There is no guarantee, of course, but the 7-pound, 9-ounce cutthroat trout caught by Cumberland angler David G. Martin on May 20, 2000, may continue to be the Maryland state record for that species forever.
Martin was fishing in the North Branch of the Potomac River at Barnum, W.Va., when the lunker of 28.75 inches struck a Rapala lure. He was using 4-pound-test line. That fish topped the existing record cutthroat of 5 pounds, 5 ounces.
The reason Martin’s trout could be infinity’s top dog is that the Maryland Fisheries Service has stopped stocking fingerling cutthroat trout, a native of the western United States.
“The most recent stocking occurred in April 2007 when we stocked 8,871 fingerlings in the catch-and-release areas of the North Branch of the Potomac,” reported Regional Fisheries Biologist Alan Klotz.
Klotz said Kamloops rainbow, brown and a warmwater strain of rainbow are the high-priority trout for Maryland’s hatchery managers and there just was not enough raceway space to keep working with cutthroats. Klotz said, too, that the cutts just did not do as well in the hatchery setting as the other species.
“Our hatchery managers report that the cutthroat trout fry have lower survival rates in the hatchery system compared to the rainbow trout and brown trout,” he wrote in an e-mail.
“In the North Branch of the Potomac, where we have been stocking fingerling cutthroat, they contributed less than 10 percent of the total combined trout species densities,” Klotz said. “During our most recent survey in fall 2008, we collected three cutthroat trout in the upper catch-and-release section.” Those trout ranged from 9.5 to 11 inches.
Klotz said he continues to receive reports of anglers catching cutts in the catch-and-release areas of the river. In previous years, cutts of up to 15 inches have been surveyed there. “I expect the trout from the 2007 stockings to still be present, in low numbers, this year,” Klotz said. “In the future, if more hatchery space is available, we can re-evaluate the cutthroat stocking program.”
The cutthroat is a beautiful member of the trout family. Most of my experience with them has been from western states such as Utah, though I have caught two in Maryland.
The obvious markings are the two red slashes beneath the jaw. The sides of the fish have either an olive or bronze background.
Maybe somewhere, perhaps living in some tree roots beneath an undercut bank, there is a holdover lunker cutthroat trout that will make Martin’s big fish record obsolete. Then again, maybe there isn’t.
Contact Outdoor Editor Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.
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