# Fish ID??



## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

Im wondering if you can help me id this fish. My brother caught this fish in a lake in the high uintas. in this lake there are Brooks, Cuts, and Golden trout. Not sure if this is a Golden. but not sure if this is a cut either. anyhow what do you think?


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Looks like a goldenbow to me. The Wind Rivers have them, especially the East Slope. Some get quite large.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

FYI:

Like any hybrid Goldenbows will have varying degrees of more golden less rainbow and vice versa. This goldenbow is about 50-50. This fish was caught at ice out in a lake that had hybrids and purebreds in the same school of spawning fish.










The Wyoming Game and Fish has drainage maps with fish species noted on them for most of the Wind River Range. Goldenbows are listed, which is nice if you are after only purebred goldens.


----------



## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

I think your right on a hybrid or cross. This fish is probably a cross between a cut and golden. I don't think there are any rainbows in this part of the uintas. Thanks for the reply wyogoob!


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Darin Noorda said:


> I think your right on a hybrid or cross. This fish is probably a cross between a cut and golden. I don't think there are any rainbows in this part of the uintas. Thanks for the reply wyogoob!


Goldenbows are a hatchery fish here. They get really big in high elevations where other fish grow slowly. I wish I would have something to scale the fish in my photo, it is really a nice fish. Wyoming planted them in the Winds. I don't know if they cross in the wild or not. And from what I remember the fish biologist said goldens don't cross with cutthroats.

Goldenbow hybrids retain the orange fins outlined in white and most of the gill cover markings and the rest is kind of a mix.

I can only think of 2 drainages/lakes in the Uintas that had goldens, but I don't follow it too close anymore. The lakes had brookies and cutthroats, no rainbows then. I remember them being Wyoming goldens, not Kern River (CA stock) goldens...I may ask the biologists here if that's true. Wyoming supplied/trade goldens to other Western states for quite some time until our Golden Trout brood stock lake, Surprise, crapped out.

I have been to about 650 of the 1005 lakes in the Uintas.


----------



## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

This fish was pulled out of lake Allred, right below lake Atwood. Brook trout fishing was on fire in Allred! I should post up some brook photos! The color was amazing!!!


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Darin Noorda said:


> This fish was pulled out of lake Allred, right below lake Atwood. Brook trout fishing was on fire in Allred! I should post up some brook photos! The color was amazing!!!


That makes sense, goldens were planted in Atwood; been quite awhile ago though. Maybe goldenbows too. I don't know. But I never seen or heard of any rainbows up there. Maybe someone else has and can chime in.

That drainage has good looking brookies, especially in the creeks. I think it's sheep poop. Brookies always look good in sheep country.


----------



## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Are there cutts in the area? Cutts are capable of breeding with golden trout. Maybe its a "goldenthroat"? The picture could suggest that. -Ov-


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Catherder said:


> Are there cutts in the area? Cutts are capable of breeding with golden trout. Maybe its a "goldenthroat"? The picture could suggest that. -Ov-


Yes, there are lots of cutts in that drainage. I never heard of goldenthroats and thought the two couldn't hybridize. But it makes sense, a golden trout is a type of rainbow trout and rainbows can cross with cutts.

I think the fish looks lclose to the goldenbow in my picture.


----------



## Vanilla (Dec 11, 2009)

I don't think it's a hybrid. I think it's a straight Golden. Definitely a rarity, a true trophy right there in Utah!


----------



## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

TS30 said:


> I don't think it's a hybrid. *I think it's a straight Golden*. Definitely a rarity, a true trophy right there in Utah!


You're gonna start a battle talk'in like that!

Although, I think I agree... o-||


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Ah, ha, ha, ha......took long enough.

Lets get a DNA sample. Who's buying?


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Wait a minute, I could call all my Goldenbows "Goldens".


----------

