Angling Publications - Index

Angling Publications - april2008 - Index

TERRY SHEELY PHOTO
But there’s more to this sport than sea-going cutthroat trout. The Sound also
supports a crop of immature (1- to 5-pound) resident coho and chinook salmon,
active feeders that travel in small schools and overlap into cutthroat territory, providing
fishermen with a two-level, year-round opportunity for trout and salmon.
It’s a dynamic one-two fishery where you never quite know what you’ll hook.
Part of the attraction is the simplicity of the gear: a 6-weight rod, saltwaterrated,
single-action reel loaded with sink-tip, full-sink or intermediate line, long
leader tapering to a 2X fluorocarbon tippet, and a thinly-dressed streamer—alevin,
smolt, herring, candlefish pattern. Shrimp flies are popular in the south
Sound, and there are times when dry patterns—bushy caddis, hoppers, and
noisy popper styles—dropped into rise rings will bring slashing strikes from
cutthroat. While dry-fly trout fishing in saltwater is a tantalizing challenge, the
opportunities are unreasonably rare and not to be counted upon.
The most consistent success always falls to the wet fly, which imitates 99%
of the food base, while also appealing to the always-prowling salmon that may
be in the same water as cutthroat.
The biggest asset of all, though, would be a small car-top style boat, 10 to 15
feet in length (depending on how protected the water is) with a good pair of oars,
or better yet, a 10 H.P. outboard. These fish are packed in schools and on the hunt.
They cover lots of waterfront, and sometimes you have to go looking for action.
Both trout and salmon have a finger-licking preference for gravel beaches that
taper slowly to deep water. Both are also almost always found hunting along the
blue-green edge where the bottom disappears from sight. Northwest saltwater is
unbelievably clear, except in estuaries where it may be clouded by river gushes.
Expert sea-run hunters position boats on the seam at the place where the bottom
fades from gravel to water. The contour line that marks the end of bottom visibility
parallels the shoreline and marks a magic zone for feeding trout and salmon.
Because the small schools of hunting salmonids are almost constantly on
the move—looping from one end of their immediate range to the other—most
saltwater fly fishers troll to locate fish, and then switch to cast-and-retrieve presentations,
usually retrieving in short jerky strips that impart a jump-and-dart
minnow action. The incoming tide predictably out produces the ebb, as the
fish follow the rise uphill, feeding on bottom stirrings of small worms, eels and
minnows that push ahead of them.
Minnow and shrimp patterns (there are dozens that work) are tied primarily
on size-4 hooks, although it’s not unusual to find venerable sea-run chasers going
up to size-2 and down to size-8, depending on the size of the dominant bait fish.
The immature resident coho and chinook salmon that share the cutthroat range
are also trout sized, rarely breaking five pounds and mostly in the two-pound
range. State regulations require that chinook be at least 22 inches if they are to
be killed, but there is no size limit on coho in Puget Sound or Hood Canal.
There are a dedicated few fly fishers who have been chasing sea-run trout and
salmon for decades, but the explosive growth is from a new wave of fly anglers just
being turned on to the challenge. Don’t let the words “growth” and “explosive”
dissuade you—this is still one of the loneliest pursuits in the Northwest. The
popularity of saltwater fly fishing could be multiplied by 10 and would still rate
as one of the great undiscovereds.
Part of the explanation lies with the fishing range. Sea-run trout and salmon
can be anywhere with good habitat near shore—and are. Fishermen are as
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There’s more to this fishery than sea-going
cutthroat trout. The Sound also supports
a crop of immature (1- to 5-pound)
resident coho and chinook salmon, active
feeders that travel in small schools and
overlap into cutthroat territory, providing
fishermen with a two-level, year-round
opportunity for trout and salmon. It’s a
dynamic one-two fishery where you never
quite know what you’ll hook next.