Panguitch cuttbow?

[fryman1]

We made the trek down to Panguitch and caught several fish over 18in.
Most of the fish were the healthy fat 14-17 in bows which we kept a few for the smoker. I caught what appeared to be an 18 in cuttbow. See pic. I really thought ar first that it was a bow. It had rainbow coloring but the spots were larger and there were the cutt markings under the gills.
Cutt,rainbow or Cuttbow? I ended up releasing it cause I was not sure and the guidebook wants all fish that size with cutt markings released.
We also released a couple of Cutts over 20 and this nice tiger. See pic

Most of the fish were caught in 4-8 ft. The ice was only about 4in where we were just out from the small ramp east of the marina. There were some pretty crazy pressure ridges out near the middle. I would still use caution as there could be areas of the lake with thinner ice and it is all covered in snow so hard to know safe vs unsafe. Looked like there were a few other folk out on the east end.

We decide to venture back north the long route so we could check for ice at Otter creek. We saw that someone had drilled some test holes and it was only 2 in. Pucker up and get back to dry land quick! The whole lake appeared to be capped. Wanted to check fish lake but we ran into nasty weather and a long drive home.

[brookieguy1]

Looks like nice rainbow to me.
[signature]

[cpierce]

Nice cutthroat. Congrats on a good trip.
[signature]

[kj]

no orange fins.... rainbow. DWR released a description a few years ago. Many fish have the cut marks under the jaw. The only sure identification they said were the orange fins.
[signature]

[fryman1]

Good to know for next time. Thanks
[signature]

[Wormslayer]

Head looks like a cut, especially the larger mouth but the body looks like a rainbow. At Strawberry (maybe a different subspecies at Panguitch?) the fish cop I spoke to in depth about this (so as to avoid a citation) said at Strawberry the dead giveaway for a cut is the orange fins. Anything with orange fins is considered a cut even if the jaw slash is missing. No orange fins on this one, but it did have the jaw slash, tough call. Could be a hybrid. When in doubt, let it go. You made the right choice as hard as it was.
[signature]

[doggonefishin]

Of all the dozens and dozens of pictures of "what is this fish" from Strawberry or other slot lakes I've seen, this one is the closest I've seen to what might truly be a cuttbow.

That said, the pelvic and anal fins are 100% bow as others have mentioned. By that criteria, you could probably have kept the fish and been in an arguable position.

The head shape is more cuttlike, to me the fish has an olive color, and the spotting looks more cutt like, although spotting is unreliable as a determiner in this case. (some bows can be spotted like that) These could indicate that the fish is a hybrid.

I would have also released the fish myself, as having a huge argument with a zealous CO about it's genealogy is not my kind of fun.
[signature]

[BoinLV]

For rainbows, I like to see white tips on the pelvic and anal fins (always have at Panguitch). Your trout has a small whitish tip on the anal, not clearly on the pelvic. Both appear to have thin orange edges on both. Considering the jaw slash, I vote cutbow. Good call on the release!
[signature]

[lumberjack031]

So the ice thickness for Otter Creek was this at the dam, in the middle or north end? Just thinking about heading there soon. Nice catches at Panguitch!
[signature]

[fryman1]

State park ramp just east of the dam
[signature]

[brookieguy1]

PBH?
[signature]

[PIKEMAN99]

PBH will be on the clock at 7:00 am Tuesday []
[signature]

[doggonefishin]

[quote brookieguy1]PBH?[/quote]

Awww, he'll come along soon enough. [] In the meantime, why do you come to your determination?

I think an argument can definitely be made for bow, but this one is one of the few tougher ones I've seen over the years.
[signature]

[brookieguy1]

Because I dislike cutts and hope it's a 'bow. Cuttbows are at least a bit better than cutts. I wish Strawberry was chuck full of cuttbows like Henry's Lake in Idaho. So much better fish than Bonnie's. They all beat those trashy tiger trout though!
[signature]

[El_Matador]

Its a cutt. Looks just like the many dozens of cutts I used to catch out of Scofield. I'm no expert on the different strains of cutthroat we have in this state but I do know that not all cutts have the bright orange fins. Here's a cutthroat out of Gooseberry from a few years back:

[signature]