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Wow! Large "players" available

2K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  Salmo_g 
#1 ·
Today I had one of those special memorable days fishing for sea-run cutthroat. A lot of large sea-run cutthroat(16 to 19 inches) were landed on a subsurface chum fry pattern(see last photo). I fished 10 locations and landed fish at 7 of those spots with large fish landed at landed at 4 of those locations. I fished the last 1/2 of the ebb tide and the first 1/3 of the flood tide. Most of the sea-run cutthroat were caught on the ebb tide. It was so windy that I was unable to fish many locations that I wanted to. Several months ago I bought a type 6 Rio Outbound line(37 1/2 ft. head) and was pleased how well it cast straight into the strong wind.

Chum fry seem to have all out migrated from normal Fall chum run streams. The sea-run cutthroat have spread out away from estuary areas as they follow the chum fry in their journey towards the Pacific Ocean. The best fishing was 3 to 6 miles away from chum streams. Over the past couple of decades I am becoming more and more convinced that large sea-run cutthroat seem to travel/hang out together. Today reenforced that opinion. If I Ianded a +16 inch fish at a location, I invariably landed a couple more large sea-run cutthroat there. The same situation occurred for small sea-run cutthroat(12 to 14 inches). If I landed a small fish at a location, I invariably landed nothing but small sea-run cutthroat there.

An important point to be made is to fish many locations each outing to hopefully find out where the large sea-run cutthroat are hanging out that day. However, there are numerous locations that year-after-year attract large sea-run cutthroat vs. small fish.

Roger
 

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#3 ·
Way to go Roger! We hit a beach this morning and found a bunch of small fish that seemed to school up in the same age class as you described above. However, we hooked a few larger fish as well but they all came unpinned. Lots of 8" to 12" fish for us today which is unusual for this spot at this time of year. Usually we find larger fish in the winter and spring with the smaller fish showing up in June.
 
#5 ·
If I'm interpreting the shadows on the water correctly, you were in the boat today, right?

Man, I really wanted to get out today but the "honey-dos" got to me!!! :eek:

That was your sequin headed pattern?

Good on ya, mate! :)
 
#7 ·
If I'm interpreting the shadows on the water correctly, you were in the boat today, right?

Man, I really wanted to get out today but the "honey-dos" got to me!!! :eek:

That was your sequin headed pattern?

Good on ya, mate! :)
You are right. I was out in my boat. The wind was suppose to about 8 mph but was more like 12 to 15 mph. If I would have known that the wind would be that strong I would not have gone out. The big waves made it tough to motor around and rarely could find places to tuck in out of the wind. Luckly the casting was okay using a Rio Outbound line. I really like that line as it seems to work well with my casting stroke.

I try to use a sequin on the front of all my tube subsurface patterns as a 10 mm pearl sequin gives a pattern 1 to 2 inches of side-to-side wiggle.

Roger
 
#10 ·
Roger, strong work! I found some pods of 8-12 inch fish, and one solid brute, just as you describe with a couple of slightly smaller friends, all of whom put the humble brakes on, almost to the boat and then leaps and gone. Chum baby was the ticket, ripped off Steve's fly he posted the other day.That pesky wind sure sneaked up on me- I was in the Kayak. Started out with a mild Southeasterly, ended with a wild northerly, the switch between the two was nice and calm...usual Boot luck though, paddle into the wind and tide on the way out, and into the wind and tide and rain on the way back....
 
#12 ·
Totally agree with your assessment of same-size fish hanging out together, Roger. A few weeks back I ran into the same thing; all bigger fish at one spot and then all smaller fish at another. Funny thing was the bigger fish were bolder, i.e., eating much closer to shore vs. the smaller guys that stayed a bit further off. Maybe the bigger ones were using their size to bully the little guys out of the better position of trapping the bait in the shallows?
 
#14 ·
Funny thing was the bigger fish were bolder, i.e., eating much closer to shore vs. the smaller guys that stayed a bit further off. Maybe the bigger ones were using their size to bully the little guys out of the better position of trapping the bait in the shallows?
I can't speak for SRC's (I've only caught 1 on purpose), but back in Nebraska the largemouths would do that. The little guys would bail when the bucket-mouths would cruise by.
 
#13 ·
One observation I've made when fishing for SRC is that when there isn't a single large cutt at a spot they are all not at that spot. Same observation for the smaller cutts. It should be noted I've yet to catch a SRC.
 
#15 ·
Roger, we were out Sunday afternoon on a Central Hood Canal spot (on the Kitsap side), and saw a 16'-18' boat buzzing around looking for searuns. Might that have been you? We had finished a class with Richard Stoll that morning (which was excellent and highly recommend). Wind was cranking as the afternoon wore on. By 5 oclock it was downright painful. We hooked into a few earlier in the afternoon, but it was a pretty quiet day for us fishing wise.
 
#16 ·
Roger, we were out Sunday afternoon on a Central Hood Canal spot (on the Kitsap side), and saw a 16'-18' boat buzzing around looking for searuns. Might that have been you? We had finished a class with Richard Stoll that morning (which was excellent and highly recommend). Wind was cranking as the afternoon wore on. By 5 oclock it was downright painful. We hooked into a few earlier in the afternoon, but it was a pretty quiet day for us fishing wise.
I have a 15 foot black Smokercraft and was fishing in Marine Area 13. So it was not me! I started fishing around 8:30AM and got back to the boat ramp about 2 PM. The wind was blowing about 10 mph when I launched. By mid-day it was +15 mph and not fun to be motoring around. Luckily the wind dropped below 10 mph when I got back to the ramp.

Roger
 
#17 ·
Curse you Roger!, for making SRC fishing seem so attractive. Even on nice days it can be brutal. I had to don my rain jacket as a wind breaker to keep my ears from freezing and falling off!

Ben called me the other day, so I went out for my second salt water SRC attempt Saturday. Just went to a local beach where he'd found action two days earlier. It was such a beautiful day, but as we stepped onto the beach, wow! Lotta' wind! Casting into white caps. I'll confirm Bogdoods observation that where there's not a single large cutt, none are there. Did see one about 11" clear the water just to taunt me. Saw no chum fry or other bait.

Made me think that using the boat is a good idea so as to hit many beaches within a few mile area, but I wouldn't have run far in that nasty chop.

Sg
 
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