Searun Cutts

Haven't posted a fishing report in a long time.
Searun cutt fishing was pretty good this fall. Many of the fish I caught were puking up sandlance, shiner perch and anchovies.
A silver Goldie fly pattern was the most successful pattern for me this fall.
Last year there weren't many big fish around on my favorite beach. This year it put out some nice fish. I lost two massive jumbo cutts this fall that I would have liked to shaken hands with.
Tides were odd so I had to fish when I could.
Depending on location, some fish were infested with Argulids while others were totally clean.
It fun to watch the fish turn more golden color as fall progresses.
Not many folks out fishing and the scenery is nice. Having targets to cast to while fish jump and rise is always enjoyable.
Here are a few less then stellar pics from this fall.
SF

There are some real beauties in there!

I haven't done that in a long time, I should get back into it.

Fish on...

Todd

Couple of tanks in there, always look forward to your sea-run posts, thanks for sharing!

"Here are a few less then stellar pics from this fall.
SF"

Proceeds to post incredibly stellar pics from this fall. Those are gorgeous fish and the scenery is just too cool!

Beauties! The way other fisheries are getting looks like a great alternative. I haven't done it in years. Thought about dumping my pontoon boat in and trolling w/ the tide w/ a turn around down the beach. Thanks for sharing!

I was involved a lot in SRCT research and figuring out management. Note a few thongs about a fish that lives it's whole life in Puget Sound, rears for two years in the crik, and spends most of its time near the beaches.

The populations are expanding. They succeed in the habitat-both fresh and salt- and offer a pretty spread out season.

What single management action was taken? C&R in the mixed stock areas of the marine waters. In freshwater the old minimum size of 6" provided decent protection and the R6 went to C&R for them, too. Simply don't kill them.

What is interesting about searuns is their life histories and how different it is between the early entry north sound fish and late entry south sound and canal fish. In general, the types of streams they utilize for spawning are vastly different.
I’ve caught some nice fish in the salt in the north sound but much prefer fishing for their southern cousins.
SF

The north sound (river fish) chase the Chinook and pinks into the rivers to feed on eggs, etc. So, they are smaller as they spend less time in the salt.
I think they may be 14" or so at first spawning (females) while the late entry females are more like 16".

The Late Entry fish are creek spawners and enter the streams later. Allows them to grow larger (at a given age) than the early entry fish. Then, factor in the creek residents and those who hang in lakes.

01/02/2021

Reading this post sure brought back some memories from the mid-70's.

I was a school teacher, so summer months gave me a chance to fish on this fine fish.

1974-1980--Trolled the North, Elk, Johns, East Hoquiam and the Chehalis Rivers. My lure of choice was size 8 Hilderbrandt & worms. I caught fish in all the rivers but my choice was the Chehalis from Montesano down toward Central Park.

I was amazed that a fish 16-20" could hit that hard, jump pulling the gear clear out of the water, fight like mad and taste that good.

Fishing was around the 4th of July....Old saying "little wild black berries and sea run cutthroat" catching/picking was about the same time.

Limit went to 2, and summer run steelhead became my summer fish of choice.

Thanks for posting and showing nice examples of sea run's.

Drifter,
Cool to hear your searun stories. I’ve caught some nice cutts out of the Chehalis system while salmon and steelhead fishing.

In my younger days before I started fly fishing, we used to fish for them in the sound trolling. Gear of choice was a trout rod, spinning reel, a 1/4 to 1/2 Oz of weight and those little firecracker herring which we cut plugged.

We always made sure you could see bottom off both sides of the boat.
It was fun to be able to see the cutts come up and attacked the herring as it spun behind the boat.
SF

For a while, WDG was trying to start a true sea-run hatchery program in Hodd Canal. We fished on them one time and it was amazing how shallow water they were in. Took a few less than a foot from shore.

Cutthroat, in all flavors, are my favorite fish.

They definitely inhabit shallow water.
I’ve seen a few times where there backs are out of water next to shore while chasing chum fry.
Lots of folks say don’t wade while fishing for them, but I’ve had good luck wading out then fishing back into shore to fish shallow water more effectively.

One of the coolest experiences was during a super extended cold spell into the teens for several days.
When I arrived the southern end of the canal was iced over. As the tide started going out the ice started breaking up. The noise it was making was crazy. It created gaps in between the sheets of ice as they floated by which you could fish. I threw a bunny polychaete worm pattern out that landed on the ice. I stripped it off the edge of the ice and a nice size cutt exploded it as it hit the water.

Also ran into a polychaete marine worm hatch which I’ve never seen before or since. Thousands of marine worms piled into a very small area. Looked like a worm orgy.
SF

I have caught sea runs in Oregon and Northern California,never in the salt though. I rank them up there with the prettiest fish there are.

Wow! An actual fishing post on a fishing board. Color me impressed.

Nice work Stoney!

Coastal Cutts can be both anadromous and resident, just like rainbows. In the same stream and often living side by side. Certainly those upstream of physical barriers are resident but below that you can have both.

A lot of the resident cutts have a lot different look to them versus the anadromous version.
Much darker and more heavily spotted, though I’ve caught post spawns cutts in the salt that look similar.
Some of the beaver pond fish I’ve caught are ever darker then the resident fish.
I assume that is due to the tannin colored water they live in.
SF

Some of the beaver ponds were stocked with fish that had were non-local.

The extreme difficulty is that a fish may shift from resident to anadromous and back again. We trapped a female going up and downstream. Then up. After that, she spent a year in the lake.

We marked about 1,000 or so CT rearing in freshwater. The marking showed that some smolted and some didn't. As juveniles, they pretty much looked the same.

The only consistent difference I could see between resident and sea-run was that one of the two (I forget which) had spots on the anal fin. I think it was in the resident zone where the spots showed up but even then it was not 100%.

To show the variation, we had one bio from Idaho that said this one fish, if it was in Idaho, would be a Westslope based on spotting. As I recall, we had both large and fine-spotted fish.

The many variations of cutthroat are interesting. Lahontans are a different looking fish altogether. Amazing looking. The coastal cutthroat I have caught in Oregon were very different looking than the ones in Northern California.

Coastals do have the widest range. Especially for the truly resident, above barriers, there is no way that they can get "strays" into the population. My guess is that they respond to the environment, and it is so different as one moves up the coast. NorCal range is in the Redwoods, and that will be dark. I think it lightens up as os one gets up into WA. At least lots of the places I found cutts up here were more open.

Only caught Lahontans once, and have seen them a few other times. I think some of the inland cutts, like the Greenback and Colorado River, are spectacular in spawning dress. But the Paiute is probably pretty stunning, too. Note that it and the Golden are from almost alpine areas with lots of sun.

I grew up on the Hood Canal and worked on the tide flats during summers throughout high school and college. In between tides we would fish for these beauties and did extremely well in August. So much fun! Some nice 20+ inchers on occasions, but mostly 15-16 inch fish. That tide would get ripping between these two sand spits and it was like clockwork. This brings back fond memories...Some "barn window" starries out there too.

A few spring searun cutts.

The past few weeks have been a combination of post spawn fish and fish that have been back in the salt for awhile.
You can tell by the girth which is which.
I hope to encounter both of these girls again this fall after they've had 3-4 more months to fatten up in the salt. Lots of chum fry getting pounded right now.
SF

Chum fry eater from this past weekend.
Fun having targets that show themselves and to cast at.
SF

Thank goodness for the Chum !

Nice posting, and can I have that net please ?!

I was wondering what weight rod you use?

I use a 6 wt.
Some folks use 5 wts as well. I like using the 6 wt for wind.
SF

I lived on puget sound as a kid and spent many hours chasing these fish, although never with a flyrod. With all our other fisheries taking a dive its something I would love to do again but with a flyrod this time. Do you only fish from shore or from a boat also?

I mainly beach fish, but fish out of friends boats occasionally.
Due to all the private tidelands, a boat does open up a lot more area.
I have quite a few friends that use kayaks for cutt fishing and seem to enjoy it. Having friends that live on private beaches is helpful.
SF

A few pics from this fall's beach cutt fishing.
SF










[img]https://i.imgur.com/uWu6uEr.jpg?1[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/byqFceV.jpg?1[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/iwdP7DK.jpg?1[/img]

And, that’s how the Bear runs thru the Buckwheat !



Nice Picts, and thx for the showing.

I still want that net however !!!

Purdy fish.
The way you handle them demonstrates your passion and respect for these beach dwellers.

Gorgeous specimens !!!

Really hoping to get out soon. Where can I purchase some of those flies? This was always my favorite time of the year to chase them when I was young.

Depends on where you are located, but most of the local fly shops have good selections of src flies.
Puget Sound Fly Co in Tacoma or the Gig Harbor Fly shop would be options if you are heading down south to fish.
SF

Very nice fish. They spawn in february/march so the skinny ones are just skinny.