Cutty with a big apatite!

[onthefly]

Barely seem to have time to check the forums let alone post anything during the summer but I thought this was cool...
Last week during a great day on the Oldman I caught a 19" cutthroat that had something long and black hanging out of his mouth (he still took a BWO). I wasn't sure if it somehow wasn't a leech or was something harming the fish so I pulled it out... It turned out it was the tail of a 8" salamander hanging out of it's month. Im still not sure if I helped the fish out and it might have been to large for it to digest or if I look a nice meal away from him (he was still eating on the surface lol).
I have caught a lot of cuttys in a lot of places but I didn't know they had such a big apatite or would feed so aggressively... Never seen a salamander in Alberta before but maybe I should tie some lizard imitations this winter lol.

[Albertafisher]

Better tie bigger flies....

[vcmm]

You gonna need a bigger boat. insert music here

[Guitarplayingfish]

I saw this last year, huge salamander in the trout.

Its amazing what they will take. Nice find, pretty cool! Those trout are vicious eatters.

[the local angler]

hmm interesting whats next salamander flies? i didnt know they would gobble down one of those.

[finsnfeathers]

Looks like you made a friend!

[Sundancefisher]

This is why protecting mountain whitefish in foothill streams and rivers is critical. Think of all the juvenile whitefish...big Cutts would love to eat. It is the best food source for growing BIG Bulls and Cutts. Until we stop the slaughter fest on mountain whitefish...and allow their populations to better rebound through kill moratoriums...big fish will not rebound.

Just a thought.

[Alberta Bigbore]

hungry cutty. Congrats on a nice fish.

[Shawnlh]

Looks like a Tiger Salamander. There's tons of them around, and they seem to be tough little buggers.
A friend of mine found one about 3 years ago, it was stuck in a tin can. He took it home, built a small terrarium for it, and it's now MUCH bigger and healthy as can be. Cool little thing.

[Ronbill]

Now this is cool.
If I recall there was somewhat of a die off in tiger salamanders about ten years ago. This year however, I've talked to many people that have run into them. Seems the poulations are doing well at present.

[kissarmygeneral]

Cool! I found one of those in my wading boot!

[Heavy K]

A couple weeks opened up a ~ 13" Cutty out of a high alpine lake that had a fully grown mouse in it's belly. Cue Jaws music.

It ain't just the brownies and the bulls.

hk

[RockHammer&Rod]

Funny... I don't see any apatite in that picture

/lame geology joke

http://www.trinityminerals.com/tucson2003/apatite.jpg

[woolybugger]

Lame yes Fun yes

[Bow flyman]

I totally agree with Sundancefisherman. I caught my first whitefish of the year in the NW stretch of the Bow today. A whopping 1o incher! Ten years ago I could catch 5 or more whitefish on the fly in an hour between 12 and 14 inches quite easily. Why, in this day and age are we allowed a whitefish limit of 5 on the Bow, and other east slope streams?
In regards to the tiger salamander, it is amazing that big cutt went after something like that.