Know Your Fish -
Cutthroat Trout
Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus
clarki)
Identification
Characteristics:
Red to yellow streaks on underside of
jaw
Blunt head, long jaw that extends past
eye
Small black spots on head & body
extending well below lateral line, and on all
fins
Records:
Length to 20 inches
Freshwater record: 6.00 lbs, Bud Johnson,
Carr Inlet, Pierce Co., 5/43
Cutthroat trout are
also an anadromous fish (those that spend most of their lives
in the ocean but migrate to fresh water to spawn) and are a
favorite catch of Puget Sound fisherman. Also, cutthroat trout
are often present in the same streams that Pacific salmon use
for spawning. Many people confuse cutthroat with other salmon
species.
The cutthroat trout's name comes from the red
to yellow slash marks on each side of the lower jaw. These
marks, along with dark spots on the back, sides and fins, are
often missing on the fish in salt water or fresh from the sea.
Body color is generally dark olive on the back, highly
variable on the sides, silver in salt water or fresh from the
sea. They generally average around 1 to 2 pounds, but fish in
the 5 pound range have been caught. A 20" cutthroat is
considered a trophy in Washington State.
Cutthroat
trout, also called bluebacks, can be found in virtually all
large and small unspoiled costal streams. Sea-run forms are
present within the inter-tidal zones (between the low and high
tide marks) in most of our marine areas. They spawn from the
late summer through fall. Puget Sound cutthroat trout tend to
move into streams later than Juan de Fuca Strait and ocean
cutthroat. Most saltwater-caught cutthroat are taken within
the inter-tidal zone.
Typically, cutthroat trout are
caught with spoons, spinners, and flies. Natural bait such as
night crawlers (worms), small cut bait from herring,
sandlance, sculpin bellies, and salmon eggs also work
well.
For more information about Washington State's
game fish you can download these PDF files: Pacific salmon
identification (1446KB), trout and salmon identification
(560KB), and selected game fish (2553KB). To read these files
you will need the free Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader that you can
obtain from Adobe's PDF Reader web page.
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