weird question

[Fishaholic]

so i was trout fishing and i landed a nice cutthroat. i was looking at its coloring and it had like a dark red color all over like a spawning salmon.  anyone ever seen this before? i killed it and gutted it and it didnt have eggs in it so its in my freezer but i was wondering if anyone had seen this before.

thanks
ddjj1991

[kentrek]

it was prolly spawning...

we slayed em up at a high lake a couple weeks ago and they were all spawning up high..no cutthroats tho..

[Fishaholic]

yehh i caught one and didnt know she had eggs in her i felt bad but can you tell the differance between a male and female cutthroat trout?

[Fishaholic]

the fishes meat was pink like normal and  it faught like cutthroat do but it just looked like it was spawning. it was very odd

[kentrek]

ehhh im not an expert but the males will squirt some white stuff if ya squezz em a bit 

we cooked a couple up over the fire an they tasted normal

[Fishaholic]

i have milked a kipper at the humptulips hatchery lol i know they squirt white stuff if you  squeeze them lol that was odd the first time i dont that lol

[Bullkllr]

They're just spawning.
Cutthroat are normally late winter spawners, so you might expect some to be "spawned out" now as well as some ready to spawn soon.
The meat should be good, as they do not go through the same stop feeding/body deterioration that salmon do. Especially in a small pond with a very short "run" to where they spawn.

Looking at the mouth may help tell the difference between males and females. Males tend to have a slightly larger looking jaw. But they often don't have the dramatically hooked jaw as in salmon.

[Fishaholic]

well my  fishing spot is un known to the majority of the world. just a few people know about it because i havent showed them.  but it had a creek going into the lake and a creek leaving that dumps into the ocean. i have found fresh water clams in  the bellys of the fish and it produces lage natural/ native cutthroat. its just packed full of them.

[kentrek]

Which lake   if i was near your area id think it wouldnt take much to find your "honey hole"...might wana get rid of some of those datails

Bullkllr do you know about when there all done spawning ?? Is it a set time or just when ev the water warms up ? Is it different for other trout ??.....seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

[sumbeech66]

So are you against salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers? since the only reason they are there is to spawn.

[Fishaholic]

So are you against salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers? since the only reason they are there is to spawn.

were does this come from? I love to fish for steelhead and salmon.

[sumbeech66]

kentrek said
seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

[Bullkllr]

Which lake   if i was near your area id think it wouldnt take much to find your "honey hole"...might wana get rid of some of those datails

Bullkllr do you know about when there all done spawning ?? Is it a set time or just when ev the water warms up ? Is it different for other trout ??.....seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

My guess is that those look like resident cutties. Although with access to salt there could be searun also. They are late winter/early spring spawners like rainbow/steelhead. Those are the ones I'm most familiar with, but I know browns are fall spawners.
I don't know how much spawn timing has to do with water temp. It seems like nature places the spawn for when warming water temps for the adults to spawn, and probably spring/early summer when the fry emerge from the gravel and will have decent feed conditions.
Resident cutts like those I'm guessing would make a short trip up the feeder stream, spawn and then likely return to the lake/pond in short order. Searuns are different. They will often stay in a stream all winter, even if they're not spawning. Or they can stay in the stream for months after spawning if they find decent food supply.

.....seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

So are you against salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers? since the only reason they are there is to spawn.

Referring to Kentrek's statement. What I took from that is, yeah, its obviously better for the population to let the fish spawn, right. Local populations of cuttrhoat are pretty fragile, and taking too many or disrupting spawners would be bad on a very small scale population.

Every little crick and pond in the South Sound area used to have native cutts. With fishing pressure and development they are harder and harder to find.

[sumbeech66]

I understand where he is coming from. With that being said the whole river fishing system would be shut down if you didnt fish while they are spawning.

[wildmanoutdoors]

Which lake   if i was near your area id think it wouldnt take much to find your "honey hole"...might wana get rid of some of those datails

Bullkllr do you know about when there all done spawning ?? Is it a set time or just when ev the water warms up ? Is it different for other trout ??.....seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

My guess is that those look like resident cutties. Although with access to salt there could be searun also. They are late winter/early spring spawners like rainbow/steelhead. Those are the ones I'm most familiar with, but I know browns are fall spawners.
I don't know how much spawn timing has to do with water temp. It seems like nature places the spawn for when warming water temps for the adults to spawn, and probably spring/early summer when the fry emerge from the gravel and will have decent feed conditions.
Resident cutts like those I'm guessing would make a short trip up the feeder stream, spawn and then likely return to the lake/pond in short order. Searuns are different. They will often stay in a stream all winter, even if they're not spawning. Or they can stay in the stream for months after spawning if they find decent food supply.

.....seems like a guy would wana let them do there thing in order to keep the population up an fish after

So are you against salmon and steelhead fishing in the rivers? since the only reason they are there is to spawn.

Referring to Kentrek's statement. What I took from that is, yeah, its obviously better for the population to let the fish spawn, right. Local populations of cuttrhoat are pretty fragile, and taking too many or disrupting spawners would be bad on a very small scale population.

Every little crick and pond in the South Sound area used to have native cutts. With fishing pressure and development they are harder and harder to find.

Too confuse the issue a bit further, 2 Sundays ago we fished the Raft for Steelies. We always hit cutties in there too but man were they really biting last trip. Really nice ones too!

Funny thing was some were as spotted and pretty as the ones DJ is catching but some were surely sea run as they were as bright as a steelie alomost with just a hint of the red under jaw color.

So are there resident and sea run? Or some just start way before others? Most of the time the sea runs seem to follow Salmon to feast on eggs.

And we have caught males with a hook jaw before.

[Bullkllr]

There are people who believe salmon should not be fished for in rivers at all (mostly old-time salt water fishermen).
Letting people fish in rivers gives access to more condensed fish and for people who do not have saltwater boats, etc.

I've always been mostly a rivers guy myself.

Most experienced fishermen frown on fishing for fish that are actually in the act of spawning.

What's best for the fish is obviously not what's best for fishermen, and vice-versa.

[Bullkllr]

Wildman,
Yeah, there are searun and resident. Interesting write up here:http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/onlinepubs/g99012.html

And yes, male cuttswill develop a hook in their jaw, just not nearly as dramatic a change as in say a spawning buck silver.

[sumbeech66]

Understood.

Op keep catching fish! (just not all of them) 

[Kc_Kracker]

pic of said fish?

[kentrek]

i would assume that trout populations in a small lake would be much more fragile than that of salmon in the rivers/oceans...for all i know trout are similar to sturgeon in regards to reproduction & population growth (extreme example)...just trying looking out for what are basically "my" fish since im the only one dumb enough to go there this time of year

[sirmissalot]

You're going to catch bright cuttys as well as darker colored ones, just like you would with salmon. There are also sea run cuttys who go upstream to feed, and of course resident cutthroat. I let them all go now days anyways, but I have always said if I catch a 20+inch cutty with spawning colors I'm going to have it mounted, been quite a while since I've targeted them though. 

There can't be all that many lakes (or rivers/creeks) open right now in your area, so hopefully your secret honey hole stays that way, seems most could figure it out fairly easily with your description, your location, and the regs as to whats open right now. Just sayin. 

[Fishaholic]

its not as easy as you think to find lol but i do put most of the fish back i only keep the bigger ones and i rarely do that. i enjoy catch and release. and no picture sorry

[Goldeneye]

its not as easy as you think to find lol but i do put most of the fish back i only keep the bigger ones and i rarely do that. i enjoy catch and release. and no picture sorry

Good on you for returning most.  Just remember that the larger ones are your brood stock.

[wildmanoutdoors]

When we fish the Raft they are soooo prevalant we always crimp our bards as the barbs do so much damage on the smaller fish when extracting the hook.

[Fishaholic]

i use barbless hooks. I just enjoy fishing there are a few ducks at the lake right now and a family of 3 otters live there and i can talk to them and they look at me and make a weird  noise  but they feed off the fish so its a has a very healthy population of fish but mostly its about being outdoors for me i could care less if i catch something at my spot........ but it is a very nice place to fush lol