NatureCam Arkansas Fish Cutthroat Trout Cutthroat trout were first stocked in Arkansas in 1983 and are found primarily in the White and Norfork rivers. They weigh up to 10 pounds and closely resemble rainbow trout.
Rainbows have teeth on the tip of the tongue, but lack the midline teeth.
The black spots on the cutthroats are typically much finer than on rainbows. No trout are native to Arkansas. The fish were brought in beginning in the 1950s when the building of flood control and hydroelectric dams on Arkansas rivers wiped out native warmwater fish below them. The water released from the dams through power generators and gates was too cold for the native fish. Rainbow trout were stocked first below Bull Shoals and Norfork dams, and they flourished.