Fly fishing for Searun Cutthroat trout in the Pacific Northwest.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

They find them from Eel River north all the way to Southwest Alaska.

Some say they are a little like fishing Smallmouth Bass.

Small streamers are very popular.


Here are some video on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fly+fishing+for+searun+cutthr oat+trout

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Any body here chase Sea-run Cuts?

[Bob Smith]

I do... After catching them incidentally over the years I started to target them in Northern California and Southern Oregon estuaries about two years ago and really got with it this past summer. It started as a reason to get out of the central Siskiyou County summer heat but now it's become a bit of an obsession. I tend to spend a lot of time looking and finding/catching them can be hit or miss. This is not a fishery like we read about in Puget Sound - this is an estuary/upper tidewater/lower river fishery. I have also fished a few of the California coastal lagoons.

The fish have diverse life histories as some will move out of the river systems and into estuaries where they reside for 3 or 4 months while others will apparently move out into the ocean during that time, only to return in the late summer/early fall. There is also a portion of the population that stays in their natal rivers/streams and never enter brackish or salt water. The average SRC I've encountered run from 9 to 15 inches in length - but I've caught much larger ones while fishing gear for salmon.

I find them to be very selective and at times, really frustrating. They'll often nudge or quickly grab and reject a fly when they are in picky mode. I've had my best success using floating and/or intermediate lines matched up with small (size 10-12), earthy colored shrimp and scud patterns. Brown, tan and olive colors seem to work the best.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Bob,

What would be some good months to fish the Oregon coast?


It would be nice to go up on the California coast and Oregon coast in the summer to get out of the Sacramento Valley's heat.



My old friend Bob Borden, founder of Hareline products in Oregon, has a reputation for spending many years chasing Searun Cuts.

I will have to give him a call.........


I have heard that people catch them in the Eel, Klamath, Smith and Rogue Rivers.


In reading about it over the years I have seen that they use smaller winged bright colored Steelhead flies.

I would see how some natural nymphs / wet flies would be more consistent.

I guess they eat small fish and crustaceans in the tide water lagoons.

[SST Flies]

I never specifically targeted them in rivers, but caught a ton of them over the years while targeted steelies in WA. There were times they were so aggressive it wasn't uncommon for them to strike a 6-inch leech pattern being stripped in.

With the fishing politics in Washington State cutties became a great "filler" for us. Quite often seasons would be cut short or emergency closures would keep us off various rivers. This simply meant changing out the two-handers for a 5wt or 6wt and fly boxes filled will intruders, marabous, etc, for small clousers, crazy charlies, baitfish, krill or polychaete (worms) patterns.

The great thing about fishing for cutties in the salt (including estuaries) was you never knew what you were going to catch! It could be a resident coho, might be a large sculpin, starry flounder, ling cod or a nice blackmouth (immature chinook).

Small sculpin and candlefish patterns were my absolute favorites!

Best times of the year were during fry out-migration and Aug/Sept.

[hwchubb]

I have fished them quite a bit in Puget Sound, and they are one of my favorite fish to chase. Watching the sunset over the Olympic Range, seals and the occasional whale rolling in the bay, flat calm water and the fish chasing sliders or a lightly weighted closure on a dry line ... pretty magical.

That said, finding them can be a challenge. Certain beaches only fish well on incoming tides, others outgoing, and NO ONE is more tight lipped about where to find fish than an SRC fisherman.

And SST is right, the salmon fry hatch (especially the chum and pink fry in March-April) and the pre-spawn in the fall are optimum, but anytime between March-Nov is worth a shot.

[Bob Smith]

Bill, I would start fishing the Oregon coast estuaries in early to mid July and it should stay decent in through late September. I've had more success with small fish imitating flies in the rivers above tidewater than in the estuaries. The estuaries are full of small shrimp, scuds, marine worms and small juvenile fish such as sculpin, stickleback and outmigrating salmonids. I think a muddler might work (though I have not yet had success with it) but as I mentioned above - I've been more successful with small scud and shrimp patterns. I'm sure some of those old style steelhead flies might work as well.

As far as where to go, the Klamath and Smith estuaries in California and the Chetco and Rogue estuaries in southern Oregon all have decent numbers of coastal cutthroat. A couple of the California coastal lagoons such as Lake Earl and Big Lagoon are also known to have decent numbers of cutts. The further north you go up the Oregon coast, the more SRC you are likely to encounter. They are not always there (at least haven't been for me) and I have had plenty of trips were I was not successful. Estuaries are incredible places to fish so I don't mind getting skunked. Jay Nicholas recently published an excellent book about fly fishing for SRC in Oregon estuaries and rivers - I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in getting started with chasing them in California and Oregon.

Bob Borden is considered a real SRC guru and Puget Sound appears to be the center of sea run cutthroat universe!

[Ben J]

Any personal experience with Lake Earl/Tolowa? I've always been curious about that place, maybe it's time to finally do some exploring.

[John Sv]

I've caught them in Big Lagoon in CA and elsewhere north. I don't know if the Big Lagoon ones ever head out to sea so may not be sea run coastal cutties. Not sure why but they are my favorite fish!
Les Johnson has a great book about them, with a pretty good chapter of their abundance in CA. Book is getting long in the tooth though.

[Bob Smith]

I've not had much personal experience fishing Lake Earl though I supervised the DFW staff while managing state wildlife areas on the North Coast. Lake Earl is locally well known for very large coastal cutthroat - for years there was a photo of one of our staff with a 24 inch cutt taken there. It's a place that's best fished from a boat but if you fish from shore, try to access the "narrows" between Lake Earl and Lake Tolowa. Lake Earl is the largest coastal lagoon on the West Coast and typically breaches (opens to the ocean) in early winter and remains tidal for several months before sealing back up. Some years (especially drought years), it stays tidal through the spring and summer. Cutthroat that are found in the lagoon are both sea run and adfluvial which is a life history strategy in which adult fish spawn and juveniles subsequently rear in streams but migrate to lakes (or lagoons) for feeding as subadults and adults.

I wish I had it dialed in on the best times to fish it ... but I have heard of fish being taken fish year around in the lagoon. There are two main feeder streams where coastal cutthroat spawn - so I'm guessing that fish will ascend the creeks once there's been enough rain to keep them flowing at decent rate in the late fall. It's a shame that the Eureka Fly Shop has closed down. Those guys were very good about keeping tabs on SRC fishing on the North Coast.

[Bruce Slightom]

Stone Lagoon held the state record for Cutt's, do not know if it still does or not, caught by Dan Dobble of Eureka. North Coast Fly Fishers took Stone on as a project many years ago, did a lot of restoration on McDonnel Creek and petitioned the state to change the regulations and make it a trophy fishery.

I fish it mostly in the winter and have a good chance of not only cut's but steelhead.

[pvsprme]

I fished for them on Oregon coast streams in the 60’s-70’s, almost every stream had them at times from June through winter months. We tried for them a few times in lower estuaries but without a boat it was difficult at best. I found them in rivers as far as 30 miles from the salt, in various places from frog water with structure to typical trout runs and riffles. We targeted them in streams from the Alsea to the Tillamook bay rivers. Favorite flies were in what I’d call attractor patterns; spruce fly, bucktail coachman on a floating line. Didn’t have a clear intermediate line in those days but I’d take one if pursuing them today, or an Ambush with tips. Reverse spider patterns seem to be a popular pattern as well. One truism is they school, if you find one, others are around.
They are beautiful, wild fish that hold a special place in my heart. I live a long ways from the coast these days, if I wanted to fish for them I’d try the Rogue as it also has some pretty good resident Cutts, check your regulations.

[Ned Morris]

Just went first week of November with my 7 year old son. We did quite well at spot very close to the Ocean in Humboldt County.
Too easy to get to and had it all to ourselves. Real fun fish for kids with some great fight. 13759.

[Bob Smith]

I think in the big scheme of things, coastal cutthroat are making a comeback in California. Before I retired, we were restoring tidal wetlands in the Eel River Delta and one of the first salmonid species recorded in our project areas were coastal cutts. Similar projects are and have been undertaken in and around Humboldt Bay, and while other federally and state listed species (coho salmon, tidewater goby) were perhaps the target, cutthroat have benefited as well. Restoration projects continue up and down the north coast, primarily targeting small tributaries which are important for coho but obviously benefit cutts.

California does have a history of propagating and planting coastal cutthroat along CA's north coast, primarily in the coastal lagoons (mainly Stone and Big Lagoons and Lake Earl). Originally a brood stock was maintained with fish originating from the Alsea River in Oregon. That broodstock program was discontinued in the late 1970's. In the late 80's to mid 90's, Humboldt State University's fish hatchery (along with the Mad River Hatchery) took over propagation. This was accomplished through collecting eggs originating from local wild adults and rearing to fingerling and sub catchable size. This was also discontinued due to concerns over cutthroat predation on tidewater gobies.

The lagoons mentioned above have self sustaining, in some cases thriving cutthroat populations. All three are reputed to have (and continue) to produce trophy class coastal cutthroat. Bruce mentioned the record cutt from Stone Lagoon which weighed 5 lbs 12 ounces and was caught in the 1980's. Though unofficial (state doesn't recognize subspecies in freshwater), I do believe the record still stands.

[Ned Morris]

Yes all good stuff. A friend of mine got one on the Mattole few years ago in March which was really cool to see. I have heard rumors of occasional sightings in a couple waters in Northern Mendocino County but nothing can be confirmed. Eel River is really the southern most end of it's current range

[itsbenlong]

I have fished for them a handful of times in and around the Puget Sound from both a boat and from shore. I was lucky enough to meet one of the Puget Sound Cutthroat legends who took me out and showed me how to catch them. It was a blast! After fishing with him, I took to the roads and just traveled around looking for good spots on beaches I could walk to and that was just as great. Those fish are really fun to catch and for their size, put up an excellent fight. I was using 5wt and 6wt rods depending on how windy it was.