Colorado Adventure Part 3: Blue lining for Green River Cutthroat

Saturday August 26th:  While I had been successful at finding the Hayden Creek Cutthroat in the morning, the first stream not producing any fish had certainly put me behind schedule and I had many more miles to cover on the day (for the previous post see here). 

My next target was set on the Green River Cutthroat (also known as blue lineage Colorado River Cutthroat) in the Yampa watershed of northern Colorado. This fish had been a late addition to the trip as it wasn't particularly close to any of the others I was targeting, but during my research, I stumbled across a relatively large watershed that was supposed to have pure strain fish that still expressed a migratory life history. This really caught my interest as fluvial (river migratory) populations of Green River Cutthroat have become quite rare in Colorado and can produce some exceptionally nice fish. However, digging in further I could find almost nothing else out about the watershed - nothing on the fishing and not even any trail reports on the hike in. Normally this might make me redirect my efforts towards a more well known or better documented population, but my gut told me that this stream was a sleeper and I stuck to it. 

My intention had been to reach the stream by 2:00 PM, but after the morning delays and cutting across half the state I didn’t pull into the trailhead until a little after 4:00 PM. Luckily, the drive had been smooth, the weather was great and the parking lot at the trailhead was completely empty.

The the valley at the trailhead

With my rod still rigged from the morning, it only took me a few moments to get all my gear together and hit the trail. Before starting the hike, I signed in at the trailhead log book, and it was pretty clear why there was so little information on this area, as the last group of hikers had been here over a week prior and less than a dozen people had visited all summer. 

The trail in through the lush Aspen meadows

Compared to other parts of the state that were starting to show signs of a long summer, it was amazing just how green and lush everything was in this remote corner of the Rockies. The trail wove through meadows and groves of Aspens as it slowly gained elevation and progressed up the valley towards the stream I was looking to fish. 

Serviceberries along the trail

With all the greenery, I wasn't too surprised when I noticed ripe serviceberries, thimbleberries and raspberries along the trail, which made for a sweet snack as I caught my breath after a particularly steep muddy stretch of trail. Despite how bountiful the surroundings were, I saw few signs of wildlife, with the exception of a small woodpecker working an old Aspen tree.

A woodpecker working a dead Aspen

With the limited daylight, I wasn't hiking in too far and just over a mile in from the trailhead I spotted a rough side trail the looked like it headed for the river and started following. After just a few yards into the bushes, the trail faded away, but I decided to push on and cut my own course towards the stream. The stretch of water that I was angling for was just a flat just upstream of a small canyon, that had looked particularly good from the satellite imagery but I emerged from the woods I had apparently cut in too early and found myself standing on a cliff fifty feet above the water. Luckily, not far upstream I could see the flat I was heading for after a little more bush whacking I found an incline where I could scramble and slide down to the water.

A meadow stretch on the stream

When I reached the stream, it was still running quite fast, with little holding water, but just a couple of corners upstream it leveled off a bit as it followed through a beautiful meadow reach. I slowly worked my way upstream casting towards the far bank hoping to find a Cutthroat looking for some terrestrials, but didn't find anything until I reached the top of the run. The riffle at the top of the run looked particularly fishy and after a half dozen drifts, my dry shot under as I hooked into a decent trout on my dropper. This trout put a good bend in my 1WT and got in a few nice jumps before it finally tired and I slid the beautiful native Cutthroat into the net.

First fish on the stream, a beautiful Green River Cutthroat

After releasing that first fish, I couldn't find any more willing takers in the riffle, but just upstream in a side channel I rose another fish, but this time instead of a Cutthroat it was small Brook Trout. While I had hoped that this stream would only hold native Green River Cutthroat, given the size of the stream and the extensive stocking history of Brook Trout across Colorado, I wasn't too surprised to find them here as well. While certainly a beautiful fish, Brook Trout are also a fierce competitor of native Cutthroat Trout and cast doubt on the future persistence of Cutthroat across much of their range.

Invasive Brook Trout, beautiful fish, but not what I wanted to see

With light already starting to fade, I pushed on upstream and soon came to an excellent looking pool. I started by prospecting the inside seam, which seemed oddly devoid of life but as I worked my fly into the slower water I rose a fish and after a quick battle I landed another smaller Cutthroat.

Another Green River Cutthroat

Looking upstream towards a particularly productive piece of water

As I was releasing my first fish from the hole, I watched another fish that appeared to be larger rise right next to a log sticking out of the water. I noted this for my next cast and sure enough as my fly drifted by the log a nice trout rose to meet it. This was a decent sized trout and as soon as I set the hook my 1WT doubled over and shortly after a 14" - 15” trout came shooting out of the water. The fish was largely in control of the fight and chose to run downstream into the next stretch of flat water, but after a few minutes it finally started to tire and I was able to slide it into the net. This fish was exactly what I had been looking for, a beautiful brightly colored clearly migratory Green River Cutthroat.

Surely the fish of the day, a brightly colored male fluvial Cutthroat

After releasing the big Cutthroat, the hole went on to produce another half dozen Cutthroat and a couple Brook Trout before things turned off and it was time to push on further upstream.

Another Brookie that ended up being my biggest of the day

As I worked my way upstream, each piece of quality holding water seemed to hold a fish and fortunately the Cutthroat still seemed to be the dominant fish in the stream, out number the brook trout approximately 3 to 1. After covering about a half mile of water the sun was starting to get low in the sky and when I came to a spot with a clearing that would provide easy access to the trail I decided to fish one last run before heading out.

The last spot of the day - note the seam behind the log

This last pool had a nice back eddy behind a log and on my first cast I watched a nice Cutthroat materialize from the depths and slide over to grab my dropper. Once hooked, the fish immediately headed for the log, but fortunately did not hang up and when it came back downstream I was ready with the net. This was another gorgeous Green River Cutthroat, with vibrant yellows and an orange belly, that the low light the pictures just didn’t do justice. 

A great fish to end the day on

While I figured that this fish was likely the sole inhabitant of the pool, I had to verify it with several more casts before finally calling it quits and heading for the clearing. The clearing ended up being a much more challenging route back to the trail than I had expected, as it was extremely steep, muddy below the vegetation and was littered with dense patches of stinging nettles. However, after several minutes of hard scrambling, sliding and with my legs burning from nettles I finally reached the top and was back on the trail again.

On the trail again

The hike out was all downhill making it a breeze and before I knew it I was back at the trailhead again. With my next spot under two hours away, I opted to chase the last bit of daylight hit the road once again to reach my next spot by nightfall.

Evening over the Flattops of northern Colorado

Finger Rock on the drive towards the next stream

As the last light of the day was fading, I finally turned off the highway and made my way towards my next stream - a meandering meadow creek that was reported to hold 151 to 400 Colorado River Cutthroat (green lineage) per mile. The satellite imagery made it look like this this stream was going to be a ton of fun with hoppers, but as it was pitch dark by the time I arrived that would have to wait for the next day to scout it out and instead I focused my attention on setting up a quick camp for the night.