Cowlitz Cutthroats

[Hairwing]

Fished the Cowlitz out of my drift boat just above Blue Creek boat launch today between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.- I pushed up river with my electric motor about 1/4 mile and anchored up on the north side - I landed several (10 in 4 hours) nice cutthroat ( 10" - 14" range) on a variety of different flies, everything from a size 4 orange marabou to a size 12 black wooly bugger on my 3 wt. - typical aggressive cutthroat , attack anything that moves, behavior - late in the afternoon I noticed they were feeding on a mixed hatch (including some giant October Caddis) along the south bank - moved over there and landed 3 nice ones (letting a couple of brutes get off) in less than 30 minutes - not too much sled traffic - I saw only one 12 - 15 pound summer run buck steel head taken by 2 guys side drifting eggs from a drift boat - and saw a couple of other fly fisherman hooking up with some cuts - I was very encouraged to see that there are in fact quite a few larger cutthroat back this year. :) Dave

[cabezon]

Nice report. Sounds similar to a float trip that I did two weeks ago. It is strange to see so few sleds on the Blue Creek section of the Cowlitz this time of year, especially as other rivers aren't all that hot either. As you indicate, those fish are fond of October caddis flies, especially nymphs.

Steve

[Hairwing]

re: "those fish are fond of October caddis flies, especially nymphs"

Yeah - the smaller fish where after the hatch on the surface but the larger ones were down deep nabbing the nymphs swimming toward the surface - I hooked a couple of really nice ones (didn't land them) swinging a weighted number 10 nymph about 3 feet under the hatch. Dave

[Hairwing]

Went back to the Cowlitz today (10 a.m. - 4 p.m.) - I'm addicted to cutthroat - quelled my compulsion with at least a dozen more nice fish - all from my drift boat just up river from the Blue Creek launch - cutthroat were everywhere but the largest fish I hooked (16 - 18") were on the south bank and with a black, weighted number 12 rabbit hair tailed woolly bugger/leech - talked to another fly fisherman that was hooking them on a number 4 Royal Coachman - I tried some large dries and got a couple of strikes but no hook ups - saw several silvers porpoising in the current but couldn't get them interested in anything I stripped in front of them - saw a spey fisherman hook and land a really nice steelhead just down river from the launch - it was a prefect day for fishing the Cowlitz - only one sled in the area and he left around 1 p.m. :)