Fishing Forum

With the risk of sounding a little stupid, I still gotta know> Can you help me Identify these? The first fish I caught at one of the Trinity Lakes and I thought it was just a Rainbow Trout, but could this be a Redband Trout? I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I was holding it in the mouth. I think it was because I've been catching mostly Bass all year.

Also the second Fish I know is a cutthroat, but is this a Westslope? This was caught on the Middle Fork of the Boise.
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The first one looks like it is just a juvenile rainbow. The second one I couldn't tell ya, all I ever catch are variations of the Yellowstone cutters.
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i agree with stickrig the first one looks like a little native rainbow. the second definitly has the look of a cutthroat, but i don't see the red around his gill plate. a hybrid ?
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The second one looks like a Female German Brown

[url "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_trout"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_trout[/url]
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I don't see the resemblance of the German Brown, but the first is definitely a wild rainbow.

My guess would be a golden hybrid.
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First one is a young rainbow. Second one is a Cutthroat, with the possibility of being crossed with a rainbow which would make it a Cutbow.
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First one is definitely a rainbow. It could be a redband. A redband is just a native Idaho rainbow as far as I can tell. They look just like a rainbow, but with a darker red stripe down the side, just like the one is your picture. See this link: [url "http://www.fisheriessociety.org/AFSmontana/SSCpages/redban%20status2.htm"]http://www.fisheriessociety.org/AFSmontana/SSCpages/redban%20status2.htm[/url]

The second one looks like a cutbow to me. Pretty classic example, IMO. Very similar to the famous Hyrbids you'll get at Henry's lake.
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I agree. The redband retain the large parr marks into adulthood typically and rainbows generally don't. Adult rainbow stripes are also more iridescent compared to the red stripe of an adult redband. However when they are small redbands are very hard to differentiate from other rainbows.
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First one is a good old rainbow. Seems that fish up in those high lakes tend to hang on to their par markings a bit longer than down in the lowlands.

The other fish is all cutthroat. There is not hybridization there. Westslope would be my guess, considering where you said you caught it, but definitely all cutthroat - and especially not a brown trout, sorry.

Kelly.
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So to Properly Identify a redband trout, I'll need an adult 12 inches or bigger with a solid red band and some par marks, where as rainbows should have lost some color at this age and have a more irradecent band(rainbow)?

With difference in and opinion and uncertaintly in the species, maybe the polls forum can add a species id challenge, or maybe I'll just add a few more catches I'm not 100% on.

Probably wont help, but here is another pic of what I believe to be a Cutthroat/Cut-Bow
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I know the small ones are redbands if all the big ones are redbands or the water only has redbands and not other rainbows. There is too much variation in redbands and other rainbows for me personally to look and tell the difference all the time when they are small . May be others can.
I think the cutt is a pure cutt not a hybrid for what it's worth.
I have attached 2 photos of small trout. Can you tell what each one is?
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absolutely right. the way to tell a cuttbow has spots on the belly and mid section. cuttthroats have more of the bare non spotted belly/midsection. deadwood has all varieties. caught several of each.
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Those where both redband out of the Jarbidge River . I didn't have any pics of small rainbows but I took one today on the upper Provo for comparison.
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Hey Bronco66,

The first fish is a wild rainbow. Redbands typically have white tipped dorsal and anal fins.Technically all native "rainbows" of Idaho found in the Snake River below Shoshone Falls and those found in the Salmon and Clearwater and Jarbidge drainages are of the redband family. Redbands are a "family" of trouts very slightly different from each other depending on what drainages they are found in in the interior areas of the states of Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. The true rainbow is native to California, Oregon, Washington and up to Alaska. This information is according to Dr. Behnke of Colorado State University. He is probably the formost expert on trouts native to America. The steelhead trout of Idaho is actually an ocean going form of redband trout and not a true rainbow. The true rainbow steelhead is found in California in the Sacramento River drainage. The second fish is a cutthroat and not a hybrid. I would suggest it is a westslope cutt for two reasons. If you look closely it appears their is a little orage on the belly which is typical of the westslope strain of cutts and because of the drainage it was caught in.

It gets a little technical doesn't it. It's all in the genetics! There are other differences too but not important here.

DeeCee
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Here is a picture of a Redband I recently caught at Grebe in Yellowstone.

Windriver
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So are redbands colored like spring spawn rainbows, except year-round?
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Bronco 66, Usually tough to tell the redbands until they are older, but many plain old rainbow trout have pretty pronounced colors. That second photo you provided is still all cutthroat and not a hybrid.

Here are a couple of pics of hybrids:
Usually cutt-bow hybrids have rainbow coloration and the cutthroat slash under the throat:

Here's a pure rainbow, not a redband:


Pure Yellowstone (or Snake River Fine Spotted - they say they are the same strain...)cutthroat:


Here's a cutt-bow hybrid - notice the rainbow colors and the orange slash under the throat:


Another Hybrid:


Pure rainbow:


Pure cutthroat:


Hope this helps.

Kelly.
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Speaking as a fishery biologist who yearly handles hundreds to thousands of fish in the Oncorhynchus genus telling a pure fish from a hybrid fish strickly from visual clues is not possible. You can make a guess, but thats all it is. But I can tell you for a fact that fish you would swear were pure westslope or redband or yellowstone, often come back significantly hybridized when you get back your genetics report even when visually they look like a perfect representative of that species.

On westslope, spotting below the lateral line or on the belly, while something to give pause isnt a definitive indicator of hybridization. Lots of WCT populations have been isolated for so long that inbreeding has caused what is refrered to as localized morphs i.e markings/coloration specific to individual populations

The first fish to me looks like a high mountian, run of the mill, rainbow. BUT it could easily be a pure redband.As stated earlier slower growing rainbows ( such as high elevation pops) retain residual juvi traits longer. From the ones Ive seen I cant say there is a good representative morph for a redband. There is so much visual variation between strains and populations that i dont think anyone can say with certainty that it is or isnt without some additional background info such as stocking or genetic records.

Second fish. Looks like a WCT, only thing that makes my think otherwise is the amount of silver scaling. But again could just be how they are.
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Good information phutch30, as a scientist myself, I am always looking for the real dope on such things. You answered some of my questions. Although, it seems like I read that people working at Henrys Lake hatchery (even none biologist) are very accurate in identifying pure strain cuts from hybrids for spawning purposes...is my memory incorrect, or is that a special case? I always feel like I am pretty good at identifying a hybrid vs a pure strain fish, perhaps I should be less confident.
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Great pictures of your different trout, colors are beautiful.[fishin]
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