This is my story, as I understand it,
about the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. While some of the quasi-scientific and
historic information may not stand the test of absolute scrutiny, it is my story
and I hope you enjoy reading it! The fishing story part is as true as you might
imagine
from a life-time angler; decide for yourself.
The cutthroat trout is the native trout of the Rocky Mountains. Each drainage
and many lakes in the Rockies supported a specific strain of cutthroat unique to
those waters. The South Platte drainage, which includes the South Platte, Bear
Creek, Clear Creek, the Boulder Creek system, Left Hand Creek, the St. Vrain
system, the Big Thompson system and the Cache La Poudre system, was the home of
the Greenback Cutthroat trout. When the early trappers - including Cerran St.
Vrain - and miners caught or netted trout for dinner from the streams of the
South Platte system the fish they netted were Greenback Cutthroats.
The settlers of the late 1800's brought their hopes, their
dreams and their native trout: browns - which were newly introduced to the East
from Germany in the mid 1880's, brookies - the native trout of the East, and
eventually rainbows from the west coast. The cutthroats did not fare well with
the new competition from their relatives. In most drainages the cutthroats were
driven to the extremes of the high country, while in other areas they were
driven to extinction.
The greenback cutthroat was considered to be one of the
latter: extinct. In 1973, what was determined to be a pure strain of greenback
cutthroat was discovered in a very small, brushy stream in an isolated part of
Boulder County near the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. The
greenback was back!
This particular strain of cutthroat was taken from the Extinct List and put on
the Endangered Species List and an intense, focused program was begun in an
attempt to revive a self sustaining population of the fish.
I am pleased to announce that the project was a success!
On August 1 of about 1982 or 1983 - I can't remember, which - a few of us
heard that the Division of Wildlife, in conjunction with the U.S. Forest Service
and Rocky Mountain National Park, would open a small set of beaver ponds to fly
fishing with barbless hooks - catch and release only! Early that morning, under
the scrutiny of a variety of rangers, fisheries managers and who knows who else
- there were more folks watching than fishing, as I recall - a few of us showed
up at the ponds at 8AM, the prescribed hour, and began fishing.
The ponds had been treated with rotenone to kill all of
the fish that had inhabited the area, and then the greenbacks had been planted.
Our orders were to carefully identify the fish we caught, and to kill and keep
all the brookies and the occasional brown we might hook. The greenbacks were to
be returned immediately to the water, safe to continue their swim back from
"extinction". All of us were pretty much died in the wool catch and release
anglers, so the thought of killing fish was a little uncomfortable; the thought
of fresh fish was nice, though. We each determined our own course. The brookies
were big - some were over 14 inches, due to the lack of competition they'd had
for the past couple years. The greenbacks were all very small - usually under 8
inches or so in length. But, they were beautiful, wild and back from the dead,
which was really cool! (Personally, I wasn't that disappointed, because while I
might not catch many, they're usually all small.)
Over the next several years, I had an appointment on
August 1 that I always kept. The greenbacks stayed pretty small in this
particular area, but the point is this: they stayed! There were still a few
brookies around, too, but the fish seemed to get along just fine. After several
years of fishing - there were still only a few folks that knew about the program
and took advantage of the fishing in this spot - folks started wondering if the
fish would ever get bigger? We were all glad they were back, but we wondered if
they'd ever get the size that a person could brag about catching a fish for a
reason other than the one that talked about the fish returning from the brink of
extinction. I asked the rangers,
fisheries folks and so on one year what they
thought. Would the fish grown up? They said that they had some other fish which
were getting quite large that had been planted in other remote areas that were
not yet open to fishing. We were encouraged.
The Greenback Cutthroat Trout is now the State Fish of
Colorado. How about that? It's also off the Endangered list, I think. Pretty
cool, eh? Now, if you want to see and catch a large - up to 18 inches -
greenback cutthroat, head to Lily Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Lily is
just south of Estes Park on Highway 7 on the West side of the road. There is a
nice park there, with picnic tables, a hiking trail and a couple of docks that
hang over the lake so you can look at the fish. Float tube fishing is allowed,
as are canoes, and the fishing can be just fine from the bank, too. When I fish
there, I only fish with dry flies, which the fish will take. Fishing with nymphs
seems a bit of a cheat, for me at least. I'll hook a few that will come to the
surface, but I'd just as soon leave the fish under the surface to their own
sense of awe at being back - if fish can think in terms of awe, that is.
There are plenty of other place in and around Rocky
Mountain National Park where fine greenback cutthroats may be observed and
caught. The fishing for them is strictly catch and release. You're going to have
to find those spots on your own, though. I told you about Lily because everyone
knows and you might just as well, too. If you want to get away from the crowds,
take a hike, friend, and explore the backcountry streams and lakes to discover
your own green! It'll be worth it!
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