Karen and I were looking forward to this trip. My buddy Leon was going to meet Karen and I at a campground on a tributary of the Snake River. We were going to spend the next 5 days trying to catch the 4 subspecies of cutthroat trout that reside in Wyoming! Snake River Fine Spots, Colorados, Bonnyvilles and Yellowstones all reside in Wyoming. We strategically set up close to the Tri Basin Divide area so we could catch three subspecies by camping in one area and then we would travel through Jackson and Yellowstone National Park, on our way to another camping area to catch our last subspecies.
The entire area we were exploring was new to Karen and I but not to Leon. He knew what would be good timing and Leon was right on! We set out on our adventure on the 16th of July!
After a long trip through Montana and into Wyoming, we set up in a National Forest Camping area. Leon had his camper while Karen and I brought our tent. We hoped that our adventure would be relaxed and for the most part it was.
Our first subspecies was a Snake River Fine Spot Cutthroat. We drove to a spot not far away from our campground and we started to fly fish around a nice corner pool. We were well away from the 100s of drift boats on the blue ribbon Snake River. Almost 30 miles of gravel led us to a pretty stream. We found cutthroats and rocky mountain whitefish. It did not take long to catch some decent Snake River Fine Spot Cutthroat. We walked and waded. We dry fly fished and nymph fished. Nymphing was the most effective. There were not any hatches and very few cutthroat were looking up!
Day three was going to be very interesting because we were passing up and over the Tri Basin Divide. Today we hoped to catch the beautifully spotted Bonnyville Cutthroat! The roads were quite rough and we did settle for some extra walking in lieu of driving a road that was in bad shape. We set up alongside a small creek and at the first fishy spot, I caught 6 rather large rocky mountain whitefish. That was not our quarry for the day. We finally found some riffles with cutthroat and some small pools where we caught several Bonnyville Cutthroat. In one particular pool, we could see a larger Bonnyville Cutthroat. Karen finally got a great cast with her Bastard Adams and it was game on. The feisty cutthroat headed for the wood. Karen was able to steer the sizeable cutthroat out of the tangled wood and we happily netted her trophy. We caught several Bonnyvilles that day and then we decided to drive around the terrible roads and back to our camp.
Bonnyville Cutthroat
Day Four was a travelling day. We packed up and headed to Jackson and then on through Yellowstone National Park. Jackson sure looked like a tourist trap and we just passed through. Unfortunately local forest fires kept the area smokey. We passed by many blue ribbon cutthroat streams and we did stop to enjoy lunch at Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake, unfortunately, had been taken over by lake trout although in recent years, the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout have been making a comeback.
We exited Yellowstone National Park and headed towards Cody. We set up at a campground where tents are not allowed because of the grizzly bears in the area. We all slept in Leon's camper. That worked out great. Once set up at our campground, Karen and I headed off to find some Yellowstone Cutthroat. In the next several hours, we caught lots of beautifully coloured Yellowstones and several rocky mountain whitefish. Karen and I were thrilled to say we had completed the Wyoming Cutthroat Slam. Leon had completed the Wyoming Cutthroat slam twice already so he was glad to rest.
Day 5 was our final fishing day. We were going to spend the day pursuing Yellowstones. We parked in an area and started to work our way along a heavily wooded river. We found many very willing Yellowstones as we wandered along the river. Karen caught three very large Yellowstones that day. Leon and I had a great day too! It was a dry fly day to boot. A Bastard Adams was our best fly that day. We called the fishing early in the afternoon so we could see Buffalo Bill Cody's house and celebrate our trip with a nice meal and some local beers!
Day six, Karen and I sadly said our good byes to Leon and we started our journey back to Red Deer. We were up early. The trek home for us was going to be a long one. It was fun winding our way through Yellowstone Park at first light. The geysers were very cool and you know that there were so many streams we wanted to fly fish. Just as we got back to Red Deer, Leon was just pulling into Thompson Falls in Montana for a well deserved rest at his cabin along the Clark Fork River.
Karen and I were very appreciative of our buddy Leon's planning and advice. We were well prepared and even better, the weather was perfect for cutthroat fly fishing. The rivers were in great shape.
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout
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