Rocky Mt Grand Slam

[obifishkenobi]

I have been working on the planning for this project for some time. Our objective is to catch every FRESH WATER game fish of the states  traditionally noted as or west of : Rocky Mountain States

Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington (maybe also AK and BC)

To make it a real challenge we plan to do it all from the bank or ice. 

We are not putting a time limit on this as that would take the fun out of enjoying the trips 

I really get into the research part of this like planning a route and finding the camping spots and learning about species I have never chased before.

So my research has got me a list of 53 species of which around 25 are not available in Utah. Some are listed as a game fish in one state and are available in another and there are a few that are only available in one state. And of course some states have an opportunity to catch a much bigger example of a species than what is normal in Utah (like Cascade Perch). 

Okay here is the list (if you see any mistakes or something you think we missed let me know.  I should note we did not include variations in the same species unless they were remarkably different (like the 4 cutthroat strains in Utah are not listed separately). I may go back and reconsider that as something like the Lahontan Rainbow may be worth tracking separately. Let me know if you think a certain sub species is worth chasing individually. I also have not put pinks and chum salmon on this list (yet) as I have not determined if there is a catchable population without adding in Canada or Alaska. As a side note Colorado has catchable population of Artic Char (who knew), there are Atlantic salmon in the west,  and I did not realize that Bull Trout are Dolly Varden.

I would love to hear from you about any species on this list with ideas about where a great adventure could be had for my pirate crew. You can PM me if you would rather (and if you request we not "youtube" that info I will of course respect that as well)

Rainbow Trout and Steelhead are the same species, like the Kokanee and Sockeye salmon, only difference is Steelhead and Sockeye have gone to the ocean and back. All salmonid species have the ability to be anadromous, born in fresh water live in salt and return to spawn in fresh water, there are ocean run Cutthroat in many coastal streams. There is Chum and Pink Salmon in Washington state. Interesting fact, Pink salmon only run in the odd years in Washington.