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Unusual salmonids?

1K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  Smalma 
#1 · (Edited)
I'd be interested in hearing about unusual trout or salmon or? species caught, and the stories associated . . . . .
I've got nothing to start with, other than goldens caught in the Sierra, most notably in Humphreys Basin and French Canyon.
 
#3 ·
By far the most usual steelhead I have encounter was one that was foolish enough to take my fly! -LOL

In all seriousness two of the most unusual wild salmonids I have encounter in more than 65 years of prowling the streams of north Puget Sound was a small wild albino cutthroat caught in a small tributary to the South Fork Snoqualmie and a blue color variant wild resident rainbow caught on a remote Suiattle basin creek.

Curt
 
#4 ·
By far the most usual steelhead I have encounter was one that was foolish enough to take my fly! -LOL

In all seriousness two of the most unusual wild salmonids I have encounter in more than 65 years of prowling the streams of north Puget Sound was a small wild albino cutthroat caught in a small tributary to the South Fork Snoqualmie and a blue color variant wild resident rainbow caught on a remote Suiattle basin creek.

Curt
Would love to see pics of those!
 
#5 ·
My most unusual trout was a 16" brook trout out of Bailey Lake. It had a hole all the way through its back above the spine that had totally healed in leaving a doughnut hole you could put a pencil through......it would have been handy if I was keeping fish on a stringer.....my guess is a heron got him earlier
 
#7 ·
There is blueish residents in my headwaters as well, they are the most beautiful rainbows there are. There not all like that maybe 10% but makes them more lovely. Purple steelhead, 1 winter and 1 summer both chrome as chrome can be but had a purple haze to them, gorgeous!!!!
 
#9 ·
gldntrt -
The cutthroat came from a step across creek that I caught as a young teenager - it help fuel my life long interest in our local salmonids and their diversity. The most striking feature was its pink eyes; it had an off white (ivory?) back and I recall only a handful of spots . The other thing about that fish I found interesting was it made its living in a pool with the lightest bottom in the whole stream - the only place where it would not have stuck out like a "sore thumb" which may explain how it survived to reach the 6 inch size it did.

As bk said the blue rainbow was as beautiful trout one would hope to find. It had a solid neon-like blue back (no spots) that might be called cobalt blue. The blue coloration was confined to above the lateral line with the lower part of the fish a more typical coloration. I found it and saw another the same day on a Suiattle trib some 5 or 6 miles from the river (well out in the wilderness). I was doing bull trout work and after s catching the first one I didn't attempt to capture the second - was traveling light with a lot of ground to cover to get in and out during daylight hours.

Curt
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the additional information, Curt. Very interesting! I bet that albino fish was an amazing sight.
I am a big fan of examples of albinism and melanism in the natural world. Hybrids/hybrid vigor gets me going too!
When photos of an albino Orca or Humpback Whale hits the net, I am fascinated.

The idea a prey critter making it to reasonable size and age, the more impressive !

I have seen a couple of the blonde or butterscotch raccoons in the wild.
gldntrt -
The cutthroat came from a step across creek that I caught as a young teenager ..
Curt
 

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#10 · (Edited)
We used to catch Rainbows in a high mountain lake back home that grew quite large & had a golden hue to them much like a Westslope Cuttie. We always assumed that the tannin in the water was responsible for the coloration. And boy were they ever selective feeders. We also caught small Cutties that were almost black in a small high-up stream in the Big Hole country - that section of stream ran through dense tree cover & didn't ever see direct sun light.

Not salmonids, but it's not uncommon around here to catch bass that have been speared by Herons & Egrets and escaped. Shallow water in the spring is not always a friendly neighborhood.
 
#12 ·
I caught this trout with the round discoloration in a lake up in the Snoqualmie tree farm. I'd never seen anything like it; it looked like someone had put a round sticker on its belly. I finally found a state biologist who had seen this before and explained it was a genetic anomaly. In looking for answers to what this was, I found references to the "chameleon" abilities of trout to take on the color of their surroundings:
www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/fishing/2010/11/gene-discovered-some-trout-and-salmon-gives-them-chameleon-capabilities

and research on blue trout as a result of genetic anomalies:
www.jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/1/89.full
Watch Hand Water Fisherman Fishing net

Interesting stuff.
 
#15 ·
Yes! really crazy spot! The coastal cutthroat get some of those odd yellow "splotches" on otherwise normal white bellies. Really is a weird thing to see. That one is extra odd with the oversize spots too.

Neat stuff

I caught this trout with the round discoloration in a lake up in the Snoqualmie tree farm. I'd never seen anything like it; it looked like someone had put a round sticker on its belly. I finally found a state biologist who had seen this before and explained it was a genetic anomaly. In looking for answers to what this was, I found references to the "chameleon" abilities of trout to take on the color of their surroundings:
www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/fishing/2010/11/gene-discovered-some-trout-and-salmon-gives-them-chameleon-capabilities

and research on blue trout as a result of genetic anomalies:
www.jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/1/89.full
View attachment 101359
Interesting stuff.
 
#19 ·
Geared -
Thanks for sharing the photo of the yellow spot cutthroat. I have never seen one whose yellow spot had the scattered dark freckles within the "spot" before; interesting.

Every year a catch a small handful of sea-run cutthroat with similar bright yellow spots. Like your fish the spots are generally found along the belly and typically range in size from a pencil eraser to about the size of the one shown in your photo. While it is typical such spotted fish to have a single spot have seen as many as 3 or 4 on an individual fish. Always look forward to seeing such fish and a couple years ago caught a special sea-run that was both a "3 spotter" and in excess of 20 inches; thought I had won the lottery!

BTW -
Over the last couple decades have caught a small handful of bull trout with such spots and 3 Chinook that also had such spotting.

Curt
 
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