Cutthroat Stalker » bear lake

Local Cutthroat Rehabilitation Project

Cutthroat Stalker (Scott) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:17:04 +0000

A local (just over the mountain) creek, Swan Creek, is being rehabilitated and restocked with Bonneville cutthroat. There are multiple ongoing projects to help Bear Lake’s feeder creeks. DWR will rotenone the creek this fall and then restock with Bonnies. For those concerned about “killing fish,” there is a pretty decent comparison in the article: “Just as rogue weeds that choke out native plants are eradicated
to preserve natural ecosystems, the alien hybrids in Swan Creek will be
wiped out to make way for natives.”

Bonneville Cutthroat Spawning Runs Being Restored

Cutthroat Stalker (Scott) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:04:23 +0000

Great news from some of my home waters where they are working hard at restoring important Bonneville cutthroat spawning runs. The historic range of these cutthroat have been greatly impacted by humans, especially degrading spawning creeks and the introduction of nonnative trout species. They are doing some fantastic work (our local TU chapter was recently filled in on some of the work being done). This article has some excellent information about what’s going on.

St. Charles Creek, Idaho

Cutthroat Stalker (Scott) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:28:07 +0000

St. Charles Creek is located located on the Northwest "corner" of Bear Lake in southern Idaho. There are about seven miles of fishable creek along the main asphalt road until you get to the three main tributaries: North fork (the main stem, which I believe has a dirt road along it), Middle Fork and South Fork. The main canyon drive is a beautiful little thing that leads to Minnetonka Cave, where guided tours are given. The creek is about six to ten feet wide in most places with pockets and pounge pools the predominate fishing features.

There is a healthy population of rainbow and brook trout, with smaller numbers of cutthroat and cuttbow. The largest fish caught was a 15" rainbow, with most rainbow in the 12" size and brookies going about 6"-8". There was relatively little surface action, but the fish were eager to hit #8 stimulators and #12 beetles.

Watch out for mosquitoes! If I didn’t know better, I could have mistakenly thought we were fishing in Alaska. The lower places we stopped at (just above the lowest campground, then again about a mile farther) were infested with the buggers. This is the first time I have ever had mosquitoes land on my casting hand while I’ve been casting. I was constantly swatting at my face and neck. The higher we got, the fewer mosquitoes, but still too many. Take triple protection DEET!

Also, beware of the cowpatties. The shear amount of cow crap scattered about the road and through the meadowy areas alonf the creek was staggering. Good thing we were wearing wading boots.

Be prepared to bushwhack if you want more places to fish since there were relatively few open areas.

We only fished about the first five miles. I would like to fish closer to the confluence then up the North Fork. Hopefully there would be a healthy population of cutthroat somewhere up the canyon, and fewer mosquitoes. It seems like the largest/most fish we caught were along the mile or so stretch we fished near the lowest campground.

I believe there are three fee campgrounds: a lower one, one a little more than half way up, and one close to the end of the pavement.