Fished the salt for about an hour this evening. great to be back out on the water. nice breeze out of the south, some rain drops falling and a nice outgoing tide.
Hit a resident silver on my second cast and then proceeded to land 3 nice cutts up to 17" or so. had several other strikes and saw a couple more fish jump, but the resis werent there in numbers. oh well, maybe next time.

Any pictures? They are always dandies..

I have to put them onto my computer and see how they turned out.
Hopefully i can go out tonight and I'll take a few more pictures.

D3,

Sounds like some of the cutts have spawned and dropped back into the salt then. Are they eating chum fry yet, or is it still a bit early for that? I tied a few chum fry patterns last year thinking I'd try them on saltwater cutts, but it interferes with spring steelheading - such a dilemma.

Sg

Have not seen the big schools of chum fry yet but i have seen a few in the salt, very few so far.
I'd go steelheading if i had the choice, but the proximity is what makes the cutts so nice. i can fish for 30 minutes on the way home and get a little fix for the day.
went out today and got blanked, although we did find a few blackmouth.

I have been seeing a few fry starting to show up the last few times I have been out. Atleast out on the Hoh. I haven't seen or been to any of the rivers right around PA for a little while now.

D3 is pretty fortunate to be finding good cutthroat fishing right now. March is, in most areas, the peak spawning month for them and, while some may have already spawned and returned to the salt and some may not yet have entered their natal streams, this is the month when most of them will be on the redds.

According to Smalma the pink fry hatch a little earlier than the chums and should be in the rivers and estuaries and showing up along the beaches already. I think a lot of the cutthroat (as well as bull trout) follow the fry (both pink and chum) down as they provide a sort of moveable feast and allow them to regain condition quickly after the rigors of spawning.

If you have access to Les Johnson's cutthroat book, his (and Dan Lemaich's) Thorne River Emerger is a terrific fry imitation.

Its not a time of year that i like to target the cutts. It is nice to get out and fish but the reality is that targeting post spawn fish is pretty lame.
Once they start to feed a little more and recover from the spawn is when i like to fish them a little more.
Right now i try to find resident silvers or blackmouth but do happen upon a few cutts.

they are thick in front of my place rite now.

Matt

your report? or was the wind a problem ?

Nice Blackmouth

Hey, been meaning to post something forever or so...., My sister/brother-in-law live in Suquamish and have lived there for 30 years or so.....I brought my boat down there last summer for 2 weeks, and hammered the silvers/released many kings.....hooked many tiny silvers on the flyrod trolling thru the bay just S of Kingston.....I remember catching cutthroat from the beach below their house(just N of the suquamish dock) as a kid, and after seeing all your pics, wonder if some of the fish I missed were cutthroat. I'm DYING to get out and catch some of those like the ones that you posted in those those wonderful pics....We had so much fun/sucess with the silvers, that after a 20 year hiatus, brother in law bought a boat(he taught me to fish as a kid).....just wondering, is that side good for the cutts???? I don't need your favorite spot, just some help in where they might be...Sincerely Tom

let me know when you are going to be in the area Tom and we can meet up and talk cutts.