Native Species List

All native species were caught in their native range (unless otherwise noted).

Genus Oncorhynchus

Greenback Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki stomias

Colorado

Rio Grande Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis

Colorado

Colorado River Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus

Colorado

Wyoming

Utah

Yellowstone Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri

Wyoming
Snake River Finespotted Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki behnkei

Wyoming

Bonneville Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki utah

Wyoming

Westslope Cutthroat

Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi

Idaho

Columbia River Basin Redband

Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri

Idaho

Kokanee Salmon

Oncorhynchus nerka

Colorado (non-native)

Genus Salvelinus

Bull Trout

Salvelinus confluentus

Idaho

Brook Trout

Salvelinus fontinalis

West Virginia

Maryland

Virginia

Tennessee

North Carolina

Colorado (non-native)

Wyoming (non-native)

Genus Thymallus

Arctic Grayling

Thymallus arcticus

Yellowstone National Park (non-native)

Colorado (non-native)

The Planning Begins - Southern Rockies 2009??

As the doldrums of winter set in, I have decided to get my fishing “fix” by planning my 2009 trip to the Rockies.

2007 was the Northern Rockies Roadtrip, including completion of the Wyoming Cuttslam. 2008 was the Colorado Cuttslam, including a trip to the top of Mt. Elbert (2nd highest peak in the lower 48).

The 2008 trip was probably the best trip to the Rockies to date. I took a good friend to Colorado for the first time, caught all three native cutthroat species, caught my first stream grayling, my first Kokanee salmon, put my younger brother on the third and final cutthroat species, climbed my second 14er, and met rodmaker Mike Clark….quite a list!

My debate now is: do I take my younger brother to Wyoming to complete the Wyoming Cuttslam or do I swing south for the Southern Rockies Roadtrip? I don’t know if my brother will have the vacation time and I really want to add the Gila and Apache trout to my list of native species:

Greenback cutthroat (CO)
Colorado River cutthroat (WY, CO, UT)
Rio Grande cutthroat (CO)
Snake River cutthroat (WY)
Yellowstone cutthroat (WY, MT)
Bonneville cutthroat (WY)
Westslope cutthroat (ID)
Bull trout (ID)
Redband (ID)
Grayling (non-native WY, CO)
Kokanee salmon (non-native CO)

I am leaning toward the southern journey, returning to southern Colorado, then “swinging” south into New Mexico and Arizona before returning to Colorado for another 14er.

With this notion, I begin the online research for Rio Grande cutts & Gila trout in New Mexico and Gila & Apache trout in Arizona. I search state fish & game websites, blogs, and the TU CSI data.

This is what I have found to date, the New Mexico Gila trout map:
Also, a blog that gives a good bit of detail on directions, trails, etc.

Outdoors New Mexico

Now I have the details for the Gilas of New Mexico. What about the Rio Grandes of New Mexico? For that I use the CSI information on the TU website:

Rio Grande cutthroat CSI

With New Mexico tentatively planned, I move on to the Arizona Apache trout. First I use the Arizona Game & Fish website that lists a few public access streams:

Arizona Game & Fish Apache Trout Recovery

In addition, I use a fellow native trout lover's blog. He was successful on his quest for Apache but not so successful with the Gila. I have been following his blog for a couple of years now:

Fly Fishing for Native Trout

As I look at the atlas, I check my route and see that from eastern Arizona I can head north into Utah and visit Arches National Park before I loop back to Colorado.

As I get closer to my trip (if I choose the southern adventure), I will make contact with the fisheries biologists, fellow bloggers, and even TU resources.

I also plan to take another day out of the trip to add another 14er to my list - how about four more. I found a loop, in the bristlecone pine area Phil and I visited earlier this year, that catches FOUR 14er peaks:

I know this is not the typical fishing report blog, but this is the time of year when the days on the water are scarce so I do this to keep my sanity.

Chris

A Long Day....

I left Parkersburg at 6:00 AM with a full day's agenda ahead of me.

The day would begin with a tree planting on the EXTREME headwaters of Big Run. I would follow that with a committee meeting of TU's Potomac Headwaters Initiative at Spruce Knob's Mountain Institute. I would wrap up the day with dinner at the Marlinton Opera House and a presentation on Marcellus Shale Drilling.

It hasn't rained to amount to anything in nearly two months, but it sure did this day. I am by no means complaining - we need rain!

We had five other folks show for the tree planting so we got 150 silky willows planted in the high meadow.

From the tree planting it was down over the east side of Spruce Knob to the Mountain Institute. I have been past this complex a few times, but never on it. What an incredible place!

http://www.mountain.org/work/skmc/

We held our meeting in a Mongolian style yurt. It was a very unique structure with a great view of a high meadow. I believe I could get used to that place in a very short time.

Following this meeting, it was down off the mountain with a destination of Marlinton. The dinner was nice and the meeting was very educational but the lack of information the WV DEP has on this new technique concerns me. It concerns me because they continue to grant permits.

I finally made it home about 2:00 AM - a 20-hour day! I didn't take many photos but I did meet some new folks and I am beginning to start the networking needed for my new position of chairman of the WV Council of Trout Unlimited.

Chris

A Wonderful Fall Weekend in WV

After a very challenging week at work (who is going survive these challenging economic times?), I needed an escape to re-charge my batteries.

The original plan was to assist my Trout Unlimited chapter with the West Fork of the Greenbrier stocking then do a little brookie exploring with my camera. The West Fork in this area is a beautiful low gradient stream that meanders through a high meadow.

It was a beautiful early fall morning with a nice nip to the morning air.

I was, apparently, a couple weeks behind the peak of the fall colors, but there would still be plenty of colors.
We met the head of the WV DNR coldwater fisheries at the Wildell trail head on the West Fork Rails to Trails with a truckload of nice 6" brown trout destined for their new home.

After we travelled a few miles down the trail, we turned around and starting finding these guys a new home. These weren't your average fingerlings!

A few members of the crew scouting out the next location:

This converted railroad (the remnants of the early 20th century logging industry) has several old bridges along its length. Below are a couple of the bridges we encountered during the stocking:

After nearly three hours on the bucket brigade, including one close call by yours truly, we wrapped up the stocking at one last good looking spot.

These are a few of the little guys in their new home:

After a quick lunch at the trail head, it was the decision of where to go next. I had originally planned to explore some new water, so I pulled out the gazetteer and picked a new brookie stream I recently was made aware of.

A short half-hour car ride and I was at the destination. I wasn't sure if the fall spawn had finished up, so I left my rod in the car and opted for the camera instead.

This nice looking hole yielded a decent brookie to one of my young friends:

With the extremely low water and the leaf litter it was difficult to locate many brookies. I saw two and the attempt to capture them on photo went unsuccessful. I'll add this stream to my list and revisit during normal flows.

From here, it was back to the hard top and an hour drive to a familiar stream where I had multiple reports of brook trout in the 14" to 16" class.

Again, I had only planned to use my camera to capture these guys. The first pullover resulted in a couple of desirable results: I captured a pair of brookies in one small pool and snapped some good shots in another larger hole that had SEVERAL fish in it.

One of these guys was in the 10" range:

Average fish or this stream (~ 6" - 8")

After accomplishing what I had intended with both video and still, I couldn't stand it any longer and went back to the vehicle for a rod. I hadn't fished or caught a fish since returning from Colorado Labor Day weekend, so it was time.

I caught this beauty in the first hole:

The water was flowing better than I expected, considering the lack of rain and the flow at the previous stream. I decided to push on up stream, fishing through the leaves made for quite a challenge. If you could get the fly to the water, chances were pretty good you would pick up something.

I caught several in the 3" to 4" class, saw some that would have been pushing 12", but did not see the big boys I was hoping to.

I think this guy was part snake:

It started getting darker between the steep slopes that hold this stream, so I decided to call it a day.

When I arrived back to the car, I ran into this group of students from WVU. They were doing an electro-shocking survey.

Our chapter had rented the DNR cabin for the weekend, so I decided to take the scenic route to the cabin. I have to say Route 28 along the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac is one of the most beautiful drives in this great state.

The setting sun was hitting Seneca Rocks just right - almost like a stage light:

Once back at the cabin, it was a great evening with good friends. While it got below 30 degrees outside, the upper bunk in the cabin had to have been over 90 degrees. WHEW!

The next morning before I left, I got up to check out the stream that runs through the camp. I found this little rainbow that was out of place in this trickle of a brookie stream.

I decided to hit another new stream on the way home, a stream one of my fellow TU'ers hit the previous evening with success.

I decided to leave the rod in the vehicle again and just do a little exploring with the cameras again. This will be another stream I hit next year when the water levels are more desirable.

How many brookies do you see in this hole?

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at the water levels in some of the streams. I had been checking the USGS gauges over the last month and was expecting the worst. When I saw water in the West Fork and decent water in a couple of the brookie streams I was pleasantly surprised.

The cool nights are keeping the water temps down now but the pools make predation a definite threat.

It was also very nice to get away from the Rat Race for a weekend too!

Chris