Video: Wild Cutthroats are High Country Gems


We’ve been featuring the videos of John Arnold—a.k.a scumliner media—for years, and they have run the gamut from simply gorgeous (“Always Worth the Trip“) to hysterically funny (“Streamers Inc.“). But this one is something completely different. Here’s Arnold’s description:

This unplanned collaborative effort between myself and Bozeman, MT based photographer Pat Clayton took place on a recent hiking trip in the Greater Yellowstone region. We brought fishing gear, but never made a cast. Instead we spent a couple of days watching this incredible spawning ritual.

After a full day of shooting above-water stills, I decided to capture some above-water video to go along with Pat’s underwater images. Pat’s underwater trout photos are superb. These cutthroat trout were in the peak of the spawn, bold and showing all their colors. Pat has a deep appreciation for native species and the fragile environments they inhabit, as do I. Wild cutthroats face a never-ending threat from competing species, hybridization, habitat loss and destruction, and climate change.

Unfortunately, there’s just not many places left like this.

Pat Clayton’s images have appeared here several times (see “A Vision Worth Saving in Bristol Bay“), and you can check out more of his work on his website and his Facebook page.

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