Eastslope Westslopes

This past weekend the drive over the Cascade Mountains on my way home from work was too much to take without a quick stop for a little fishing. As I hadn't caught any Westslope Cutthroat yet this season, I decided to try a small stream on the east slope of the mountains that I have been meaning to check out for some time. The stream was only about 10 to 15 feet across in most spots, but had a nice amount of holding water so it looked promising. With the water looking good, I rigged up with a dry-dropper set-up and started looking for trout.

Good looking water at the first pool

Good looking water doesn't always mean there will be fish around, but in this case it didn't take long to find the Cutthroat as within a couple of casts I had my first small Westslope to hand.

My first Westslope of the summer

From there the pace remained fairly quick and each good looking pool or pocket would yield two or three of these beautiful trout. The fish were quite eager to rise to a dry fly too and before long I took the dropper off due to their willingness to rise. While the stream was beautiful, it looked like about 15 years ago there were some very poor logging practices in effect and much of the watershed had been clear-cut up to the stream banks and at one time. Luckily the area appeared to be recovering nicely, but when compared with other streams in the area the water temps were noticeably warmer. This warmer water also seemed to have the effect of making the stream slightly more fertile than other mountain streams in the area and all of the Cutthroat seemed to be exceptionally chunky for their size.

A stream-side friend

In an exceptionally nice looking pool for the creek, I rose a fish that was slightly larger than most and after a quick battle I brought what is likely the most beautiful trout I have caught all year in. I must have said "wow" to myself at least ten times as I admired this gorgeous trout and watched it swim back into the depths.

Pictures don't do justice for this one

After covering about a mile of the stream and catching more than my fair share of trout, my desire to get home after a week away finally won out and I reluctantly left this gem of a stream.

A great place to spend any evening!