Fishing Yellowstone Np

[ozark trout fisher]

This is one reason the brookies were a positive alternative. The restrictions were much less on this species. The policy there is pretty much "take my brook trout please" and there is a long term policy in place to gradually replace the brookies with native cutthroat.

I don't actually like the fact that brook trout exist in western streams, but I sure like fishing for them when I happen upon them. Heck, I've planned entire western fishing vacations around brookie fishing, which seems weird and counterintuitive, but almost always it turns out well.

There's nothing like a guilt-free wild trout dinner around a campfire on a high-elevation stream. Though it's not particularly sound from a conservation perspective, I still tend to release most western brookies, because goodness, are they pretty, and most are too small to fool with.....but there is no tinge of sadness when I keep a brace of them for dinner, and if there is, I can tell myself honestly that I'm just doing this to help the cutties. It's pretty rare that we can ever say that anymore when it comes to wild trout.

[Al Agnew]

Believe it or not, the only time I've ever caught brook trout in Montana and Wyoming was the first time I went flyfishing out there. We went to a creek called Sixteenmile Creek, which had a mixture of browns, rainbows, and brookies (all alien species). I caught several nice brookies there, up to about 14 inches.

As near as I can tell, there aren't any brook trout in the waters I mostly fish. I love the fact that I can still catch native Yellowstone cutthroat even as far down the river as our house, and the streams coming into the Yellowstone in Paradise Valley between Livingston and Gardiner are mostly full of cutties. The only thing I enjoy more than catching them was catching a single native grayling in the Big Hole River.

I caught a bunch of brookies in the stream (can't remember it's name) coming out of the Maroon Bells in Colorado.

[ozark trout fisher]

Believe it or not, the only time I've ever caught brook trout in Montana and Wyoming was the first time I went flyfishing out there. We went to a creek called Sixteenmile Creek, which had a mixture of browns, rainbows, and brookies (all alien species). I caught several nice brookies there, up to about 14 inches.

As near as I can tell, there aren't any brook trout in the waters I mostly fish. I love the fact that I can still catch native Yellowstone cutthroat even as far down the river as our house, and the streams coming into the Yellowstone in Paradise Valley between Livingston and Gardiner are mostly full of cutties. The only thing I enjoy more than catching them was catching a single native grayling in the Big Hole River.

I caught a bunch of brookies in the stream (can't remember it's name) coming out of the Maroon Bells in Colorado.

That's the awesome thing about the Yellowstone/Teton area......Better chance at catching native strain cutthroat than just about anywhere else. So often across other parts and Montana (and the mountain west in general) even when you are catching cutthroat they are completely the wrong strain for the watershed you're fishing. Since I can't always tell the different strains of cutthroat apart while I'm on the water, it's always a slight disappointment to catch a bunch of "native" trout and find out later that they were Snake River cutts where they should have been Westslope cutts....or something along those lines.

It seems like Snake River cutts are everywhere in the west, only starting with the region that they are native. In a few Colorado lakes I know, they've even replaced rainbows as the generic "stock 'em once a month and let people catch their limit" fish. This always feels deeply weird, because most of us associate cutties with wild fish and even wilder country (not to mention an almost absolute catch and release ethic.) I guess the Snake Rivers are a lot easier to raise in hatcheries than other subspecies. But I suppose, in the final analysis, the wrong type of cutthroat is still closer to the real article than a rainbow or brown.

[Gavin]

We got into quite a few brook trout in Paradise Valley years ago...Forget which float, but it wasn't far from Chico Hot Springs. Need to get back out there.

[Al Agnew]

We got into quite a few brook trout in Paradise Valley years ago...Forget which float, but it wasn't far from Chico Hot Springs. Need to get back out there.

Interesting...I've floated all the Yellowstone from Gardiner to Big Timber multiple times in recent years and have never seen a brookie. Maybe somebody stocked them back when you floated it and they've since died out.

[Tim Smith]

Interesting...I've floated all the Yellowstone from Gardiner to Big Timber multiple times in recent years and have never seen a brookie. Maybe somebody stocked them back when you floated it and they've since died out.

The Gardner itself is wall to wall with them, but I suspect they will soon be killing out stretches above migration barriers to put the cuts back in.

Here's a guy pretty high up in TU who has a pretty strong opinion on brookies in the west: http://www.eatmorebrooktrout.com/