I tried targeting sea run cutts for the first time last night. I gotta admit, that kind of fishing could grow on me. Short drive after work, wading knee deep in crystal clear water on a flat in the sound, lots of waterfowl moving through, nobody else with a rod in sight.

I left my fly rod at home due to my relative lack of skill with it plus what seemed like a stiff wind early in the evening.

I picked up one nice cutthroat (maybe 12 or 13 inches) on a small Little Cleo (single hook) and had one another slash a couple times at a tiny stick bait and follow to my boots. I also saw a couple cutts rising, and something with a little heft to it jump.

In general, how aggressive are these fish? Can you hook up most often with a fly rod? I'd love to hear some tactics, both fly and spinning, that have worked well for others.

Src are very aggressive from what I have seen, I am not a pro at targeting them as I am usually chasing bottom fish when at the beach.

Our sea-run cutthroat are a very user friendly fish that is tailored made for the fly rod.

The cutthroat feed on a variety of small bait fish (juvenile sand lance, pink and chum fry, sculpin, etc) and a wide range of other smaller critters. At times they can pretty picky as to what they will take (often responding to fishing pressure) however there are number of fly patterns around that match the various food items well and provide a solution to most fishing situations. A visit to your local fly shop or a couple evenings reading one of the several excellent books out on sea-runs will help with the learning curve and provide you with decent sampling of good to flies.

Depending on one's casting skills and weather conditions 5 to 7 weight rods would be good choices of weapons. Arm those with weight forward lines (floaters and maybe a sink tip to start) and reel that holds some backing (you'll appreciate that extra "string" later in the summer and fall the chances of encounter a salmon or two).

Each beach seems to fish best at a specific tide stage with some best on the last of flood, others on the ebb, etc. The hard and fast rule with cutthroat is that there is no hard and fast rule so don't be afraid to experiment with patterns, retrieves, tide stages and locations.

Remember to always rise your gear off with fresh water after each outing.

One word of warning - chasing sea-runs can be addictive!

Tight lines
Curt

I fly fish for them. They are good biters, but they can get picky. I have been surprised how close to shore they cruise. I initially figured that the farther out i waded and cast, the better i would do. Eventually, i figured out that a 30-foot cast while standing on the beach is usually more effective. I've had them take in 3 inches of water as often as in 6 feet. Most baitfish patterns work. Clousers, candlefish, sand lance, and chum babies(especially this time of year) will all do the trick. I imagine that a Rooster Tail in olive would be deadly almost any time, if you would rather fish hardware.

My favorite beach is no longer a secret, and I don't live close to the Sound anymore, so I don't fish them much anymore in the salt. I do love it when they start nosing into the local cricks, however. Find a pod in a river, and the action can be fast and furious.

WA fly fishing has about 400 posts about this. Brown or chartreuse clouser has been good to me on Kitsap Co. beaches...

They are a great little fish. Scrappy, aggressive and good eating when and where your allowed to keep one. These days, I let all mine go.

They will hit just about anything and are suckers for a well presented fly if your so inclined that direction

I've been fooled countless times by their bite while steelhead fishing.....at first disappointed that it's "only a trout" and not it's larger cousin but then equally impressed with their fight and good looks. An if your lucky, you get to shake hands with some brutes like this leopard spotted fella.

Want to get my 1st salty cutt this year, its on my 2dolist.

BTW, if any of you have the 2012 Trout of North America calendar, the March fish is the yellowfin cutthroat & sure looks like one of our SRC's




That's a beauty there... Eric


c/22

I'll take you Brad. Get the keys from Dad and well hit some of his favorite haunts.

I love it when they hit the local rivers in the summer/fall. one year a local river was so packed full of 12-14 inch cutts catching 15-20 was the norm for a few months.
that same year Angler hooked into one 4-5# Monster.

Mid 70's, summers off....because my career choice was public school teacher. This choice allowed me to fish tide waters in Region 6. North River, Johns River, Elk River, Hoquiams, Humptulips, Satsop, Wynoochee, Wishkah, and the Chehalis saw lot's of me......I trolled...Hillabrant and used worms for bait........lot's of fish, many of them 18" +.......limit was 8 and limits were easy. The largest I ever caught was 23 1/2", drifting "night crawler".

Remember hearing horror stories of people fishing the Hoh and Queets, using sucker meat for bait.......catching baskets full of sea run.

On light gear, for thier size....one of the best fighting fish.

Old saying used to be "Little wild black berries and sea run cutthoat" best after 4th of July......

Rules changed, limit went to 2 of a certain size.......many people stopped fishing for them.

Seems to be on the rebound.....that is a good thing....

I hooked a few this winter on a coastal stream swinging 2/5 oz spoons. Those spoons are up to a third of the size of the cutties I hooked. Very aggressive little guys to hit something so large compared to them. I've always wanted to bust out the 5wt and hit carkeek with some sand lance patterns but haven't got around to it. Plus that place is swarming with hippies.

I see them whipping flies at the Purdy Spit (bridge) in Gig Harbor everyday. They must be catching them because they are there like clockwork. Thought about running down there with some hardware but thought I might have to fight my way out.

This is what I have heard and also what has kept me away from even giving it a shot.

Used to fish for them quite often as a kid along the south sound beaches... and generally did pretty well. I landed a 24 inch monster on a krocodile spoon off my uncle's beach place on Raft Island about 10 years ago right at sunset on a high tide. I thought it was a small salmon as I was fighting it.

It was common to catch 3-4 an evening. Most were 8-14 inches. Triple teasers, dick nites, rooster tails, and spoons all worked well and was awesome on the light rods. Definitely have a lot of good memories chasing cutties off the beaches.



Streamer

Very fun fish to target and super aggressive.
Just about any small spinner, spoon or fly with work.
From the 60's through the 80's, we would fish for them after we limited on salmon or if fishing was slow (which wasn't often back then). Even back then I don't remember keeping many of them.
When we bought bait, we'd always ask for some small firecracker herring.
Our favorite way was to troll them cut plug herring on trout rods with little or no weight. We always stayed close to shore going by the rule of wanting to see the bottom off of both sides of the boat.
It was pretty cool to be able to see the herring spinning behind the boat and a cutthroat come up and attack it.
I have lots of good memories of fishing that way with my dad.

FF02 makes a great point. Always make your first casts from dry land.
I see lots of folks targeting searuns that are waded out to their tits. Same goes for coho. No need to wade deep if at all. If you do, turn around and fish towards the beach, because that is where a lot of the fish are.

Warning - Stay away from Carkeek!!!!!!!

So many rivers have sea runs but if you want to slay them wait until the end of July and head to the Cowlitz. There are so many of them and it keeps going right through November. Reagrding salt water Stonefish is right. He and I fly fish for them but the other methods he's mentioned will work if you're not into fly fishing. All sea runs caught in Puget Sound have to be realeased and fished with single barbless hooks. You can keep them in the Cowlitz and the vast majority of them are hatchery fish. You can even use bait there.

So many rivers have sea runs but if you want to slay them wait until the end of July and head to the Cowlitz. There are so many of them and it keeps going right through November. Regarding salt water Stonefish is right. He and I fly fish for them but the other methods he's mentioned will work if you're not into fly fishing. All sea runs caught in Puget Sound have to be released and fished with single barbless hooks. You can keep them in the Cowlitz and the vast majority of them are hatchery fish. You can even use bait there.

as far as i remember, you cannot retain any cutts in any saltwater in the state... rivers are different...

i like using the large Dick Nites, and either troll, or cast for them.. if trolling, get into about 15-18 feet of water, 1/2 ounce sinker, 4 ft leader, and a large 50/50 Nite, and troll around Koke speed and slightly faster in some cases, 1.0 - 1.5 MPH... my largest was 20 years ago, 28 inches, and probably around 4-5 pounds, didnt have a digital camera back then, so no pics... brother did release one about 3.5 pounds 2 years ago, and i think he got a pic, not sure, ill ask him... deffinately will be going after them this summer...

i prefer high tides, with ZERO wind, and minimal movement on the water... the nice hot days in July and August, during lows the rocks heat up, and when it turns and goes to high tide, the water is nice and warm, and they will go crazy... Hood Canal area (not giving specifics), is probably the best in the state for them IMO, have caught them other places, but the size in the Canal are alot bigger than most... even on light fiberglass Steelhead rods, the bigger ones will give you a run for sure...

good luck..

Eric, is that a searun or a yellow belly? And whats the difference? I always thought the searuns were more chrome colored, and the yellowbellies were the cutts with the vibrant colors and leopard spots that stayed in the river all year long? not tryin to jack this tread, just curious as I've been trying for several summers to land a 22" cutt on the upper part of one of my local rivers. I know big ones exist because i saw one while snorkeling that at first glance I thought was a steelhead. Football shaped and way bigger than 20" with big big spots. I've also heard many stories and seen mounts of bigger ones. I've hooked a few big fish but never got a look them. My biggest to date is 20.5" caught 3 summer ago, it was the most beautiful fish I've ever caught, I'll post a pic when I find it.

Searuns are my favorite fish to chase around here and I have posted a number of pics in the past over on the fly board. Single barbless hooks and CnR in the salt.