Cutts for Sarah

Southern Utah's very dry summer came to an abrupt end with the arrival of monsoonal moisture, just in time for my scheduled day be with Sarah to start her cutthroat slam. Two streams were on tap for today, the first a headwaters creek above Panguitch Lake that surveys showed had a good population of Bonneville cutthroat. Sarah met me at my hotel, and an hour later we pulled up to a high meadow with a beautiful little stream running through it. And we were met with the arrival of some solid, drenching rain, but Sarah wasn't about to let a little downpour interfere with her slam.

After a short hike down to the stream, we probed the waters of the small stream. After a few holes and no sign of fish, we were beginning to wonder if the surveys from a few years ago that found 200 Bonneville's per km were still accurate. Then Sarah found a nice fish, but it was a tiger.

A nice tiger trout to start us off

Soon thereafter, the cutts began to flow. After a few misses, she got her mojo back and completed the first leg of her slam with this pretty little Bonneville.

A beautiful Bonneville cutt

With the Bonneville in the books, we could have headed to our second stream three hours away in dryer country, but Sarah made me proud and wanted to keep fishing despite the downpour. We took turns and found quite a few more pretty cutts as we worked our way up the stream. Hard to leave such a pretty stream, even in the rain, but we needed to find Sarah a Colorado River cutthroat from a tiny stream that runs off Boulder Mountain. So we bade farewell to this great little stream and headed for the Fremont Valley. 

After three hours of driving we just made it out of the rain, and arrived at a creek that is little more than a ditch beside the forest service road. I have fond memories of a quick stop here with Jessica years ago on one of our many hiking trips through Southern Utah. I remember driving wildly on gravel roads to get to the stream before dark, pulling up and seeing the tiny stream and almost turning around and heading back to the hotel. Luckily, I thought better of it and decided to drop a fly in the stream, and Jessica and I caught about 30 cutts in 45 minutes. The stream looked just like it does in my memories, only running a bit higher from rains the previous days. 

Still fishing the Turks tarantula, it didn't take long for Sarah to connect with a beautiful Colorado River cutthroat to finish the second leg of her slam!

Sarah and her slam smile - halfway there

Shortly thereafter, I found a little cutt for my slam.

Once that was accomplished we began our normal turn taking, each of us finding a good number of fish despite the high water and abundant deadfall in the stream from streamside junipers burned in a fire some years past. These Colorado River cutthroat are really pretty, many with a bit of an orangish coloring and a very dark orange slash.

We even had a double at the end of the day when we came to a stretch of water that was a little more open.

Is it a brace of trout?

This little creek will remain in my dreams, a long drive from anywhere, but a solid spot to find a Colorado River cutthroat, or just someplace for a not so quick stop when you are on the way...