Tesla
3/31/2013 9:19:00 AMThere's a ton of information out there. UW fisheries is by far the best resource available. Google: Bibliography of the Lake Washington Drainage. Greenberg and Sibley pulled together nearly 700 references on the subject. What your probably interested in is the introgression between the native cut throats and introduced rainbows. The program went from the 1940s into the 1970s resulting in a hybrid species of trout in this lake. You'll get pheontypical expression that ranges between a cutty and a bow in this lake. Congrads on your recent success and Tight Lines.
G-Man
4/1/2013 11:31:00 AMI figured that the lake would be yielding some fish over this past week. All of the cutts in the system are considered sea-run though not all of them leave the lake(s) on a regular basis, much like the steelhead/rainbow relationship. In general, the resident lake cutts are darker in color and tend to get bigger in size. The sea-run fish enter the lake in the late fall and are typically gone before summer rolls around. Both cutts pictured are post spawn as will be the case with most any cutt caught from now on. One thing to keep in mind when fishing in Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish is that there are a fair number of juvenile coho and chinook in the lake as well. This year I have run into a large number of coho in the 14"+ range around the I-90 bridge area and I suspect that others have as well. It is rare that kokanee/juvenile sockeye take a herring but young coho and chinook will in a heartbeat so be sure to double check any fish before deciding to keep it.