Coastal Cutthroat Trout

Same species as the westslope, different subspecies, different country. The federal westslope management plan describes the westslope as strictly inland and the coastal cutthroat as the other subspecies in BC. The Western Native Trout Initiative’s 2021 status report says the coastal fish rarely lives more than 160 km inland and usually less than 100 km, its range bounded in BC by the Coast Range.

The BC Conservation Data Centre Blue-lists the coastal cutthroat (S3S4, vulnerable to apparently secure), and the same report describes the province managing its fisheries with stream closures, single barbless hooks, a province-wide bait ban, and bag and length limits.

The BC Conservation Data Centre summarizes the subspecies’ range as small coastal streams from northern California to Prince William Sound in Alaska, including the many islands off the BC coast.

The status report adds BC detail. Coastal cutthroat occupy three BC ecoprovinces, the Coast Mountains, the Georgia Depression and the Central Interior. In the Skeena they reach the divide at Morrison Lake, more than 400 km inland, and in the Stikine they reach Telegraph Creek, about 160 km from the sea. They are still found through much of their historic BC range but have been squeezed out of their favourite low-gradient valley-bottom streams, which tend to be where people build.

The status report describes four ways of living, often in the same river: headwater stream residents, river fish that migrate within fresh water, lake fish that move between inlets and outlets, and sea-run fish that go to salt water. Sea-run fish first go to sea at two or three, first spawn at about four, and may spawn two to five times. Fish that never go to sea mature earlier and smaller.

In BC, the report notes, juvenile coastal cutthroat keep to smaller streams and headwaters, while steelhead dominate the big rivers. The fish spawn in riffles and pool tails of small, slow, low-gradient streams on pea-sized gravel. Timing varies locally, but in general they spawn in winter or spring.

BC Outdoors Magazine describes them as opportunistic feeders: insects, aquatic invertebrates, and small fish such as salmon fry, sculpins and smaller trout. In salt water they stay close to shore, around harbours, marinas, kelp beds and rocky headlands.

The federal westslope management plan gives the clearest field mark. On a westslope cutthroat the spots below the lateral line sit mostly on the back half of the body and are almost absent toward the front. On a coastal cutthroat, irregular black spots are spread evenly from head to tail.

Geography does most of the work, though. If you are on the coast or a coastal island, it is a coastal cutthroat. If you are in the Kootenays, it is a westslope.

Rainbow trout and steelhead. Cutthroat and rainbows often share coastal water. BC Outdoors Magazine points to the red or orange slashes under the lower jaw, but warns that some rainbows show red there and some cutthroat have faint slashes. The surer sign, teeth at the back of the tongue, is hard to check on a fish you mean to release.

Coastal cutthroat are a light-rod fish. A trout rod for a 4- or 5-weight line covers creeks and small coastal lakes, and a 6-weight handles wind on a beach.

Feed them what BC Outdoors Magazine says they eat. When salmon fry are about, a small fry pattern or a Muddler Minnow fished near the surface imitates the baitfish and fry they key on. In creeks, a small Woolly Bugger or a nymph covers most of the year. The magazine notes that they can be caught casting from a beach, and that they like a large meal for their size.

The Western Native Trout Initiative’s report describes the BC tools for coastal cutthroat: stream closures, single barbless hooks, a province-wide bait ban, and daily bag and length limits. The details differ by region and water. Check the BC Freshwater Fishing Regulations for the region you are fishing before you go.

No. The coastal cutthroat stays near the coast, rarely more than 160 km inland according to the 2021 status report. The Kootenay cutthroat is the westslope.

BC Outdoors Magazine describes headwater fish under 100 grams at maturity and sea-run fish up to about two kilograms, with lake and river fish in between.

That depends on the water. BC uses closures, bag limits and length limits for cutthroat, and the rules vary across regions. Check the current regulations for the stream or lake.