Tuesday was the day for Melinda to finish her cutthroat slam. I had a number of options lined up to find her a Bonneville and a Colorado River cutthroat. But fishing is never certain, and so it was today. We started at some beaver ponds off the South Fork of the Provo River. I've consistently caught fish in these, and the last visit there were three ponds full of Bonneville cutts that were pretty easily caught. I figured this was a quick, slam dunk for Melinda. However, the fish had other plans. There were a few rising in the first pond, but Mel's casts were a bit slappy and quickly drove them back in the willows. The other two ponds were mostly silted in and no fish were seen. But we did get some good casting practice in a beautiful location.
The South Fork of the Provo was the backup plan, having yielded many cutts in past years, but we didn't see a fish through a nice stretch of water. Things were looking grim for the slam. We decided to head for the Upper West Fork of the Duchense to try to find a Colorado River cutt and maybe try Diamond Fork tributaries later in the week for the Bonneville. But while driving along the tiny Mill Hollow Creek, a tributary of the S Fork Provo known for having brook trout, I spied a beaver dam just off the road, and thought perhaps there might also be the odd cutthroat. So I turned around and pulled off the road. Melinda was tired (i.e., discouraged) and wanted to stay in the car, so I told her I'd go check it out. I approached the 4-ft high dam and flipped my renegade into the small pool above. It immediately disappeared and I pulled out a six-inch Bonneville cutt. I returned to let Mel know what I'd found, and she literally jumped into her waders and was ready to go with rod in hand.
We carefully approached the dam and Mel flipped her renegade into the calm water behind the dam. It quickly disappeared and Mel lifted what appeared to be another cutthroat out of the water. But before I could get the net under it, the fish shook itself free and dropped back into the pond. No picture, no slam. Dang. Out goes the fly again (this was a tiny pond and Mel's casts were much improved) and here comes another fish, this time a brook trout. Then again, and again, and again. I think about five brookies in a row.
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| Beautiful fish, but it's not the brook trout slam |
With the Bonneville cutthroat to hand, Mel graciously allowed me to cast, and I promptly landed a nice brookie. Why stop when there are still fish biting? Mel cast to the right, partly across the grass at the edge of the pond, and what I thought was a snag on the grass jumped clean out of the water, a 12 or 13-inch cutthroat that spit the hook back at her. We finally ran out of willing fish in the small pond and got back in the car with big smiles to try to find the last cutt for the slam.
As we reached the top of the mountains and turned towards the West Fork of the Duchense, the road turned rough and rocky. Although it was probably doable in the RAV, we'd have to go several miles at a very slow pace and would be rather isolated on what appears to be an infrequently travelled road if anything were to happen, so we turned around and headed for the Colorado River cutthroat backup plan, the small tributaries of Currant Creek reservoir.
We pulled off where Currant Creek crosses the road, and just up from the road found a very small beaver dam that created a small backup of still water in the stream channel. Mel hooked the willows behind her several times before the fly finally made it to the water, where we watched a small fish take the fly and quickly spit it before she could set the hook. A few more casts, a few more hits, then finally one stayed on the hook and she was able to lift a small Colorado River cutthroat to where I could get the net under it. Slam complete!
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