Cutties are for Suckers

A warm January day on the Bitterroot with Zach and Stan from False Casts and Flat Tires. Before the day on the water started, we slapped a Fiberglass Manifesto sticker on Zach's truck. For a while, it seemed like all I could catch were suckers. 4 or 5 of them in a row at one point.  Big ones, too - 21 to 22". But, eventually we found the trout. Which was a refreshing change for me from my previous winter experiences on the Bitterroot. We caught our fair share of cutthroat and rainbows. I caught a nice 18 to 19" cutthroat and 16 to 17" rainbow to end the day.

I was a little taken aback about the physical condition of a lot of the upper Bitterroot fish. Seemed like every other fish had some level of eye trauma and/or mis-shaped mouth. It was a little alarming.

I went with a more vintage film look this time around. Admittedly, I was a bit inspired by Instagram. But, you guys don't need to know that. As always, watch it in HD on vimeo.



Cutties are for Suckers from Yukon Goes Fishing on Vimeo.

Music:
Jake One
"Gangsta Boy"

4 Westslope Cutties, 1 Brown Trout, 1 Cutbow, 4 Mountain Whitefish, and 1 Largescale Sucker

And boom goes the dynamite. Upper Rock Creek treated me well today. While the temperature flirted with the lower 40s and snow fell intermittently, I enjoyed great success on Upper Rock Creek. Nymphing with size 8 and size 10 black stonefly nymphs and a red bead-head san juan worm, I landed a personal best 11 fish today. The diversity of species was impressive - westslope cutthroat, brown trout, cutbow (or a cutthroat - rainbow hybrid), mountain whitefish, and (most surprising of all) a largescale sucker. It was the day of fishing I have been waiting for this winter. The action started fast and continued throughout the day. As always, it was just fun to be outside on the river. But, catching 11 fish made the 1.5 hour drive up to Upper Rock Creek a little easier. Enjoy the pictures. With this post, I think my blog has finally transitioned from a casting blog to a fishing blog.

SIDE NOTE: I talked to a fellow angler - he said he caught about 35 (of which 12 were trout). So, I have some work to do.

westslope cutthroat flashing its cut - rock creek 3.13

 westslope cutthroat closeup - rock creek 3.13

first trout of 2010 - cuttie - rock creek 3.13

brown trout - rock creek 3.13

Rock Creek cutbow/cuttie?

westslope cutthroat - rock creek 3.13

mountain whitefish - rock creek 3.13

I was confused when I pulled this into my net. Put up quite the fight.

Upper Rock Creek near Gilles