Westslope cutthroat. Native to the western side of the continental divide. If you catch a cutthroat in western MT

Mar 1, 2021
8:43:11pm

letthewookieewin Holochess World Champion

or much of ID, it’s most likely a westslope. I know a lot of places stocked Yellowstone cutthroat thinking they were the same but Montana is doing a great job of restoring native fish

Westslope Cutthroat Trout - Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guide contains a wealth of information about Montana's diverse species.

http://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AFCHA02088

This message has been modified

Originally posted on Mar 1, 2021 at 8:43:11pm

Message modified by letthewookieewin on Mar 1, 2021 at 8:45:12pm

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letthewookieewin

Previous username: letthewookiewin
Bio page: letthewookieewin
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Last login: May 1, 2024
Total posts: 31,366 (8,903 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

Flyfishing report from Pyramid Lake. AKA the biggest fish of my life. (pics. Trigger warning: big fish)

mvtoro Scrub

3/1/21 7:34pm

Wicked

Icelandic Cougar

3/1/21 7:35pm

Are you related to Ed Sheeran?

Chester Copperpot

3/1/21 7:36pm

I AM Ed Sheehan.

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:48pm

Wow! Those are huge!

Sandy Lyle

3/1/21 7:37pm

Fake. I bought a couple of those at Bed, Bath & Beyond

Born2Fish

3/1/21 7:46pm

RE: Wow! Those are huge!

m0resn0w

3/1/21 7:46pm

I'm always amazed how ugly fish get when they get that big. We had someone

ordinary tri guy

3/1/21 7:40pm

Totally depends on the strain of cutty. These pilot peak strain lahontan cutthroats are pretty plain Jane even when

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:52pm

That’s awesome. Did you fish off a ladder?

Busting Coveys

3/1/21 7:40pm

I did. Pretty effective there.

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:54pm

I'd never heard of this before... here's a video for other novices like me...

HarlemCoug

3/1/21 8:02pm

For sure better than standing chest deep in cold water for 14 hours. Those chair ones are nice.

mvtoro

3/1/21 8:16pm

Looks prehistoric. Nice catch.

777

3/1/21 7:42pm

Thanks. They are kind of prehistoric. Pilot Peak Lahontans were brought back from presumed extinction.

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:55pm

I did not realize that cutthroat trout could get that big

HiLife

3/1/21 7:48pm

Yeah, this particular strain in this particular lake get huge fast. Historically the native strain in that lake seems to

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:57pm

There were once cutthroat trout in Utah Lake bigger than this, if you can imagine that.

mvtoro

3/1/21 8:17pm

I knew that there were once native cutthroat in Utah Lake, but never this big!

HiLife

3/1/21 8:23pm

True. At one point they though carp were a good idea.

mvtoro

3/1/21 8:39pm

Freaking Mormons... ruining everything 😁

letthewookieewin

3/1/21 8:40pm

Cutthroat trout are the best trout

letthewookieewin

3/1/21 7:48pm

Concur.

mvtoro

3/1/21 7:57pm

In my experience they don't fight as hard as browns and bows. After a short fight they basically throw in the towel.

Brisco

3/1/21 8:03pm

There is nothing better than catching native fish in wild locations

letthewookieewin

3/1/21 8:05pm

I'll certainly agree with that.

Brisco

3/1/21 8:07pm

Yeah, it’s mostly this. It’s true that they don’t fight as hard as some for the same size (don’t tell that to my friends

mvtoro

3/1/21 8:12pm

Very cool picture!

HiLife

3/1/21 8:25pm

My favorite are westslope cutthroat but Yellowstone are cool too

letthewookieewin

3/1/21 8:36pm

That red belly one is pretty cool looking. What is it?

Sandy Lyle

3/1/21 8:40pm

Westslope cutthroat. Native to the western side of the continental divide. If you catch a cutthroat in western MT

letthewookieewin

3/1/21 8:43pm

One, we're you afraid it would eat you? Two, how did you keep from frostbite in

doctorcoug

3/1/21 7:51pm

You just have to layer well. The hardest part is your hands because you have to be able to feel the line but your hands

mvtoro

3/1/21 8:02pm

Cool cool cool

Zaphod

3/1/21 7:58pm

You look a bit like Bill Burr in that last one

TNT

3/1/21 8:58pm

My wife told me that after watching the Mandolorian.

mvtoro

3/2/21 8:37pm

Thanks for the report. Did you do any indicator fishing or intermediate sink tips? Or both?

fldnstrm

3/1/21 9:05pm

Almost all my fish were stripping tadpoles on a Rio Outbound type 6 sink. Black was best when it was dark, chartreuse

mvtoro

3/1/21 9:15pm

RE: Almost all my fish were stripping tadpoles on a Rio Outbound type 6 sink. Black was best when it was dark,

jaromp

3/1/21 9:50pm

🤣Yeah, it’s a lot of jargon.

mvtoro

3/1/21 10:05pm

Trivia about pyramid lake.

claw

3/1/21 9:15pm

It is a relatively salty lake. Lots of dissolved solids.

mvtoro

3/1/21 9:21pm

Amazing catch. Wow. Congrats!

Probable Sacko

3/1/21 10:08pm

Thank you 🙏🏻

mvtoro

3/1/21 10:52pm

Awesome. That is a bucket list experience. Well done.

Richard McCoy Jr.

3/1/21 11:37pm

Wowza. Beautiful fish.

oryguncoug

3/2/21 9:33am

Literally 2x as large as my largest cutthroat. After hearing your podcast with

DogBoy

3/2/21 2:10pm

Yeah, I’ve never done it since! Actually Just talked to Tom again today. He’s going to tie one of my flies,

Westslope Cutthroat Trout - Montana Field Guide

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