Joined
·
4,861 Posts
Well, close enough to Winter Solstice. I got the itch to go hit a stretch of beach this late afternoon, looking for the famous Hood Canal cutthroats. My fall fishing has been slow for the first time in quite a few years. I arrived at the beach at about 2:45 PM and fished until dark… Well, heck, it was dark at 2:45!! A dark cloud overhanging the Canal made it even darker. I strung my rod up at the truck, put on a fly I had just tied this afternoon before leaving. It was sort of a brass conehead small sculpin with hints of orange in the tail and a guinea orange kinda beard. Anyway, a short walk later and I was on the beach. One spot always seems to hold some fish and I always make a short cast from the upland very carefully and only about 30 feet out. My fly was slammed with the first cast. I think it was around 17 inches. A short time later I hooked another for a flash of a second, it jumped in front of me and was at least the same size or more. I moved over down the beach 50’ and cast some more and had some light bumps. I decided to move down the beach and try another spot about 200’ away. Nothing was going on. I switched to an Orange Crush shrimp pattern. Nothing happening, so I went back to where the action was previously. I got some follows and very light “nipping” takes about 4 times, so I made a change-up to the Kilowatt Red. After about a half-dozen casts, the cutt hit hard within 20’ of me. Another nice hard fighting beauty. With no more action, I made another change-up to a squid-like pattern I use. It was about 4 PM and the light was getting low. I hooked up immediately with a strong fish. I snapped a couple of photos using the flash by this time. It was getting almost dark, about 4:30 I hooked another beauty, released it, and decided I was happy enough for a December day all alone on the beach. Four nice sea-runs in about two hours of fishing around 16-17”. What did you do from 2:45 to 4:30? I l just love those cutts! It's been a while. :beer1:
