15 pound cutthroat??

Isn't a 15 pound cutthroat a state record... and what the heck would a cut
that size be doing in Lake WA. Normally cutts in Lake WA are sea-runs that
choose to stay in the lake, and I wouldn't expect them to be any bigger
than standard sized sea-runs.

I checked the tail on this fish and it's rounded... so guess it's not a salmon.

State's not playing with triploid cutts....

comments??

man would sure like to know more about this fish and how it was caught .

The report is on the lake Washington section. I don't remember the details off hand, seems like they were trolling deep. I tried to enlarge the picture to get a better look but it got grainy fast. Sure does look like a trout. Can't see the red slash markings. A pretty amazing fish. I should check in with Kurt at Special Moments guide service and see what he thinks.

Mike C,

I will send you a better pix. Yes, it is 100%
Cutthroat. Spot pattern, maxillary extended behind
the eye, orange slash under jaw, and most importently, hyoid teeth behind tongue.

Cigar

Lake WA is a very big hole. There has to be more big fish like that in there. What an eating machine. I have caught cutts in the three to four pound range so why not 15 pounds.

Carl,

Why not??? Because most, if not all, Lake WA cutts are decended from sea-run stock. Sea-run stock doesn't get much larger than 6 pounds.

That 15 pounder is the equivalent of growing a quarter horse from a pair of Shetlands... not saying it doesn't happen, but it's rare.

Now, maybe the state or the UW fisheries was playing with beardslee's... and plunked some in Lake WA. I think beardslee's are the Crescent Lake cutts.. those are the ones I'm thinking of. Last I checked the Crescent Lake cutts would run in the mid and upper teens. Then again someone could have put some Lahontans in, but this one didn't have the coloration of one.

Whichever strain it is, it's still a herking sized cutt.

Any fish will get giganto if it sits around and eats all of the time. Just imagine being a cutthroat and having the buffet of smolt and other smaller fish that Lake WA provides. I bet there are even bigger cutts than that swimming around in there.

It wouldn't be one of those Donaldson trout, would it? I don't know enough about them...

Donaldson's are lake rainbow trout of steelhead strain.

BC played with them in the mid 80's and planted some of their hard to reach lakes with them. They do get up in the teens. I heard of them to 14 pounds and they probably get bigger. Fishboy was going to be near a lake that had them in it, but his trip got cancelled.

EL, for a fish to get really big it has to have length also... not trying to argue here... so don't take my words as such. A strain of fish will only get so long... and only so round... but with more food it may grow bigger.. but as I see it, only grow bigger in girth. More food doesn't quite equate to longer length.

It would be like giving me more food. I won't grow any taller, but you can bet for sure I'd be buying my clothes down at Bob's Big Boys store.

This is why Cresent Lake is the only lake in WA that grows big cutthroat trout. It has to do with genetics. I'm not counting Lahontans as they have other things going for them that allows them to grow big.

Besides this is an western WA lake where the waters are supposed to be nutrient poor.

Dang. This is a real eye-opener from Lake WA!

At our club meeting last night, we were talking about this trout and a couple of guys in our club know biologists who say they've caught quite a few cutthroat up to 32" during gill net test fisheries.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong here, but isn't Lake Washington one of the most underrated and underfished Lakes of its kind? I would think that this lake offers more surprises ahead as it gets some more serious pressure.

Zen, maybe we can equate this fish to a blackmouth (resident king salmon). Blackmouth do not migrate to rivers in the fall. They grow up in salt water and stay in salt water. There energy is spent on feeding. When you catch a blackmouth they are usually shaped like a football, narrow at the head and tail and full of girth in the middle. They are also shorter in length than migratory fish. A migratory king will be longer from head to tail with out a gut. More symetrical I guess.

This is just a theory.

Once salmon is done for this year I am going to give the big lake more pressure. I caught nice trout in the middle of January last year. :p

I'll be right ther with you Carl. Maybe we can hook up in my boat. It will take the rougher water better since it is bigger.

test

How did it taste.

That is definately a resident trout. Look at all of those spots.

I think trolling Rapalas will be part of my game plan from now on! Oh gee...did I give out anyone's zipper lure?

Sorry Kurt,

No Rapalas in this man's boat!!!
This big fella liked spoons....BIG SPOONS.

Jacob,

Thanks a bunch for posting updated picture.

Cigar

No problem. That fish is just amazing.

UPDATE

The WDFW scale sample test results are in.
This big boy was 7 years old.
First growth spurt was at age 5, about 20".
Largest growth spurt was age 7.
Spawned first at age 5 then 6 and would have spawned at age 7 but not for a Coyote spoon. My sincere thanks to Steve Foley at WDFW Mill Creek
office.

Cigar

That is amazing they can read a fish scale and get so much info. Kind of like reading a tree trunk, they can tell what the weather was like when the tree was growing up.