Utah Cutthroat Slam: Learn, catch, celebrate

A Bear River cutthroat. Photo courtesy Utah Division of WIldlife Resources.

By Brett Prettyman

As a native of the West I often find myself wondering what the landscape looked like before pioneers arrived and started changing things.

Remote and wild places allowed me to get a more accurate feeling of what our country looked like before Manifest Destiny.

Catching fish in those places intensified the feeling and made me feel like an explorer.

One day when I was about 10 or so we met a guy on the river where I grew up fishing. He was quick to show us a 20-inch “native German brown” he had just landed.

We were impressed to say the least. After he left the words “native German brown” kept running through my mind as I pictured that beautiful fish.

Something didn’t seem right with the words native and German being applied to a stream in Utah.

I asked my dad how a German fish could be native. He told me sometimes people got the words "native" and "wild" mixed up. The angler should have said a wild (self-sustaining) brown trout because they were certainly not native to Utah, or North America for that matter.

As I got older we ventured higher and higher up that stream. We caught rainbow trout and brook trout along the way and enjoyed them all.

One day I caught a fish that looked a little different. It was definitely not a brook or a brown. It looked a little like a rainbow, but the pink stripe down the middle was missing and there was this bright red slash under its mouth. My dad was a little upstream or I would have called him over. I let the fish, all 10 inches of it, back into the water. The markings were embedded in my brain and it was easy to describe the numerous spots on the fish and that brilliant red slash.

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The Bonneville cutthroat trout is the state fish of Utah. Photo courtesy Utah Division of WIldlife Resources.

My dad smiled as I hurriedly explained and then told me it was a “native” cutthroat. The name made a lot of sense to me, but I really liked that part about it being native.

It was a while before I figured out the fish I ended up catching through my teenage years in that creek were Bonneville cutthroat trout.

Eventually, I came to understand they were not the only native fish in Utah or even the only cutthroat.

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A Colorado River cutthroat trout. Photo by Charlie Card

Like many others, I made it a personal goal to try and catch each of the native cutthroat in my home state.

As the outdoors reporter at the Salt Lake Tribune, I suggested the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources take after their sister agency in Wyoming and start a Utah Cutthroat Slam.

Officials from the Utah DWR must have remembered my pokes about the program, and when I joined Trout Unlimited national staff in 2015  they quickly told me I had to help create such a program.

I’m excited to announce the Utah Cutthroat Slam has officially launched as a full partnership between Trout Unlimited and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. The program was supported by the Utah Council of Trout Unlimited and each of the state’s eight chapters contributed to the effort logistically and financially.

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A Yellowstone cutthroat. Few realize there is a tiny native population in Utah. Photo courtesy Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

We did follow the basic Wyoming Cutt-Slam Program, but there are some differences.

Participants in the Utah Cutthroat Slam pay a $20 fee to register for the program – there’s a half-price fee for kids under 18. The money goes into a state fund dedicated to conservation efforts for native cutthroat trout in Utah.

Watch a video to learn what the Utah Cutthroat Slam is and how to participate.

Successful participants in the slam will get a certificate of completion and a medallion designed specifically for the program.

The four subspecies included in the slam – Bonneville (the state fish of Utah), Colorado River, Yellowstone and Bear River – need to be caught in their native ranges.

Anglers take a picture of each of their fish, explain where it was caught and submit it to the Division of Wildlife Resources for consideration.

Once approved, the medallion and certificate will be sent to the participant. Their pictures will be shared on the Utah Cutthroat Slam website and on social media supporting the program.

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People who complete the Utah Cutthroat Slam will receive a medallion and certificate of completion.

Some people are planning to attempt the Slam in one day, some are blocking out a week of their summer plans to catch the four fish and others will take the summer to enjoy trips across Utah with their families.

There is no time requirement for the Slam. Once purchased, the permit is good until it is completed. One year, 10 years or half a life.

Take your time or rush through it, but make sure to appreciate the native fish you are catching and the spectacular places they live.

See you on the water.

Brett Prettyman is the Intermountain Region Communications director. He is based in Salt Lake City.