Help with ID of WY fish

[Bob-WY]

I know this is off the wall, and not much, but.....

Last night fishing in a local reservoir stocked with trout and managed for trophy, have to be 20+ inches to keep.

Caught what I thought was a rainbow, about 15 inches, was a pretty long fight so wanted to get it back in the water fast. Then wife and I were talking. It was colored like a rainbow, but the mouth was HUGE (it actually almost swallowed my spoon), and for the length was very thin.

Never really seen a cuthroat, any idea if this was one? Could easily have been a long skinny rainbow with a big mouth, but has us wondering. We didn't take pictures (stupidly)

 

[madtom]

I know this is off the wall, and not much, but.....

Last night fishing in a local reservoir stocked with trout and managed for trophy, have to be 20+ inches to keep.

Caught what I thought was a rainbow, about 15 inches, was a pretty long fight so wanted to get it back in the water fast. Then wife and I were talking. It was colored like a rainbow, but the mouth was HUGE (it actually almost swallowed my spoon), and for the length was very thin.

Never really seen a cuthroat, any idea if this was one? Could easily have been a long skinny rainbow with a big mouth, but has us wondering. We didn't take pictures (stupidly)

Impossible to say without a photo, but if it was colored like a rainbow it was most likely a rainbow. Could have been a cull from a hatchery brood. They’re old fish that sometimes have different looking head and body shapes from younger fish.

 

[ccc23454]

lol..without a pic or atleast the body of water pretty hard to identify but cuts often look like rainbows but will have the "cut" orange or red lower jaw slash mark. some places this time of year cuts and bows are coming off spring spawn and can be slightly thinner but not sure if enough to make a head look that big.

 

[406LIFE]

Males during the spawn can grow a kype. That's when the lower jaw extends out. If the fish was a CT, it wouldn't affect mouth size, as RT and CT hybridize regularly.

 

[Bob-WY]

Thanks, I knew it was a close to impossible questions without a picture.

Reservoir is no hidden secret, well known: Muddy Guard 1

 

[wytex]

Bob, look here and see if that lake was stocked : https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/con...king Reports/Fish-Stocking-as-of-06-30-20.pdf

Sounds like a stocker .

 

[Bob-WY]

wytex, yup, I watch that list, they have not stocked since April and that was Eagle Lake Rainbows. We've caught a bunch of fish in there, mostly rainbows, some browns, this one confused us a bit.

 

[wytex]

Any lake trout in there ?
Maybe you just need to keep a few more fish when you can. Big head, little body= underfed ?

Now you know though, pics next time !
Go on you for getting it back in water quickly this time of the year though.

 

[Bob-WY]

best i know no lake trout. Can't keep any under 20 inches in there. We've caught a bunch 16-18, only one keeper so far. 22 inch rainbow. We keep trying! It was long, just skinny

 

[Northwoods Labs]

Betting it was a stocker rainbow, they can come in all shapes and sizes

 

[bullbugle307]

I've seen this a lot with declining or starving fish when I used to do fisheries work and when I worked at a hatchery. Their head and mouth won't shrink, but their bodies will, sometimes dramatically, and you end up with what we called a snaky looking fish.

Could just be lack of food intake too. Probably not from lack of food in the lake though.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Snakehead

 

[ClearCreek]

With the exception of brook trout that may get into Muddy Guard #1 from Muddy Creek when water in diverted into the reservoir, all the trout in Muddy Guard #1 are stocked.

Typically the reservoir is stocked with advanced fingerling fish, those being 4-6 inches long. However, some varieties, due to the length of time in the hatchery and the timing when stocked, may be a little bigger when they are released into the reservoir.

Fish species that occur in Muddy Guard #1 are rainbow trout (a few different strains), brown trout, tiger trout, cutthroat trout and brook trout.

A few people have indicated the fish could be a "stocker". Are you referring to the "catchable size" fish (typically rainbows) that are stocked in many waters around the state?

ClearCreek

 

[Bob-WY]

Thanks Clear Creek! that night we caught the one in question (most likely rainbow) about 17 inches, a brown of about 15 and a rainbow about 10. Haven't seen tiger trout (there or ever!) but would love to, they look cool! All the brookies we've caught have been in Clear Creek and up in the mountain lakes.

Any idea how fast a fish grows? How old is a 20+ inch trout? they also stocked Walleye locally, but at 1.5 inches. HOpefully they take and reduce the yellow perch and get catchable, that would be fun!

 

[ClearCreek]

Thanks Clear Creek! that night we caught the one in question (most likely rainbow) about 17 inches, a brown of about 15 and a rainbow about 10. Haven't seen tiger trout (there or ever!) but would love to, they look cool! All the brookies we've caught have been in Clear Creek and up in the mountain lakes.

Any idea how fast a fish grows? How old is a 20+ inch trout? they also stocked Walleye locally, but at 1.5 inches. HOpefully they take and reduce the yellow perch and get catchable, that would be fun!

Bob-WY:

Muddy Guard #1 has the capability to grow big fish and at a fairly fast rate; that is why it is managed with special regulations.

Fish that are stocked at 5 inches can grow to 20 inches in 4-5 years, it depends on the gender of the fish, usually females will grow faster and get a little bigger than males.

I was aware that walleye were stocked in Healy Reservoir. In fact, I knew the Sheridan Fish Management Crew was going to be stocking them on June 23 so I went out and they let me release some of the walleye into Healy. Those walleye were only 1.5 inches this year, but next year G&F may be able to get bigger walleye (3-4 inches) for stocking in Healy. The bigger walleye would, most likely, have quite a bit higher survival rate.

It is hoped, by anglers and the Fish Management Crew, that the walleye will "restructure" the perch population so there will be larger perch to catch in Healy.


tight lines,

ClearCreek

 

[Bob-WY]

We've prety much stopped fishing Healy since we get nothing but 4 inch perch and it's annoying, we want the bass or muskie

 

[ClearCreek]

We've prety much stopped fishing Healy since we get nothing but 4 inch perch and it's annoying, we want the bass or muskie

Bob-WY

I agree the small perch can be annoying, but there are times during the winter, especially when there are few people ice fishing, that i enjoy catching and releasing the perch. Now, if the average size would increase by 4-5 inches, that would be really fun ice fishing.

There are some very nice largemouth bass and tiger muskie in Healy and some anglers have it figured out and catch them fairly consistently.

There are bass over 5 lbs and tiger muskie measuring in excess of 40 inches.

ClearCreek

 

[Bob-WY]

I got one of those big large mouths in May. Let it go since it looked full of eggs.

Would love to hook a big muskie

 

[ClearCreek]

I got one of those big large mouths in May. Let it go since it looked full of eggs.

Would love to hook a big muskie

My goal is to catch (and release) a legal size (greater than 36 inches) tiger muskie, one of these days...............

ClearCreek