstone Cutthroat found in Yellowstone river and region, the Westslope Cutthroat is not part of the program due to the trout being limited to only two of its native waters and the Greenback Cutthroat is extinct.
The Bonneville can be found in south west Wyoming in a few streams and rivers but it is the rarest WY cutthroat in terms of being limted to a few drainages. Fished the Smith’s Fork river- it was great good sized and it was very remote. I would rate it fishing as excellent. Hooked good sized Bonneville’s with big foam attractors. Some of the roads were very rough- fine for a 4x4 but not a midsized SUV.
We drove up the LaBarge drainage to fish for the native Colorado cutthroat. The area is rich with pioneer history- tens of thousands of settlers slogged over the mountains in this area of SW WY and evidence of their passing here is well documented. It was a beautiful area, meadows flowers, vistas…. Struggled to catch a CO cutt there though. Maybe we didn’t fish the right stretch.
The next day we floated the Upper Green river in the Wind River Wilderness area. It was very remote peaceful area with great views of the Winds. It’s not the Bighorn it terms of numbers but there were many pods of rising fish in the afternoon- half of which were whitefish. But we both managed good sized fish.
The mosquitos in and around the Pinedale area were the worst I have ever experienced!!!! The first night we arrived in Pinedale we took a ride around and ended up at an access to the New Fork River and were greeted with many risers only to be driven away by hundreds of hungry mosquitoes. (even after deeting up)
On the advice of our guide we drove up the Horse Creek valley to see if we could get into a CO cutthroat. More beautiful wilderness area with next to no people around. We did well there and picked up many colorful CO’s. It was very pleasant wading and fishing with big foam attractors.
The next day we thought we would mix it up and fish Meadow Lake outside of town. It was a bumpy road for a few miles but we did made fine in a midsized SUV. The attraction to Meadow Lake is the greyling.
It was a nice change of place to fish without walking or wading much and we both had takes from the quarry but I was unable to bring any to hand- Andrew landed 2. I tried to get into some but the wind became too much and left without punching the greyling ticket. Guess there is always a 3rd time. ( I didn’t catch a greyling in the Big Hole either)
The next day we drove an hour up the road and passed the still stained Hoback River and gave one of it’s clearer tribs a try- Granite Creek. This river system is in the Snake River drainage and contains the Snake River Fine spotted cutthroat trout. The mountains that surround the creek here are simply amazing. I hooked into a large cutty but to no avail. We didn’t have much luck but it sure was pretty.
We drove another hour and spent a night in Jackson WY. I had fond memories of my college road trip there nearly 25 years ago. The town is not the same- tripled in size with Sports Authorities, Kmarts etc…. and scads of traffic. Shame.
The last fishing day of the trip we needed to catch a couple Snake River cuts to complete the slam. We headed up the Greys River- again another beautiful mountain river valley. The road goes up the mountain for 60 miles- we stopped at about 30 when we got to the size of the stream we like to fish. It was a roaring river the size of the yough 20-30 miles down the valley but up in the meadows where we fished it was a more manageable 15-40 feet wide.
I caught several Snake River cutts pretty quickly but Andrew struggled for the first hour and then a second hour. He had some takes and even had a few on and brought to the feet but no picture evidence that is needed for the state certification.
It was about this point where he switched to nymphs (ha, I hadn’t tied a nymph on all week) in a desperate attempt to land one. We had a 5 hour drive back to SLC and I sure he was starting to think he used up all his luck on the greyling. When his nymphs had a tangle I gave him my rod to keep fishing while I re rigged it. As soon as I started to cut off the tangle he was into a nice one with the same foam attractor I had used most of the week. Got a nice picture and the pressure was off. We fished another hole and then started the walk back out.
It was a great trip. We took a foray out into the wilderness each day and stayed a hotel each nite. I had a caught Yellowstone Cutthroats on other trips from years past but I will use the first one I ever caught in Yellowstone’s Lamar River.
The Cutt Slam is very achievable in a weeks time. There is no time limit to complete it. From SLC your about 2 and half hours from the Bear River system for Bonneville’s and if you drop over into the Green River Valley you can get your CO cut. Just north of the Green an hour you can drop into the Snake River drainage. From there you can head north or east another hour or 2 for your Yellowstone. Great area.
Pinedale is a good base for 2 of the cutts and greyling plus Green and New Fork rivers if you would like to try. Very friendly town and the deer crossing signs on main street are funny.
Pinedale is where the mountain men rendezvous took place (ala Jeremiah Johnson).
Still need to catch a greyling- I’m ready to go back already.
Some pics- Ill add some more later maybe.
WY Cutt Slam
