Hatch vs wild sea run cutthroat
For the past several years after I conclude my beach sea-run cutthroat season I send the local MOF biologist an angling summary. His main interest is to know the #'s of hatchery cutts, as opposed to the number of wild cutts, that are beached. What seems to interest him, and of course has picqued my interest, is that for the past several years I am beaching very few hatcheries. This past season, of the 20 or so cutts brough to hand, I can only recall one hatchery--5%. Past years would be a bit higher but not much more than 10-15%. The beach that I fish is fairly close to the estuaries of a couple of streams that receive stockings of hatchery anadromous cutthroat. Thus one would expect that hatchery cutthroat would have a stonger creel presence. I've done my own postulating as to why this is but I'm curious if others have their own postulations or similar experiences. Perhaps the hatch get picked off in the river (there isn't alot of angling pressure off the local beaches so they aren't being harvested in there), perhaps the tidal regs change to wild trout/char release several years ago has led to a boon in the wild population, perhaps...

Well, in response to your findings, here are my observations on the in-river fishery.I live on the Stave River, as most anglers know, the Stave has very decent populations of Cutthroat(wild and hatchery). Today (Oct 3, 2000) I was out fishing for a couple of hours in front of the house(Stave). I hooked into 7 Cutties,on the fly, I landed 5 and lost 2. Four of the fish landed were Wild and only one was Hatchery, this is usually the opposite way around, more hatchery than wild in most cases. Two of the fish were 18 inches(one wild and one hatchery), the rest were around 10-12 inches and they were wild. I have noticed more wild fish in the past 2 years, obviously this is encouraging.I also find that most of the wild fish jump more when hooked, don't ask me why, but, they do. I have also noticed a lot more wild Coho in the Vedder and Stave rivers this year,(so far) but, that's another story. I fish the Stave on almost a daily basis, so,I have a good idea of what is going on in this system.In the spring March- May, I find more hatchery fish in large schools chasing the Chum fry and lots of 'lone' wild fish that 'satellite' the school. They seem to hang on the outside of the school and they are usually larger fish to 20 inches.These are some of my observations... hope it helps. Thanks... Dave.

Dave,what were you hooking them on?I threw everything but the kitchen sink at them last night and the only thing I hooked was the seal-separated head of a huge chum hooked securely in the gill plate.

Ian, during the fall months and into winter I use a Mickey Finn or a small Bucktail Streamer(blue/green overwing). Silver tinsel wrapped hooks and a white under belly. In the spring March- May, I use Epoxy Minnows almost exclusively. They are feeding heavily on Chum Fry at this time, so they work great.I have definite advantage because I can see when the fish are in the area by looking out my living room window. They usually show(rise) when they are in the area, Coho as well. Good Luck... Dave.

My experience on the east coast of VanIsle mirrors that of Daves. Unless you fish near a creek that has a hatchery program, wild fish are the majority of fish caught. When hatchery fished are released in late spring, they travel up and down the beach in large schools and are relatively easy to catch. Wild fish that hang out with them will be larger and more acrobatic. If fishing in areas with no hatchery program, the fish are more wary and harder to catch but generally larger and more satisfying.

Take note to Dave Desjarlais choice of flys on the Stave River. Last spring I fished within 30 feet of him. Both he and I were using epoxy minnows, however, my colours didn't match his. Even though I was hitting the fish on the head, I only had two hits in more than an hours fishing. Dave was consistantly hooking fish every few minutes. Dave, you know your cutthroats. Thanks for last years lesson. Steven.

Heres a question for you: How many of the cutties you catch in rivers are Sea runs and how many are residents. Can you determine that right away? Has a study ever been undertaken to find this out?

From my knowledge from doing a small amount of reading on cutthroat, where coho will spawn in a ditch, the cutthroat will spawn in the ditch of ditches. There must be lots of wild systems, some even in our own backyard, that wild cutthroat may inhabit. Don't forget that the hatchery programs, although geared at providing hatchery cutthroat, like our hatchery steelhead and coho, offset their survival rates,plus there aren't tremendous amounts of production when it comes to hatchery cutts is there? Which systems
produce hatchery cutts locally which will contribute to a sea run cutty fishery? How does the hatchery know whether its producing sea run cutts or resident cutts or both?
From my knowledge, locally the Seymour produces a small amount of cutthroat (release wise maybe a 1000 smolts on a good year). The Chehalis, Inch creek (stave and norrish)? From what I'm told at the Seymour, they have no idea or they aren't too sure what our cutthroat do. We know we must have some resident cutthroat, but we also figure, being a coastal watershed that some of our cutts
must venture out into the chuck too. When we do our snorkel counts, we usually find cutthroat in the upper river so these are probably residents, but we also see the odd fish in the lower river as well. Anyone have any answers?

Anyways, glad to see we have good numbers of wild cutts in the fraser river, surrounding systems and the saltchuck. They sure are becoming a popular fishery, I wonder why. It must be because of those brillient spots and gleaming silver/gold background as well as that beautiful red slash around their jaw that attracts so many ardent and determined anglers such as yourselves. My expierience with cutthroat is small, but I enjoy reading about them and I look forward to targetting them a little more in the future.

Sorry, I erred, around 2000 or so in a good year.
We also have a Cutthroat gene bank program at
the Seymour where we raise a small number of our cutthroat to spawning size and then spawn them artificially.
The broodstock are then released in the river.
We also catch broodstock from the river
and prefer to use them instead
of the "gene bankers", but obviously
its tough pickens to target them specifically
and catch them as a broodstock
angler on the Seymour.
We raise them to smolting size (around 100 grams)
and then release them. I will say that
a lot of the broodstock we do catch (when
they are caught) are wild broodstock
on the Seymour river so the populations are
better than suspected, even on hatchery
rivers.

Scott, the typical explanation for sea run vs. resident is that residents occur above barriers and sea runs, for obvious reasons, stay below and venture to the sea. Residents are usually mature at a very small size although they are likely as old as their sea-run counterparts. Fish below barriers take advantage of the productivity of the ocean which provides more feeding opportunities than that of our typical oligotrophic coastal BC streams. As with all things fishy, these are only guidelines and there are likely many, many exceptions to the rule. A good place to start though. If you can go to sea and eat lots of food, do it, but watch for the abundant predators.

Steven, thank you very much for your compliments. I do put more time on this system than most, as I live on the river.So, I've really honed my flies into shape. If you'd like some in depth info check out www.flyfisherbc.com and I have an article on flyfishing for Cutthroat at this site(it should still be there or archived) "Cutthroat, the Mysterious Nomads". There is also an article on Coho called, 'Fraser Valley Coho on the Fly', check them out if you can.I don't recall fishing beside you but I can't remember every thing!(usually there's nobody fishing beside me, I have lots of privacy out here.) Dave

The cutthroat of the lower Fraser River basin as especially complicated and aren't organized into neat little groups. Some are resident (small stream or lake), some may be anadromous, some are fluvial or potamdrous (large river dwelling i.e. Fraser) and some are lacustrine (large lake dwelling i.e. Pitt)

There are no clear indications that any of the Fraser R. cutthroat are truly anadromous although some wild fish have been captured in test fisheries in the New Westminister portion of the river. Hatchery cutthroat stocked into tributary locations from Maple Ridge to Agassiz, originating from broodstock taken generally above Mission, are virtually absent from the very lower Fraser, possibly suggesting that we are mostly dealing with fish that are migratory but do not leave the confines of the big river for
downstream marine areas.

(I gotta credit my MOF biologist contact for his info on this also)

"Bubba-Loo," So that leads me to believe
that maybe some kind of tagging study should
be undertaken to find out where our cutts
really go, and maybe the sea run cutts
are often caught while beach fishing are more
coastal rivers fish than Fraser fish.
Some of this may be assumptious on my part,
but maybe cutthroat will only move so
far for food and if the ocean is there, its
there, and if its not, then they hang around
somewhere else within the realm of the
river watershed. Any thoughts or hypothesis
on this? When I hear about sea run cutts
and resident cutts and those in between,
I am often baffled by their life cycles.
I have a general idea of when they spawn (uh,
its so genearl that all I can is its probably
between January and June!!!!), but other
then that I dont know all that much about them
where they go and what they do. I guess they
are mysterious fish in their own right (or
at least thats how they are portrayed in my mind)
and its that mystery which leads such passionate
anglers to target them with unrelentless
determination. Some days they're incredibly
stupid, and produce great fishing, and some
days they're incredibly smart (they're only smart
the days I'm on the river!!).

To Dave Desjarlais: I was fishing from shore near the highway bridge -- you were with a friend fishing from your small boat. We were all targeting the crazy-school rises of cutthroats. You casted your line to me and allowed me to examine it. Since then, I've bought a few flys that I hope resemble yours and I'll be trying them out this spring. The best to you, friend.

Scott, this likely doesn't apply to your Fraser valley fish, but sea run's in small streams on the coast do something like this for a life history strategy. It is closely tied to migrating salmon both incoming and outgoing. In the spring, cutties will follow schools of salmon fry to the saltchuck. They will feed on these fry instream and in the chuck for a number of weeks. As they tend to stick close to shore (many exceptions to this too as there are lots of stories about cuts being caught miles offshore), cutties go off the fry and on to other foodstuffs after the smolts have taken a hike. In the fall and early winter searuns will follow migrating salmon back into their natal streams to feed on loose eggs. After the feeding frenzy is over they will settle down to spawn. Again there is lots of variety. Some fish will not return to the stream. Others will spawn when they come back, some not. That's a good basic life history strategy though for the avid beach fisher. Again you will have to discuss with others about populations in the lower Fraser.

EDSN,

Are cutts fall spawners or spring spawners?

Generally late winter/early spring. Say late february into March.

I have seen cutthroat spawning in the
Chehalis hatchery channel in april.
I assume its dependant on the system
and whats happening.

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