Fledgling for Rio Grande Cutthroat

It’s cutthroat season in the Rockies. We have the Rio Grande cutthroat in these parts. These native fish can be found in the tailwaters of the Rio Grande watershed, usually high in the mountains, where they're separated from the rainbow, brown, and brook trout. There are 14 subspecies of cutthroat in the American West, two of which have gone extinct. The cutthroat spread over mountain ranges during the past ice age, and then the ice melted, and they were stranded. It’s a fun factoid to tell people—that fish migrated over the mountains—some by wagon, some by foot.*

Calling the cutthroat “native” gives them a certain allure or clout in the outdoor world. It’s become a thing in Colorado to brag about how many different kinds of cutthroat you’ve caught, along with how many 14’ers you’ve climbed, and how many acres of forested land you’ve purchased for no particular reason.

Are the cutthroat bigger than rainbows or browns? Nope. Not at all. All the ones that I’ve caught in streams have been under 14 inches. Bigger ones can be found in certain lakes though. Do they put up a good fight? Not really. I have to be careful not to yank them completely out of the water and onto the bank. Are they hard to catch? Expert fishermen say, “not particularly.” I’m not a good fisherman, I’m what I call a fledgling-fisherman, but I’ve been fledgling most of my life and sometimes I manage to catch fish.

So what’s the big deal then? Well, the cutthroat happen to be really pretty, freaking gorgeous, especially while spawning in June and July. They have a signature red-slash mark directly under the jaw and a reddish stripe along the side (like a rainbow), and during the spawning period their bellies, fins, and gills turn red and orange. They light up like a pinball machine.

The challenge isn’t so much in catching the cutthroat but in finding them. Typically, you have to hike at least a couple miles into the high country (Sangre de Cristos or San Juans). This is a deal-breaker for a lot of fishermen, but not for me, I think it’s fun to hike along high mountain streams where the water is slow and super clear. If a fly hatch is occurring, then the cutthroat trout are likely to be actively feeding, and you can squat there and target fish. I love being able to see my fly and the fish below the surface at the same time. You can watch them look at the fly, let it go by, taste it even, and eventually go for it. This is my favorite kind of fishing. You witness the catch as it’s about to happen which creates a wonderful sense of excitement and anticipation. Perhaps it’s easier to catch fish this way than doing it by feel? But who cares?

I use short roll casts, which hopefully land just up-stream of the fish, followed by a quick retrieval with my rod held high and my line fairly tight. The fish will spit the fly out quite a bit, so by keeping the line tight, I try to set the hook as quickly as possible, before the trout can spit it out. This is my fledgling-fisherman technique, but sometimes if the conditions are right and I’m persistent, it works just fine.

*Rubingh, J., & Fritz, R. (2009). Colorado Greenback Cutthroat Trout: A Fisherman’s Guide. Frank Amato Publications, Inc. (pp. 10-38). The book is primarily dedicated to Colorado’s greenback cutthroat, but the first few chapters provide a good history and overview of all the 14 sub-species of cutthroat in the West.