Fishing Forum

I've kept a little hunch spot in my pocket for awhile now and have been hopeful to go and investigate it. Last week, my buddy and I actually tried to get to it, but had to turn around because of a super sloppy road.

After giving it a week to dry out, yesterday (Saturday) seemed like the perfect time to finally put my hunch to rest, one way or another. The road still had some sloppy spots due to remaining snow drifts, but I blazed through those and kept my hopes of giant tiger trout and colorful Colorado River cutts alive...It was then that I rolled up to a locked gate with the ever-present "No Trespassing" painted on its posts. It's private.

My main reason for even knowing about it is because of the DWR stocking reports. It's supposedly Stocked with small numbers of tigers or cutts for the past several years, in an area that receives little fishing pressure, so it really had my attention.

Having to really dig to find its location, I've had the tingles ever since I first mapped it out. My inquiry to the DWR about it prompted a response that they don't know anything about it and that it was probably a typo. Yeah right.

In that same system, I caught a 22" tiger trout from a rare public easement around a bridge three years ago, so my suspicion of serious potential was strong.

I find it rather interesting that farther down the same drainage, another privately owned reservoir is stocked with public resources, also tigers and CR cutts. So far, the only "official" answer I've gotten from the DWR about this has been that they're concerned about the cutthroat restoration program and they've offered to stock these fish so the land owners don't stock fertile rainbows.

I'm usually a big fan of our DWR, but allow me to express my criticism of these practices:

The DWR must approve any stocking of private waters already. How would a land owner get away with stocking a fertile, non-native species in a resto drainage anyway?

If this is the answer I've been fed, I find it hard to swallow.

Most of the water in that fork of the drainage is wrapped up in private land with very few public access areas. The DWR stocks this water that's mostly off limits to the public. I don't like it.

But enough ranting! This is a fishing trip report.

After encountering the gate, my heart was broken and I needed some therapy on the double. The nearest option was a rematch with the stretch of river my buddy and I got our butts handed to us on last week.

This option was acceptable, and the clarity had improved a bit in a week's time. The quickest cure for being bummed out is fishing a small stream. It wasn't long and I was smiling again.

The first spot I marched to was a shallow riffle behind a deep hole. A splash of red on the opposite bank revealed a pair of cutts, tail-shoveling in the gravel. After not even seeing a fish for the first hour last week, this was a good sign.

It required some patience and several casts to get a reaction, but the Gulp minnow worked its magic and I caught both of those fish.

The female:



The male:



Soooooooo colorful!



The next male had some skin issues. It looked as though sand was embedded in it and it was rough to the touch. Very strange.



I saw a few fish with sandpaper skin like that.

The stream was doing wonders for me! The fish were cooperating and I even caught a pretty good one, considering the size of the stream.





So the stream treated me right and my thoughts moved to other options along the route home. One spot that I've enjoyed in the past was a small pond up a side canyon that feeds into a creek I like to fish.

The cutt pond, as I call it, has always provided medium sized cutthroat, with an occasional nicer one showing up too. A different strain of cutthroat (Bonneville sub species), I was excited to see if they were donning their spawnwear as well.

At the pond, my first casts were with a fly rod. A BH prince below an egg pattern provided no action for 10 minutes and I decided to see how a Gulp would do.

My first cast to the deepest spot of the pond was allowed to sink to the bottom. Watching the line until it went slack, I jigged the tip of the rod right into what felt like a snag.  Then the snag moved.

At first, it was hard to process what was happening. This little pond was supposed to provide 13-16" cutthroat. After a few shakes and a strong, drag-peeling run, I decided to capture the catch on video. (Video at bottom.)

Wow.

What a surprise to find such a beast in that pond! Another place that I found on the maps, another one of my hunches paid big dividends.

A new personal record, that Bonnie-binging bruiser was 22" long (previously stuck at 20"), and 4lbs, 11oz. What a catch!





That was the only fish from the pond over the two hours I was there. It was as if the day was paying me back for the disappointment of not getting to my other hunch.

Gladly accepted!



Happy Fishing, Humans.
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Thanks for the report and the pictures LOAH. Seems like you got rewarded big time for your efforts with that brown. That thing is a beast. I just wanted to say how much I enjoy reading all of your posts. Even though they make me jealous beyond belief! Your pictures are always fantastic and you always seem to catch quality fish. Please keep it up.
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Hey LOAH nice report as usual, love to see the great stuff you find. Thanks for sharing and taking the time to post. Later J
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Thanks to you guys for reading!
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[quote LOAH]

The DWR must approve any stocking of private waters already. How would a land owner get away with stocking a fertile, non-native species in a resto drainage anyway?

If this is the answer I've been fed, I find it hard to swallow.

Most of the water in that fork of the drainage is wrapped up in private land with very few public access areas. The DWR stocks this water that's mostly off limits to the public. I don't like it.[/quote]

IF restoration efforts of native fish are underway in this drainage and impoundments or reservoirs exist within the drainage that are private, the DWR is doing the right thing by stocking them.

A landowner could NOT legally stock fish in a private reservoir without the DWR's approval…but, that's just it. Many landowners will stock fish illegally….what the DWR is trying to do, I am guessing, is keep fish in these reservoirs so that the landowner does not illegally plant something that will hurt the restoration efforts.

I haven't seen too many examples of waters in my life that were stocked with public fish without public access….I would be interested to know what water you are talking about…!
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Nice brown! CR cutts are the most beautiful of the cutts. I recently researched a little pond stocked with the same fish. Could be the same spot. I got my first CR cutts around 14" and first tigers over 6". 18"m+23"f. Heres a good one of the 18" male
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Ive been avoiding posting anything online. I would prefer to go back to this artificial lure and fly only spot and not find 10 containers of PB and trash everywhere. Ill PM you my spot if you PM me yours... Im not sure but you might be able to buy trout from the hatchery to be stocked in your private pond. If that's the case, I would assume if theres an effort to restore a population in that area they would only allow those fish to be stocked. Its my understanding that they stock the tigers to keep some pressure off the cutts and give us something to take home. Mountain dell has brood stock cutts that they don't allow anyone to fish.
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Hehe, that's a fun place you're talking about. I know it well.

I was looking into a central area water (DWR SE Region). There are apparently two small reservoirs in the same drainage that they are stocking for land owners.

Since they're private, I don't mind sharing:

Averett Canyon Pond

Kyune Reservoir
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That is a great brown for a little pond like that. You never know where a big brown is lurking!
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Nice report. I always enjoy reading your reports.

The "sandpaper" skin on the trout is probably the "black spot" parasite. It isn't harmful to people, and there is some debate on whether it is harmful to the fish. It is in the skin rather than all through the fish and also cooking kills it. It just looks nasty!

Here is a summary of its life cycle in Maine. It goes from birds to snails, to fish and back to birds.

http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/health/vol2issue8.htm

We have it here in Idaho too on the Teton River and in a few popular reservoirs. I think Chesterfield is one.
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