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