Management

Angling for Westslope Cutthroats in Alberta is restricted to catch-and-release in some streams, but primarily by minimum size limits that are larger than most (quite often all) fish in particular creeks for which the regulations are written.

Angling opens in most cutthroat streams on June 16 every year, and closes in most on Oct 31. The spring date, however, is after the spawning period for cutthroats in most streams.

Genetically pure Westslope Cutthroat trout definitely need designation under SARA as endangered, and a recovery plan. The greatest threat to this iconic fish of Alberta’s southern East Slopes has been, and still is, the vast and deep ignorance of its present threatened status under COSEWIC, and the accompanying lack of action to recover them.