Trout · Oncorhynchus clarkii
Cutthroat Trout
Also called Cutt, Native.
Short answer
The cutthroat is the native trout of the American West, identified by a red or orange slash under each side of the lower jaw. It exists as many subspecies in separate drainages, several of which are threatened, and it is generally the most willing of all the trout to take a dry fly.
How to identify a cutthroat trout
- The slash
- A red, orange or yellow line under each side of the lower jaw. Sometimes faint, but it is the defining mark.
- Spotting
- Varies by subspecies — sparse and large on Yellowstone fish, dense and fine on Snake River fine-spotted.
- Body colour
- Olive-gold to brassy, often with rose on the gill plate. Less silver than a rainbow.
- Hybrids
- Cutthroat and rainbow interbreed freely. A cutbow shows a faint slash and rainbow spotting.
What a cutthroat trout is
Cutthroat is less one fish than a family of them. Isolated in separate drainages as the West dried and glaciated, they diverged into subspecies that an angler meets as regional fish: Yellowstone cutthroat in the Yellowstone and Snake drainages, westslope west of the Divide, Lahontan in the Great Basin, Bonneville in Utah, Colorado River cutthroat on the Western Slope, Rio Grande cutthroat in New Mexico, greenback in Colorado's Front Range, and the Snake River fine-spotted in Wyoming. They share the throat slash and a reputation for rising freely — cutthroat evolved in nutrient-poor water where hesitating over a mayfly was a bad strategy.
- Native to
- Native to the interior West and the Pacific coast of North America, in fourteen recognised subspecies occupying distinct drainages.
- Typical size
- Ten to sixteen inches in most streams. The South Fork of the Snake and the Yellowstone produce fish over twenty; Lahontan cutthroat at Pyramid Lake pass twenty pounds.
- What they eat
- Insects, and more willingly on the surface than any other trout. Larger fish in big rivers and lakes take baitfish; Lahontan cutthroat at Pyramid Lake live largely on tui chub.
Where cutthroat trout live
Interior and coastal West: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, California and Alaska. Each subspecies occupies its own drainage, and the pages for those states say which one you are likely to meet.
Fly fishing in Wyoming Fly fishing in Idaho Fly fishing in Montana Fly fishing in Colorado Fly fishing in Nevada
Conservation status
Mixed and often fragile. Several subspecies are listed or petitioned, the greenback and Rio Grande cutthroat occupy a fraction of their historic range, and hybridisation with introduced rainbows is the main threat almost everywhere. Some recovery waters are closed or carry special rules.
Protected status and the rules that follow from it are set state by state and change. Before you fish, check the current regulations for the water you are standing in — this page is a starting point, not a legal reference.
How to catch cutthroat trout
Fish a big visible dry fly and do not overthink it. Cutthroat rise to attractors other trout would inspect — a size 10 foam fly on a freestone river in July is a complete answer. They are often slower to take than a rainbow, coming up unhurriedly, which catches people out: wait for the fish to turn down before setting the hook.
- Check under the jaw. The slash is the whole identification.
- They rise slowly. Setting too fast is the commonest way to miss them.
- Which subspecies you are catching depends on the drainage. The state pages say which.
Flies that work for cutthroat trout
Each of these is a card in the deck, and each has a full page in Our Fly-brary.
Keep reading
- How to release a trout — handling, and why it matters more for some species than others
- How to read water — where each of these fish holds
- Hatches and what trout eat — the food these fish are feeding on
- Fly fishing by state — which species you will meet, state by state
Rainbow Trout Brown Trout Brook Trout Steelhead Bull Trout Lake Trout Golden Trout Arctic Grayling Dolly Varden Tiger Trout Mountain Whitefish