Central Washington Westslope Cutthroat

This past Saturday, I found myself in need of some hiking and more importantly fly fishing for native trout. The day's weather started out in the typical Western Washington fashion with clouds and a threat of rain, making a trip to the sunny eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains sound very good. The stream that I would end up fishing, sort of choose itself. The original plan was to fish one of the rivers in the area, but on the hike in I first had to cross a crystal clear small stream with a nice deep pool and rising trout. This was to much to resist and I rigged up my 2wt rod with a Royal PMX and black Copper John dropper and started fishing. In the first pool I turned two fish, but couldn't get a solid hook-up so I headed downstream to search out some more productive water.

My first Cutthroat of the day

This section of the stream flowed through a patch of forest, and when I came up to a small but deep pool I could see two trout holding in the shade just under a log jam. I placed my short cast into the main flow and just as my fly reached the log jam I watched one of the trout cruise over and confidently grab my Copper John. I got a good hook set and the fish thrashed around spooking the other fish before finally being brought to my net.

Another trout showing the typical coloration and spotting pattern of stream resident Eastern Cascades Westslope Cutthroat.

Just below the logjam was another pool with an exposed root wad. I placed my cast in a gap between the tangle of roots and watched Cutthroat slowly rise to my Royal PMX, however I was a little trigger happy and pulled the fly away before I had him on. This scenario played out several two more times before I finally got a solid hook up and landed another beautiful Cutthroat.

The stream in the meadow section

A little ways below here, I saw another Cutthroat holding at the tail of a small pool, which readily fell for my nymph. After catching this fish the nature of the stream abruptly changed as it flowed through a meadow reminiscent of the Rocky Mountains. The stream meandered through this section and was a joy to fish even though it was suspiciously devoid of trout. I fished to the end of the meadow and not finding any more fish so I called it on another successful native trout outing.