Yes, the strain of wild cutthroat that inhabit Cowichan (and the other large lakes on the island and mainland coast) are unique and do get to a good size. The biggest I've seen weighed was 7.5 lbs, but historically they have been recorded up to 12 and 14lbs. However, these fish are relatively scarce and take a long time to achieve that large a size. Given the kind of fishing pressure (and tactics) that the Cowichan cutthroat are subject to, I think it's amazing there are any fish left. It's nice to see fisheries in Nanaimo doing some work with the local F&G club to get some catch information. MoE needs to support biologists trying to do some real fisheries management with our precious wild stocks, as opposed to dumping millions of dollars into hatcheries and farm fish.