Cokeville, Wyo. - When Warren Colyer snapped a picture of me holding the Bonneville cutthroat trout I had just landed, it set in motion a new fishing goal - one I hope I'll be able to achieve, though it might not happen anytime soon.
With that photo as documentation, I am one-quarter of the way to acquiring the vaunted Cutt-Slam certificate from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Now, I need to find the time, resources and skill to catch Wyoming's other native cutthroat trout: Yellowstone, Snake River and Colorado. I've caught all those species in various locales, but to get that cool Cutt-Slam certificate, I have to catch them all in Wyoming and provide photographic proof.
Wyoming wildlife officials started the program in 1996 to draw attention to the native cutthroat and efforts to preserve the species in the Cowboy State.
One hundred of the certificates were awarded in 1997, and the program was nearing the 500 mark earlier this spring. That may not seem impressive, but consider how difficult it really is and how many more anglers have begun, but not yet completed, the task.
Wyoming officials say anglers from 39 states and two foreign countries have received the Cutt-Slam certificates. There is no time requirement nor minimum fish size to qualify. The only requirement is a picture along with the date it was landed and the location.
Utah officials have considered a similar cutthroat-catching incentive program. They have discussed several ways to run it, including breaking it down by the strains of Bonneville cutthroat in Utah: Bear River, Bear Lake, northern, southern and West Desert.
Or they could follow Wyoming's model and require that anglers catch a Bonneville, a Colorado and a Yellowstone cutthroat trout in their native Utah range - that would prove difficult for many.
If you have ideas about how the state could run its own Cutt-Slam program, or even a Bass-Slam program, send them to dwrcomments@utah.gov.
While the idea of a cutthroat-catching incentive program is a good one, it does have one large drawback. Collecting photos and awarding certificates to worthy anglers is time-consuming.
I'd rather see DWR fisheries folks out in the field working on getting more fish or conserving vital populations than being stuck behind a desk looking at fish photos.
To that end, I suggest that one of the state chapters of either Trout Unlimited or the new Federation of Fly Fishers group offer to handle running the program.
