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Went to the Bear today and only a few fish but it was well worth it. Caught one Cutt that was 28 1/2" long and had the biggest girth I have ever seen on a trout that long. I am not sure on the weight but it was very heavy for the lenght. My question is how long ago did they start clipping the adopse fin on the planters at Bear Lake. The fish seemed really young for it's size but it is hard to tell. Hope to catch him next year after he puts on a few more pounds.
tightline
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Hey,TightLine,My brother also cought one of those monster cutts.26in.But what a gut it looked like me with my shirt off,(spare tire)!!Hope to catch yours next weekend!!M.H.
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Just thought I would throw this back up top. With all the "Bear Lake Junkies" around here someone should at least have an idea of who to talk to. I have caught a few large fish but have never seen anything like that Cutt.
tightline
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I think RipNLips knows a few bioligist that work Bear. He could probably put you in touch with someone that knows.
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Try the post below to give you a general idea of its age.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=26266;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=26266;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread[/url]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]Bryce Nielsen is the senoir biologist on Bear Lake. E-mail him at the DWR. Kentofnsl posted some e-mails and a study on fish age a little while back. [/size][/font]
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Thanks for the info. I emailed Bryce and will let you know what he says.
tightline
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That's some good info [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?username=kentofnsl;"][size 1]kentofnsl [/size][/url] got from Bryce.
Just so you can compare, I'll add that the average size of a Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in Bear Lake is about 22 inches and 5.5 lbs.
I'm digging up some info on the fin clipping history.
If you're interested, you can access some great Bonneville Cutthroat info from the Hunting & Fishing section of the [url "http://home.attbi.com/~thumbrock/links.htm"]Links[/url] page on my [url "http://home.attbi.com/~thumbrock"]Thumb Rock[/url] web page.
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Here is the reply from Bryce. Thought you might be interested.[size 2] [left][size 1]Thanks for your email. We are always interested in what the anglers are[/size][/left] [left][size 1]seeing. We started adipose clipping cuts in 1992. Initially the fish[/size][/left] [left][size 1]that came from eggs spawned from fish that were captured in Swan Creek[/size][/left] [left][size 1]were adipose clipped and the brood egg fish were left pelvic clipped. [/size][/left] [left][size 1]All fish were adipose clipped after 1996. [/size][/left] [left][size 1][/size][/left] [left][size 1]Your fish could have been 11 years old but if it was fat in good[/size][/left] [left][size 1]condition I suspect it was younger. If a cut converts to a fish diet[/size][/left] [left][size 1]early they can grow to 28 inches seven years as long as they do not[/size][/left] [left][size 1]spawn. Once they spawn grow slows considerably but some fish do not[/size][/left] [left][size 1]spawn until they are 10 years old.[/size][/left] [left][size 1][/size][/left] [left][size 1]The only way we can tell age is with an otolith which is an ear bone[/size][/left]
[size 1]and that is only an estimation in larger fish.[/size][/size]
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