Quote Originally Posted by Byron haugh View Post
Is it strictly a cutt fishery or do you have rainbows too?
The Lochsa, which is a designated Wild and Scenic River, is primarily a West Slope cutthroat fishery. It does also hold a good number of bull trout and steelhead, and gets a pretty decent chinook salmon run.

It is catch and release only for the cutthroat.

The bull trout are a protected endangered species, cannot be targetted, and must be released immediately.

There is a salmon season that opens and closes at the discretion of Idaho Fish and Game based on the number of salmon in the system and the number taken legally and reported.

You cannot legally target the steelhead. I have had a couple on briefly but have not landed one.

There are no resident rainbow trout, all rainbow-like fish in the system are steelhead, and there is a very small population of cutthroat / steelhead hybrids. Like this one ...



... which I have actually caught twice already this year.

John

P.S. Byron - if you happen to wander away from the Fly Tying Forum sometime and find yourself on the Fishing Reports Forum, you might enjoy the thread there titled "Lochsa."