Some May Find This Interesting

[Danoinark]

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/article/20110402/NEWS01/104020316/-1/NLETTER01/Trout-heads-discuss-fishery-challenges?source=nletter-news

[jdmidwest]

So I assume the strain of fingerling cutts that they had been using was not fairing well. I know the ones they stock on Spring River usually become Musky food.

[Justin Spencer]

I had never heard of an instream incubator, but what a great idea! Only the strongest would survive and it sounds like you would set it and forget it which would be pretty easy and cheap. It would be nice if hatcheries could go to only raising broodstock and place these incubators around various streams letting nature do the work. Fish numbers might suffer, but the ones that lived would be like the wild blue ribbon fish.

[Outside Bend]

I dunno- to me it seems like a band-aid solution. Stocking a different cutthroat subspecies does nothing to fix the underlying dissolved oxygen issues in the tailwater, and if that situation isn't addressed, low DO will continue to stress fish regardless of whether they spawn in November or May.

[Gavin]

Its pretty clear that they need to do something different on the White & Norfork..The cutts have never done well down there and the fishery pales in comparisson to what it was 15-20 years ago...It would be nice to see a more sustainable management strategy in place instead of the current one that depends on a bunch of put & take welfare trout.

[laker67]

5 to 10 years ago, Kdan and I caught several cutts between 3.5 and 5.5. All were caught on the Norfork. Someone told me that they were snakeriver cutts. They were a jumping machine. Sometimes they would jump 5 times in a row, you could bet on at least 2 jumps. A good fighting fish.

[Outside Bend]

5 to 10 years ago, Kdan and I caught several cutts between 3.5 and 5.5. All were caught on the Norfork. Someone told me that they were snakeriver cutts. They were a jumping machine. Sometimes they would jump 5 times in a row, you could bet on at least 2 jumps. A good fighting fish.

The Bonneville cutts the article is talking about don't get as big as the snake river finespotted- they tend to top out around 17 inches. From a sportfish perspective their only real redeeming quality is that they can survive conditions most other trout can't- warm water temperatures, low DO, high turbidity. And being cutthroat, they're generally fairly easy to catch. They're often stocked out west in marginal trout waters which have been impacted by irrigation returns, which warm and muddy the water.

In my limited experience working with them they're fairly neat critters- more of a blue/green/silver color with a few big, black spots. But they don't get as big as the cutts currently stocked in Arkansas, and I imagine a lot of them will get whacked by browns before they start showing up in angler's catch.

I'll have to remember to tie up some blue/gray over white Clousers, about two inches long, for my next trip down there

[laker67]

The Bonneville cutts the article is talking about don't get as big as the snake river finespotted- they tend to top out around 17 inches. From a sportfish perspective their only real redeeming quality is that they can survive conditions most other trout can't- warm water temperatures, low DO, high turbidity. And being cutthroat, they're generally fairly easy to catch. They're often stocked out west in marginal trout waters which have been impacted by irrigation returns, which warm and muddy the water.

In my limited experience working with them they're fairly neat critters- more of a blue/green/silver color with a few big, black spots. But they don't get as big as the cutts currently stocked in Arkansas, and I imagine a lot of them will get whacked by browns before they start showing up in angler's catch.

I'll have to remember to tie up some blue/gray over white Clousers, about two inches long, for my next trip down there

Thanks for that info OB. I kind of hate to hear it though, those bonnevilles are dang old midgets. People will tire of catching them cast after cast. They will be like the federally trout at branson.

[taxidermist]

Are there still that many muskies in Spring River? They must be huge now!

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Dave Whitlock used what were called Vibert boxes as his instream incubators. They really worked well.. evidence by the spawners that return that same gravel year and year.

The book Ozark Trout Tales by Steven Wright goes into great depth about how the White got browns going.

Brian