MarkFromSea
2/3/2011 1:37:00 AMCongrats on catching the fish! No bellies, long and slender looking... How'd they look to you? Fish fry!
MotoBoat
2/3/2011 11:14:00 AMAre the lake Stevens cut's usually long and slender or are they spawned out? The longest fish look like something was in the belly cavity, judging from how that area is shrunken in. Anyone with intimate cutthroat knowledge want to add there thoughts?
Lord Of The Fly
2/3/2011 12:35:00 PMTwo months in to winter and food is hard to come by. My guess would be the fat stores are being burned up.
MarkFromSea
2/5/2011 2:36:00 AMIf those fish are as skinny as they look the lack of feed usually points at competition more so than just cold weather. I suspect a lot of spinys in the lake, perch, sunfish, something. I was just ice fishing, sometimes when I pull the auger out of the hole, feed flops onto the ice, little bugs, they stand out on the ice or snow, sometimes flipping their tails like a tiny shrimp. I doubt if the cold reduces the feed to the point of unhealthy looking fish. I've caught fish like that out of lakes just before the state came in and rehabbed a lake. Spread the word at Stevens, keep every spiny you catch no matter how small if legal to do so.
buzzbait
2/5/2011 2:32:00 PMThere are Millions of perch in that lake.There isnt enough food in that lake for all the fish.Last summer I saw Millions of baby perch in the shallows.
Smalma
2/8/2011 8:09:00 AMThe two larger fish are spawned out females.
The coastal cutthroat in this area spawn between late December and May (peak activity is usually in mid-March). As rule the cutthroat from Stevens most of the year are in decent shape for the species. Excpet for weight lost associated with spawning it is rare to see much lost in condition of the cutthroat (or other trout) during the winter. The water temperatures are cold enough that it takes very little food to keep the fish going.
Curt
The coastal cutthroat in this area spawn between late December and May (peak activity is usually in mid-March). As rule the cutthroat from Stevens most of the year are in decent shape for the species. Excpet for weight lost associated with spawning it is rare to see much lost in condition of the cutthroat (or other trout) during the winter. The water temperatures are cold enough that it takes very little food to keep the fish going.
Curt
Fishalot
2/8/2011 10:12:00 PMThey are not as skinny in the summer .most of the fish have just came out of the creeks.there is plenty of food in stevens a cutthroat is a major preditor they will eat perch bullhead whatever they can get in mouth.most of the fish now have bullhead in stomach and some type of larva.i have found that the cutts in stevens are alot closer to bottom than lake washington or samammish.probly due to lack of baitfish lonfin smelt,stickle back,salmon smolt.im not sure that lake steven has either of those maybe stickleback?ive yet to find one in a belly.... mostly bullhead or crawfish even in the smallmouth i catch out there....