Fall in the North Cascades: Part 1

So far this year, the "egg hatch" in the Pacific Northwest has provided some phenomenal fishing for beautiful native trout. With this "hatch" winding down on some of my favorite rivers, my friend Dyllon and I made plans to travel a little further afield to the rivers of the North Cascades where the salmon spawning was still going strong. We got on the road by mid-morning and after battling our way through Seattle traffic, we found ourselves driving up the river valley and into the towering peaks of the North Cascades by mid-afternoon. We had selected a river were Dyllon had done well in the past and luckily when we pulled up we were the only ones there. On top of the salominds that I am used to targeting such as Coastal Rainbow and Cutthroat Trout, this stream also happened to be one of a handful of places where it is legal to target Bull Trout and the possibility of encountering one of these elusive char just added to the excitement. 

Fall colors along the steam

Anticipation was running high as we grabbed our gear and headed for the water. When we reached the stream we found a side channel packed with spawning Pink Salmon - a good indication that we were in the right spot.  

Pink Salmon spawning in a side channel

Although the few deep pockets in the side channel failed to produce anything thing, when we got to where two braids came together, I drifted and egg imitation over a drop off and watched my indicator to shoot under. When I set the hook, it was clear that this fish had some size to it and while it took some good runs, the fish stubbornly stayed down and deep. After a couple minutes of back and forth tug of war, I finally got an eye of the fish and was happy to see it was a solid Bull Trout!  Moments later I was able to slide it into the net and admire the beautiful 20” Bull Trout. Across my native trout adventures and especially in the Pacific Northwest, Bull Trout have always been one of the must elusive salmonids. These predatory char are emblematic of quality habitat and as such have become rare across much of the region. This resulted in them being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and with so anytime I find one at the end of my line is something worth being excited about.

Off to a great start! A beautiful Bull Trout!

After I released the Bull Trout, Dyllon decided to head upstream and fish a riffle, while I kept working the drop off. The next dozen drifts along the seam failed to produce any grabs, but when I put a cast in the slower water on the inside of the seam, my indicator made it about halfway through its drift before once again plunging into the depths. While the Bull Trout had been a solid fish, it was immediately clear that this fish had a bit more size to it, but the fight was way different than the Bull Trout. While this fish also stayed down and deep, it also started doing under water cartwheels, which gave me a solid hunch as to what was on the end of my line. Sure enough after putting my trusty 6WT Scott S4 through the paces, the fish finally tired and I brought bright wild Coho hen to the net.

Second fish of the day, a wild female Coho just starting to show some spawning colors

At this point, we were less than half an hour into our trip and I had already caught two native species and when I looked up Dyllon was hooked into a decent fish as well, (which turned out to be another Bull Trout) so things were definitely off two a good start!

Dyllon working a log jam just upstream

While Dyllon continued upstream, I switched over to my streamer rod and started twitching a black sculpin through the depths. After several casts I had a massive Coho chase my streamer right up to the rod tip, but didn't take and when I lost my streamer in a tree a few casts later I decided it was time to move on and catch up with Dyllon.

On my way upstream I decided to fish the riffle Dyllon had been working and within a couple casts I hooked into a nice fish, which appeared to be another Bull Trout, but it got in the fast water and tossed the hook. After several follow up casts failed to produce any other takers, I decided it was time to catch up with Dyllon. When I caught up with Dyllon he was wrapping up working riffle pouring into the mess of logs and indicated that he had already caught three Bull Trout. While he had already worked the spot pretty thoroughly, I was fishing a slightly different looking egg than him and decided to give it a shot. After a few casts I briefly hooked up with a fish, but lost whatever it was and nobody else seemed to be interested in the riffle so I shifted my attention to the back of the hole. To do so I had to play things on the dangerous side and float my rig tight against the log jam, but right as it floated past a root wad my indicator shoot under and I hooked into and landed another Bull Trout, which was followed by yet another on the next cast.

A darkly colored Bull Trout

After releasing these fish, I moved upstream to the next run and got a surprise when I tossed my line in the shallows to set up for my next cast and a humped out Pink Salmon shot over and latched on to my egg pattern. This Pink was not particularly fresh and beyond a few quick runs didn't put up much of a fight so I was able to swing it into the shallows and remove the hook and send it back on its way.

A male Pink or "humpy" Salmon

Once I turned the Pink Salmon loose, I continued on to the next riffle. The tailout upstream of this riffle had a bunch of spawning Pink Salmon and there were 4 or 5 Chinook holding at the head of the riffle as well. With all of this spawning activity, Dyllon was able to get a decent Bull Trout just behind the Chinook and when he moved on I gave it a try. With the best holding water just downstream of the Chinook, I started by casting upstream and to the right of them and letting my rig sink and after a few casts I had a Bull Trout grab but I lost it. I decided to put in a few more casts to see if there were anymore trout around, but was surprised when one of the male Chinook broke from the group and took my egg imitation. This was not a small Chinook and it immediately took off and started peeling line, making it clear that I was severely under-gunned with my 6WT. As soon as the fight began it was over as the hook popped loose mid run. While I certainly would have loved to land a Chinook, I was also relieved when this fish popped off, as my rod was clearly outclassed.

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Looking upstream

Not wanting to risk another encounter with a Chinook, I kept moving upstream and caught up with Dyllon at a trench where the side channel split from the mainstem. Dyllon took the lower part of the trench, while I took the head of the trench and after just a couple casts my indicator shot under and I was hooked into a hefty fish. This fish stayed down and I had a hard time getting an eye on it to see just how big it was. However, once it finally came up Dyllon said I was going to want a hand with the net one this one and I had to agree. Luckily the fish stayed in the hole and most played a game of tug of war and after a few minutes, I guided it over to Dyllon waiting with the net. The Bull Trout in the net, was 25" battle scarred beauty that was starting to show its spawning colors with a gorgeous pale yellow tone showing along the belly and was definitely my fish of the day.

Releasing a beautiful 25" Bull Trout - my fish of the day

After releasing the big Bull Trout, Dyllon and I continued upstream, to a gorgeous run that screamed fish. This time Dyllon took point and headed for the top of the run, while I decided to fish my way upstream with a streamer. It didn't take long for Dyllon to start getting into fish and it seemed that every time I looked up he was hooked into a Bull Trout. While it wasn't lights out with the streamer, about halfway up the run, I watched a female Pink Salmon dart across the run to chase it down. 

A female Pink Salmon that took a black sculpin pattern

After releasing the Pink Salmon, I had a long gap between grabs before another fish hammered the streamer. This fish immediately began doing the underwater cartwheels characteristic of Coho Salmon and despite being a big fish, it basically just cartwheeled its way straight to the net. After snapping a quick photo I watched the Coho shoot back into the pool and decided it was time to switch back to my nymph rig again.

A beautiful rose red hook-nosed male Coho Salmon

While I had been working the streamer though the hole, Dyllon had managed to pull four Bull Trout out of the riffle at the top end run. However, despite this when I came in with a slightly different colored egg imitation, it seemed like I had first water and I proceeded to catch four nice Bull Trout out of the spot myself. As we worked our way upstream, the fishing continued to exceed anything that I would have expected, with each run, riffle or side channel producing several more solid Bull Trout, until we finally came to a particularly challenging river crossing and opted to head back downstream. With a good stretch of water between us and the car, we decided to fish our way back downstream, and while things were a bit slower each spot continued to produce another Bull Trout or two.

Dyllon hooked into another Bull Trout

This was until we came to a nice run that I had passed over, but Dyllon had caught a single Bull Trout out of. With our previous light coverage of the run we decided to work it a little more thoroughly and it didn't take long for it to produce results. With both Dyllon and I hooking into a pair of solid fish just moments from each other, resulting in a 20" Bull Trout double. 

Not bad for a double - dual 20" Bull Trout

After releasing our double, I noted several Chinook on a redd towards the back of the run and when I threw a cast next to them, sure enough my indicator shot under and I landed yet another mid-teens Bull Trout. Slightly downstream of the Chinook there were even more Bull Trout and Dyllon and I took turns working the run and landed another 4 between us including my second best of the day at 22".

Me with another big Bull Trout

Spawned out salmon along the river

By the time we reached the car, we both had long since lost count of how many fish we had encountered, but needless to say it goes down as one of the best days on the water I can remember and certainly by far the best Bull Trout fishing I have ever had. 

While the day had already far exceeded my expectations, we still had a bit of daylight left and Dyllon said he had a couple spots in mind, so we headed back to the river. Unfortunately the first two spots already had folks fishing them targeting salmon and when we finally found a piece of water to ourselves, daylight was running very short indeed. That didn't stop the Bull Trout though and as soon as we found a riffle with some spawning salmon, the Bull Trout once again started showing themselves although keeping them on provide challenging and I only went 1 for 5 on my hook up to landing ratio.

Yet another Bull Trout

Right as we were getting ready to leave, I saw a nice sized fish that looked be a Coho roll in the tailout and I was pleasantly surprised when I tossed a casted just upstream and it went for it. After a couple of minutes I brought a beautiful rosy red Coho to hand, making for a perfect time to call it a day.

A last light hook nosed Coho

All I can say is that this day will go down as one of the best I can remember having outside of Alaska and fishing behind all of the spawning salmon, it really felt more like Alaska than the Pacific Northwest. However, this wasn't the end of our North Cascades adventure, as we had planned to this to be a multi day affair with our friend TJ meeting in the evening so the three of us could be back on the river first thing in the morning.