Tiger Trout

Tiger Trout, a cross between a brown trout and brook trout, has a unique, dark maze-like pattern all over a brownish, gray body. The belly is yellowish orange as are the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins. The tail fin is square.

Splake

A splake trout is the hybrid cross between lake trout and brook trout. It has a dark background with white spots. The tail fin is not as deeply forked as lake trout. The pectoral fins are easily distinguished from rainbow trout as splake have a dark background with white spots and rainbows have a lighter, silvery background with dark spots.

Brook Trout

Exhibiting a wide range of colors, brook trout (another char) may be olive to blue-gray on the back to white on the belly. Red spots, usually with bluish halos around them, are present on the sides. Characteristic light wavy marks on the back are a distinguishing feature. Obvious white and then black stripe along the fore edge of each of the lower fins aids in separating brook trout from most other trouts. Caudal fin is square or lightly forked.

Brown Trout

It is a very hardy trout that competes well with other fishes and endures marginal water qualities better than most trouts. It generally has golden brown hues with yellow under parts. The males during spawning are often brilliantly splashed with crimson spots circled with blue halos. Its upper body is usually profusely dappled with large, irregular, dark-chocolate spots. It is quite carnivorous and sports a stronger, sharper set of teeth than most trouts. Brown trout often grow to considerable size.

Lake Trout

This species of char has a background color of gray-brown, overlaid with light spots that vary in intensity with age and environment. The background color covers the back, sides, and fins and serves to highlight the lighter gray spots. Lake trout in large lakes are sometimes so silvery that the spots are difficult to see. Spotting is usually more intense on small fish. The caudal is deeply forked. The mouth is large and terminal with strong teeth on both jaws. They are present in Fish Lake, Bear Lake, and Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Cutthroat Trout

Three sub-species evolved from the only trout native to Utah. Cutthroats are best distinguished by their crimson slash along the lower jaw. They lack the iridescent pink stripe of the rainbow trout.

The Bonneville cutthroat trout inhabited the Bonneville Basin and has sparsely scattered, very distinctly round spots over the upper body. They are clothed in subdued colors of silver-gray to charcoal upper body with subtle hues of pink on flanks during spawning. They, particularly the Bear Lake strain, often lack the bright crimson jaw slash that, at times, may be yellow.

The Colorado River cutthroat trout evolved in the Colorado/Green River drainages and is noted for its brilliant coloration. The males, in spawning condition, have bright crimson stripes along the sides and the stomach. Spotting is usually concentrated posteriorly.

Yellowstone cutthroat (not pictured) are native to Snake River drainages such as the Raft River Mountain area of northwest Utah and had been the predominant subspecies used in management programs throughout the state. It is lightly spotted with distinctly round spots concentrated toward the tail area.

Today, the two other native strains are becoming more extensively used in the sport-fisheries programs and are being re-introduced to many of their former habitats.

Rainbow Trout

Colors vary greatly with patterns depending on habitat, size, and maturity. Stream residents and migrant spawners are darker and have more intense colors than lake residents or nonspawners. Lake residents tend to be silvery. A mature rainbow is dark green to bluish on the back with silvery sides. The reddish horizontal band typifies the species. The belly may be white to silvery. Irregular black spots are usually present on the head, back and sides. Rainbow trout are heavily stocked in almost every coldwater drainage in Utah.

Utah has some of the most diverse fisheries of the entire United States. From the high alpine lakes and streams to the arid terrain of southern Utah and they all hold good numbers of fish. The Utah Trout Slam is a great way to experience all of what the great state of Utah has to offer in those fisheries and learn or polish skills on catching all seven species. This is a great concept and will help increase the awareness of our great recourses.

Michael Deming
President/Sportsman’s News