Originally Posted by
Bob Smith
We fish for sea runs in the Smith, Klamath, Winchuck, Chetco and Rogue River estuaries. We started during a inland heat wave (it's supposed to be 109 in Yreka today) because we wanted to fish where it was cool on the coast. Jay Nicholas has a book that I highly recommend: Sea-Run Cutthroat, Flies and Flyfishing. He focuses on the Oregon Coast which utilizes similar techniques to California. The Puget Sound fishery is different though we've had success with flies developed up there.
The coastal cutthroat in the upper Rogue do not go to the ocean, they use the main river to fatten up and spawn and rear in the tributaries. Their population seems to be on the uptick - they are fairly common from the Hatchery down to Dodge Bridge.
SRC's typically begin to show in estuaries about mid July and are around through early November or whenever the first significant rains hit. There's always a component of the population that stays in the estuary and fattens there instead of heading to the ocean so you can find them sometimes earlier in the summer. Along the Oregon coast, they move out of tidewater and into deep holes just above the tidal reach rather quickly after entering the estuary. We've not found they do that as much in California - maybe a summer temperature thing.
It's not a numbers game, you can fish all day and not find them and then the next day catch 4 or 5. We're pretty pumped when we can hook two or three. They tend to travel in schools so if you find one, keep fishing. Look around structure such as eelgrass beds, downed logs, rock piles, though of course they can be caught over sandy bottoms as well. If there's a small tributary feeding into tidewater - that's a great place to look for them. Also, dreary, dark drizzly days are best. They are feeding on smolts, sculpins, other small bait fish, amphipods, shrimp, crabs, marine worms so sometimes bonefish and permit flies work well. Brown is our favorite color and I personally prefer a clear intermediate line like Rio Coastal Quickshooter.
There are others on this board that probably have chased them longer than I have so hopefully more will weigh in.
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