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Yellowstone Cutthroat Of The Boulder Mountain
The Yellowstone cutthroat trout [Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri] were stocked into the lakes and beaver ponds on southern Utah's Boulder Mountain and the Aquarius Plateau for many decades. The Utah Division Of Wildlife Resources [UDWR] began stocking these beautiful cutthroat here as early as 1945 by some accounts, perhaps even before that time. This early stocking of these trout and also the Brook Trout [Salvelinus fontinalis] was usually done the hard way, by wildlife officers on horseback leading pack animals. The trout fingerlings were loaded into milk cans and hauled up the rugged trails to the backcountry lakes and beaver ponds. The state of Utah finally began using airplanes to stock trout in 1956. The Yellowstone Cutthroat have been known to exceed five pounds in weight by the end of their fourth season in the lakes and beaver ponds on Boulder Mountain after being stocked as fingerlings. The fertile ecosystem of these sub-alpine lakes and beaver ponds provides an abundance of food for growing trout. Over-wintering has always been a problem for the Yellowstone Cutthroat and other species of trout in some shallow lakes here. However, where they have been stocked in lakes with deeper holes and percolating springs, they have faired well with many holdover fish. When the Yellowstone Cutthroat reach maturity in the lakes of Boulder Mountain, they will usually top three to four pounds or more.
The Yellowstone Cutthroat reach the peak of their spawning activities around the second week of June on Boulder Mountain. At this time the males are very bright with crimson splashed down the underside of their bodies. The slash under the lower jaw is as bright red as you will ever see on a cutthroat trout at this time. Yellowstone Cutthroat are usually of a golden yellow and amber hue. When compared to other sub-species such as the Colorado River Cutthroat [Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus], the difference in coloration and spot pattern is dramatic. However, when compared to the Bonneville Cutthroat [Oncorhynchus clarki utah], the difference is more subtle.
The image above is of a male Yellowstone Cutthroat in full spawning colors in early June. You can see that this fish is very bright, almost a plumb color. This is an extreme example, unusually bright color for a Yellowstone Cutthroat. The image below shows a female Yellowstone Cutthroat caught and released from the same lake on the same day as the male. The female Yellowstone Cutthroat shown below appears to be at the other end of the color spectrum compared to the male above.
Aside from the spawning colors displayed by the Yellowstone Cutthroat, there is also much diversity in the spot patterns on these trout. Certainly no two trout are identical, but the difference in spotting from one to another can also be very dramatic. Most will have heavy black spots concentrated posteriorly, or near the tail, with fewer spots anteriorly or near the head. Occasionally you will observe one to have spotting more evenly dispersed over the entire body as well as on the head. A very small percentile will show only light spotting. Take this male Yellowstone Cutthroat for example, shown in the image below. This fish is very brightly colored and appears to have few if any visible spots other than a small cluster near the tail.
All Cutthroat sub-species and Rainbow trout [Oncorhynchus mykiss] are known to hybridize under favorable conditions where they co-exist. Since various hatchery strains of Rainbow, some sterile triploid, some fertile diploid, were stocked here together with Yellowstone Cutthroat for many decades, there are a few areas on the Boulder Mountain where conditions have been suitable for hybridization between these two species of trout to occur. The resulting hybrids of this mix are called cuttbows.
These hybrids will usually resemble the Rainbow with a hint of an orange or even red slash under the lower jaw. Hybridizing with Rainbows has been a difficult problem in the south fork of the Snake River and throughout the historic range of the Yellowstone Cutthroat. Because of hybridizing with non-native trout, this cutthroat sub-species is now considered as a Species In Decline in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. The Yellowstone cutthroat has also been listed as a Species Of Concern for Utah by the UDWR.
The lakes and ponds still holding Yellowstone Cutthroat on Boulder Mountain are obviously getting harder to find. If you are lucky enough to discover one on your own, or hire a guide to lead you to one, then you are very fortunate indeed! Any experienced flycaster will usually have good success at hooking these beautiful trout as they habitually cruise the shallows. Those few lakes that still hold populations of Yellowstone Cutthroat will generally have large fish. Since they have not reproduced well on their own, and this sub-species of cutthroat is no longer stocked, any pure Yellowstone Cutthroat that you find will be older fish near the end of their life cycle at this date. These trout will often forgive a poor cast, up to a point. Most of the difficulty in hooking these big trout lies in choosing the correct fly pattern. For the astute flyfisher it is just a matter of time and discovery. Careful observation will usually reveal the insect the trout are currently feeding upon. Once you have discovered which insect it is, then it's match the hatch time. Mayflies are not the only thing these cutthroat are taking from the surface film. A closer examination reveals damselfly nymphs swimming for cover in the grass along the edges. If they make it to this cover they will emerge as adults and take wing in short order. This would be a great time for a damselfly nymph fished just under the surface in front of any cruising trout that you observe. Dragonfly nymphs are an important food source for these trout also. Mayflies such as calibaetis are ever present during the summer months. The great swarms of midge will attest to the numbers of these tiny insects living under the suface on the sub-alpine lakes and ponds of Boulder Mountain.
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