Sea Run Cutties

[SargeSlaughter]

Where, when and with what do you target those sea run cutties? I've got a 5wt and a 9wt, I'm assuming I need something in between or will the 5wt due? I don't know whether to go out in the bay or coastal river. Any advice is much appreciated. 

[pelagic paddler]

Where, when and with what do you target those sea run cutties? I've got a 5wt and a 9wt, I'm assuming I need something in between or will the 5wt due? I don't know whether to go out in the bay or coastal river. Any advice is much appreciated. 

5wt is perfect IMO, thats what I use. Out of the yak: I target them in upper sections of tidewater rivers and a little above when the blackberries are ripe at the coast (sometimes its earlier, sometimes later).  As for flies I have found they are not overly particular and like big, ugly, flashy offerings with lots of movement, both under and on the surface. I paddle up tidewater rivers (smaller rivers are my favs)  until I can't paddle up any more (water gets to shallow or swift) then I fish the holes a little above and below this general area.  Searuns tend to hold in these last deep holes before the river shallows and speeds up. Make sure to check the regs as retention can be prohibited or limited depending on location.

[ConeHeadMuddler]

I echo what pelagic paddler said. Very good synopsis! That's what I do up here in WA.
I like Reversed Spiders with hot orange bodies, in sizes 8 and 6. Use 4 wraps of silver tinsel for ribbing on the body. The water I often fish is cedar stained and a little discolored from the tidewater pushing in, so the hot orange is good. The Cutts like it.
I also use "New Age Polar Shrimp" chenille as it has tinsel built into the chenille, and then I don't wrap on the tinsel ribbing.
For hackle material, I use Mallard Flank died "Wood Duck" or lemon yellow, or just "natural".  I also use Amherst Pheasant Tippet when I tie them with black bodies.

I cast and strip the Reversed Spiders in the surface film (using a floating line and long leader), or just under it using a clear intermediate sinktip with a 7 to 9 foot leader), pausing longer between every 3rd or 4th strip and letting the fly's hackles pulse and flutter a bit. Sometimes the Cutts will come up and just slam the fly! Other times they will only tentatively nip at it... in which case I stop stripping and let it flutter a bit as it sinks a little, for maybe 20 or 30 seconds...then the Cutts will often hit it when I resume stripping.
You can stimulate their "chase response" because they don't want their prey to escape!

I also use baitfish patterns (Chum fry have worked well recently in Puget
Sound waters), Borden Specials, Bucktail Coachmans, the classic Spruce Fly, smaller soft hackle patterns in orange and olive, such as a Partridge-and-Orange.
When you see them surface feeding, fish dries for them. I like Termite, Ant, Caddis on top. Best day I had with dries was with a #12 Montana Bucktail with an orange body. This is similar to an Elk Hair Caddis, but has a tail of Pheasant tippet.
The cutts will also slam a Reversed Spider stripped across the surface when they are feeding on top. That fly is my "go to" pattern because it consistently works well.

Although I sometimes fish for searun cutts up in Puget Sound and around Port Townsend, I usually fish here in my local waters, which are the estuaries and tidal streams of Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay.
Although I will be out paddling the estuaries and tidal creeks here in June (simply because I love to be out there, and there's always the chance of running into a maverick, as well a the opportunity to harrasss the 5" to 8"ers), the main runs of searun cutts don't really show up in any numbers until late July. August and Sept are the prime months. When the Fall rains hit in Oct, they all leave the estuaries and upper tidewater pools and head upstream, following the Coho. I have caught some nice ones just above tidewater in Nov, though, but most are already farther upstream.
On the coastal Rivers up on the Olympic Peninsula, searuncutts will start to enter the rivers during any big rains as early as mid summer. Probably similar to what goes on on the OR coast.
I can hardly wait until June 1st to be able to hunt for them in my local waters. I've been too busy this year to head up and chase them in Puget Sound.

[pelagic paddler]

Yep.. thats generally the drill here on the Oregon coast.  Late summer and early fall can be a blast in upper tide water.  The early mornings and evenings of those last hot summer days when the nights start cooling off can be awesome.  The yaks work great  as you can slip up into the holes during low water without much trouble.  Most if not all spots worth a darn have no public bank access anyway.   

[SargeSlaughter]

Awesome, thanks for all the info. I look forward to catching some very soon. I went up to a secret lake with a friend in the Mary's Peak area of Corvallis and caught some nice cutties there. Biggest one was only 13-14" but they fight hard! I didn't bring my fly rod though because there wasn't much room in the truck. Really regret that now. A light rain every now and then really brought the bite on and the bugs out. There's only one camping spot on the lake and we had it all to ourselves. It was a really good time.

[ConeHeadMuddler]

SS, Keep the name of that lake secret! And make sure you're not being followed when you head up there!
I had some really fun wet/damp fly action with wild Coastal Cutthroat on a little Olympic Peninsula lake on Monday afternoon. The fish are really plentiful, but small, in this lake. A 10"er is a lunker. My biggest 3 trout were two 9"ers and one 10"er. There were lots of 6"ers and 7"ers. I lost count after after 30. I kept four4 8"ers for the fry pan, just to thin out the population a bit.
I won't rat out the name of this little lake, but here's a hint or two. In this lake, the regs say you must release any trout over 12", and there's no minimum size limit. Retention limit is still 5 trout. Its easy to find, since its right alongside the road!
I started off using a size 14 Gray Hackle Peacock, a soft-hackle pattern that works great fished either dry or wet (just below the surface, after it gets slimed and soaked). I was using my 9' 4 wt rod with a floating line and a 10' leader tapered to 4X (5 lb test), as these fish are hungry, aggro, and not leader shy.
 I also C&R'd two 6" Kokanee, or maybe they were Sockeye smolts. I was unaware that any Kokanee were in this small lake, and I don't see how Sockeye could make it up the falls on the outlet creek, which eventually empties into the Sol Duc River, which does indeed have a small Sockeye run. But maybe a pair of 'em had wings!
Later I switched to a #10 yellow "gonzo bug" which is sort of a simple generic nymph pattern i whipped up, tied with yellow floss (body), light olive petite estaz (thorax), a couple twists of grizzly hackle dyed olive, on a curved shank hook (tmc 2457). I fished that just under the surface, retrieving with short, quick strips with some pauses thrown in, and couldn't keep 'em off. Those little cutties are aggro and hard hitting!
I was fishing the edge of the shoreline weeds, which was also where the drop off  to deeper water was. I did have a few casts where I did not get a strike, but they were few and far between.
I also trolled a size 10 wooly bugger using my other rod rigged with a clear intermediate full sinking line when I was changing locations, and hooked a few that way.
Long drive for small fish, but the action was more or less non-stop all afternoon. This lake would be a great place to teach a kid how to flyfish.

The next day (Tuesday), I hit a stocker pond on the way home and soremouthed a bunch of fresh stocked 'bows and a few wild cutthroat. I took home two regular 12" stockers and a 17" Triploid (biggest of the day). I just fished the same fly all afternoon and evening, a #10 Halloween Leach on a clear intermediate line, (mainly fishing along or over dropoffs, but got the triploid casting into the lilly pads in the shallows) and I again lost count after the first 2 dozen or so trout to hand.
My luck ran out today, as I'm stuck here working on my truck.

[SargeSlaughter]

The lake actually doesn't have a name, it's really a small valley that had a small coastal stream running through it and the beavers plugged it up which filled the valley. Unfortunately, the people that live near there hate beavers and are trapping them all. Our little secret lake is slowly disappearing. I've accidentally fallen in the mud before and I went down to my waist, had to do the Bear Grylls belly crawl out. If the lake drains much more we won't be able to get our yaks in the water without going through the mud. Hopefully the last remaining beavers will plug it back up.

I was catching these cutties the same way, kinda. Part of the time I fished from shore and I would always hook them just past the lilly pads and just before the drop off, if that makes any sense. Out in the yak I didn't catch one in deep water, they were all in the warmer shallow water.

I haven't learned to tie flies yet only because it's so expensive to get all the starting materials, vise and other necessary hardware. I've been buying my flies from a guy up in Lyons who gives me a great deal and quality flies. Can you guess where the flies are tied that are sold in the fly shop at the Metolius? I thought they would be hand tied by somebody around the area because people are such sticklers about their flies, especially there. I asked the guy where they were made and he said somewhere in Asia! I was like, WOW!

I've started to use more nymphs and streamers more than anything, I used to use only dry flies when I first started because I didn't know any different. Nymphs catch big fish! When fishing dries in my local creek I only catch small fish. I really need to gets some Chironomids for the lakes, I have a video about them and they also catch big fish. Just a little wiggle here and there and bendo! Great stuff!

[ConeHeadMuddler]

Tying your own flies doesn't really save you any money, if you value your time. I have spent way too much on materials that I seldom use. You have to like sitting at the vice and tying. Personally, I find the task to be very tedious. I can't spend more than an hour at the vice, and never get more than 10 flies tied up in any one sitting.
If I could start over, I'd only acquire the supplies needed to whip up my favorite "go to" patterns that I can't usually find anywhere locally. Nearest fly shop to me is in Oly somewhere, but when I buy 'em I usually get 'em at Waters West Flyfishing Outfitters in Port Angeles, which is about 190 miles from where I'm sitting. They sell only top quality flies.
Lately, I just buy the really complicated or harder-to-tie patterns, as I'm kind of bumble-fingered and slow at whipping 'em up.
I have found that simple, easy-to-tie, generic patterns are often very effective, so I avoid tying the complicated ones. I lose a lot of flies. It doesn't pay to spend too much time tying any one pattern. For example, a mere hank of pink or black yarn lashed to a hook is as good a steelhead pattern as many of the complicated ones.
Set-up time and assembling the materials for each pattern can be reduced by using the assembly line method and tying up a bunch of the same pattern in one sitting.

[wolverine]

 I agree that you don't really save a lot of money tieing your own flies. I can because I acquired my supplies at going out of business sales, garage sales, estate sales, etc. What you do get by tieing is exactly the fly that you want. I still buy flies when I go to a new area or one that I haven't been to in a while. I chat up the fly shop owner and ask for his picks for the best 5 flies for his area, and buy 3 of each. Spending a few bucks on flies has got me a lot of very good tips on where to and how to fish an area. When I buy flies I always put a dab of head cement on the whip finish to make sure that the fly stays together.
 I normally tie in the winter when the weather is too crappy to go fishing. I always tie 12 ea of a pattern and size. I always figure that the first two that I tie will be junk so I usually end up with 10 good ones. I try not to tie when I could/should be fishing.
 For cutties I like reverse spiders, soft hackles, and small bait fish patterns. Cutties normally aren't too picky about what they'll hit, but some days they can be selective. Usually a color change or a size change is all that's needed to turn on the bite.

[SargeSlaughter]

All great advice and I thank you very much. I can't wait!

[Fishboy]

Wow, this thread has me all juiced for cutts. Now to tie up some orange-bodied Reverse Spiders ....

[ConeHeadMuddler]

 For cutties I like reverse spiders, soft hackles, and small bait fish patterns. Cutties normally aren't too picky about what they'll hit, but some days they can be selective. Usually a color change or a size change is all that's needed to turn on the bite.

This paragraph is gold! My experience, as well.

Fishboy, I have had great success with orange bodied Reversed Spiders, using "wood duck" or "lemon yellow" died Mallard Flank. I tie in a tail of red hackle fibers, hot orange calf tail, or mallard fibers (same as hackle) over red hackle fibers.  I also tie 'em in white bodies with natural Mallard flank, using hot-orange uni-floss for thread.  
A great material for body color is New Age Chenille, as it  has flash incorporated with the chenille, so you don't need to tie in and wrap the tinsel ribbing (less material and tying). However, four good wraps of tinsel not only adds flash, but gives the body a segmented look, which some anglers believe makes the fly more effective.
Much of the creek water I fish is cedar stained with visibility only about 4 feet, and the tidewater that pushes up the creeks is always full of crap, algae and microorganisms and such and has even less visibility. Hot orange and other bright colors, with some flash added will get their attention in this kind of environment.
However, once I get upstream into cleaner water and a skinnier creek, those things might just scare the fish. I go to more natural imitations rather than use a loud attractor pattern for this kind of water. Soft hackles, or a more subtle spider. Dries become effective upstream, and I like October Caddis, orange-bodied Montana Bucktails, Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulators, Hoppers, Termites, Ants, and Parachute Adams.

The exception would be a freshly arrived pod of searuns in a pool at just above the head of tidewater, a pool that either gets a push of tidal water or just gets its own fresh water backed up by the tidewater coming into pools down below. Those pools usually clean up nicely when the water starts flowing back downstream after the high tide change. In that situation, I have experienced the cutts slamming my orange reversed spider the moment it hits the water. Nothing like a fresh in pod of cutts to bring on the giggles!
A crowd is a fool, and a fresh-in pod of cutts is no exception!

I discovered that Reversed Spiders often twirl and twist up your leader when trolling from one spot to the next, due to their design. Or they refuse to ride "rightside up" with the hook bend down. So I have tied up a few trolling patterns based on the regular Knudsen Spider, but I tie in a red "beard" to represent bleeding gills, and clip the bottom of the mallard hackle where the beard is, to help the fly glide thru the water with "good posture."  The first ones I tied up were white. On one of these, I incorporated a small gold bead head, to keep it under when trolling. So far that one fly has drawn a lot of fire, so I figure the cutts must hate it with a passion!
Here's one I fooled way back in an obscure tidal creek on Tuesday, solid 14"er:

[ConeHeadMuddler]

Last Thursday, 2 days after the above fish was fooled, I saw a good splash when fishing another tidal creek. Up until then, I had only C&R'd a couple of 8'ers in the lower estuary of the creek.  These little guys were probably just working their way down into the salt, and not returning searuns. I had missed a good grab and a few tentative bumps trolling the same white Spider, but the cutts wouldn't come back for a second hit.  The cutts, if they were there, weren't taking any kind of enthusiastic liking to my offering.

So I quietly and stealthily positioned my U-12 for a good presentation, picked up my anchor and slipped it over the side as quietly as I could. I popped a beer and reached for my sandwich. I was nearly done with my sandwich when the cutt splashed again in the same spot...a tight little corner up against a steep cutbank,  between a rootwad and a submerged log.
I put down my sandwich and stripped out some line. I was a good 40 feet away, so I stood up to rope out a good cast. Miraculously, it was a good one, just beyond the splash and almost against the bank. Two good strips and suddenly it felt like I had buried my hook into the log. But a headshake later it was "game on!" Good hard-fighting, jumpin' 14"er!
That fish made my day. It wasn't just a lucky troll...I saw it splash, positioned myself, waited patiently for the trout to forget my presence and start feeding again, and made a good cast and presentation. I got a pic of the cutt in my net, but haven't downloaded it yet.
My right arm feels sore today. I think I may have hurt it patting myself on the back.   Dang! Naw, it was just due to a stupid torquing I gave it yesterday loading my U-12 before heading out and getting "almost skunked" (8" & 9" cutts and one 9" peamouth chub).
Hurts my casting more than my paddling... I may just have to troll for a spell, now.

[Fishboy]

Conehead, you're killing me. That photo is outstanding. Have to dig up my old Les Johnson book and get out the vise.

[Stackofhay]

This is a great site for Oregon Fly Fishing.  If you scroll down you will see there is currently a lot of info on Sea Run cutties and even some fly tying example video(s).
http://oregonflyfishingblog.com/

I recently paddled up Salmon River (near Lincoln City) in a tandem with my daughter and caugt a few smaller cut throats just casting a gold Kastmaster lure in areas with lots of cover & brush.  Great fun as daughter is the motor and I just fish.    (Floating back to the dock in the Salmon River estuary is great fun, nearly always see some harbor seals and good bird life.)  Assume Fly would be productive too...possibly more so.