The salmon spawn is on

After my previous fishing trip, I had planned to get out on the water as soon as possible to catch the first major wave of spawners entering the river, but life or more specifically, COVID had other plans and made sure that fishing was not in the cards for the foreseeable future. Luckily, by the time early September rolled around and the salmon spawn really got going, I was back up and running, and Dyllon and I were able to pull away for an afternoon of fishing.

A beautiful day to be on the river

Compared to our last outing, we lucked out on the weather this time and had a bluebird afternoon with the river all to ourselves, and better yet, the salmon were starting to spawn in earnest. I started out in a small side channel of the river, where a female Chinook was actively digging a redd, surrounded by five satellite males. However, after a couple of casts failed to produce any signs of trout and one of the males went after my bead rig, I decided to move on to a riffle just upstream, where Dyllon had already hooked one trout. It didn't take long for me to hook into a decent fish as well. After a short fight with plenty of jumping and several good runs, I brought a beautiful leopard-spotted native Coastal Rainbow to hand.

A beautiful, heavily spotted native Rainbow

After I released that fish, we continued to work the side channel for another 30 minutes, hooking into several other fish but only managing to land a couple of smaller trout. After covering that piece of water, we headed further upstream, but the fishing proved to be slower than usual. However, after a couple of bends, we found an area where the salmon were really packed in and started getting into some trout again.

Salmon on their redds

While we did hook into a few decent fish, we did manage to land any, but I did get one particularly interesting looking Rainbow that was dime bright and had a spotting pattern more typically of a steelhead. 

A surprisingly bright Rainbow

Several years back, it was fish similar to this one that sparked a research project was part of affectionately called the "Biggie Smalls Project," (bigger than typical stream resident Rainbows but smaller than typical steelhead) which was focused on investigating whether these mid-size (14" to 20") Rainbows were using marine waters for part of their life. For that project, we looked at the micro-chemistry of non-lethally extracted pectoral fin rays to see whether any of our sampled fish had been in marine water. What we found was that most of the Rainbows in this size class appeared to be lifelong freshwater inhabitants, with all of the fish that were definitely anadromous either being Coastal Cutthroat or Cutthroat-Rainbow hybrids. We also found that the Rainbows were able to reach their larger sizes due to marine-derived food from Pacific Salmon and other species (lamprey). However, we weren't able to fully rule out that the fish weren't doing short-term migrations between watersheds, as a recent study by Munsch et al. showed is happening, we did find some evidence of this as well, with tagged fish turning of in distant watersheds and fish from a nearby conservation hatchery end up in our watershed. Whether or not this fish was just a bright individual, a late smolt, or a marine wanderer is something I will have to scratch my head about, but it was a fun encounter.

At this point, we had covered quite a bit of water, and the sun was starting to get low in the sky, so it was time to pull ourselves away from the river, although I certainly had plans in place to return soon.

Time to hit the road

And about a week after Dyllon and I hit the river, I did indeed return, and this time was to share this fishery with a couple of my Trout Unlimited colleagues Rob and Alexei. It is always amazing what a difference a week makes during the salmon spawning season, as by this point the Chinook were starting to tail off and the Chum, while still dense and actively spawning were starting to show much more wear than they had on my previous outing.

We started off on the same section of water where Dyllon and I had started our day and as neither Alexei or Rob had fished this river before I walked them through the tactics I use and put them on some of my favorite water. While the did have several hookups, this fishing proved to be a little slower than usual.

Alexei working a good stretch of water

Before we headed upstream to try some more promising water, I decided to give one of the more challenging pieces of water where you have to get just the right cast to get your gear to drift over a bucket with thick vegetation over it. After a couple of tries, I got that drift, and right before I thought it was a dud and I was going to have to pull my gear out, my indicator shot under, and I hooked into a nice fish. While the Rainbows typically immediately shoot out of the water, this fish stayed down and deep, but wasn't afraid to take a run into the next pool downstream. However, I had a solid hookset, and after a couple of minutes, I brought a gorgeous, thick upper teens Coastal Cutthroat to the net.

My first fish of the day, a beautiful, bright native Cutthroat

Admiring my Cutthroat before release

After releasing the Cutthroat, we continued upstream to a hole where Dyllon and I had hooked a few fish the week before. I had Rob and Alexei work this spot as I really wanted to see that get into some fish and it didn't take long before Rob hooked a decent Rainbow, that despite not being on of the big ones we were looking for put up a nice fight before coming to the net.

A heavily spotted native Rainbow

After netting and releasing that first fish, I decided to play around photographing some of the salmon with an underwater housing that I got for my phone. While my phone's camera isn't the best, I was pretty happy with how the shot below turned out.

  

Chum Salmon on the spawning grounds

Releasing a Rainbow

After the fishing slowed down at this hole, we headed upstream to try one last piece of water. I had Alexei and Rob work a riffle that has been one of the best producers in my experience, while I tried a shallow riffle just upstream that has been hit or miss at best, and where I hadn't previously had any luck as flows as low as we had on this outing. However, there is a first for everything, and after a couple casts behind a late pair of spawning Chinook at the head of the riffle where the water was only about 8" to 12" deep, my indicator shot under, and I hooked into an absolutely massive Rainbow. When the fish rolled, it was so thick, I was half surprised that I hadn't seen its back sticking out of the water. After that, the fish started to run, and unfortunately, as this had been a particularly long cast, I don't think I had the best hook set, and as the fish made a head shake, my rig came fly back at me. If I had to guess I would place this fish somewhere between 23" and 25". Fish this size are a rarity in the river and I my experience typically only get one or two shots at these big Rainbows, which made losing this one hurt all the more.

After collecting myself and getting my head back in the game I decided to put another cast in where I had hooked the big Rainbow on the off chance that he might come back, after all I did once catch the same 18" Rainbow on back to back casts in a nearby watershed. As luck would have it, my indicator drift a few feet past where the big one had been hold and immediate shot under again. Upon hooking into this fish, while it was good sized, it was clear a different and smaller Rainbow but still put up a great fight before I managed to bring it to the net.

A solid Rainbow

Just after I returned downstream, Rob hooked into a decent fish, but after I got an eye on it, it was clear that it wasn't a trout, but I was having a hard time determining what species of salmon it was. After a few minutes of tug of war, we finally netted the fish which left me scratching my head regarding what it was. The color of the fish was a gold hue that I typically see on spawning Chinook in the region, and it also had the large, irregular spots typical of a Chinook. However, there were also some significant Chum traits, such as the purple bar along the side. While I wish I would have grabbed a fin clip so we could verify it, but after looking at the picture and sharing it with several experts in the fisheries field, I can only conclude that Rob managed to catch a Chum x Chinook Salmon hybrid or Chumook if you will. 

What appears to be the first Chum x Chinook hybrid I have ever seen

This fish being a hybrid also makes sense from a fish return perspective, as largely due to poor hatchery practices, the Chinook in this system return unusually early, and in my last blog post, we indicated that we had encountered our first spawning Chinook on August 18th.  On top of that, this specific river has an early spawning Chum Salmon population, which has significant overlap with Chinook spawning in both time and space. In fact, in the run just upstream, Chinook and Chum were spawning within just a few feet of each other.

After releasing the Chumook, Rob and Alexei picked up a few more Rainbows, but we had pretty much covered the water at this point, and it was time to call it a day.

The circle of life

A cutt and mouse game

This was a fishing trip that I really have to dedicate to my dog Buddy (RIP), as without him I would have never thought of trying to fish this spot in such a way. 

Back when I was in my early 20's, I took Buddy fishing with me to a local estuary at high tide and as the water level rose, Buddy started making quite the scene as he diligently attempted to nose dive the mice and voles under the grass. While he never did catch any, after watching a half dozen rodents make their escape across the river, I got to thinking that the Coastal Cutthroat cruising the estuary would probably love to eat one of those mice if given the chance. So the next time I visited the estuary I came equipped with several mouse patterns and sure enough I managed to rise several decent Cutthroat throughout the day, turning me onto a unique little niche fishery I had never known existed.

My old dog buddy a great fishing instructor 

Fast forward over a decade and my buddies Dyllon, TJ and I decided to head out to that same estuary to see if we couldn't mouse up some Cutthroat. We arrived at the estuary with a low tide at around 7:30AM and started working the water. I used to fish this spot multiple times a year, but it had been years since my last trip there and I was immediately struck by all of the habitat changes, with several of my favorite Cutthroat holding spots completely gone and a few new spots having formed over the years. One of these new spots in particular caught my eye with a nice deep channel tight against a grassy bank, which looked like the perfect spot for a Cutthroat to ambush a mouse.

Mouse water

I started off casting my mouse pattern tight against or even bouncing of the far bank then twitching and stripping it back in, while Dyllon did the same just upstream and downstream of me. A few casts in I spotted a log with a drop off behind it under the water and after casting my mouse just downstream of it, sure enough a Cutthroat darted out of hiding and smashed my mouse pattern. This is where things usually go wrong as mouse takes are vicious and rarely hook up. However this time I got a solid hook set and had a dime bright Cutthroat full of spunk on the end of my line. Despite only being around 14" the fish put a serious bend in my 6WT, jumped several times and just caused all around havoc in the hole before I was able to bring it to the net.

A gorgeous mouse eating Cutthroat fresh from the salt

While I expected the fish to put the hole down, it had the opposite effect and a school must have been holding in the spot, because after I released my fish both TJ and Dyllon rose several fish that looked to be much larger but none of them stuck. Unfortunately, the excitement ended just as fast as it had begun and after a few minutes the fish shut down completely and refused to rise again. For the next two hours, we worked our way upstream and while I managed to rise one more Cutthroat, the fishing remained slow so we decided to relocate to another estuary and try our luck there.

When we got to this next estuary, the tide was just starting to flood in and we immediately started seeing some fish activity, with TJ rising a Cutthroat to the mouse and me having a few chases and catching one small Cutthroat on the streamer I was now using. 

A small sea-run from our second spot

However once again, just like that, after a short bit of activity, the tide flooded past us and the Cutthroat disappeared and with that it was time to call it a day. While not the most productive day, catching a native sea-run Cutthroat on a mouse pattern is pretty hard to beat any day. 

Second chance steelhead

After my first fishless steelhead trip of the season, I planned on a second outing in early March with my buddy Chris, but as so often happens a winter storm descended on the coast just a few days before the trip and we were forced to cancel. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that I was finally able to break away for another trip, this time with my neighbor Dyllon. As the trip approached, flows bumped then started to drop and when the day approached it looked like the stars had aligned, as the flows were right in the sweet spot and better yet, it was supposed to be a rare warm late winter bluebird day.

After an early morning departure and a long drive in the dark, we arrived at the river and started our morning on one of my favorite stretches of one of my favorite rivers. The first run we hit had some good swing water, so while Dyllon nymphed the top end of the run, I swung a fly through the lower end. A couple casts in I got a decent tug but didn’t connect, however a few casts later I got another grab and this time hooked up with the fish. After a couple of headshakes, it was readily apparent that this wasn't a steelhead as the fish was completely outclassed by my 6/7 WT switch rod and after a quick fight I brought a beautiful 14" native Coastal Cutthroat to hand. It looked like the day was already off to a great start!

Morning on the river

After that first run, we headed upstream to the main stretch of river were were planning to spend the day on. This section of the river has always been special to me, as it was here that I encountered my largest steelhead to date and with a series of several good holes in close proximity it has always been a solid producer. It was my turn to take the first shot at the water with my nymph rod, so I got in position and started working the run. While there is a lot of water to pick apart in this run I started in a stretch of whitewater at the top, with a nice seam down the middle that slows to a rocky glide at the back. After a few casts I got a particularly good drift, and just as my indicator neared the front edge of one of the boulders it shot under and when I set the hook I was rewarded with a big head shake. This time I definitely had a steelhead on and my 8 WT was hard pressed to control the fish as it peeled line off the reel and put on a fine aerial display. Luckily I was able to keep the fish in the run after a few tense minutes we were able to bring the gorgeous buck to hand.

My first steelhead of the season

After releasing my first fish Dyllon wanted to cover the rest of the hole and the next hole upstream, so I decided to go downstream to the next piece of holding water. This next hole was once my favorite piece on the entire river, but over the years it has filled in and the flow has shifted for the worse and at this point it had been about five years since I last hooked a fish here. Needless to say I had low expectations. While the run didn’t look much better this year, after working the water for a bit I spotted some fishy looking water just in front of a boulder where some fast and slow water met. It was some tricky wading and a long cast with to get the right drift, but after a few tries I finally landed a cast right in the sweet spot. Sure enough as my line went past the boulder my indicator went under and I hooked into another steelhead. I immediately realized that I had a couple problems, first was that this was a much trickier location to land a fish, as it was deep right off the bank with a fast water below. Second was that Dyllon was out of ear shot so I was on my own. I tried my hardest to keep the fish in the hole, but it didn’t take long for it to head for the fast water to try to make a break for it. My only saving grace was that this steelhead was much smaller than my first one and I was able to turn it before to got too far downstream and after a bit of tug of war I was able to bring it to hand.

Fish #2 a smaller buck steelhead

At this point the day was already shaping up far better than I could have imagined as we had only been fishing about an hour and I already had two steelhead and a Cutthroat to hand. To make things even better, I was pretty sure that I had seen another steelhead move when I hooked my last one, and with it clearly being Dyllon’s turn I ran and grabbed him.

I found Dyllon still working the hole upstream to no avail and he was all too happy to come down to see if there was another fish there. Just like me it took a few casts to get the right drift, but as soon as he did, I watched a shadow moved out from behind the rock just as his indicator shot under. At first Dyllon seemed to be in control and managed to keep the fish in the hole, but it soon became apparent that this was a much larger fish and when it decided to head downstream there was little he could do to stop it. To add some additional stress to the fight, shortly after Dyllon hooked the fish another angler showed up and started fishing where Dyllon had just been and it was clear to if we wanted the first shot at the next hole we had been heading towards he would have to land this fish quickly. Unfortunately this fish had other ideas and Dyllon’s 7 WT was completely out gunned, next thing we knew we were chasing the fish downstream, passing his rod around trees and doing our best to keep the fish on. After traveling a few hundred yards downstream and fighting the fish for at least 15 minutes, I got my hand on its tail but it kicked off again. I figured one more run and we would have it, but just like that Dyllon’s hook came loose and the fish had won.

Upon heading back upstream, the other angler was fishing where Dyllon had hooked his fish and I caught my last one, but our hopes of fishing the next hole upstream were dashed we we noticed that a second angler had arrived and was already parked there. I don’t think I have ever encountered another angler on this piece of water so to have two show up before we could cover it was disappointing, but after talking, Dyllon and I decided to push upstream about a 1/2 mile to another good stretch of water. 

After a short bushwhack upstream, we came to our first piece of decent holding water where a tributary enters the main flow, but after thoroughly covering the water there didn’t appear to be any interested fish around so we pushed further up to a spot that has never failed to produce a steelhead for me yet. Dyllon took point on this spot and sure enough after a few casts he hooked into a fish, but unfortunately it was a brief encounter as the fish managed to toss the hook after a few head shakes and a short run.

This was about as far up as I had gone on this stretch, but as Dyllon wanted to cover the water a bit more I decided to head upstream to see if we could get to a couple runs that I knew where just around the corner. The run we were at and the next one upstream was separated by a stretch of fast water that had a few nondescript pockets here and there and after verifying we could indeed continue upstream, I decided to try a couple of the pockets on my way down to Dyllon.

The first spot seemed to be vacant, but on my third cast in the second pocket, my indicator shot under and I had another steelhead on my line. Although it was not too big, this was a hot fish and I had my hands full, especially with a log in the middle of the pocket and a bunch of woody debris at the end. Sure enough on of the first things the fish did was to head straight for the log and dive under it. Of course my line got hung up when it did, but luck was on my side and somehow after a couple of minutes I coaxed the fish back out from under the log and shortly after landed a beautiful chrome bright hen.

My pocket water steelhead - a dime bright hen

After releasing the hen to continue her journey to the spawning grounds, I continued downstream to let Dyllon know we could reach the next few runs. However, they next couple hours upstream proved completely fruitless, so it was time to head back downstream to where we started.

On our way back downstream we figured it would be worth trying the water where the other anglers were fishing on our way up. With Dyllon’s turn to catch a steelhead far over due, he took the first run at it. The upper part of the run where steelhead often hold was vacant, but when Dyllon started to work the often overlooked back of the run, sure enough his indicator went down and he had a solid fish on the end of his line. 

Dyllon fight a steelhead

This time Dyllon got a good hook set and was able to keep the fish in the run, so after a few minutes of back and forth fighting we finally brought the beautiful buck to hand.

Dyllon's beautiful double redbanded steelhead

With Dyllon finally on the board, we quickly covered the couple downstream holes from earlier in the day just to make sure that we hadn’t missed any other fish, then we headed down river to try out a new stretch of water.

A quite stretch of the river

Getting to this next stretch requires fording the river, which can only  be done at lower flows. We were right at the edge of the doable levels so I figured that if we could cross it was highly unlikely that we would run into anyone else. Sure enough we made it across and had the one of the better pieces of water on the river all to ourselves. At this point it was midday and the temperature was rising necessitating losing some layers and going with a tee shirt and that combined with the mayflies hatching made it hard to believe we were still fishing for winter steelhead. 

Despite some good looking water, the first few bends didn’t seem to hold any fish, but when I came to a run with a log on the nearshore I briefly hooked a steelhead. A couple of casts later and fifty feet downstream my indicator once again went under and this time I got a better hook set and had a nice steelhead on. The steelhead gave me a few good runs and jumps, but after a few minutes I brought yet another buck to hand.

Yet another steelhead buck for me

After releasing the buck, we moved downstream into some great looking swinging water where I was able to break out my switch rod again and ply the depths with an intruder. However, after covering the water my fly failed to entice any steelhead, but when Dyllon came though with his bead and hit the best piece of holding water in the run sure enough there was a steelhead there and Dyllon managed to hook it. This was a hot fish and quickly was in the backing and unfortunately for Dyllon after a couple of minutes his line went slack and it was gone.

After Dyllon's fish came loose, we moved on downstream and came to the to the top a canyon full of pocket water. Right at the top end I got another take down but this time I had a light weight on that turned out to be another beautiful native Coastal Cutthroat.

A chunky Coastal Cutthroat

We had hoped to find some good holding water in the canyon, but as is often the case most of the best water was just out of reach at the far side of the river and about a 1/2 mile into the canyon we came to a small set off falls and couldn’t go any further downstream. Just upstream of the falls there was a nice piece of holding water, that was once again on the far bank, but looked like a perfect place for a fish to rest after ascending the rapids. Dyllon commented that there was no way to reach it, but I took that as a challenge. I waded out as far as I could then made the longest cast I could without snagging up on my back cast and sure enough it was just enough to reach the nearest seam. My indicator had only drifted a couple of feet when it shot under on a steelhead came hurtling out of the water. Unfortunately with all of the line out and the quick take, I didn’t get a good hook set and that jump was enough to send my hook flying back at me. We spent a few more minutes trying to see if there was anyone else home before finally deciding it was time to head out. Before closing out the day and the season though there was just enough time to swing one more run and while I didn’t touch any fish in the run it made for a great way to end the day.

A great end to the day

I think more than any other day I can remember this outing was one of the best for winter steelhead I have had. The confluence of the fishing and the weather was unparalleled and it is a day that will certainly be ingrained in my memory for years to come.

Persistence pays off

One of my goals this past winter was to start to dial in the fishing at my local beach a bit more. However, after a half dozen fruitless trips I was starting to give up on this particular spot for this time of the year. My main draw with this beach has just been its proximity to home, but so far I have found the fishing to be spotty at best. Part of the challenge has just been learning the beach, as different beaches fish better or worse on different tides and particular times of the year. While I had over a dozen beaches close to home and dialed in when I lived in the Tacoma area, Olympia has been like starting over again much more challenging to just find access to beaches. 

Part of the challenge is that some beaches are traveling beaches, where Cutthroat cruise the shoreline looking for food and others are holding spots that consistently produce. This particular beach seems to fit into the first category and as such I have been be hitting it for short 30 minute intervals throughout the winter to try to pin down when and where the fish are most likely to stop and hold as they cruise along the shore.

Beautiful weather on the beach

This particular outing I was treated by a rare western Washington bluebird late-winter day, with no wind and a strong outgoing tide, as good of conditions as I could ask for. To make sure I was prepared for any situation I brought two rods, one with a floating crippled baitfish and the other with a sinking shrimp pattern. With the dead calm conditions, I started working the beach with a surface fly at small point, but and kept the second rod in reserve just in case. For the next 30 minutes I covered a good piece of water around a point and into a slight cove where I have caught fish during the summer months, but didn't have any initial luck. However, as the tide dropped I moved back to the point, where a good current had picked up and the tide was a perfect level for fish to cruise over a patch of broken shells and barnacle covered rocks, which is a substrate that often produces sea-runs. 

Sure enough a few minutes later I had a fish roll on my surface fly about 30 feet in front of me but it didn't take. Another cast with the surface fly failed to get any attention, so I quickly switched over to my other rod, made a cast and sure enough after a few quick strips I got a solid take and hooked into a decent fish. One thing I love about sea-run Cutthroat is how hard they fight for their size, and this fish was no exception, even giving my 6WT a run for its money. Luckily I got a good hookset and within a couple minutes was able to slide my net under the chrome bright native Cutthroat.

A flawless sea-run Coastal Cutthroat

After releasing the fish, I worked the point for another 20 minutes, but I didn't see any other signs of life. While this beach has been an inconsistent producer, it was great to finally connect with a fish, and continue to dial in when and where the fish are holding on my home stretch of water.  

Filling the knowledge gap

After moving down to Olympia Washington in the South Puget Sound several years ago I was excited to learn a new area for sea-run Cutthroat but I have been confronted with several challenges as I have been exploring the area and have had very limited success in my saltwater fishing. Yes I have caught fish but things have just been much less consistent than I would like. 

In moving down to Olympia, I quickly recognized just how different the deep south Sound is than my previous home waters around Gig Harbor and on the Kitsap Peninsula. Deep South Sound tends to be much more estuarine than the central Sound, being comprised of a number of finger inlets subject to extreme tides for example, we just recently had a 17 foot high tide at my local beach, where a 13 foot high is a big tide in the central Sound. Additionally, these beaches also tend to be much muddier than the cobble beaches and eel grass beds that I was used to fishing, which really changes fishing on windy days (low clarity) or at lower tide levels. This requires different tactics and different flies with prey items like ghost shrimp and arrow gobies being more important forage items in these areas and a lot of time to start to unlock each beach. In other words my skills up north are not fully transferable and it is time to learn a new.

However, perhaps the biggest challenges has been the overall lack of public lands in deep south Sound. I have always primarily been a walk and wade fisherman and while I had about a dozen beaches within 15 minutes in Gig Harbor, the pickings are much more slim down here and it is quite clear that public beach access was not prioritized to the same degree in Thurston County compared to what I was used to in Pierce and Kitsap counties.

Another part of my lack of overall success in deep south Sound has been a lack of effort on my part, while I once had a deep love of fishing the saltwater, after guiding and teaching classes for several years it started to feel more like work than I would like and to be frank I just think I needed a bit of a break. As such I have put much more time into exploring flowing waters over the last few years. On top of that I have also felt like I had a bit of jinx on me when it came to success on the saltwater, with how mobile sea-run Cutthroat are there is always a bit of being in the right place at the right time needed for success and it seemed like despite fishing tides and structures that I know should hold fish even at my old haunts the stars just never wanted to align. That was until my last Cutthroat outing when my friend Steve and I got into some solid Cutthroat and the old fire I had for fishing the saltwater was finally reignited. 

After that trip, I decided that it is time to start really learning these beaches even if it is just for a quick 30 minutes here or there. So putting my plan into action, first I scoured every resource I could and pinned new beaches to try out, discovering several new access points in the process, then I started hitting beaches.

A quick afternoon outing on my home beach

My first outing after coming to this resolution, was just a 30 minute quick who cares what the tide is doing outing with low expectations. By 'who cares who the tide is doing', I don't mean to say that I didn't check the tides, as I did and it just didn't look ideal for when I was getting out there, being the start of an outgoing with a relatively small tidal exchange. However, I hadn't tried this beach on such a tide and so it was worth checking. However, as expected with barely any current the fish weren't around, but it was at least still a gorgeous break on the water.

On my next outing I was a bit more excited, I had a few hours to work with, the sun was out and this time there was a great outgoing tide. I decided to go a bit further a field and my friend and coworker Alexei was able to join so we hoped in the car and scouted out a few beaches. The first beach that we stopped at looked excellent, as we could already see some nice tidal rips and seams forming, but just one hiccup. Being a weekend there were already 3 fly anglers and two gear anglers working the water. However, that was a pretty clear indicator that this beach will be worth revisiting, just at a time when the crowds are down. Next we scouted out another access spot just a few minutes away that looked promising, but the tide was just still too high to fish so again worth noting for the future, but now it was time to hit the water. 

I landed on a spot that I have fished a handful of times and caught fish at on several of those trips and luckily when we got there we had the place to ourselves. One thing that I have found over the past few years of fishing streams is that versatility greatly increases my success and as such I rarely just bring one rod with me anymore. Today was no different and I decided to start out with a surface fly on my 5WT while I put a trusty  my 6WT with an intermediate line and an orange sea run bugger on in my O'Pros Third Hand rod holder at my hip. Alexei started with a peach sea-run bugger and we got to casting. This beach is the type that I am used to fishing, with a good tidal flow and barnacle encrusted rocks and while it looked great there was no sign of fish so we relocated down the beach to a point of land that often attracts fish. The point has a drop off and I have found fish here anywhere from the deeper water to just a couple feet off shore in the shallows. With the strong tide the current was a bit pushy off the point, so I switched over to my 6WT with the sea-run bugger to try to get down to the fish and started working the water.  However, after ten minutes on the point I hadn't seen any signs of life, but as I worked my way around the point I thought I saw a fish roll not far down the beach and decided to relocate and check it out. 

I was glad that I did too as on my first cast I had a solid grab just as my fly was coming parallel to shore, but I missed it. However, when I tossed my fly back out parallel to shore this time I only got a few strips in when I got another solid grab and hooked up this time. It was clear that this wasn't a large fish, but it still fought hard for its size and when I brought to hand it was a gorgeous dime bright 10" native Coastal Cutthroat.

A beautiful little sea-run Cutthroat

After I got my fish Alexei joined me and on this stretch of beach and almost immediately had a grab but didn't hook up. I continued fishing where I had gotten my fish for another 10 minutes but didn't get any other grabs to I moved 100 feet down the beach and once again bam within the first couple casts I got into the fish again with another couple cookie 10" Cutthroat. Once this spot died down I moved again and while my first cast seemed like it wasn't going to produce anything, right as my line reached the rod tip I twitched it to the side and a 14" Cutthroat slashed it with enough aggression that it actually made me jump. As a result of this, I got a poor hookset and while a fought the fish for a few moments it was able to shake the hook. Next cast though I had another grab and this time was a bit more prepared and was able to bring another 10 or 11" Cutthroat to hand.

At this point Alexei who is still a bit new to this fishery hadn't caught a Cutthroat so I went over and described what I was experiencing, gave him one of my orange Sea Run Buggers and suggested that he try a bit further down the beach. Unfortunately, by the time we put this plan into place it seemed that the optimum tide window had passed with the shellfish beds that the Cutthroat feeding over being exposed and as such the Cutthroat seemed to have moved on.  However, on the chance that another school might move in we continued to work the beach for another half hour just enjoying the rare gorgeous bluebird evening on the Puget Sound before the current slowed and it was time to call it a day.

Alexei working the water as the sun starts to sink on the horizon

All and all, this was a beautiful day on the water and while Alexei unfortunately didn't land any Cutthroat, I had gotten into several and lost or missed several of others as well.

After my successful outing with Alexei, I focused my next few outing on scouting out several beaches scattered around the South Puget Sound with pretty minimal success. 

Scouting out 'new' local beach

These scouting trips were more opportunistic and about checking the beaches out at differing (often less than ideal tides) and while I found several promising beaches the fish just weren't there. However, on my latest of these scouting trips, I had a bit more time to work with and did a tour of three beaches on an outgoing tide. The first two spots were relatively well known access areas and while the tide looked decent, there was just no sign of life at either beach. 

Another great looking beach, just no fish around

My third stop was at a constricted passage that I have fish before with some success on similar tides and when I got there the current was already really cooking, so it was just a matter of finding some fish. With the strong current, I started out with a shrimp pattern in a little cove that was forming a back eddy, which I figured was likely to be trapping baitfish and other forage items and I started working the water. It didn't take long for my intuition to pay off as after about ten minutes on the water I got a solid grab and hooked into a decent fish. I have always found that fish in the saltwater often move in schools, so I did my best to fight this fish quickly and after a short battle I bought a beautiful 15" resident Coho Salmon to the net.

A beautiful wild resident Coho Salmon

After snapping a quick photo I turned the Coho loose and quickly got my line back out and sure enough about halfway through the retrieve I got another solid grab and briefly connected with a fish, but it popped off. Once more I tossed my line back out and got another grab, but this time didn't hook up and just as quickly as the fish had come they were gone. This clearly was a school of resident Coho and I have always found that if you can stay on the school you can continue to pick fish off. This is easy when there are jumpers, however none of these fish had shown themselves on the surface so I had to guess which direction the fish had gone and unfortunately while I went right it appeared the the fish went left. 

With no further sign of the resident Coho, I continued working my way down the beach and I did get one more great while working my fly over a shellfish bed, but otherwise the beach had gone dead and when it started pour down rain and I was not wear raingear I knew that it was time to call it a day.

While my success rate on my recent trips, was less than stellar, I still managed to find a few fish and it has been great to just get out on the water, reconnect with this fishery and start to fill in my deep South Sound knowledge gaps.

The first of the winter sea-runs

One of the aspects I love the most about living in western Washington is the amount of unique year round fishing options available. While we may not have that great quality dry fly fishing that the Rockies, the sheer diversity of native salmonids, presence of anadromous fish and the unique fisheries help to make up for it. Growing up near Puget Sound, I spent countless hours of my teens and twenties fishing the saltwater for sea-run Coastal Cutthroat, but after spending several years guiding I had largely moved on from this fishery in favor of moving waters over the past few years. However, a recent outing reminded what makes the saltwater and these hard fighting Cutthroat so special.

After my last outing for Cutthroat on a small stream back in November, a friend of mine and fellow native enthusiast Steve Vedra reached out about coming out to Washington to try his luck for his first Coastal Cutthroat. Our original plan was to fish a couple coastal streams for Cutthroat and with a chance of steelhead, but as the day approached the weather turned for the worst and the rivers blew out. With a full day to fish and options limited, I decided to show him the saltwater fishery, after my last few saltwater outings proving to be quite fruitless, I warned Steve of the inconsistent nature of the fishery at times, but he was still all in.

With Steve coming all of the way from Indiana to try for his first Coastal Cutthroat, I wanted to give us the best possible odds, so I picked an area that has treated me well this time of the year and where we could easily beach hop if we needed to search for fish. One of the key aspects of fishing the Puget Sound is hitting the tides right and the day we were fishing there was a morning high tide that looked great, but meant that our starting options would be limited by our ability to make a back cast. As such I picked a beach that I had never fished but knew had plenty of casting room regardless of the tide for our first stop. With great company and conversations on native trout, fishing and life in general, the drive out to the beach flew by and before long we were rigging up and making our way down the hill towards the water shortly after the sun came up.

Dawn on the Sound

With our recent bout of wet and stormy weather, when we reached the beach it appeared that we had won the weather lottery, rain had been in the forecast for the day all week and while it was certainly a grey skies kind of day, it was also dry and more importantly dead calm on the Sound. With the calm weather we both started out with surface flies and it didn’t take long for the Cutthroat to notice them. With both Steve and myself getting several vicious takes within the first 20 minutes at the beach. While fishing top water results in some spectacular takes it comes with a low hook up rate but at least now we knew the fish were here.

Steve working a surface fly for sea-run Cutthroat

With fish around, Steve switched to a subsurface worm pattern, while varied between an orange searun bugger and top water baitfish pattern. As the tide started to fall, we were able to work our way down the beach towards a good looking rocky stretch with Steve getting a couple grabs along the way. After fishing for about an hour Steve got a solid grab and this time connected a short fight netted his first Coastal Cutthroat.

Steve's first Coastal Cutthroat - a beautiful 15" sea-run

Having pursued native trout for over 20 years now, catching a new variety of trout is a priceless experience and getting to share that with Steve was an absolute joy!

After Steve released his Cutthroat, we continued working our way down the beach and while I rose one more fish and Steve briefly hooked into another Cutthroat and I rose one more on the top water fly before things slowed down. With a long gap since the last take and the encounters with Cutthroat that we did have being somewhat sporadic we made the call to move to another beach that had treated me well in the past.

One thing that had played into my selection of spots for the day was the proximity of each of these beaches to spawning streams. With Coastal Cutthroat typically spawning in mid- to late-winter there are almost always Cutthroat cruising these areas and this next spot was not exception. Another plus with the next spot was that there were two beaches separated by a small cove within close proximity, so if the Cutthroat weren't at one they might be at the other. So after a short drive to our next spot, we were back on the water. We started out on the south side of the cove and quickly worked our way along the beach, but after a half hour with not so much as a tap we decided to jump over to the other side of the cove.

Looking across the water at our next spot

Upon relocating across the cove, we made our way out the the point and immediately got to work casting. This time, we were much more exposed to the wind so we focused our attention on subsurface flies and Steve worked the tip of the point with his worm pattern, while I moved a little south of and covered the edge of a decent looking oyster bed with an orange sea run bugger. Anytime I am on a beach looking for Cutthroat and come across an oyster bead, it is always worth a few casts as these areas hide lots of small critters making them prime foraging grounds of Cutthroat. As it would have it, this one was no exception and after just a few casts I got a solid tug and hooked into a decent fish. I always say the sea-run Cutthroat punch above the weight and this fish proved that by putting a solid bend in my 6WT, but luck was on my side and before long I was sliding a beautiful 17" sea-run into the net.

My first fish of the day and year - a flawless sea-run Cutthroat

Sea-run Cutthroat often travel in schools, so I quickly released the fish and got back to casting a little ways down the beach and wouldn't you know it, another Cutthroat almost immediately grabbed my fly. This fish was much smaller, at perhaps 12", so I quickly turned it loose without handling it and got back at it again. My next two casts also produced similar sized 10" to 12" Cutthroat and at this point I called Steve who hadn't gotten a grab over, gave him one of the flies and swapped spots. However, when I relocated back to the oyster bed I hooked into yet another 12" Cutthroat, then just as fast as the had moved in the school seemed to disappear. We covered the beach for another 30 minutes and I only had one more grab before the tide started winding down and it was time to move on. In my experience slack tide is typically not very productive and as such it was to perfect time head out, grab lunch and relocate.

We finished our day off by working the incoming tide at what once had been my 'home beach' in Gig Harbor, but after an hour of flogging the water we hadn't seen the slightest sign of life and when the weather finally gave out and the promised rain arrived it was time to call it a day. All and all this was an amazing day on the water that has helped to reignite my love of fishing the saltwater and chasing sea-run Coastal Cutthroat. On top of that it was an absolute joy to share this unique native trout fishery with Steve and get to watch him land his first Coastal Cutthroat.

A chilly Coastal Cutthroat outing

After over a month in which I was unable to get out on the water, I finally found a day where both my and Dyllon's schedules lined up along with a gap in Washington's persistently rainy weather align and made a go of it. Being in the transition between the fall trout and winter steelhead season, we decided to try out a small coastal stream that we figured should offer a good opportunity for Coastal Cutthroat, Coho Salmon and even the potential for some early steelhead.

The drive out to the coast, was smooth but as we approached the stream, we watched as the temperature dropped from a reasonable 38 degrees to a down right chilly 27 by the time we reached the logging gate for our walk in. With the balmy temperatures the mile walk into the stream was quite welcome as it got our body temperatures up and we were rearing to go by the time we finally reached the water.

Sunrise on the stream

The first hole looked great and Dyllon took point at fishing an egg imitation at the head of the pool while I worked my streamer through tanic waters at the back. The streamer produced nearly instantaneous results as I got a grab on the first cast then hooked up with 10” Cutthroat, which popped off at the rod tip on the next one. However, that was the only sign of life and with that we started working our way downstream.

Dyllon working a riffle on the stream

When I choose this stream, I had expected that we would find either Chum or Coho Salmon spawning throughout it, but the next few bends showed signs of salmon or Cutthroat for that matter. However, after a few bends we came upon a great looking riffle and while there were still no salmon around a Cutthroat grabbed my egg imitation right away and I was on the board with the first fish of the day.

My first fish of the day, a small but beautiful native Coastal Cutthroat

This riffle proved to be one of the most productive of the day, but with temperatures still in the 20’s iced guides were a constant source of frustration and required clearing or dipping our rods in the water after every couple casts.

Iced guides

However, the cold temperatures did not seem to impede the appetites of the Cutthroat and a few casts after the first one, I hooked into a much nicer Cutthroat. While this Cutthroat put of a solid fish and even jumped once, it was no match for my 6WT and after a couple minutes I brought the 15” beauty to the net.

Another gorgeous native Cutthroat 

The riffle

While I had worked my way downstream through the rifle, Dyllon worked the top end and got a small Cutthroat as well, before we switched spots and he got a nice 12” in the lower end where I had gotten my big one. The top end of the riffle wasn’t done producing though and I brief hooked into a couple more Cutthroat and before I finally got and solid hook up with another larger Cutthroat. When this Cutthroat surfaced, I could tell it was something special as all I could see were the reddish tones on its side, but it’s true beauty wasn’t revealed until I brought it to the net. That is when I could admire the colors of this male Cutthroat that was starting to show its spawning regalia.

Without a doubt one of most beautiful Coastal Cutthroat I have caught

A close up of the rosey gill plates and two toned fins on this Cutthroat 

This Cutthroat was one of those rare gems that transcends size and will forever be etched in my mind for its sheer beauty. However, encounters with such fish are always fleeting and before long it was time to watch as the fish darted back into the tea stained waters. After this fish, the riffle produced one more small Cutthroat before it shut down and it was time to move on again.

This stream was characterized by short stretches of fast productive water separated by long reaches of unproductive slow lake like water making for long walks between holding water. As such we had to cover nearly a quarter mile before hitting our next spot, but the walk was worth it.

The next riffle downstream 

Dyllon and I approached this next riffle from opposite shores and as such were able to effectively cover each side of it. With this approach after a few casts both of us hooked up with a double, with Dyllon landing a beautiful 14” Cutthroat starting to show its spawning colors, while I landed a 16”er that appeared to be recently arrived from the sea.

My largest Cutthroat of the day, a heavily spotted 16”er

After releasing our respective Cutthroat, Dyllon’s side of the stream proved to be the more productive as he went on to hook into several more decent Cutthroat, while my side only produce a single additional small but brightly colored Cutthroat fresh from the salt.

Once the riffle stopped producing, we once again continued on and covered another 3/4 mile of water downstream, but failed to find any spots as productive as the two riffles. However, what we did find were several deep pools and runs that any steelhead angler would dream of before the stream became hemmed in by a canyon. This canyon made for a natural spot to turn around and while we didn’t find any salmon or steelhead the excellent Cutthroat fishing and beautiful water made for the perfect end to the fall trout season and certainly got me excited for the steelhead season to come.

A frosty end to a great day on the water