Northwest Fishing Reports

Caught this in Lake WA a few days ago and released it. Looked like a sockeye to me but after looking at the picture on my phone I noticed the spots on both lobes of the tail. Closest I have been able connect it to is a pink salmon but it's missing the black spots on the back. Thanks! -G

That's a nice cutthroat trout. The lack of body spotting is probably throwing you off, but it's not a salmon. Pinks have irregular shaped spots on the tail and their mouth will have a bit of grey/black color in it.

Thanks G-Man, the other thing that threw me off was the size. This thing was huge and heavy, bigger then any sockeye I have ever hooked in Lake WA. Figuring it was a nice big sockeye after it came to the surface, I just wanted to get the hook out of it and return it safely back into the lake. Only after checking the picture I took of it on my camera did I see the spots on the tail. I never realized cutts in lake WA got this big, wow! Thanks again for the help. Gary

by now the cutts have put the weight back on after the spawn and those 20" 2.5 lb fish are now in the 4 - 5 lb range. Was out today and picked up several fish that looked like footballs, there is a lot of food in the lake this year.