Re: Sea-Run Cutts: Locations and Techniques

[Richard Embry]

Ryan, probably the biggest help you can do for yourself at this stage is buy two books:  Searun Cutthroat by Les Johnson (Les purportedly has an update of the book thaaaaat close to publication), and Fly Fishing For Pacific Salmon.  The salmon book will give you a lot of insights in to patterns, tides, and a lot of nuances that will cross over in to searun cutt fishing.     ----- Original Message ----- From: Ryan Davey To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 6:42 PM Subject: RE: Sea-Run Cutts: Locations and Techniques I’m starting to get a good idea of a few places to try, so I thought I’d sent a follow up email with a few questions I have.  I sat down last night and tied up a dozen clousers in white/chartuese and white/olive with various materials and various head weights.  That should get me started as far as pattern selection goes.  I have a six weight, it’s a Winston so probably not as fast a rod as I should be using, but it’ll do.  I only have a floating line for it with a couple of various size sink tip heads, but that should get me by.  My reel is a Bauer and I’ve used it in salt water before.   Let’s pose a scenario.   I drive to a local spot, rig up my rod, tie on a size 8 olive clouser, and wonder down to the beach.  As one angler told me, I would wade out about knee deep, start casting parallel to the shore, and fan cast my way down the beach.  However, what sort of structure am I looking for?  Are there certain areas I should be concentrating my casting on?  I understand that kelp beds attract fish, as that’s where baitfish are likely to be found, but what about depressions in the beach?  I would assume I should work just about any structure I can find with a few more casts than normal, and cover the unlikely looking areas a bit more quickly.   My other big question is what retrieve should I be using?  Seeing as I’m using an olive clouser, I’m imitating a baitfish.  Do these baitfish I’m imitating move quickly, or should I be using a slower, jerkier retrieve?  Has anyone found one retrieve to be more successful than others?  Or should I be varying my retrieve?   Also, I hear talk about resident silvers, what exactly are people talking about?  Does this mean silvers that stay in the sound year-round?  Are there certain areas that these fish can be found with any frequency, or are they spread out randomly?   Do just about any beaches hold sea-run cutthroats?  Are the fish actually congregating at the beaches, or are you just catching them as they’re passing through because this happens to be a place where you can fish for them?  Has anyone fished the beaches on the north coast of the Peninsula?  What about the west coast?  What areas in the Tacoma region should I try?   Thanks for all the helpful posts and comments…   Ryan Davey www.worldanglr.com   Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job. - Paul Schullery -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ryan Davey Sent: March 1, 2003 5:29 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Sea-Run Cutts: Locations and Techniques   I know there are a number of members of this mailing list who fish for sea-run cutthroats here in the Puget Sound Area, and was hoping to get a bit of information from them.  I have been watching and reading the posts regarding this with interest, but find it a bit hard to follow.   Being somewhat new to the Pacific Northwest, my experience for fishing for sea-run cutthroat is severly limited.  Since I live in the area, I figured I might as well give it a try, and see what all the fuss is about.    I am looking for information on what techniques, flies, lines, leaders, and of course, locations to chase these fish.  I would assume, having had a few years of saltwater fly fishing experience, that the fishing is somewhat dependent on the tides.  What are the best tides to fish, the waxing tide, waning tide, or dead tide?    I have heard to look for locations that have a river flowing into a beach, can anyone suggest some locations near Redmond?  The reason I am interested in this is I'm looking for a bit of fishing to do before and/or after work, since I work night-shift and have the days off.   I have found the article on Washingtonflyfishing.com quite informative, and the website pugetsoundflyfishing.com informative as well, but neither of them provide any locations that sound familiar to me.  Any suggestions of where to go that's close?   Anyone out there interested in taking a newbie sea-run cutt fisherman fishing, drop me a line…   Ryan Davey worldanglr   Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job. - Paul Schullery