Fishing Forum

Ok went to Mackay Reservoir with a friend on friday 1/25. We hooked a few cokes but nothing big. Also a couple trout came our way. Almost all bites were jigging. We had 7 other rods out with various baits and only one rod got hit by a small rainbow.
Something interesting happened. I realize Mackay has brook trout as well as bull trout and they can be very hard to distinguish the difference. From fish and game's website it says brook trout will have red spots with a blue halo and bull trout will have red spots and no worming on the back or fins. Both have white edges on the fins.
We caught a very nice 15"er but it had both characteristics of a bull trout and a brook trout. I am curious if it was a hybrid. It had red spots with blue halos, but also had no worming on the back or sides. It was also an odd color. Almost like those California golden trout. We didn't snap a photo because we wanted to release it quickly. Considering the are both a char, does anyone know if they can hybrid?
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I have never heard of a bull trout being caught out of Mackay Res. If there were there would be warning signs at every access point. Curt G.
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Mackay Res is certainly in the Bull Trout range but I've never heard of them being in there either.
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Well the reason I believe Bull trout are in there is a Fish and Game officer has checked us in the past to make sure the fish we had were not bull trout. He told us they come into the reservoir from one of the streams that feed it. This was a year or two ago, so I had no idea I would run into a potential bull/brook hybrid.
Also, does anyone know of a for sure way to identify Bull trout vs Brook trout? The blue halo on the brook and the no worming on the back of the bull seems a little vague based on the fish we caught that had both.
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I can't speak to the presence or absence of bulls in Mackay but the two species can definitely hybridize. I attended a talk a few years ago that talked about using markings (or the lack thereof) on the dorsal fin as a quick way to identify hybrids. Pure bulls don't have any markings on their dorsal fins but brook trout and hybrids do.
I hope this helps, and if you're not sure it's good to let it go just to be safe like you did. Hybrid or not, it sounded like a cool fish []
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If it was it wouldn't it have to be a planter bull trout? The lost river doesn't go anywhere for a bull trout to get there. Ron
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I have caught bull trout in copper basin (star hope) and in the river. My wife and I caught 2 brook trout in the little lost this august. I also remember catching brook trout in the river were it enters mackey res when I was in high school climbing mt borah for high adventure. So I would say there could still be some in there.
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