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We are about to head off grid for six days on the trip of a lifetime. I'm going to be traveling to the most continuous wilderness in all of the United States in order to catch a special fish that I have never caught before. This trip will be the most ambitious multi-day expedition we've ever attempted in the United States. Multiple days in the wild.
This is all in an effort to catch a world-class trout. This specific type of trout, known as the West Slope Cutthroat Trout, is famously recognized for its distinct red jaw, and its native habitat is found in the clear waters of the salmon rivers of Idaho. It's a long journey through the perilous mountain ranges to find this world-renowned fish. So for that, we'll need a special ride or a special occasion. It won't be easy, but it will be epic, and these planes are going to take us there.
Getting to the start of the adventure was a journey in itself, with over 100 miles of flight travel and a prop plane, of which I had to be the co-pilot. There are over 2.36 million acres of land in this enormous stretch of nature, making it the single largest span of federally managed wilderness in all of the United States. There's so much to take in, but we only have six days ahead of us as we travel through the wilderness to find this trout.
One thing's for sure, it won't be easy. The Salmon River is full of dangerous whitewater rapids that only flow in one direction, which means there's no ride back, giving this stretch of water the famous nickname, The River of No Return. Uh-oh, looks like we're going to be landing on that tiny dirt airstrip. Hang on, guys. We made it. We are now in the middle of the most remote wilderness in the continental United States. It's time to go fishing. Day one is the easy part.
The next five days are where our survival skills will be put to the test. Being in remote places like this is incredibly dangerous. No civilization exists near these parts. There's no exit, no helicopter, and no safety nearby. Now that we're here, there's no turning back. We must survive all the way through this river adventure to catch the fish we're after. After only landing moments ago, our lines were already tight with our first fish.
No way, what is that? Did you catch the cuddy already? Oh man. Nope, that's a pike minnow. That pike minnow was beautiful, a very unique fish in itself, but it's not the trophy fish we're after. That cuddy trout is still out there. It's time to go catch one. With a full day of preparation and training, we're ready to go hit the water. I need to be extremely careful though. If I flip over, it could spell disaster and ruin the trip before it's even begun. This has been a bucket list dream of mine to do a multi-day adventure in the wildest place in America here in Idaho with some of the best trout fishing in the world, world-class trout, live in this water.
This is the start of a 70-mile adventure. And hopefully before the end of this video, we're going to get one of those beautiful cuddies at the end of our fly line. I got something. There it is. Got one. Now we're talking. Way to go. This could be it. If you've been watching this channel for a while, then you know I've been all over the world filming wildlife. And there's a brand new app I've discovered that's going to help out a whole lot with my travel lifestyle. It's called Revolut. It's easy to use and gives you more freedom with your money. When you're exploring abroad, every dollar counts. With Revolut, there are no exchange fees
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This app is going to be a must-have on every future trip I take. Seriously, once you start using it and give it a try, you'll wonder how you ever traveled without it before. All right guys, now back to the action. This will be our cutthroat. Get the net, get the net. It's getting close. Lost it guys. Nice. So close to catching that cutty throat. Next time it's getting in the boat, guys. Got one. Yes. There it is. Set it, set it. Nice.
This could be our fish. Quick get it. It's coming off the line. No, no. Another one. One of these days I'll get a release on camera. It's a cutty. It's a cutty trout. Right. Beauty. Now let's get this set up for the camera. Ah, don't worry. Oh. Hey, dude, that was great. Nice catch. That was a beautiful fish right there. Great start. It was nice, but that's not the trophy fish we're after.
Well, that's going to do it for day one. We saw a lot of fish, but those world-class trophy cutthroats, they're still down the river in the days to come. I'm going to get some rest because if today was any indication, I'm going to need it. The fact that we have these wilderness treasures like this in our country is so awesome, and I am so lucky to be able to be out here. Hopefully in the days to come, we will catch that world-class cuddy trout. Until then, we're going to set up camp, get some rest.
We're about to start day three of our adventure on the Middle Fork here in Idaho. Let's go. Cool. Come on, cuddy trout. Where are you? Little shawa. Hold on. Look at that. All right. Let's see what we got here, guys. These fish are like really hard to watch. Am I not holding it right? We're quickly approaching the river rapids, and the faster it becomes, the more narrow the boats must be to avoid hitting rocks and flipping over.
We're only three days in, and it's definitely going to get worse from here, so I really need to practice for the dangers ahead. It's time to go solo. Yeah, mark. Easy. Yeah. Instead of getting back in the rafts to keep fishing, we're going to take a little hike to the top of this hill because there used to be a sheep eater tribe that lived in this valley and they've left behind some pictographs that we can check out.
Multiple figures there. You see one has a bow and arrow, have an elk. You don't get to see stuff like that very often unless you're in a place that's truly preserved. That was worth the hike. Pretty cool. This, I have a feeling, is going to be our biggest day yet in terms of trout. Today we are getting in deeper water, which means better pools of trout. I am super excited to see what we get at the end of our line. All right guys, let's do it.
Come on out, Cuddy. Running out of river left on this trip. Come on. There's a big hog sitting in there. A little overset. Flying fish. Little overset. Not even looking, baby. Ah, he let go. Ah, nope. It's a - White fish. It's either a white fish or one of those trout minnow. Ew. Ew. Turn off the cameras. Not every fish that gets on the end of your line is the fish you're looking for. Day five, the water here is starting to get dangerous and the speed is really picking up.
I need to be careful or this is going to get bad very quickly. We're getting into some of the really technical rapids. Oh no. Yeah, Mark. Oh. Save the camera. I did take a spill. I did save the camera, so we definitely have the footage. Tomorrow is the last fishing day out here in Idaho.
We are going to be in some of the best fishing territory yet. You can see behind me here, we're getting into these slot canyons and that's why you see those major whitewater sections and bends like this one behind me. But what that means is when they do bend, we get super deep pools. Those deep pools might have the biggest fish of the entire adventure, and that is what we're hoping to find tomorrow morning. I got to come back. I mean, this is one of those once in a lifetime opportunities that I could say that this can't be the last time I get to experience this.
I want to bring everybody I know, all my friends, all my family. This is a trip that you want to share with the people that you're closest with. Tomorrow, biggest fish, we're going to catch one. All right, we're at the end of the line, guys. And are we really going to go on this entire trip without catching a trophy fish? All right, we're not catching anything, guys. I think we might be done. Gosh, you're getting so unlucky.
Wait. There's one. Yes. It's going to be our fish. There it is. We got it, guys. On the reel. Yes. That is what we're talking about, guys. Yes. Look at that. That's our trophy fish. We did it. So guys, this is the iconic cutthroat species that we have out here in this Middle Fork River.
This is why people come so far to get to fish these waters, is to catch a world-class trout, just like this one. This is the trout we were looking for on this trip, guys. Look at that fish. How pretty is that fish? That's 14 inches right there. And we're just going to be very gentle because we just want to show you guys how beautiful the colors on these trout are. Look at those cheeks, beautiful ruby, shimmering cheeks. We've got that bright orange cut underneath the chin. That's why they get their name, the cutthroat, from that orange stripe right below the chin. And this is a big one.
This is about as big as they get out here in this river, guys. This is a solid 14, 15 inch trout. So when you release a trout, very important that you let the fish regain its energy like I'm doing right here, and then it should swim away right back to where it came from. That is the fish we came for. Yes. That's going to do it for us here in the state of Idaho. We saw it all. We did it all. We caught the trout, and I hope that you enjoyed this very special expedition on the Brave Wilderness Channel. If you ever want to experience this beautiful countryside for yourself, make sure to check the link in the description.
Boundary Expeditions, a world-class outfit, and I highly, highly recommend them. All right guys, that's going to do it for us. We'll see you next time.
