Cutthroat Trout in Southeast Alaska

Cutthroat trout! Highly prized, these sport fish are found year-round in streams and lakes throughout southeast Alaska. But declining harvests and decreasing numbers of trophy-size cutthroat in waters known for these large and very special fish have had many anglers concerned.

Abundance

Two types of cutthroat trout inhabit southeast Alaska waters: resident and sea-run (anadromous). Studies indicate that both grow slowly and that their numbers are relatively small.

Resident stocks - found mainly in lakes and above barriers in some streams - spend their entire life in fresh water. Sea-run cutthroat typically reside in lakes during the winter and migrate early in the spring to feed in salt water. They move back into lakes for the fall and winter.

Only 8 inches long by the time they are 4 years old, cutthroat take at least 12 years to reach the 3-pound trophy size (20 inches) in lakes. In sea-run systems, cutthroat grow to about 16 inches in 10 years.

Catchable-size resident cutthroat average 2,000 to 4,000 per lake, whereas sea-run cutthroat numbers are fewer, with only 200 to 2,000 fish in most systems.

Management Concerns

Several factors make cutthroat trout populations easy to deplete. They are vulnerable to harvest and sensitive to habitat disruption. They grow slowly, have low-density populations and a low reproductive rate.

Cutthroat are easy to catch because they take bait aggressively. This behavior can reduce abundance in all but the most productive populations. Furthermore, fish that are released after being caught with bait often die.

Because most populations in southeast Alaska are of low density or low abundance, numbers of fish can be quickly reduced.

Cutthroat have special habitat requirements and are dependent on small tributary streams for spawning and rearing. They are often displaced by other rearing species.

Fish are usually mature by their seventh year. It is not uncommon for adults to "skip spawn," which means they spawn one year, skip the following year and spawn again the third year.

A female cutthroat produces only a few hundred to a thousand eggs. By comparison, steelhead trout or coho salmon produce 5 to 10 times that number of eggs per female.

In 1994, the Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted new regulations for cutthroat trout fisheries. The core of the new regionwide cutthroat trout regulations is a 12 inch minimum size and 22 inch maximum size with a two fish bag limit for cutthroat trout caught in southeast Alaska (see exceptions in Sport Fish Regulations).

The desired outcome of these regulations to increase the abundance of wild cutthroat in southeast Alaska with the expectation of more liberal bag limits in the future.

Research has shown that the single best regulation to ensure healthy populations of cutthroat trout is one which will allow all female cutthroat to spawn at least one time.

The 12 inch minimum size and conservative bag limit should protect about 85% of the cutthroat trout until they spawn one time.

The restriction on using bait in fresh water is an essential element of the new regulations. This is because many smaller fish would be released in fisheries with a minimum size limit, and the regulation can only be effective if hooking mortality can be reduced to a reasonably low level.

Average Mortality Rate of Cutthroat Caught and Released Using:

The regulations also include a 10 month bait ban in fresh water, with an opening from September 15 to November 15 allowing the use of bait to catch coho salmon. In trophy and high use lake, bait is not allowed year-around.

This document was produced in cooperation with the following three organizations, the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Juneau Chapter of Trout Unlimited. For further information, please contact the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Southeast Regional Sport Fish Division, (907) 465-4270.