Long story short: caught this gorgeous rainbow. Probably the most beautiful fish ive ever caught so far. Im new to fishing and identification but I know the basics. Old timer was on the dock and watched me caught this fish. He interrupted me when I told my son it was a rainbow and told me it was a cutbow. He pointed out the orange slashes and a few other things I dont remember. Someone on fish brain agreed and then some guy got on and told me its just a rainbow. Now im doubting the old timer. As far as I can tell from google and some videos, its a cutbow. What do you all think? Any experts here? Im certainly not one.
Cutthroat and rainbow are both common species stocked and native in these waters.
My neighbor actually works for the DWR and works at the hatcheries. He thinks its a cutbow but even he couldnt give me a straight answer. He told me they do sometimes cross breed at the hatcheries.
Posted by helpplz801
3 Comments
From what I can see in these pictures, this looks like a regular stocked rainbow. The bright pink lateral line and dense spotting even below the lateral line on the flanks are right in line for a pure rainbow, and I’m not seeing any distinctly cutthroat-y features. In the second picture I can see some reddish under the gills, but cutthroat marks aren’t at the gills, they’re in the fold under the jaw, which isn’t shown in either picture. I would check to see if your local fisheries have a detailed stocking report for this specific waterbody that’ll tell you if they have stocked cutbows, but otherwise I’d say this is a pure rainbow (again, based on just what I can see from the photos). Either way, killer fish!
Can’t know for sure without a better view underneath but that coloration on the gill plate isn’t what I normally consider a cutthroat slash(on cutthroat I’ve seen in Washington/Oregon; but there’s so many strains out there) but man what a fish!
Looks like a rainbow to me.
Keep in mind, a cutbow is just a hybrid between a rainbow and cutthroat, and cutbows can reproduce. So, after a few generations you could end up with a trout that is 95% rainbow and 5% cutty, for example. You never really know for certain if a specific fish is all rainbow or some level of cutbow without genetic testing.