cutthroat flies

going to head to the coast and chase some early spring salmon. also thought about bringing the fly rod to chase some trout. was wondering what you guys would suggest for flies.

has woolybuggers, should I go weighted or unweighted with a floating line? also, have a variety of nymphs....

looking forward to any suggestions...

BM
Spiders and reverse spiders with orange, yellow, red or black bodies.
Elk hair caddis, Adams, BWO's or small stimulators for dries.
I've had lots of success the past few years fishing copper johns, lighting bugs and caddis pupa under an indicator for cutts.
For buggers, I'd add a bead head if throwing them on a floater or use an unweighted bugger with a sink tip.
Good luck and looking forward to a report.
SF

thanks for the advise! looking forward to it.

Question: do you ever try to add a bb shot the the leader in order to get it down? will that throw off the cast? been awhile since I have broken out the fly rod...

Stonefish has the fly selection pegged. I personally like a small (size 10?) Muddler minnow as well.

Getting down is usually not a big deal with sea-runs (or any trout, for that matter), but weighting the fly itself is ideal in most cases. Unweighted buggers seem to work better off a sink tip (or with just a bit of split shot on the leader). For weighting buggers, I like cone heads (in black). They provide a "jiggy" action the trout seem to dig, and they get down fast. Whatever you do, I don't recommend using sink tips for trout. They're a bear to cast on light rods, and they affect your ability to mend your line once they sink, which is a disadvantage in trouty pocket water, IMO. A floating line never leaves me feeling compromised for trout fishing, except in stillwater applications that I don't use much. If you feel the need to get down further, split shot on the leader (or better yet, tungsten putty) will get you where you need to be. Especially with split shot, however, you will want to avoid hitting your rod while casting.

Have fun.

Good stuff, thanks for the response.

Holding off till next weekend due to slow Salmon action. Going to give it a go next Saturday. Going to go on a hunt for some of the flries you gentlemen mentioned...

One last fly recommendation. I know you'll be fishing rivers, but cutts are opportunistic feeders.

May is a great month for ants. All of the local lakes I've been fishing have been experiencing pretty good sized flying carpenter ant hatches and the fish have been on them.

I have landed more cutties on flys with yellow than all the other colors combined. Big spider flys or beetles with some ugly yellow in them work great. I like to cast right at the shore of a cut bank, laid over log, or any kind of structure and slowly retrieve it back. Good luck and take some pics.





Tyler