a trout mystery

I knew I was in for trouble on Saturday when I hooked
(and lost) a nice fish on my first cast. Needless to say, that
was all she wrote. Today (Sunday), I got out again with my
friend Matt and dog, Sage. Matt started off just like I did
yesterday- had a nice fish chase his streamer and then
proceeded to get shutout for the rest of the afternoon. I
started off slow too, stripping streamers, but eventually
managed to take a nice fish on a nymph. The fish I caught
(seen below) is a bit of a mystery to me. Common sense tells
me it’s a cutthroat, but the very pronounced red strip and
white tipped fins make me think it might have been a cutbow
(native cutthroat don’t have white tipped fins). 

There is a population of rainbow trout in the Gros Ventre
river below Slide lake (I have also caught them above the
lake) and apparently years back, there were quite a few
rainbows in the Snake itself (stocked at one time). Every now
and then someone claims to catch one on the Snake and I
don’t doubt it. In hind sight, I wish we would have gotten a
good close up photo and spent a little more time examining it,
but it was best to get the trout back to the water quickly.
Regardless, the fish put up a great fight and was a welcome
sight to see on such a bleak, wintery day.