I have long thought that many of the exceptional large sea-run cutthroat I have seen in PS rivers were rainbow (steelhead)/cutthroat hybrids.

That said the very large cutthroat that dwell in lakes and larger beaver ponds look to be pure cutthroat.

On several occasions following very large floods I have seen exceptionally large cutthroat caught during winter steelhead seasons. I every case there has been an upstream reservoir in the system and I suspect that those fish were flushed from those reservoir. The fish consistently looked more like lake fish (heavy body) than the sleeker sea-runs.

Curt

Redband (generally Inland) rainbows also have those under the jaw colors. More yellow/orange than red but they are there. So, if somebody thinks that any color down there would make a cuttie might miss one once in while.

Used to catch a lot of fish like that in the Sammamish slough. Don't know if they were a hybrid of some sort but they were beautiful fish. It's not uncommon to catch 5+ lb fish in Lk Washington every winter and I always thought they spawned in the slough in the spring since the males looked just like that fish.

Funny you should mention the Lake WA system. That was one of the places where genetic rainbows look like cutts or vice-versa. I forget, but it did cause a stir in WDFW when they found that.

There are both lacustrine rainbow and cutthroat in the system, though. Safer to stay in the lake than to go to sea.

Awesome fish and pics guys, there are very cool little creatures for sure.

But to get back into the system they need to navigate the locks with pinnipeds and then the warm temps in the Ship Canal. Environmental and ecological conditions may keep them in the lake.