Back to the begining...

I ended up having a bit of free time today so of course fishing found its way into my schedule. The day started out with a fruitless trip out to the Olympic Peninsula looking for Chinook Salmon and some retribution was needed. My thoughts immediately went to the local Cutthroat pond. This place has special meaning for me, as it is where it all started. I learned how to fly fish here and gained a love for native trout species. All of the fish inhabiting this pond are native Coastal Cutthroat which generally hit flies with reckless abandon and fight like there is no tomorrow. What more can a fly fisherman ask for in a fish...

The local pond

The only problem with the pond during this time of the year is the excessive weed growth, which makes getting to and landing any fish no small task. However, it also increases the productivity of the pond and when I got there, a decent damsel hatch was in progress and fish were actively feed on the surface. I started out with a damsel dry and rose a fish on the first cast, but things slowed down after that. Leading to go subsurface and tie on a Zug Bug nymph. This was the ticket and it was game on.

My first Coastal Cutthroat of the day

The Cutthroat appeared to be averaging about 8-10" this year, and while the hatch was in progress it was some fast fishing with hits on most every cast. However, the number of fish caught to lost due to the weeds was extremely high with about 2/3 fish shaking loose.

 

Another Coastal Cutthroat

Despite the challenges with the weeds, I still managed to get about 10 Cutthroat in a couple of hours of fishing, including a couple 12" or better making for a fun on afternoon with the 2 WT.

My big fish for the day a 13" Cutthroat