Lake WA cutthroats/Donaldson trout

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

I've seen a few pix of the Lake WA cutts and my first thought was I was looking at rainbows.

Years ago the UW was planting Donaldson trout in the lake. They are a triple cross between 1) a steelhead, 2) a rainbow trout, and 3) a cutthroat. It would seem to me that Donaldsons would have characteristics of both rainbows and cuthroats....sorta like a a cuttbow.

Does anybody know if the UW (or anybody else) is still planting Donaldson's?

It would be educational if Smalma would chime in on this.

[A9]

I remember reading several years ago when browsing through the trout plants that Lake Washington got stocked with rainbow trout...Whether they were fry or actual planter sized, I do not remember...

I'll try and dig around and see what I can find...

EDIT: I tried looking for any reports of stocking Lake WA in the archived WDFW trout plants and found nothing....

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

I don't think Donaldson trout have been stocked in WA since the 1980s or early 1990s, and maybe even stopped before then.

Lake WA does get a small stocking every June for free fishing weekend... The WDFW or a private organization sets up a net pen in Gene Coulon park for a Cast for Kids event. They remove the net and the fish (rainbows) are released into the lake after the event is over.

That's the only organized trout stocking I know of in Lk WA, since I have been fishing in 1991. I may have seen reports of WDFW releasing trout fry in Lk WA occasionally since then, but I don't remember the exact year.

In the winter of 1996-1997, I caught an insane amount of rainbow trout off the docks in Lk WA. They were all nice fish (12-15) inches, and this uniform size of the fish almost seems to suggest that they may have come from an earlier planting. But, I remember checking the WDFW records back then and did not see any planting reports, except for some fry releases earlier in the year.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

The only stocking info that shows up on the WDFW page is WDFW stockings. That's why I was wondering if the UW is still fiddling with Donaldsons.

I find it strange that the biggest lake cutthroats are found only in Lake WA. Lake WA cutts should be sea-run progeny and the biggest searun registered was in the 6 lb class. So, my question is what the heck was the reason for the 15 lber caught a couple of years ago.

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

The only stocking info that shows up on the WDFW page is WDFW stockings. That's why I was wondering if the UW is still fiddling with Donaldsons.

I find it strange that the biggest lake cutthroats are found only in Lake WA. Lake WA cutts should be sea-run progeny and the biggest searun registered was in the 6 lb class. So, my question is what the heck was the reason for the 15 lber caught a couple of years ago.

I don't think all the cutts in Lk WA are searun. Some are resident cutts. As far as size goes, there's a huge food source in Lk WA from salmon smolts and other small fish. One reason the WDFW opened up the Cedar for fishing was that there were trophy size trout in there that were feasting on smolts. Kinda strange logic though... WDFW opens the river to make the big trout available to fishermen (and to help the smolts), but they impose CNR rules.

[A9]

Lots of those fish are sea-runs from what I hear...

The WDFW opened the Cedar for CNR sport fishing rules....No retention whatsoever..

The largest sea-run cutt (state record) is right around 6 lbs...

I'd be willing to bet the 15lber was a cutthroat native to Lake WA and has been feasting up on smolt/perch/stickleback and whatever other fish is in there for them to eat...

[gpc]

Yeah the only rainbows I know of that get planted is for the kids fishing that Shad was talking about. But if I remeber correctly they only plant around 300 fish. 2 years ago I went down to coulon the week after the realese and we caught a few of the left over trout fishing for perch.


Do you think a resident on Lake WA plants some bows, and thats why there isnt any record of it at the WDFW?

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

Lots of those fish are sea-runs from what I hear...

The WDFW opened the Cedar for CNR sport fishing rules....No retention whatsoever..

The largest sea-run cutt (state record) is right around 6 lbs...

I'd be willing to bet the 15lber was a cutthroat native to Lake WA and has been feasting up on smolt/perch/stickleback and whatever other fish is in there for them to eat...

I've caught sea-runs up in the Sammamish Slough when fishing for steelhead (for the trout police this was years ago when the Slough was open for steelheading, and yes I was using bait) and they were normal sized, and probably migratory. So why would there be two types of cutthroats in Lake WA.

My assumption is that there are migratory cutts, true sea-runs, and another subspecies that does not migrate, which are the larger sized cutts.

I see a big difference between a 15-19 inch sea-run and a jumbo 8 to 15 pounder.

[A9]

Do you think a resident on Lake WA plants some bows, and thats why there isnt any record of it at the WDFW?

I couldn't find any information but I could have sworn that the UW or the WDFW at one point several years ago planted a few thousand fish...I wanna say I remember them being fry, but then again, who knows...

[kuttkilla]

Lk. WA is planted with BOWS every now and then as fry and they grow quite large as a result. The lake benefits from sea-runs and lake cutts (these don't migrate out to sea). Inner breeding is common between bows and cutts and results in cuttbows. As far as growth is concerning, one just need to look at the abundance of long-fin-smelt, sticklebacks, salmon-smolts, and perch to pin point why these fish grow to gigantic sizes. Every time I fillet a cutthroat, even if it's 14" the stomach always contains some sort of large 3 or 5" baitfish. They eat all the time, and that is an understatement in and of itself.