By Kirk Deeter

Here's something you don't see every day... underwater video of rare, native greenback cutthroat trout in a wild river environment. I made this video with a simple water-resistant Olympus point-and-shoot camera. The name of the high country Colorado creek shall remain a secret...

But there's an important lesson to take away from this. Keep a low profile when you fish for trout in clear creeks. I crept on my belly to the edge of the stream, and stuck my arms in the water to take these shots. I inevitably made some splashes and noises in doing so. But, the fish weren't put off in the least. If I'd have stood up on the bank, however, they'd have darted away, as sure as the sun was shining.

The most important lesson about how not to spook trout is to understand that these fish are almost always looking up. Shadows and sudden movements above them create problems. If you are careful to hide your shadows, you can sneak up on these fish. The closer you sneak up on trout, the easier it is to catch them.

Don't believe me? Here's another clip of a greenback... this time eating a dry fly as I'm shooting video from the bank, just upstream of the fish... maybe 10-15 feet away from where it eats the fly.

Stealth matters. You'd be amazed at what you can see, and how many more fish you can catch, it you'd just slow things down, and think about being stealthy. Being stealthy starts with knowing where your shadow and your rod/line shadows are, and hiding them. Trust me on this one.

Deeter

Comments (7)

from jakenbake wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Deeter, that is some cool footage. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I make it out to the water. I usually do anyway, but that'll be more of a priority now.

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from BowtechWVU wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

cool footage and good fishing tips

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from buckhunter wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

There are more trout in that little hole than in the entire State of Ohio. I'm jealous.

Great video.

Did anyone else notice the fish scatter a little when you could hear the muffled voice in the background? I hear people say fish cannot hear you talk. I'm not so sure.

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from Beekeeper wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Stealth and quiet make all the difference! Good video!

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from Dave DiBenedetto wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Great stuff, Deet. And a good lesson no matter where you fish. -d

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from fflutterffly wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

This is so cool! I have a Pextax W30 with the same capacity, but I always forget to take Video. Uggggg. What I found interesting is you can hear someone speaking while the camera is immersed. Interesting. I'm with Buck on this one.

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from littleshagshag wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

I too noticed when they heard the muffled voice they did spook a little. It may be different with Native species and stocked fish where as when stocker trout hear people in a hatchery, they tend to come closer looking for pellets. As always Deeter, love the videos and keep up your great work!!!

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from jakenbake wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Deeter, that is some cool footage. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I make it out to the water. I usually do anyway, but that'll be more of a priority now.

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from BowtechWVU wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

cool footage and good fishing tips

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from buckhunter wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

There are more trout in that little hole than in the entire State of Ohio. I'm jealous.

Great video.

Did anyone else notice the fish scatter a little when you could hear the muffled voice in the background? I hear people say fish cannot hear you talk. I'm not so sure.

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from Beekeeper wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Stealth and quiet make all the difference! Good video!

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from Dave DiBenedetto wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

Great stuff, Deet. And a good lesson no matter where you fish. -d

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from fflutterffly wrote 2 years 8 weeks ago

This is so cool! I have a Pextax W30 with the same capacity, but I always forget to take Video. Uggggg. What I found interesting is you can hear someone speaking while the camera is immersed. Interesting. I'm with Buck on this one.

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from littleshagshag wrote 2 years 7 weeks ago

I too noticed when they heard the muffled voice they did spook a little. It may be different with Native species and stocked fish where as when stocker trout hear people in a hatchery, they tend to come closer looking for pellets. As always Deeter, love the videos and keep up your great work!!!

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