Cutthroat Trout
Dateline 08/16/99
Growing up in a small Georgia town in the 1950's, I used to read Outdoor Life, Field and Stream and Sports Afield and dream of catching the exotic fish in those magazines. Cutthroat Trout, with their vivid orange slashes that gave them their name, looked beautiful and the rivers they lived in sounded as remote as Mars. I still remember reading about the Madison, Yellowstone, Firehole, Snake and other western rivers and dreaming that some day I would fish them.
On vacation this summer, I got my chance. While I was visiting parks in the west, a friend emailed me that I should fish a place called the "7 Mile Hole" on the Yellowstone River. Linda and I hiked in 5.5 miles and found the fishing to be fantastic - for the two hours I was able to fish. When we left the car we thought it was about 5.5 miles round trip, further than I had ever hiked before, but realized it was 5.5 miles EACH WAY after walking about three miles. And the last 1.5 miles dropped 1500 feet - which meant the first 1.5 miles coming back was straight UP. We are calling it out "death march" - it almost killed me.
The scenery hiking in was great, and the river was beautiful. I have several pictures posted of the hike and the fishing on the forum. It was worth it, I think, now that my legs and feet have quit hurting, and I have finally caught my breath!
Cutthroat in the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone Lake are plentiful - and unusual. This trout is a Pacific Coast fish and does not occur naturally on the east side of the Continental Divide except in those two places. When the lake was discovered in the 1800's, it teemed with trout. Lake trout, introduced illegally, are decimating the cutthroat population now, just as they started to recover from over-fishing in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
The delicate balance of nature is especially pronounced in rivers and lakes in the Rockies. With short growing seasons and limited food supplies, the fish react drastically to small changes in their environement. Management has made fishing for them available to the public, but it is catch-and-release.
If you go to Yellowstone Park you will see fishermen on all the roadside rivers and lakes. I saw few of them catching fish while I watched, and I had no luck when I tried the ones that were easily accessable. If you want fast action, do like I did - hike well away from the crowds. I either hooked a fish or saw one following my plug on almost every cast I made for two hours!
Give trout fishing in Yellowstone a try. It can be a dream come true!
Have you ever caught cutthroat? Have any favorite internet sites on fishing for them? Tell me about it. If so, you can also post information about it for others on my message board - you must register to post but can read the board as a guest. Also, if you have thoughts you want to share about this topic, let me know about it at fishing.guide@about.com. for a "Fishtale" or discuss it in the chat room on every night at 8:00 EDT. Tell others what you like.
ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK - 08/17/98
- Snakes and Fishing, Part 3
More of my experiences with snakes, with links to other sites about
snakes and fishing.
TWO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK - 08/18/97
- Mepps Memories
Mepps spinners are great for catching all kinds of fish. The #2 is just
right for bream and small fish. Just my luck I would hook my biggest bass
ever on one with tiny hooks.
Check out Coming Next Week - Next week's column topic, contest prize and new additions to the resources lists.
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