Cutbow Trout

Nice color and the beak is epic

It was a beautiful afternoon, and another tough winter bite. I worked hard to put my jig in front of some fish, and it paid off. Started with a nice 14-inch smallmouth, and couple hours later landed a tank of a 17-incher. Finally, I wrangled an absolute pig of a 24” cutbow that managed to conjure up the feeling of a Pyramid lake fish. No matter how many big ones I catch, it always gives me a feeling of awe when a TWO FOOT trout on the end of my line becomes visible near the surface. Some words usually escape my lips in that moment like, “oh my gosh that’s a big fish.” The bigger smallie and the cutbow make the fifth and sixth master angler qualifiers of the year. No matter how tough the bite was, a master bass and trout in the same session is a REALLY good day.

Spent the afternoon looking for bigger fish on the sonar and found very few marks to target. The ones I found weren’t taking it, and there was just enough breeze to make vertical jigging a challenge. As I was nearing the end of my time on the water, I saw a mark at 47 feet. I thought it was a walleye or smallmouth bass the way it was hugging the bottom, and the way it ambushed my jig on the drop. To my delight, it was a fat 23-inch cutbow hen! I’d estimate it to be twice the weight of the 22-incher I caught last week. My fourth CO master angler qualifier so far this year. A great ending to a challenging midwinter session.

🤌

There were strong winds on my birthday, and Xcel turned off our power all day as a measure of wildfire prevention. Kayaking was a definite no-go. Finally in late afternoon it calmed enough to head out with one of my daughters to fish from shore (still blisteringly cold). She caught a couple smaller trout, and I caught a decent male cutbow, around 18-19 inches. Normally I’d have high ambitions for a birthday fish, but this one was a blessing considering the circumstances!

As often happens, the wind whipped up right after I launched my kayak - as if it had been waiting all day for that moment. I battled it for awhile, and hooked up with my first trout of 2026. A nearly 23” cutbow; master angler qualifier! I don’t submit most of those to the state (last year I submitted 4 of 25+). It’s a great award program, but my favorite “trophy” is just a good selfie photo. Taking my hands off the paddle for less than a minute to get my photo resulted in being blown a few hundred yards offshore. It took a major effort to paddle to the nearest shore after that. Exhausted, I parked the kayak and hiked the rugged shoreline to a spot that doesn’t get fished in the winter. I caught a few small trout there, not the one I was after, but at least some reward for the hike.

Down the hole!