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.
You shoulda been here yesterday!
Bookmarks