Wyoming doesn’t have many native game fish species. We have plenty of fish to try to catch, including a bunch of different kinds of trout, but the only trout that are natural inhabitants of our waters are cutthroat trout.
More specifically, there are four subspecies of cutthroats that are native to Wyoming. They are the Bonneville, Colorado River, Snake River and Yellowstone cutthroats. Some of these subspecies can be found in drainages outside their natural ranges, but in order to count toward the CuttSlam, you have to catch them in their natural habitat.
All those natural waters are on the western side of the state. The Yellowstone cutthroats can be found in the north, in waters like the Upper Yellowstone, Clarks Fork, Shoshone, Greybull, Upper and East Fork Wind, Popo Agie, Little Tongue and Little Bighorn rivers. You might find them in lakes in these drainages, too.
The Bonneville, or Bear River cutthroat, has the smallest range. They are only found in the Upper Bear River, Smith Fork, Thomas Fork, and Salt Creek areas.
The Colorado River cutthroat has a large territory on the southwest corner of the state, but there isn’t a lot of water in that region. But if you get to the Cottonwood, Horse, Piney, LaBarge, upper Green, Hams Fork, Blacks Fork, Smiths Fork or Little Snake rivers, you should be able to land one.
And finally, the Snake River cutthroat can be found in the Snake River, obviously, as well as the Hoback, Salt, Greys and Gros Ventre rivers.
All you need to do to earn the CuttSlam is to catch one of each of the subspecies in their native waters, get a picture, and send the four pictures to the Game and Fish.
I’ve been meaning to get it done for years, but I haven’t gotten it done yet. Maybe I’ll run into you out there while I’m trying to finish my own CuttSlam.
