Rio Grande cutt is the most handsome trout in existence. Fish in northern / southern New Mexico! Gila trout are beautiful as well. Love your videos dude. Keeps me motivated to fish. Thanks
Congratulations on completing the Slam. Just an FYI that Bear River Cutthroats are genetically distinct from Bonneville Cutthroats because the Bear River was originally a tributary of the Snake River until about 30k years ago when it was captured by the Bonneville basin due to a volcanic eruption near present day Soda Springs, Idaho. So Bear River Cutthroats are a hybrid of the Yellowstone and Bonneville lineages. The Bear Lake Cutthroats are further differentiated from the Bear River Cutthroats due to their isolation in Bear Lake for the last 15k years and their adaptation to a lacrustine environment and a piscivorious diet.
Congratulations - it's always neat to catch fish that are 'natives', which can be tough when it comes to trout, because of all the stocking efforts over the years. I've caught both 'northern strain' and Southern Appalachian brook trout in the East, and I've caught Rio Grande cutts in Southern Colorado; I thought I also had some Greenbacks, but it turns out that in all but one stream, they were really hybrids. I've caught finespotted cutts, but where I got them they definitely weren't native. However, even back here at home in Louisiana, with the warmwater species, I enjoy catching 'natives'. Around here, about the only stocking efforts have been Florida strain largemouths, but the little creeks I like to fish have probably never seen a stocking truck, nor have they been manipulated in any way - those spotted bass have always been there.
Yes, the Colorado Division of Wildlife devoted quite a lot of effort to restoring "Greenback" cutthroats found in various locations in Rocky Mountain National Park and other locations east of the divide in the original range of the Greenback. Then a fisheries biologist came along and did DNA comparison with old museum specimens of Greenbacks and found that these fish were actually hybrids between Greenbacks and Colorado River cutthroat. Apparently Colorado River Cutthroats had been stocked east of the divide quite early. It turned out that pure Greenbacks were only found in one small drainage near Colorado Springs. Back in the '80's, I caught some cutthroats from beaver ponds in the Lost Creek Wilderness. I caught the cutts only in beaver ponds. In the creek that fed them, I caught only very small brook trout. This was a very small stream and there are no lakes in the drainage, so it doesn't seem likely that cutthroats would ever have been stocked there, but who knows? After all, the brook trout got there somehow. I've always wondered if these could have been true Greenbacks. I haven't fished that area since, so I have no idea of those cutthroats are still there. Part of the problem is that, prior to maybe the '70's, the game and fish people really didn't concdern themselves much with subspecies. Cutthroats were Cuttthroats, as far as they were concerned, and they stocked a lot of them outside their original native range.
Love your videos!! I don’t have a tenkara rod but use my regular fly pole to try and emulate what you do for a lot of small stream stuff, great content!!
Congrats on your slam!! Scenery is always stunning! Always! I'll be on the upper reaches of the Black in Az later this week. You know what lives there...😁.
Awesome video! I'm from Pennsylvania and would like to make a trip out west to attempt to complete the Cut Slam with tenkara gear. Not being from Wyoming, I was wondering if you know of any good resources to get me started on trip planning? Thanks and keep making your fantastic videos!
The Snake River Finespotted Cuttrhoat is interesting. As I understand it, its range overlaps with the Yellowstone Cutthroat, as there are Yellowsotne cutts in the Snake River drainage as well as finespotted. The scale counts and anatomical features that fisheries biologists use to identify subspecies are just about identical with those of the Yellowstone Cuttthroat, yet it has the distinctively different spotting pattern.
Just curious: Do you ever catch Rocky Mountain Whitefish? I haven't seen you catch them in any of the videos I have watched, but they do exist in some of the areas you fish, and they will take flies, especially nymphs and wet flied, but they will sometimes take dry flies too.
I too am a Tenkara addict. I got in to it about 6 years ago and use it for a lot of warm water fishing as well as trout fishing. Of course not much trout fishing in Nebraska, especially in Eastern NE where I live. What I was wondering is how do you use your GoPro? Do you power it on and leave it on and change batteries every hour or so, do you use an external battery, or do you turn it off and one frequently. Also do you use the GoPro mic, or use an external? Great videos, thank you to sharing your experiences.
It was, because that's the only type of cutthroat in that drainage, but it definitely doesn't have the "fine-spotted" spotting. The fine-spotted spotting is much more, well, fine. Compare the spots on that fish to the ones on the last fish in the video. Thanks for watching.
Beautiful as always and sooo jealous of all the places you fish. If you don’t mind me asking are these 4 fish all subspecies of cutthroat or are they all considered different species?
The Greenback Cuthroat is native to the South Platte drainage (east of the continental divide). The Colorado Cutthroat is native to the Colorado River drainage, including the Green River drainage in Wyoming. They are closely related ssubpecies, as the Greenback likely evolved from Colorado Cutthroat that got across the divide due to a stream capture.
Rio Grande cutt is the most handsome trout in existence. Fish in northern / southern New Mexico! Gila trout are beautiful as well. Love your videos dude. Keeps me motivated to fish. Thanks
Congratulations on completing the Slam. Just an FYI that Bear River Cutthroats are genetically distinct from Bonneville Cutthroats because the Bear River was originally a tributary of the Snake River until about 30k years ago when it was captured by the Bonneville basin due to a volcanic eruption near present day Soda Springs, Idaho. So Bear River Cutthroats are a hybrid of the Yellowstone and Bonneville lineages. The Bear Lake Cutthroats are further differentiated from the Bear River Cutthroats due to their isolation in Bear Lake for the last 15k years and their adaptation to a lacrustine environment and a piscivorious diet.
Congratulations - it's always neat to catch fish that are 'natives', which can be tough when it comes to trout, because of all the stocking efforts over the years. I've caught both 'northern strain' and Southern Appalachian brook trout in the East, and I've caught Rio Grande cutts in Southern Colorado; I thought I also had some Greenbacks, but it turns out that in all but one stream, they were really hybrids. I've caught finespotted cutts, but where I got them they definitely weren't native. However, even back here at home in Louisiana, with the warmwater species, I enjoy catching 'natives'. Around here, about the only stocking efforts have been Florida strain largemouths, but the little creeks I like to fish have probably never seen a stocking truck, nor have they been manipulated in any way - those spotted bass have always been there.
Yes, the Colorado Division of Wildlife devoted quite a lot of effort to restoring "Greenback" cutthroats found in various locations in Rocky Mountain National Park and other locations east of the divide in the original range of the Greenback. Then a fisheries biologist came along and did DNA comparison with old museum specimens of Greenbacks and found that these fish were actually hybrids between Greenbacks and Colorado River cutthroat. Apparently Colorado River Cutthroats had been stocked east of the divide quite early. It turned out that pure Greenbacks were only found in one small drainage near Colorado Springs.
Back in the '80's, I caught some cutthroats from beaver ponds in the Lost Creek Wilderness. I caught the cutts only in beaver ponds. In the creek that fed them, I caught only very small brook trout. This was a very small stream and there are no lakes in the drainage, so it doesn't seem likely that cutthroats would ever have been stocked there, but who knows? After all, the brook trout got there somehow. I've always wondered if these could have been true Greenbacks. I haven't fished that area since, so I have no idea of those cutthroats are still there. Part of the problem is that, prior to maybe the '70's, the game and fish people really didn't concdern themselves much with subspecies. Cutthroats were Cuttthroats, as far as they were concerned, and they stocked a lot of them outside their original native range.
Love your videos!! I don’t have a tenkara rod but use my regular fly pole to try and emulate what you do for a lot of small stream stuff, great content!!
Thanks!
This was so cool! I had no idea you could get 4 different native trout subspecies in one state, awesome video!
Yep, pretty neat!
Outstanding!!!! I just completed a wild trout slam in WV. Native Brook, Brown and Rainbow.
Congrats on the Slam! Beautiful waters that you fished!🙏🏻
Thanks!
Congratulations! Such awesome streams and beautiful fish!
Well done! - both the angling achievement and the video production!
Thanks Michael!
Congrats on your slam!! Scenery is always stunning! Always!
I'll be on the upper reaches of the Black in Az later this week. You know what lives there...😁.
Great video. Congrats on the cutty slam
Awesome video! I'm from Pennsylvania and would like to make a trip out west to attempt to complete the Cut Slam with tenkara gear. Not being from Wyoming, I was wondering if you know of any good resources to get me started on trip planning? Thanks and keep making your fantastic videos!
On our way to the St Joe Wilderness in 2 days . Your videos are inspiring.
Nice! Have fun!
The Snake River Finespotted Cuttrhoat is interesting. As I understand it, its range overlaps with the Yellowstone Cutthroat, as there are Yellowsotne cutts in the Snake River drainage as well as finespotted. The scale counts and anatomical features that fisheries biologists use to identify subspecies are just about identical with those of the Yellowstone Cuttthroat, yet it has the distinctively different spotting pattern.
I'd appreciate a fuller description of manipulations that you employ. I see the finger-tapping, but are there others?
Very nice!!! Awesome vid. Thank you! 👍🏻
Just curious: Do you ever catch Rocky Mountain Whitefish? I haven't seen you catch them in any of the videos I have watched, but they do exist in some of the areas you fish, and they will take flies, especially nymphs and wet flied, but they will sometimes take dry flies too.
Nope, I've actually never caught a whitefish.
Whitefish.. come on bro-
awesome video I’m hooked tight lines
Great. I’m going to try this summer 2021. I’ve caught two of the four species
Do you have a link to your Idaho Killer Kebari? I can find the Utah Killer Kebari but not the Idaho one.
Nope, but stay tuned. Thanks for watching.
I too am a Tenkara addict. I got in to it about 6 years ago and use it for a lot of warm water fishing as well as trout fishing. Of course not much trout fishing in Nebraska, especially in Eastern NE where I live. What I was wondering is how do you use your GoPro? Do you power it on and leave it on and change batteries every hour or so, do you use an external battery, or do you turn it off and one frequently. Also do you use the GoPro mic, or use an external? Great videos, thank you to sharing your experiences.
Second fish was definitely a fine spotted cutty, they kind of resemble Westslope cutts
It was, because that's the only type of cutthroat in that drainage, but it definitely doesn't have the "fine-spotted" spotting. The fine-spotted spotting is much more, well, fine. Compare the spots on that fish to the ones on the last fish in the video. Thanks for watching.
Beautiful as always and sooo jealous of all the places you fish. If you don’t mind me asking are these 4 fish all subspecies of cutthroat or are they all considered different species?
They are all subspecies of cutthroat
Tenkara Addict thanks brotha!
Tristan: The Colorado Cutthroat that you caught in this video, was it a Colorado Greenback Cutthroat? Didn't know if there are 2 Colorado cutthroats.
No, it's not. It's the Colorado River cutthroat trout, which is different from the greenback cutthroat.
The Greenback Cuthroat is native to the South Platte drainage (east of the continental divide). The Colorado Cutthroat is native to the Colorado River drainage, including the Green River drainage in Wyoming. They are closely related ssubpecies, as the Greenback likely evolved from Colorado Cutthroat that got across the divide due to a stream capture.
Got my WY Cutt slam in three days using a hand made bamboo rod . All specimens caught on dries.
Heaven on Earth!
Slammin it!!
What is left on your list of Western Trout you have not caught?
Awesome video I’m hooked tight lines