Video of the big red from yesterday. I’ve got some new software for video editing that I’m still toying with. It is not as intuitive as I had hoped, so it will take some time to figure out. Hope y’all enjoy.
Took advantage of the Mardi Gras holiday and the good weather and headed to the marsh to try to sightfish for reds. The drive down was shaky to start as I narrowly avoided three deer on the side of the road who decided to cross just as I was about to pass. I swear they do that on purpose. Once Zebra came on the radio though I had a good feeling about today’s fishing.
Met up with Blake, his dad, and two of our friends from New Orleans who just got kayaks. Blake gave me a fly he tied up to use for the day. I don’t recall what pattern it was, but it just looked fishy. That fly ended up being pretty damn effective. I caught 7 reds, 2 sheepshead and a black drum on it. That’s a cajun slam in my mind. Sightfishing was pretty decent throughout the morning, with a number of fish tailing and some sunshine here and there. Wind was never an issue as it laid down all day. Clouds rolled in after lunch and made sightfishing pretty tough. The first red I caught was my big fish on the day, 28″.
A couple of other interesting bits. Early on I was throwing a new 4pc TFO BVK 8wt. I got this BVK because TFO couldn’t replace my TiCr, so they stepped up and gave me a BVK to replace it. They called me to tell me this when I sent in the TiCr for warranty work. I was bummed I wouldn’t get my TiCr back, but looking forward to using the BVK, which is all the rage these days. It is light and I guess fragile too because it broke during the fight with my 2nd red. I don’t think I did anything out of the ordinary to cause it to break – it just broke while under sustained pressure from a 25″ red. The drag on my reel was loose and all line was clear. The rod just snapped right below the ferrule for the top section. This time I remembered to bring a back up rod, the trusty Redington Crosswater. This rod has landed dozens of redfish without problem. TFO has a solid warranty, so I’ll give the BVK a shot at redemption, maybe I just got a lemon?
I also fell in today. First time ever in the marsh. It has happened a few times on rivers, moving water. Unfortunately I wasn’t filming, because I’m sure it would have been hilarious to witness. Anyways, I went to sit down but forgot I had my fly rod in my seat. This was the back up rod, so I didn’t want to put all my weight on it. I sat up to slide the rod forward and get it out of my seat, but I guess I put too much pressure on one side and I went over the other way. The Coosa flipped as I fell out. The only thing I think I lost is the suction cup mount for the GoPro, everything else floated or was leashed. It was pretty funny, I’m glad it was warm out today. Water temps didn’t feel that cold. Just goes to show you, it doesn’t matter how stable you’re boat is or how good your balance is, one mistake is all it takes and you’ll be in the water.
The salmonids are in family Salmonidae, which has 10-11 genera that is divided into 3 subfamilies; Coregoninae(whitefish), Thymallinae(grayling), and Salmoninae(char/trout/salmon). Living in the Southeast you have access to a very limited amount of salmonids and I’ve caught the 3 that occur in Georgia. The brook trout is the only native trout species in Georgia and it is actually a char.
Updated, December 2025: I made my first trip out West in September of 2012 to Colorado and caught several “greenback” cutthroat trout in Rocky Mountain National Park – or what were considered greenback trout at the time. Made another trip out West in August of 2013 to Teton and Yellowstone National Parks where I picked up another cutthroat species and mountain whitefish. In August of 2015 I was able to complete the Wyoming Cutt Slam, picking up Wyoming’s four native cutthroat species (they do have a fifth, the Westslope, that is not required for the slam). In July of 2017 I completed the Utah cutthroat slam, which didn’t necessarily add any new species to the list, but I was able to add Bonneville cutthroat outside of the Bear River drainage and Bear River cutthroat, which some consider genetically distinct. In June of 2021 I made it out to Arizona and New Mexico to catch Apache and Gila trout in their native range. In August of 2022 I made it up to northern Idaho and caught several Westslope cutthroat in their native range. In July of 2023 I made a northern New Mexico/southern Colorado trip and caught lots of Rio Grande cutthroat in their native range. Finally, in August of 2025 I made it out to the Olympic peninsula of Washington and caught coastal rainbow trout in their native range, coastal cutthroat, southern Dolly Varden, as well as the genetically distinct Lake Crescent cutthroat trout.
Dr. Robert Behnke is the man when it comes to salmonid knowledge. Pick up his book if you want to learn more about this particular family, “Trout and Salmon of North America”. Another great resource is Gary Marston’s Native Trout Fly Fishing blog, he has a Trout and Salmon species page with pictures and information of all those that he has caught (which may be all that are found in the U.S.). Gary’s trip reports are a good read as well, he has had some epic road trips to catch trout in their native range.
Trout found in the Southeastern United States
Salvelinus fontinalis – Brook trout
Brook trout are the first native trout species I ever encountered as they do live in Georgia.
Salmo trutta – Brown trout
Brown trout are not native to North America.
Oncorhynchus mykiss – Rainbow trout
The first trout species I ever caught, happy to say that I have now caught them in their native range too!
Western Native Trout
Oncorhynchus apache – Apache trout
Oncorhynchus gilae – Gila trout
Western native trout range map source: Coyote Gulch blog
Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii – Coastal cutthroat trout
According to Wikipedia, the coastal cutthroat trout occurs in four distinct forms. A semi-anadromous or sea-run form is the most well known. Freshwater forms occur in both large and small rivers and streams and lake environments – pictured above is the stream resident freshwater form. The historic native range of the coastal cutthroat trout extends south from the southern coastline of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska to the Eel River basin in Northern California.
Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii crescentii – Coastal cutthroat trout – Lake Crescent form
Oncorhynchus clarki stomias – Greenback cutthroat trout
At the time this fish was considered a greenback, but it’s more likely that it isn’t after genetic research determined that the true greenback was limited to only one stream, outside of it’s native range, in Colorado. Work has been done to re-establish populations throughout it’s native range and hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to fish for a true greenback cutt. Their historic range is pretty much in the state of Colorado on the Front Range, with some watersheds slipping into Wyoming. They are found in the headwaters streams of the South Platte and Arkansas River drainages.
Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus – Colorado River cutthroat trout
Their historic range is headwaters streams in the Green and Colorado Rivers, as far south as the San Juan River, west of the Continental Divide. They are currently limited to a few small headwater streams of the Green and upper Colorado rivers in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, including the Escalante River drainage in southern Utah.
Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis – Rio Grande cutthroat trout
Their historic range is headwater streams in the Pecos and Rio Grande watersheds in Colorado and New Mexico.
Oncorhynchus clarkii utah – Bonneville cutthroat trout
Their historic range is pretty much in the state of Utah, with some watersheds slipping into Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada.
Oncorhynchus clarkii utah – Bonneville cutthroat trout – Bear River strain
They are found in the headwaters streams of the Bear River. No range map was given from NatureServe or the USGS for the Bear River cutthroat trout, but they are native to the Bear River and it’s tributaries, including Bear Lake.
Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri – Yellowstone cutthroat trout
Their historic range is the Yellowstone River drainage in Montana and Wyoming and the Snake River drainage in Wyoming and Idaho. Their current range overlaps with that of the Finespot in the Snake River drainage above Shoshone Falls.
Oncorhynchus clarkii behnkei – Finespotted Snake River cutthroat trout
Their historic range overlaps the Yellowstone cutt in the states of Wyoming and Idaho. They are found in the headwaters streams of the Snake River, particularly the South Fork.
Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi – Westslope cutthroat trout
According to Wikipedia, Westslope cutthroat trout are native in northern Idaho’s and British Columbia’s upper Columbia River system and northern tributaries of the Snake River. East of the Continental Divide in Alberta and Montana, Westslope cutthroat trout are native to the upper Missouri, Milk and North Saskatchewan rivers. In Montana, the historic range extended east to the mouth of the Judith River and south into the Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson river systems. Isolated populations of Westslope cutthroat trout exist in upper tributaries of the John Day River in the Strawberry Mountains of Oregon and Columbia River tributaries along the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Washington. Isolated populations exist in the Fraser River basin in British Columbia.
Other Native Salmonids
Salvelinus malma – Southern Dolly Varden
According to Gary Marston, the Southern subspecies of Dolly Varden are native to coastal watersheds from the Susitna River, Alaska south to the Quinault River, Washington.
Prosopium williamsoni – Mountain whitefish
Thymallus arcticus – Arctic grayling
Mountains to Marsh 