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[jon5hill]

Near the end of the winter of last year I was fishing at one of the local stocked lakes, Sasamat. It's got a small wild population of cutthroat trout that are caught from time to time. I watched a man pull in a large female cutthroat trout, belly about to burst with eggs, and well into its spawning colors. It is relatively rare to see cutthroat trout at Sasamat lake, so I watched the fisherman bring it in. I asked him if he knew that it was a cutthroat, but unfortunately he didn't speak any english so we weren't able to make conversation. In any case, the lake was particularly productive that day and I managed to land 6 or so fish. I don't usually keep them but I have no problem with taking the odd one home or giving them away to people. The man killed the cutthroat trout, and then caught 3 more rainbows and left.

I find that it's worth thinking about and at least discussing. If we are interested in wild fish, shouldn't we preferentially target hatchery releases for our retention?

What do you think? I'm curious if others feel the same way as I do. If I had it my way, the retention of wild cutthroat trout from any lake that are stocked with hatchery fish would not be permitted. Do you agree/disagree? I'm interested in others thoughts.

Jon

[troutbum]

we are at the breaking point, most wild stocks are already gone. unfortunately they are not protected, native cutts&dollies can be retained in too many waterways (harrsion lake, pitt lake, chilliwack lake ......).  catch and realease angling with artificial lures has caught on in certain regions (southern usa, eastern canada) but not in the fraser valley.

[Rodney]

For lakes across the Lower Mainland (or across most of BC actually), there are no distinctions between wild and hatchery stocked trout or char, so only the blanket daily quota of four trout (wild or hatchery) applies. Most fish released from the hatchery into lakes are not marked, so to an average angler whose only concern is to purchase a licence and keep fish within his or her limit, it makes no difference. There are exceptions to the regulations of course. At lakes where anadromous trout and char may return from streams, catch and release of wild trout and char applies. For example, pitt Lake, Morris Lake. For Chilliwack Lake, most anglers/guides who target char (bull trout) only choose to keep smaller fish and release larger fish as they are the drive of recruitment. Again, this is voluntary and would only happen if the angler is informed of the biological background of the species that he or she is targeting. If there is a particular lake where wild trout or char population becomes a concern due to blanket freshwater fishing regulations, then send an email to MoE. The local biologists should take a look at it to make changes if they determine that there is a need to.

[Matt]

Cutties and rainbow look close enough alike that I wonder if even regulating retention of cutties would have any effect considering a lot of the people fishing those semi-urban stocked lakes are not as experienced in fish ID'ing.  I think the powers that be are pretty concerned about frightening people of with complex regs as well, sometimes to the detriment of the fishery.  Its probably way too much work to clip every single adipose on every single hatchery fish when its only going to live in the lake maybe 3 months tops.

[wizard]

I completely agree with jon5hill.   Personally, I always let cutthroat go. I don't think it's worth keeping them.  They're not stocked in this particular lake making their population vulnerable.  I think cutties are slower growing then rainbows as well..?
Also, imo urban lakes should have a daily limit of 2 fish.  the fish will go lot further cause their's alot of people who go day after day to get their limit...

[anorden]

It would be next to impossible to police but surely a monthly or season limit would be the most reasonable option?? Reducing a limit to two fish simply punishes the people who dont have the opportunity to fish very often. I only get out about once a month due to family commitments and when I do I rarely catch four anyways - hence my freezer is almost always empty  So is it fair that I face the same rules as those who fish two or three times a week and as they know the water well are more likely to catch their limit in the first place?

[dennyman]

Have to agree with the original poster as the fish should have been let go. If there is a little creek or river where that fish could have spawned look at all the fish that were lost by killing it.

[bklem]

It would be next to impossible to police but surely a monthly or season limit would be the most reasonable option?? Reducing a limit to two fish simply punishes the people who dont have the opportunity to fish very often. I only get out about once a month due to family commitments and when I do I rarely catch four anyways - hence my freezer is almost always empty  So is it fair that I face the same rules as those who fish two or three times a week and as they know the water well are more likely to catch their limit in the first place?

Think of it this way, the less fish pulled out means you have a better chance of catching something when you do get the time to go out.  Plus, trout is cheap at the supermarket if you're starving.

[Dennis.t]

Should not have been kept as it would have been very poor table fare.Which is the only reason to keep a trout, to eat. How do those small stocked rainbows taste?

[anorden]

Better than the ones in Safeway!

[Nutterbug]

Should not have been kept as it would have been very poor table fare.Which is the only reason to keep a trout, to eat. How do those small stocked rainbows taste?

Do cutties taste all that fundamentally different from rainbows anyways?

I imagine they don't, since they're so close that they're capable of interbreeding.

[Todd Oishi]

I personally release 99.5% of my trout, but I do keep the occasional one for a shore-lunch when camping (adds to the experience) or if my kids wish to bring one home for a meal and to show Mom. With that being said; I grew up with the understanding that trout were to be eaten, but I gradually made the transition to catch & release and taking photos to capture the moment and the beauty of my catch.

Although I exercise my personal choice to release my fish, I personally have very little issue with other anglers that choose to retain their catch (as long as it is within the legal limits of course) from lakes that are a part of a regular stocking program and lack the necessary spawning grounds for the trout to naturally reproduce...

[jon5hill]

Although I exercise my personal choice to release my fish, I personally have very little issue with other anglers that choose to retain their catch (as long as it is within the legal limits of course) from lakes that are a part of a regular stocking program and lack the necessary spawning grounds for the trout to naturally reproduce...

Often times lakes have a naturally reproducing population of cutthroat trout AND are supplemented by hatchery plantings of 1000-6000 fish per year. In these cases, I find it irresponsible to keep a wild cutthroat trout when there are about 2 or 3 orders of magnitude more hatchery fish in the lake whose sole purpose is for the catch and take fishery. Hatchery fish are triploid (3N) which means they have a full extra set of chromosomes - rendering them incapable of producing viable gametes necessary for reproduction. Wild cutthroat trout are diploid (2N) and are entirely capable of reproducing and populating a lake in the absence of fishing pressure. These wild fish are usually much better suited to the lakes as they have been under perhaps thousands of years of selection for the conditions unique to the precise lake their populations have been inhabiting. If you removed stocking programs from many of these lakes (Sasamat is my example here), and also prohibited all fishing in it, it would not take long for the lake to rebound to a stable population of wild cutthroat trout.

We're introducing these mutant hatchery rainbows for us to eat/play with and in the process marginalizing the wild cutthroat populations to the point where they are quite rare to catch. My point is, isn't that enough for them? Shouldn't we release them in the event we are fortunate enough to catch one? Reducing their numbers beyond what we are already doing to sustain our welfare system of a fishery is pushing them to the brink of an extinction vortex. The total genetic variation becomes reduced, pushing genetic drift and inbreeding to make them a monoculture. Eventually these populations will vanish forever, why not do what we can to conserve what remains of them?

J

[fishnjim]

maybe it would be possible to enhance some of the cutties in the lower mainland and even in some interior lakes.  a guy gets tired of rainbows all the time.

[jon5hill]

maybe it would be possible to enhance some of the cutties in the lower mainland and even in some interior lakes.  a guy gets tired of rainbows all the time.

That's precisely what we shouldn't do - weaken the stock, and further marginalize true wild fish.