Angler reactions to restrictive harvest regulations for cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki at Virginia Lake in Southeast Alaska prompted an examination of the population status for the species from 1995 through 1997. A study to estimate size composition and abundance using a two-event (Petersen/Darroch) closed population (CP) model was conducted in 1995. Sampling was extended in 1996 and 1997 to permit use of a Jolly-Seber (JS) estimator to estimate abundance in 1996. An estimated 6,810 (SE = 256) fish were present in 1995 under the two-event CP model, and 3,620 (SE = 415) were present in 1996 under the JS model. The JS estimate of abundance is biased low because fish were spawning in streams during the 1996 and 1997 sampling events and thus were unavailable for sampling. Only 1 percent of the cutthroat sampled during the study were larger than the minimum 14-in length limit (> 336 mm fork length) established for harvest in the sport fishery at Virginia Lake.