Been on kicks lately where I obsess with a certain fish or animal I have to have and recently it’s been grayling. Never caught one, actually never seen one. Last week was rio grande cichlid and we went on a road trip and caught literally hundreds so looking for new adventures. I know most of the states that have them but seems chances of catching them in some of those are slim. Who’s been? Anybody got ideas?

Upper Big Hole Montana is my guess. Not sure there are any above 10K in Colorado in high mtn lakes.

Thanks. I’ll check it out.

I think they have some in wyoming and Colorado, but I think the few native populations that still exist are way north in idaho, Montana, and I’m guessing maybe Washington.

That's a great fish to be obsessed with...unfortunately you have to travel long distances from Texas to fulfill that obsession. The most reliable place I'm aware of to catch one or dozens is Alaska. Any remote stream is likely to have Artic Grayling in them in Alaska. A good one is 22 -24 inches, but most are smaller. They prefer pure, undisturbed waters as remote as possible. Caught this one on a float trip on a wild Alaska stream. Go for it!

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I have heard that in Montana there are a few areas where the native grayling still thrives, but they have been introduced into many mountain lakes. That might be your best bet in the Continental USA, but Alaska is just about a sure thing.

Very nice!!

Actually ... there used to be grayling in or around the RMNP - Rocky Mountain National Park. Don't know if that is still the case.

from CPW website


LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. - Just upstream of Joe Wright Reservoir, Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologists, technicians, researchers and hatchery personnel conducted its annual spawning operation for a fish that most Coloradans might be surprised to find here in the Rocky Mountains.

Arctic grayling were first stocked in Colorado in the late 1890s, but it wasn't until the mid-1960s that CPW had success with a self-sustaining population.

This year’s arctic grayling spawning operation was conducted June 23 on Joe Wright Creek. Aquatic biologists from CPW’s Northeast Region have been coming to this spot every year since 1994 to collect and fertilize grayling eggs to deliver to the Glenwood Springs State Fish Hatchery. The annual egg request has ranged from 100,000 to 275,00 grayling eggs over the last decade, with 100,000 eggs needed for 2020.

“They will get stocked out at various lakes throughout the state,” Aquatic Biologist Kyle Battige said. “It depends on the year, but we generally stock between 5-10 lakes around the state of Colorado with grayling.”

The goal of the 2020 spawn was to catch around 100 ripe females via electrocking near the creek’s inlet to the reservoir to meet the established egg quota. However, the spawning operation entails far greater numbers of fish.

“In the quarter-mile of stream we shocked today, we caught almost 1,000 grayling,” Battige said. “Arctic grayling are not native to Colorado, the fish here in Joe Wright Reservoir originally came from Montana. They’ve been in Joe Wright Reservoir for about 30 years, we have been spawning them for over two decades now and there is an annual spawning run that is just a spectacle to see.”

If you came up to Joe Wright Creek during any other time of the year than during the spawning run, you likely would not find a single grayling in the creek. Joe Wright Reservoir and Creek provide a unique habitat for them. The arctic grayling population in Joe Wright Reservoir is not stocked and is maintained solely through natural reproduction from fish spawning naturally in the creek.

“Grayling do really well in Joe Wright Reservoir and Creek because it is crystal clear, great mountain water with appropriately-sized spawning gravel,” Battige said. “They run up the creek out of the reservoir towards the end of June every year, spawn, and then migrate back downstream to the reservoir where they spend the other 11 months of the year.”

The fish that are caught via electroshocking are sorted by males and females into holding nets on the creek. The females are massaged and stripped of their roe, or eggs, and the males of their milt, or semen, which are then carefully mixed in plastic tubs with filtered creek water. Once fertilized, the eggs are sent to the Glenwood Springs State Fish Hatchery.

The fertilized eggs will be hatched and raised at the hatchery then stocked out in the fall as one to two inch fish.

Grayling are in the salmonid family - they are related to trout - and have tasty white meat. CPW has always made an effort to offer anglers a wide variety of fishing opportunities when it comes to sport fish, and the arctic grayling is rather extraordinary.

“They are really pretty fish, but don’t get that big in Colorado,” Battige said. “A really big grayling in Colorado would be around 16 inches, but they just provide a unique angling opportunity. They are a lot different than a rainbow or a brown trout. The males this time of year have an elongated dorsal fin that gets really colorful.”

The state record for biggest grayling was caught in Jackson County on Lower Big Creek Lake in 2002. Derik Drinnen caught a 17 ¼-inch grayling weighing one pound, 10 ounces.

Other grayling waters across Colorado include Pearl Lake north of Steamboat Springs, Silver Lake and Bonham Reservoir in Mesa County and Pomeroy Lake near Salida.

That’s great info!!

There used to be a viable population in Michigan, but that was many years ago; I have no idea what their status is there now. They are indeed beautiful fish. I've always been fascinated by them, and by the waters they inhabit.

Joe Wright Reservoir in Colorado is the place to go. I tried to get there for 3 years but finally made it in the summer of 2022. They are not big, but if you find them you can catch a lot of them. Here is the link I posted when I got back from the trip.

https://texasfishingforum.com/forum...77/arctic-grayling-colorado#Post14487877

Thank you!! This is what I wanted see.

Did you camp there or can you drive there from a town each day?

Joe Wright Reservoir isn’t really close to anything. We stayed down the canyon at Archer’s Poudre River Resort in a cabin. It wasn’t fancy, but nice. It is a pretty drive up the canyon to the lake. There is also a good restaurant about a mile down canyon from the resort. There is trout fishing in the creek behind the resort with spots to fish between the resort and the lake.

Thank you