[softhackle]

I had grand hopes of catching 6 different cutthroat during my trip to Colorado and Wyoming earlier this month. As it turns out I caught 4 out of the 6. First stop, Rocky Mountain National Park - home of the greenback cutthroat. Success! Hiked into Dream Lake and sight fished to cruising 8-12 inchers. They wanted really small stuff and I was able to catch several on size 20-24 midge pupa and emergers. Beautiful setting and lovely fish!

Next stop, arid and tree-less southwestern Wyoming near Cokeville. Caught Bonneville cutthroat using a small bead-head woolly bugger swinging it down into a relatively large pool in a stream which averaged about 6 feet wide. Hooked into about 4-5 but only landed one and didn't get a picture of it because it flopped back into the water before I got my camera ready! It was about 12 inches long, silvery with the classic spotting pattern of the Bonneville. Meanwhile, my wife and kids are getting bored sitting in the van by the side of the road. Time to move on down the road....

To Yellowstone where I caught Yellowstone cutts out of Yellowstone Lake and Soda Butte Creek in the northwest corner of the park. Biggest was about 20 inches and with quite a girth. Used bead head woolly bugger in the lake and green drake parachute on the creek. Saw no fish on Soda Butte Creek until a hatch started late in the morning and then cast to several rising fish - lots of fun. Unfortunately I never got to the stream where I was hoping to catch a sub-subspecies of Yellowstone cutt. The trail sign had been broken off and was lying on the ground, and because there was no trace of a cut-off trail from the main trail, I didn't know which way to go and wasn't about to bushwack without a map, compass, or GPS. I've since figured out how to get there, but it's a little late now! Maybe next year!

South to the Jackson Hole area. This was a transition day from Yellowstone to Pinedale, WY. After a brief visit to window shop in Jackson, including a stop in Jack Dennis' store, I hit several pulloffs along the Hoback River southeast of Jackson and on the way to Pinedale. Again, my family is sitting in the van, out in the sun, and I'm trying my darndest to catch even a small Snake River cutt. Bright sunny sky, midday, no hatches, no bugs.....no luck. I didn't want to push my luck with my wife and kids who up to this point had been very patient with me. So, on to Pinedale and a chance at a Colorado River cutt.

West of Pinedale in the Wyoming range of mountains I enjoyed catching several Colorado River cutts in a small winding stream cutting through the foothills averaging about 6 feet wide. Lots of log jams and pools kept me moving upstream. Not until a hatch of ~ #14 light colored mayflies (PMDs ?) started coming off in the late afternoon/evening did I even see a fish but then they began rising steadily and I caught several in about a hours time before needing to head back to join the family at the hotel.

So I caught 4 of the 6 fish I wanted to catch, and 3 of the 4 Wyoming cutts needed to complete the Wyoming Cutt-Slam....although I missed getting a picture of the Bonneville cutt! Dang it!

I hope to post some pictures, but they were taken in a format that may be too big to post here. Is there someway I can reduce the size of the images? If anyone can help me with this I'd appreciate it. I'd love to share the pics with you.

[softhackle]

Here's a shot of a nice Yellowstone cutt I caught from Yellowstone Lake.
http://www.flytyingforum.com/uploads/galle...dfe220aba0a.jpg

[softhackle]

Here's a close up...

[softhackle]

And here's a greenback cutthroat caught from Dream Lake, RMNP, CO.

[softhackle]

Another Greenback Cutthroat from Dream Lake - notice the spotting and coloration variation between this and the previous greenback.

[softhackle]

Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

[softhackle]

Bonneville Cutthroat stream, southwest Wyoming

[softhackle]

Here's a Colorado River Cutthroat. Differs some from some photos and pictures I've seen of other Colorado River cutts, but was caught from native range. Possible hybridization with rainbow?

[softhackle]

Near Pinedale, WY. Colorado River Cutthroat native range.

[GlobalFisher]

Those are some sweet looking fish man!

[Fishigan]

Nice report and great pics softhackle. That must have been a great trip.

[Howie]

Now just what magic powers do you have? You pull the car over, the family stayed in the car? While you fished? Even the suggestion of that kind of plan to my clan would have caused an explosion! And yet...you got four of six? That family man deserves congratulations!

The shots of the greenbacks really shows them off. I always look forward to fall here in New England. We only have one native left here in CT. Brook Trout in spawning colors rivals the foliage colors.

[Flies & Photos]

That's an amazing feat. It shows the amount of planning you put into your trip. The ability to pull over, seemingly at any place you select, and then proceed to catch the exact fish you wanted, is incredible. Congratulations. Your wife sounds as good as mine. Congrats on that too.
To resize image look for a picture resizing program that's freeware. Google freeware picture resizer. That should help.

Way to go!