I don't remember if this was a past topic or not.

Steelhead fishing today, I caught a nice sized Cuttie. I was releasing it and noticed it had these yellow spots on it so I took some pics. I've also noticed them on Salmon I've caught.

whats the deal with these spots. Natural or man made. It was a native.

Nice cutt!

To the best of my knowledge those spots are natural. Just a heavy pigment spot. Kind of cool really.

They are fairly common on our coastal cutthroat - both sea-runs and the little stream residents. I'll catch a dozen or more a year with them. Have also seen them on adult chinook, bull trout (Dollies) and a couple of times on steelhead.

I probably CnR around 200 SRC a year, and i beleive that around 1 in every 10 has those spots, and as smalma said the best thing i can tell ya is that its just a pigment spot, and i have seen them on steelhead too, but i think they were only summer runs

I've found those spots on several varieties of fish in the Hanford Reach area of the Columbia. It helps with night fishing when the trout are illuminated with the phosphorescent glow.

BB,
Nice Cuttie!!
Cool photos.
Did you get a new digi cam?

Yep Yep.

When you gonna row me? I'll show it to you then. I know of a few spots where the catchin's been pretty good.