Day 18: Quest for an Idaho Bonneville Cutthroat Trout

Being confused with the WNTC maps, I decided that the Cub River, just over the border in Idaho, was the best area for me to catch a Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in Idaho. I drove up the Cub River Road looking for river access. I turned into the Albert Moser Campground and found this pool / riffle by the last campsite. I dapped a hopper in the pool on the right to no effect. As I was already there, I floated it through the 6 inch deep riffle on the left in the photo. I got a rise, then many refusals by the fish to recognize the fly. I put on an Elk Hair Caddis, and BAM, a hookup. Then, a loss before the fish got in the net. Finally 20 minutes of total refusals by the fish, after trying many other flies, I decided to leave. I almost had my Bonneville Cutthroat in the first ten minutes of fishing. Wow.

Above is a pool on the Cub River that I found 6 hours later. Driving upstream and fishing here and there, I decided, screw it! This is the Bear River watershed, I’m driving 1.5 – 2 hours to the Bear River. If the Bear River isn’t good, there has to be tributaries coming in all along the river. Good Idea. Poor Decision. The Bear River and drainage was a bust. It was getting late and I, of course, drove back to the Cub River to fish it hard, as I had just “farted around” on like spots.

And, upon my second arrival at the Albert Moser Campground, I found that it had been closed in my several hour absence. Arrgghh.

After no success fishing a downstream run / pool that had a very strong hatch of bugs flying out of the river, I found the water above just a ways upstream along a turnout / unofficial campground area. I plopped my butt down on the bank and started fishing a Hopper / Dropper rig into the back eddy, just as I had on the La Barge River. I figured that a fish, sitting in quiet water on the left of the flow, could pick up items from the flow while also having a second serving of items from the back eddy, moving items back towards the head of the pool.

After five or six casts with no takes, I plopped the rig back into the eddy and could not see the hopper due to the light hitting the water. BAM! A fish hooked itself and was not happy. I was happy when I got it into the net and back into the water (in the net), resulting in the fish calming down. Three pictures were taken of the fish with my camera. Two were horribly blurry, just like the fish from Onemile Creek (previous post). One, however, was reasonable.

Thankfully this photo should be good enough for the WNTC. I have to be better at taking photos from now on. I got lucky with this one, but I never know until I check the camera after releasing the fish. Yes, I can keep the fish in the water and check my phone, but I think the health, life, and happiness of the fish is more important than a medallion. I have enough information for one medallion. I don’t need a dead fish on my conscious for a second medallion.

Now, two fish to head for in Utah to complete the Utah Cutthroat Slam. Then I get to meet Gwen, my granddaughter. She is the real catch of this trip.

Tight Lines!