Name these trout

[Dryrod]

[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]I have never seen this species of trout before. The upper pic is a male & the lower the female. Care to name this species?[/size][/green][/font]
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[macfly55]

shot in the dark...

Rio Grande cutthroat... as seen on this [font "Viner Hand ITC"][black][size 4][url "http://www.lodgeatchama.com/images/species.jpg"]site[/url] [/size][/black][/font]...

MacFly [cool]
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[Dryrod]

[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]Well you got the cutthoat part correct. Sorry to say the other part is wrong. You have two more trys before you have to go to your room.[/size][/green][/font]
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[macfly55]

...second guess [url "http://tucsi.spatialdynamics.com/Images/ColdwaterFishes/WestslopeCutthroatTrout/Spawning_Westslope.gif"][font "Viner Hand ITC"][size 4]Westslope Cutthroat[/size][/font][/url].....

MacFly [cool]
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[macfly55]

btw...is that go to my room with or without dessert????
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[Scruffy_Fly]

The coloration of the Male and the reduction of spots over the front of the back indicates Greenback Cutthroat trout or a Colorado River Cutthroat Trout. Many green backs retain par marks like the female is showing. Pictures of brightly colored males typically are listed as Greenbacks Cutthroat. But I have seen pictures of male Colorado river cutthtroat trout with the bright coloration that were caught on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The only way to positively distinguish Greenback cutthroat trout from Colorado River Cutthroat trout is by genetics. But what is throwing me off is that the spots are typically a lot larger on the tail of greenbacks.

The Greenback cutthroat trout were brought back from extinction in the 50's. Well, they thought they were extinct until Dr. Binke heard some old old stories of unusual trout high in the mountains off the Arkansas River Drainage. In the early fifties he located two very small populations of them in a couple of High mountain creeks. They were quickly put on the indangered species list. Recovery efforts were accelerated to where the Greenbacks were take off the indangered species list. But remains on the threatened species list. Until this last year the Greenback Cutthroat and the Bald eagles were the only animals ever delisted from the Endangered species list.

The Apache Trout in New Mexico (or is it the Gila Trout - I forget which one is in Arizona and which one is in New Mexico)

A resently completed research indicates that many of the greenback cutthroat populations on the Front range of the Rockies may actually be Colorado River Cutthroat but further investigation is required. At least that is what I have deduced from the few news blurbs I have read.
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[macfly55]

..it was this [font "Viner Hand ITC"][green][size 3][url "http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pfw/r6pfw11.htm"]chart[/url][/size][/green][/font] that led me to say Westslope cutthroats mainly because the in both pictures the male seems to have a lot of spots on his fin whereas the Colorado River and the Greenbacks fins have less spots..

... I am going by pictures only here.. and not experience.. I am just hoping I dont get sent to my room without dessert by DR...[]

MacFly

btw....Colorado would of been my next and last guess.. []
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[Dryrod]

[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]We have a WINNER & his name is MacFly McGoogle. A westslope cutthroat is the correct answer. You won a dinner for ten at the Cafe Pierre in LA. Unfornunately you have to be present in person by 4:10 PM Dec 3rd, 2007.[/size][/green][/font]
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Hey there MacFly thanks for the reference site. BTW I downloaded the westslope trout from a different site and printed them out on glossy 8x10 photo paper. The colors came out great![/size][/green][/font]
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[Scruffy_Fly]

Thanks for the chart. I over looked it previously.

From the variety of pictures I have seen I think it would be very hard to distinguish one from another.

From this picture it could very well be a Rio Grande Cutthtroat

[url "http://wildlife.state.co.us/Research/Aquatic/CutthroatTrout/CutthroatTrout.htm#RioGrande"]http://wildlife.state.co.us/Research/Aquatic/CutthroatTrout/CutthroatTrout.htm#RioGrande[/url]
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[macfly55]

...thank you ...thnak you... just money...no applause...[sly]...Id like to thank DR for coming up with the contest... and Scruffy for making the competition...but mostly to the internet for giving me the correct answer....[sly]

...seriously.. have to agree with Scruffy that the similarities between species is amazing...

MacFly [cool]
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[macfly55]

..I was looking at pics and guessing....[]... as you can see the Rio Grande was my first guess...

...anyway you look at it those are some beautiful fish.... now to get to where they are and catch one...that would be a dream come true...

MacFly [cool]
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Hey there Scruffy_Fly Now if you just went with your statement[/size][/green][/font] "[size 1]But I have seen pictures of male Colorado river cutthtroat trout with the bright coloration that were caught on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains" [/size][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]you would have been the winner instead of MacFly. Oh well easy come easy go.[/size][/green][/font]
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[Scruffy_Fly]

The point I am leading to is that it is very hard to distinguish several of the cutthroats from each other.

Many of them all have similar characteristics. The more pictures i look at of each and try to compare the more I find pictures that blur the discriptions and pictures more and more.



A greenback I caught last year.
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[Dryrod]

[font "Pristina"][green][size 4][cool]I hear you Scruffy_Fly. Not only do I wonder how many different species of trout exists but how many varieties exists within the cutthroat linage. When it comes to ichthyology that certainly isn't my forte.[/size][/green][/font]
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[Scruffy_Fly]

I vaguely remember reading that there are only two species of Cutthroats and all the others are a subspecies of these two. But I can't remember what is what.
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[macfly55]

I agree with you completely on this...the more I looked at pictures the more I got... several are so close in appearance... either way I look at I got to learn more about trout.. and that cant be bad.... []

MacFly [cool]
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Hi there Gmony - sounds like a good read. BTW according to the reviews it is about fly fishing. "[/size][/green][/font] [font "Pristina"][#800000][size 4]Many Rivers to Cross: Of Good Running Water, Native Trout, and the Remains of Wilderness[/size][/#800000][/font] [font "Pristina"][#800000][size 4]by [/size][/#800000][/font][url "http://www.alibris.com/search/books/author/Montgomery%20M"][font "Pristina"][#800000][size 4]Montgomery, M R[/size][/#800000][/font][/url][font "Pristina"][#800000][size 4] [/size][/#800000][/font]
[#800000][font "Pristina"][size 4]About this title: For those who loved A River Runs Through It, here's the story of a fly-fishing trip through the American West--all of the last best places. Montgomery narrates his peregrinations with luminous descriptions of territory, pecular Western characters, uncommon history, and an inviting offbeat humor[/size][/font]. [/#800000]
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[Gmony]

Hey DR, I guess I meant it wasn't much of a 'how to' . It is more of a series of related essays about his fly-fishing related travels. I just started his, "The Way of the Trout" which I also recomend for people who like that sort of writing style.
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[Dryrod]

[cool][font "Pristina"][green][size 4]Yea there are gazillion of how to books, but sometimes in is nice to just enjoy a book on the caliber of A River Runs Thought It.[/size][/green][/font]
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