Im pretty sure that is a rainbow not a cutthroat. Judging by the fact that the jaw does not extend past the eye.

Its a cutt if you click on the pic and inlarge it you can see the faded orange cuts ive caught a lot of them like that while perch fishing out there the jaw being forward or back is more if its male or female male back behind eye female even or in front of eye

I've made the same mistake before on those cuts. Most have a very faint mark under those gills.

went and checked, they didn't stock Big Lake at all in 2015 Can that be right?

Yes. Big lake doesnt get stocked but has native trout in it.

I heard the same thing

I agree with jonb, that is a rainbow. I've had trouble telling the 2 fish apart in the past, but as with anything, experience makes it much easier. The easiest giveaway is the mouth, cutthroats have a much bigger mouth, as evidenced by the jawline extending beyond the eye, which this fish does not have. The next, less obvious giveaway is the black spots. Cutthroats typically have black spots from top to bottom, where rainbows typically have spots only on their top half. Your fish has spots only on top and has a very silvery white belly. To me, these 2 clues make it obvious that your fish is a rainbow. I've learned over the years not to trust the jaw slash. Sometimes a cutthroat will not have the slashes yet, and sometimes another gush can have a very similar marking, many times because of an injury. Hope this info. helps.

Btw that's a nice fish I'm a little jealous right now ;)

Just keep in mind that steelhead and even coho have that red slash under their jaw sometimes, which is why you should never use that to identify your fish. Also keep in mind rainbows and cutts can hybridize. That fish is absolutely not a pure strain cutt. At most a cuttbow. But in my opinion its 100% rainbow by the looks of it.

I agree with both of you. The hybrid is the option I'd go with and it does have strong bow features fr sure. I've caught cuts that definitely have more spots on that lake, so I just tend to lean to the cuts when I see the slash. Good info though. Thank you.