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In early October, angler Hailey Thomas set a new Idaho state catch-and-release record<\/a> with a 36-inch rainbow trout\/cutthroat trout hybrid\u2014commonly called a cutbow. The tank of a fish had a 21-inch girth, and early estimates put it in the 17- to 20-pound range. According to the story in the Idaho Statesman<\/em><\/a>, Thomas and her family were fishing on Henrys Lake and having a pretty slow day due to poor water clarity. Just as they were about to pull anchor and move, Thomas\u2019 bait (which wasn\u2019t specified in the article) got picked up by the massive hybrid. The previous record, which came from the Snake River, measured 30 inches and had been held by angler Ryan Ivy since 2018.<\/p>\n Henrys Lake is a well-known blue-ribbon trout fishery. It\u2019s home to native Yellowstone cutthroats, as well as brook trout and the cutbows, which more commonly grow to monster proportions than pure strain trout, at least in U.S. waters. Still, size potential aside, many anglers are turned off by hybrid fish, predominantly because they\u2019re not natural. Meanwhile, other anglers gravitate to these mashups, but to understand the rift, you have to look at the pros and cons of these fish.<\/p>\n Tiger trout are a cross between a brown trout and a brook trout. These fish can, in fact, occur naturally in the wild, though it is fairly rare. The Driftless regions of Iowa and Wisconsin boast a higher abundance of naturally occurring tigers than any other part of the country, which is why fly anglers looking to complete the U.S. wild trout slam flock to area. Years ago, in a small Central Pennsylvania fly shop, I stared at a picture of a tiny wild tiger on the wall. It was one of the most gorgeous trout I\u2019d ever seen with its gold marbling and olive highlights. The photo, however, was 20 years old, and it was the only wild tiger the owner had caught in 40 years of casting on Slate Run. These little natural tigers are highly prized, but they are not to be confused with the other more common hatchery tigers which many trout snobs loathe.<\/p>\n Tigers are easy to manufacture. So easy that many states mix them in with their hatchery rainbows and browns for spring and fall stockings. At a base level, these fish just provide the chance to catch something different and more unique than the run-of-the-mill stocker, but there\u2019s more appeal than that. Whereas wild tigers would rarely exceed 12 inches, hatchery tigers are eating machines that grow big quickly. This makes them more aggressive than other trout, though folks who dislike hatchery fish will tell you they\u2019re just dumber and attack things other trout may not. I can attest to that.<\/p>\n To date, I\u2019ve only ever caught one trout on a mouse fly in broad daylight in the Northeast, and it was a 22-inch tiger. Despite knowing there were plenty of wild browns in the same run, they weren\u2019t getting fooled by a black chunk of foam skating on the surface while the sun was still up. This reputation of hybrids being easier to catch is also prevalent with tiger muskies\u2014a cross between a pure strain muskie and a northern pike\u2014but that has never been my experience.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve caught a handful of pure strain muskies in my life, but never a tiger even though I\u2019ve spent time on lakes and rivers loaded with them. Each of these locations was chosen because somebody told me the tigers in there were easy. I was told they just eat anything you throw. Well, they didn\u2019t. While I may not be convinced that tiger muskies are easier, many muskie diehards believe it so fervently they won\u2019t even get excited when they catch a tiger muskie. Oddly, though, I understand this attitude, because I feel the same about hybrid striped bass\u2014they\u2019re cool, but not as cool as pure strain salty stripers.<\/p>\n Much of the debate over the worth of hatchery-made hybrids simply boils down to location. If I lived inland where there was no access to coastal stripers, I\u2019d probably love hybrid stripers. If tiger muskies are your only <\/em>local muskie option, you might be all in on chasing them. Interestingly, however, most of Idaho\u2019s cutbows are not a hatchery creation, and pose a genuine problem to the ecosystem.<\/p>\n By design, hatchery hybrid fish are sterile so they cannot reproduce. They also don\u2019t generally live as long as pure strain fish. It\u2019s this live-fast-die-young factor that stops most hybrids from harming their environments. As an example, a handful of stocked tiger trout that end up in wild trout water pose minimal threat, because they won\u2019t spawn, and they\u2019ll compete with wild fish for food for a relatively short time. This is also why it\u2019s not uncommon for lakes to become completely devoid of tiger muskies within a few years of stocking programs ending.<\/p>\n The cutbows in Henrys Lake where Thomas recently claimed the new record are purposely stocked and sterile to prevent breeding. It\u2019s a different story, however, in Idaho\u2019s South Fork of the Snake River.<\/p>\nTiger\u2019s Tale<\/h2>\n
Local Flavors<\/h2>\n
Crossing Guards<\/h2>\n