Don’t give up yet! – Puget Sound Sea-Run Cutthroat fly fishing is really going good right now. These are the words I tell a lot of people who start thinking about old man winter coming our way – and the fall wet, weather associated with it. Puget Sound Sea-Run Cutthroat fishing is really is in it’s prime right now, so don’t pack those rods and waders away yet.
Fall Colors on SRC
In some areas, Sea-Run Cutthroat(SRC) are in their staging mode, as they begin to congregate closer to their natal estuaries. They take on their fall colors unique to their species.
Fall is also the time of year where SRC angling with top water flies such as poppers, gurgles and cutty-buddy’s work well. SRC’s get very aggressive and this technique can work very well. The only downside to using top water flies, is the hook up ratio. It seems that anglers only connect around 30-50 percent of the time. This is due to the fact, that SRC’s will charge at the fly and swipe at it.
While guiding anglers, I still focus on sub-surface presentations with my clients. However, now that fall has arrived along with cooler water temperatures the SRC are more aggressive and they are residing in cooler water. So, I don’t need to go as deep to find them as I did this past summer and even into September. The fish were shy and deep for a good part of the summer.
Hood Canal Algae Bloom – August 2016
Puget Sound and Hood Canal SRC’s will migrate out of Southern Hood Canal and Puget Sound in search of
cooler water. I was chasing cool water all summer long on Hood Canal. We had quite a few algae blooms, which were visible from space.
Not a lot is known about Sea-Run Cutthroat migration patterns, but the first research is being done right now by the Coastal Cutthroat Coalition. This group is dedicated to researching how abundant SRC are, and the health of the species throughout Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Their research has started in southern Puget Sound and anticipate moving into Hood Canal in the near future. Fjord Fly Fishing is one of the sponsors for this organization, and we are very excited to see the research move forward.
How long will the fishing stay good in Puget Sound and Hood Canal? It all depends on the independent population of fish in a certain area – Hood Canal and Puget Sound. Due to these fish being native, they are genetically engineered my mother nature to spawn at different times throughout the winter – this is very true in Hood Canal. Mother nature has engineered wild fish to be dispersed in their run timing in case a major disaster wipes out one run of fish in a given river or stream. By not having all the fish return at the same time, other populations could re-populate that stream in the years to come. 
So, that being said fishing will continue to be good through November in Hood Canal. As long as anglers can bare a little chilly weather, those calm crisp days of fall offer some of the best fishing of the year.
Interested in a guided adventure? Please contact us for a guided boat style fly fishing adventure. These are motorized boat adventures, and Capt. Chad is one of the few Sea-Run Cutthroat guides in Hood Canal and Puget Sound who holds his Captains license to take clients out by boat to chase these magnificent game fish.
Capt. Chad Gillespie
Fjord Fly Fishing
www.fjordflyfishing.com
chad@fjordflyfishing.com
Sea-run Cutthroat guided boat adventures on the Kitsap Peninsula; including Hood Canal and Puget Sound
