Hi
Mabel someone can answer a question ,been wondering about for a while.
Are cutthroats different than other Trout, are their gills formed differently inside, I know they have a red stripe on the bottom of their gill .I was wondering because they are Lake fish.
Thanks in advance.
John
I don’t know about their gills, John, but here on the west coast, we have sea - run cutthroat. I imagine that makes them anadronomous and not lake fish, but that is for sea - run cutthroat, which are most likely a different species than y’all have where you are…ModocDan
John,
There are different Species of Cutthroat Trout; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutthroat_trout
Sea-Run Cutts; http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/waterres/salmon/trout.htm
Yellowstone Cutts; http://fwp.mt.gov/fieldguide/detail_AFCHA02087.aspx
Westslope Cutts; http://fwp.mt.gov/wildthings/concern/westslope.html
Doug
The cutthroat is a single species (in the classic sense of the term), but has many different races, as Doug noted above. Last time I counted, about a dozen distinct ones, including a couple that are now extinct. But taxonomists keep stirring things up. When I was in college, I was told by a fish prof that the genetic difference among cutts was greater than the diffference between coastal cutts and rainbows.
Cutthroats are not, to my knowledge, significantly different in internal structure from most trout. Rainbow trout are the closest related fish, and cutts and bows readily cross.
Fish that DO have substantially different gill structures are ones such as kokanee (landlocked sockeye). Kokes are plankton feeders, and if you look at the front of the gill, the rakers are much finer than on trout that eat larger prey.
Cutts are not really lake-related fish, although they do just fine in many lakes. They do not require large bodies of water such as lakes in their life cycles. Some of the cutts on my district never see a pool more than three feet wide ttheir whole lives.
Dennis
I may be spouting a disputable viewpoint here BUT, of all the trout species I hunt, I have found the the cutthroat to be the easiest to fool. There are exceptions to this opinion however, and they’re based on location. Cutts are EASY to catch for the most part BUT in certain locations if their diet is not matched by a 95 percent accurate facsimile you’re goin home with empty creel, to wit, Flat Creek in the National Elk Refuge, Jackson Wyoming.
There have been times when I literally ran out of flies and used the stuff in my hat ( decorative) to catch more cutts. And there have also been times where I have used EVERYTHING in my flybox and didn’t even get a wink. Thankfully, the latter scenario is not the norm for me.
Cutthroat are beautiful fish. I’ve caught them in full color and in anemic hues. BUT, I have NEVER caught them in UGLY waters ( credit Betty Hiner).
Mark
Fly Fishing Coastal Cutthroat Trout by Les Johnson is a great book with a ton of information about the coastal cutthroat.
I’m in no way, a fish biologist, just a lowly fly fisherman! But, even though 'Cutts may or may not be “classed in different classes”, I DO KNOW one thing for sure about them… there’s a vast difference, in fishing for and catching, say; Lake Dwelling Cutts and West Slope Cutts, not to mention the Sea Run Cutts.
The West Slopes are by far one of the wildest and most fun to fish for, for me anyway, when fished for in remote streams. The more, remote, the feistier and usually the more wary and hard to hook, they get. But,when that hook up is made, they’re hell bent for leather to get to the net, if they’re 6" or 16"! A “take on a dry” is a very exciting take, when done by a wild cutthroat, more so than any Rainbow I’ve ever hooked.
When netted, just looking at their coloring, especially if they’re in pre-spawn colors, makes them one of the prettiest fresh water fish that swims.
The Sea Runs, the ones I get to fish for the most often, because I live at the coast is another Cutt that is very, very, exciting when it hits your dry fly offering! Unlike, the West Slope though, they seem to prefer the really garish, loud colored, flies as opposed to anything resembling the old “match the hatch” theory!
Bright pinks, mixed with reds and lime green, as awful as that combo sounds, makes for a fantastic, Sea Run dry OR wet fly. When they’re fresh in from the salt, they’re quite the fish to tangle with, on a 3 to 5 weight rod. Although, I wouldn’t class them as a “technical fish” to fish for, like big Rainbow and Browns can be, they’re still a wary adversary at any level.
You can get some really great Sea Run patterns from several web sites, featuring west coast fly fishing, or, from a book like our own fly club’s published book “Northwest Fly Patterns and Tying Guide”, by the “Rainland Flycasters” of Astoria, Oregon.