# The spring of the Utah cutthroat



## RYsenTrout (Jun 6, 2012)

I have been reading a book entitled "Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West" and have grown a fondness for the cutthroat trout. It is a great read if you ever get the chance and I am sure you will also appreciate the story of survival that Utah cutts have endured. We certainly aren't living in the times where 20 lb. cutts are swimming around Utah Lake, but we are enjoying a seemingly successful recovery effort.

This spring I have had the opportunity to catch what I think are the three cutthroat trout that are native to Utah. I am still learning and may have misidentified, but to my understanding the three subspecies are pictured below:

Bonneville Cutthroat:









Colorado River Cutthroat: 









Yellowstone Cutthroat:









Let me also show this beautiful wild rainbow I caught last week:


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## spencerD (Jan 14, 2014)

I like it! See, I would have thought the CR Cutt was a Yellowstone and the Yellowstone was a Bonny....shows how much I know about Cutts! 

Which reminds me, I need to order that book!


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## RYsenTrout (Jun 6, 2012)

They very well might be. I am going off of the history of the waters that I fished. The Colorado could be a Yellowstone, but I am pretty sure the Yellowstone is a Yellowstone. 

I was really hoping a professional biologist would set me straight and further my learning.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

CRC's have red bellies, but otherwise, is it possible to tell subspecies just by spotting patterns and coloration? Especially Bonnevilles and Jellystones? 

Short of counting pyloric cecae and genetic analysis, I think we do have to depend on drainage stocking history and native range. If not, I too would love to learn how to tell some of the subspecies apart, at a glance, myself.


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## smoothie (Nov 21, 2011)

Cutthroat are my favorite species of trout to catch. Of the hundreds of fish that I've caught on the Weber over the years, I've only managed to catch two cutties on this river. I wish they'd make a nice comeback on the Weber.

Anyone know what strain of cutt this might be? I caught this one in April. I was near Hennefer.



I've been fortunate to catch many yellowstone cutties, but I've never caught one in Utah. I've only caught them in YNP:

(Soda Butte)


(Slough Creek)


(yellowstone river)


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## cbassonafly (Oct 5, 2012)

Smoothie-

I believe that cutt from the Weber is a Snake River Cutt. By the way beautiful fish, thanks for sharing the pics.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

RE"Anyone know what strain of cutt this might be? I caught this one in April. I was near Hennefer."

It does look a little like a Snake river finespotted, but we do know that the DWR changed the regs on that stretch of the Weber because of an improving Bonneville cutt population. That is probably what it is.

Not to bore folks with my dumb ice fishing pics, but on this thread below I posted a series of pics of 100% Bear lake cutts (one bow at the end), all with highly different spotting, varying from almost no spots to finely spotted, like the posted Weber fish, demonstrating that by spots alone, it is hard to definitively say what a subspecies is.

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/7-fishing-trip-reports/78537-tiger-brown-3.html


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Catherder said:


> I think we do have to depend on drainage stocking history and native range.


This is really one of the better ways to know what sub-species you are catching. Look at stocking records for the water you are fishing. Know the drainage you are fishing. With knowledge of both of those things, you can pretty much know what kind of fish you are catching.

I'm curious about the rainbow. How do you know it was "wild" vs. "stocked"?

nice pictures. thanks for sharing.


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## RYsenTrout (Jun 6, 2012)

PBH said:


> This is really one of the better ways to know what sub-species you are catching. Look at stocking records for the water you are fishing. Know the drainage you are fishing. With knowledge of both of those things, you can pretty much know what kind of fish you are catching.
> 
> I'm curious about the rainbow. How do you know it was "wild" vs. "stocked"?
> 
> nice pictures. thanks for sharing.


Good question... and after thinking about why I thought it was a "wild" bow I am not really confident in my original reasoning.

The reason I thought this was wild is because it was caught in a backcountry stream that has no published stocking history. The fish was just upstream from a very small lake that has no published stocking history. However, it was about 15 miles upstream from a lake that gets stocked with rainbows yearly. So it very well might have been stocked. It appears to have the colors that spawning trout have and because it was caught along with several spawning cutthroat I concluded that it was also spawning in that creek (Spawning fish seem more "wild" to me). I thought I read somewhere that a very small percentage of hatchery fish spawn (maybe this is just the case for Salmon). Also, from just my experience the spotting pattern is much different from all the planter rainbows I have caught in the past. In my experiences of catching a rainbow with the smaller spots across the entire fish it has been in places where fish have not been stocked for years. Lastly, and probably my weakest point is the bow is just too beautiful and the creek seemed so remote I would have to think this fish never lived in a hatchery.

Sooooo obviously there are holes in my reasoning. I'm glad you asked the question though. I'm afraid I throw around terms about fish all too often to make the catch sound more desirable, but I may not have supporting evidence. Anglers have thrown around weights since the beginning of time. I have actually become numb to anglers claiming they caught a "___ pound trout". I only know they really weighed it if they include the ounces.

The terms "wild" and "native" are common when talking trout, but now that you have me thinking about it I may never use these terms again. It is so hard to backup those claims. I once had a desire to catch pure strains of cutthroat in their native waters. After some study I have concluded that "pure strain" is another one of those terms that is so hard to prove. Pioneers were carrying around buckets of fish and dumping them in random stream all across Utah. Who knows what may have mixed with what along the way?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

RYsenTrout said:


> They very well might be. I am going off of the history of the waters that I fished. The Colorado could be a Yellowstone, but I am pretty sure the Yellowstone is a Yellowstone.
> 
> I was really hoping a professional biologist would set me straight and further my learning.


After reading this cool thread I bumped my thread on the Wyoming Cutt Slam in the General Fishing Section. Maybe the pics could be used as reference. The pictures I put up were provided to the Wyoming Game and Fish biologists in the Cutt Slam Program as proof of cutthroat species. I'm by no means an expert on identifying different types of cutthroats and I get Bonnevilles and Colorados mixed up often.

see: 
http://utahwildlife.net/forum/6-general-fishing-questions/25986-wyoming-cutt-slam.html

.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Rysen -- a couple comments on your reply:

1. Aesthetics cannot reliably be used to determine stocked vs. wild. Trout are somewhat like people. Each one is unique with visual differences. Trout stocked as "fry" would be indistinguishable from a wild trout. Spotting patterns would mean nothing, other than an individual difference (freckles?). Biologists often use fin-clipping so that they can distinguish between what they stocked and what is wild.

2. Wild rainbows -- those fish you were catching very well may be wild fish. I just wondered how you drew your conclusion. One thing that you can take from this is that even hatchery fish can grow into a very "wild" fish in both their appearance and behavior. Hatchery fish will spawn just like any wild fish. They still have the same instincts and natural desires as the wild fish -- splake, a sterile hybrid cross, will go through a spawn. They just don't reproduce. This is why managers must be very careful with what kind of fish they stock into our waters -- if they stock rainbow trout on top of native cutthroat you will end up with hybrids.

3. the reason you have heard that stocked rainbows typically do not "spawn" (or, rather successfully reproduce) is more of a habitat issue. Most rainbows are stocked into reservoirs that have poor habitat for successful reproduction. They will still spawn, they just may not do it successfully. However, put them in a place with good habitat (Kolob, Paragonah, etc.) and they will reproduce just like a "wild" fish would.

4. Pure cutts in their native environment: you can find these. We have "remnant" populations of "pure" Colorado River cutthroat on Boulder Mountain. These fish are genetically pure, and were there prior to white man. Your desire to find and catch these fish should continue! You just have to do some homework to find out where those fish are. A phone call to the southern region fisheries guys could easily put you on some "pure", "historic", "native", "wild", "self-sustaining", "untouched", "beautiful" cutthroat trout. Here are a couple examples:


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## RYsenTrout (Jun 6, 2012)

Great comments PBH! Thank you.


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## smoothie (Nov 21, 2011)

PBH said:


> Rysen -- a couple comments on your reply:
> 
> 1. Aesthetics cannot reliably be used to determine stocked vs. wild. Trout are somewhat like people. Each one is unique with visual differences. Trout stocked as "fry" would be indistinguishable from a wild trout. Spotting patterns would mean nothing, other than an individual difference (freckles?). Biologists often use fin-clipping so that they can distinguish between what they stocked and what is wild.
> 
> ...


Awesome info!

Have you followed the restoration projects in the Yellowstone area?

I've heard that they are finally making some progress on Yellowstone lake getting the Lake Trout numbers to finally start declining.

Also, I heard that they are looking at doing some aggressive projects around the park to restore yellowstone cutties and west slope cutties. Do you think these projects can be successful long term?


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