# The Utah Cutthroat Slam (and more)



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

After last year's trip to Utah, I was really intrigued by the cutthroat slam program they do out there. I'd never caught a cuttie, and made plans to head back and check that one off the list. When I told the Fly Fish Food gang I was returning, they wanted me to fish with them a day, also. I knew, just based on my research and coordination with a local guy I know through social media, the slam was going to be geographically challenging. One subspecies, the Yellowstone cutthroat, is only found naturally in the extreme NW part of the state near the Idaho border. 

I left Columbus on a Delta flight at 8AM Thursday and we landed around 10AM Salt Lake City time. I did better on time than I expected getting my luggage and getting my rental car. Important note for later, they upgraded my rental car to a small SUV. That comes into play big time later on. I met up with Pete at a stream less than 20 miles from the airport to try and knock off the Bonneville cutthroat. We struggled for the first 45 minutes or so fishing a really calm pool full of cutties that wouldn't eat a thing. We moved on to more flowing water and the action picked up immediately. We both ended up catching three each, so the Bonneville was checked off the list.










Then, the driving began. It was 165 miles to get to the Yellowstone cuttie streams of the Utah/Idaho border. At least it was mostly freeway driving and the 80MPH speed limits helped out a lot.










The stream up there was...tiny. As in you could step across most of it without jumping and not get wet. Also, extremely tight quarters.










After losing a solid 8-9"er real quick, I landed this little Yellowstone cuttie. Now it was decision time. I checked the clock and realized, if I turned and burned, I could get to another stream and check off the Bear River cuttie on Day 1, also.










I left. Didn't even really hesitate. I knew if I could pop 3 of the 4 on Day 1, it was in the bag. I had another long drive ahead of me to reach the Logan River in Logan Canyon.










I was a few miles from the parking area I planned to stop and fish but got stuck behind an extremely slow semi on a canyon road. Patience, and daylight, were fading and I took a chance when I saw a good looking pull off with river access to conserve daylight. It wasn't the spot that was suggested to me but I needed to get on the water. A few drifts down a juicy run with a tan Chubby Chernobyl and this guy came up and blasted it, sealing cuttie species #3.










I picked up one more in that area on a Red Dart dropper off the Chernobyl and headed for my hotel for the night in Logan. No chance for sleep, though. The drive to the final species was another 3 hour jaunt from Logan.










The last 6 miles of the trip were on a forest service road that I don't think I'd have ever tried with a mid-size rental car. I was nervous about the 2WD SUV I had. There were rutty patches, rocks all over the place, even two prairie dog dens IN the road. When I stopped, this was the view back.










The stream was gorgeous...and studded with moose sign. Tracks and trails everywhere I looked. I had one eye on the stream and another on the brush streamside the entire time. It didn't take long and my cutthroat slam was complete on this thick Colorado River cuttie that ate the Frenchie dropper off my dry in a deep run.


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

But wait...there's more.

After I knocked the Colorado cutties around for a few hours, I headed back to Orem/Provo to meet the Fly Fish Food guys and embark on the second part of the adventure. A measly 3 hour drive south to Boulder Mountain later, we reached our cabins and got some sleep for the night. The following morning, we parked at the trail head and unloaded all the gear onto a side by side ATV. The trail up to the lake we planned to fish was just under 5 miles and it took us about an hour. The trail was rough and it was slow going.










But when we reached the lake, the view was breathtaking.










The fishing was nuts, too. There were spruce moths sometimes hitting the water and the brookies and splake were on them when they did. Being my first time in a float tube, I struggled with boat control a lot. The wind was swirling a lot, and it pushes those tubes easily. Anytime it pushed you and slack got in the line, it's nearly impossible to detect takes on subsurface flies. My first fish of the day, though, came on a caddis dry fly that I splayed the wings on to try to imitate the moths.










Where do you go from there? It was really interesting how the fish associated themselves in the lake. Two of us fished the left side of the lake and caught nearly all splake. The other guy fished the right side and caught all brook trout. Splake (hybrids between brookies and lakers) were interesting fish. Hard fighters, and some looked very brookie-like. The forked tail was about the only sure sign of a splake vs a brook trout.




























We fished until 4PM when it was time to head down the mountain. The fishing was great until a 2PM little rainstorm blew in. The rain lasted maybe 2 minutes, tops, but the fishing slowed dramatically after it went through. My best fish after the rain was this chunky brook trout that ate a leech. 










After the 3 hour trip back to Orem/Provo, I reached my hotel room in Provo and man I needed sleep. I was going to sleep in. And I did, until 5AM. I was stuck on Ohio time in a different time zone. I had the morning to kill before my flight in the afternoon, so I drove back to the first spot I fished with Pete. Just one problem, I couldn't make it that far up the canyon. 










I stopped at the parking lot where emergency people had the road blocked off for a car wreck and figured it was worth a shot. The fishing there was spectacular. All dry fly fishing, probably 50% were sight fished. Cutties loved the tailouts of runs right above where the water dropped over into the next riffle. And this water wasn't secluded in any way. I fished most of the time within 20 yards or less of the road.














































I fished there about 3 hours and didn't bother keeping track of how many I landed, missed, or LDR'd (long distance release). It was a lot. I got my rental car back to the airport in one piece and had some time to kill. More than I thought thanks to a flight delay. I finally got to Columbus at midnight and home in bed by 2:30AM. I was exhausted, but it was one heck of an experience. It was an unforgettable adventure.


----------



## 0utwest (Mar 21, 2017)

Great story ! You got me thinking, Me and the Girlfriend are headed to Manti Utah for a DIY elk hunt that she drew a tag for and after seeing your post that looks like an awesome time for our middle of the day downtime ! I guess all have to look on my Topo map and see whats there and any idea how the fishing would be early October ? Great pictures also and hope to be sharing some of our trip after we return home .


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

0utwest said:


> Great story ! You got me thinking, Me and the Girlfriend are headed to Manti Utah for a DIY elk hunt that she drew a tag for and after seeing your post that looks like an awesome time for our middle of the day downtime ! I guess all have to look on my Topo map and see whats there and any idea how the fishing would be early October ? Great pictures also and hope to be sharing some of our trip after we return home .


This is the map I used to locate the cutties:

http://www.utahcutthroatslam.org/utah-native-cutthroat-trout/

Looks like Manti would def put you near some trout. Even if it's not cutthroat I'm sure those streams nearby would fish. The closest pocket of cutties I see to Manti are Colorado River cutthroat.


----------



## 0utwest (Mar 21, 2017)

Thanks for showing the map and when I study my topo a little more and pick my starting point I may reach out to you . This unit she has is very large and consists of about 4 counties with a ton of public land which is what we will be hunting and the only bummer is will miss the first 3 days of the season .


----------



## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Holy Cow --- Beautiful !
How did you ever leave .
Great report n Good luck and good fishing


----------



## Patricio (Feb 2, 2007)

I caught my first cuttie this year in Yellowstone. It was nice. the next adventure is bull trout in glacier np.


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

0utwest said:


> Thanks for showing the map and when I study my topo a little more and pick my starting point I may reach out to you . This unit she has is very large and consists of about 4 counties with a ton of public land which is what we will be hunting and the only bummer is will miss the first 3 days of the season .


If you hit the square button on that map in the upper-right corner it blows it up full screen so you can see a lot more detail.


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

garhtr said:


> Holy Cow --- Beautiful !
> How did you ever leave .
> Great report n Good luck and good fishing


Tough to leave such a great state, but it was time to get back to my family. That was the longest I have been away from my son. Missed my buddy!


----------



## flyman01 (Jan 23, 2013)

Great report, loved reading the adventure. I have fished many rivers out west between Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and the quality of fishing out there is beyond imagination not to mention the scenery is second to none. Thanks for bringing back some fond memories of my western stream fishing trips.


----------



## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

TheCream said:


> That was the longest I have been away from my son. Missed my buddy


 I bet he'll be right beside you catching his own cutthroats soon, very soon.
Sounds like the trip of a life time, Your report sure makes me want to head west.
Good luck and good fishing !


----------



## Fatkidflies (Aug 15, 2019)

Solid outing!


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

Medallion and certificate came on Friday. I can't wait to get these framed up.


----------



## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

I am pretty proud to get this on my wall in my tying room.


----------

