3 Days at Little Dell

[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Day 1 (Last Wednesday)

Went up to Little Dell to see how the cutthroat trout are doing. Only had a little more than an hour before work. The snow ranged from 2 inches to well over a foot of new snow in places. It sure did look like winter up there.



Tried a new fly and got some great results. Ended up getting 6 cutts in less than 25 minutes.









Day 2 (Sunday)

An approaching rain band at Little Dell.



There was some great action while the rain band was overhead.....however the camera I brought along was not water proof. I ran out of 5x tippet and tried 6x. Ended up losing quite a few flies.

Once the rain band passed the picture opportunities opened up.





And many more fish were caught.





TDT was stuck using his Gold Kastmasters, and caught a cutt that was so fat that it looked like it was going to explode.

TDT ended up with 15 cutts and I got 13.




Day 3 (Monday)

The weather was nicer Monday evening.



TDT was the 1st to score a fish.


Being cold and trying to get the most out of the sunset I only took a shot of the sunset shortly before leaving.



Ended up catching 7 Cutts on the fly and TDT got 10 on the Kastmaster.
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[grndfisher]

Good stuff! Thanks for the pics. You should give a "Half Ass Renegade" a try the next time you go. It worked great for me the other day.
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[fish_fear_me2]

Great pics as usual. Love the one with the rainbow in the background. Looks like you guys are still catching them. TYhanks for sharing the pics.
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[Wildcat94]

likes look you guys had a fun couple trips, and that cut was a porker.. I used to fish "LD" like 5 yrs ago, I am curious do you see or catch very many over 20"? My biggest was like 23" or so... There has to be some hogs in there
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[Live4Fishn]

[quote Wildcat94] I am curious do you see or catch very many over 20"? My biggest was like 23" or so... There has to be some hogs in there[/quote]

All the big ones are gone!! Seems like poachers cleaned them out, which is hard to believe in a catch and release only lake. 6- 7 years ago there were only 20+ inchers, now everything is consistently 14". I did catch one last year pushing 20" but it is extremely rare.

The guardman at the gate actually was bragging about some big ones he saw a guy take home. I told him that its catch and release only, but he said these were bows that were kept. There arent any bows in there that I have ever heard of, however the cuts do have a rainbowy sheen to their skin. Seems like the guards need to be instructed more on the regulations.
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[harlin]

I was up there today, and got about 6 cutts. All in the 13-15 inch range. It seems to me they are just overpopulated. I doubt poachers are what caused the decrease in size.
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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

[quote Wildcat94]likes look you guys had a fun couple trips, and that cut was a porker.. I used to fish "LD" like 5 yrs ago, I am curious do you see or catch very many over 20"? My biggest was like 23" or so... There has to be some hogs in there[/quote]

Only caught 2 that measured 20 inches. I have seen some bigguns cruising the shore. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I did see a brookie chasing one of my "caught" cutts on Wednesday.

The biggest I know of coming out of LD was a 27 incher......that thing must have been a BRUTE!
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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

[quote harlin] It seems to me they are just overpopulated. I doubt poachers are what caused the decrease in size.[/quote]

BINGO!

In the last 10 years over 200,000 Cutthroat Trout have been stocked at that lake. In a lake that is approx 200 acres......that is 1,000 fish per acre!
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[flygoddess]

"IF" they all lived. The question is, what do THEY use those fish for? The Bonn are protected, for what reason?
We have had drought and other changes that changes the lakes and there inhabitants as well.
Cycles.
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[snoopypole]

If you google search Bonneville Cutthroat trout you will find a lot of interesting information. It seems that the reason they are"protected" in Little Dell is because the BCT came very close to being listed as an endangered species. In 1984 it was reported that there were only 14 known genetically pure populations in the Bonneville basin. In order to keep the BCT from being listed, extensive surveys were conducted through out the original range and other pure populations were found and identified. I feel the DWR and Feds have done a great job of putting this native fish back in it's native habitat. Maintaining many separate populations ensures that it does not become a listed endangered species which would dramatically change recreating, agriculture, and ranching in our area. Adam Eakle did a show last spring on the DWR harvesting BCT eggs from Little Dell.

Here is a link to a fact sheet I found on line.

http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/spec...092001.pdf
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[harlin]

He was just stating how many were stocked, not lived. The issue was why the average size of fish in Little Dell has decreased. But it doesn't matter if they are over stocked anyways, because Little Dell is not mangaed as a trophy fishery.
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[flygoddess]

Absolutely. We are lucky they do let us fish it. Could be like Mt.Dell. Bet there are Trophies in there[]
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Thanks for such informative information SP. Good bit of history there. And I think your point is a good one, careful management and selective restrictions are certainly preferable to full on "endangered" status. That's definitely a game-changer.

[aquaman]

I'll take a chance and reply.and see which of several members blatantly calls mean a lair this time. I to used to fish LD 5/6 years back my best cutt from there was 27" the same year I also got a 22" brookie. back then you didn't catch many but they were surly bigger.fish. In the last year ive caught more in a day then a years worth of fishing back then but smaller fish. Enough said. Let the mud fly! ! !
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[gstott]

I would agree with you on this. I used to fish it on occasion around 2002-2004 and again around 2006, and fishing was usually fairly slow, but the fish I caught were all around 20". I did see a couple of brookies at the inlet one fall that were well over 20", but they weren't interested in my flies.
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