Archive for July, 2009

This years trip up north was awesome as always.  All the in-laws (14) got together and for our annual  fishing/camping trip that we wait for each year.  The fishing in the area was a little hit and miss. With the huge snow pack we had this past winter some of the rivers were high and muddy and others were clear and pristine. The key was to think out of the box and try new places. (Since there are 100s of streams in the area) For me these trips are a chance to step back and enjoy the solitude of being alone on a high country trout stream, since the in-laws fish in the morning, golf in the afternoon and fish again at dusk.  But for me the fly fishermen the best time to be out is in the middle of the day, plus I don’t really golf when I’m in some of the best native cutthroat land. So I wake up late tie up some huge #2-4 dry flies and am off chasing hungry native Cutthroats by 10, until I’m beat from hiking through willows,usually dusk.  This years trip was a little different in a couple ways. One is the fact that a couple of my other brother-in-laws that normally don’t come, came  and they don’t golf  either so they decided to come with me on some of my trout chasing trips. The other is that this year I had a hidden agenda, I was going after the 3 of the four native Cutthroats in WY. To start the “Cutt Slam” program that the WY DNR has put on. Basically the “Cutt Slam” is to catch the 4 native Cutthroats in WY. Take a pic, state where you caught it, and date. Then submitted the application form to the WY DNR  and they will send you back a nice hand drawn certificate of completion.  The key to the program is to get people aware of the native cutthroats that inhabit the state and to make them learn and study them in the process of trying to catch them. (Where to find them, what they eat, etc…) Luckily in my quest, we were staying in the perfect area to do it all in the same day. The Tri-Basin Divide is the area where three watersheds start and where you can catch three of the four native cutts. The Bonneville, Colorado, and Fine Spotted Snake River Cutthroats. I was able to spend a beautiful afternoon catching the three different species, as well as help 4 first timers catch their first fish on a fly rod.  So in all it was an awesome trip with people I love, in a place that I love and doing what I love. How can you beat that for 5 straight days…Plus it was nice to have some sun this summer and no a single rain drop which was odd for this year. But best of all I am 3/4 to completing my “Cutt Slam” and in the research I was able to find a couple new streams that yeilded big cutties that have become some of my new favorites in the land of my in-laws.