wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Is there a fuze involved or was that another thread?
Puget Sound
- Thread starter Stonedfish
- Start date
Yep, the more I think about it the more it all adds up. Some of the flies I fished could definitely double as a worm fly. I had more than a couple takes where the fly would land and the fish would inhale the fly and start swimming away with it before I even started stripping which seemed odd to me, but in hindsight if they were keyed in on worms might explain the different takes.
Not like we didn't have plenty of action, but now that I slept on it I have an idea of how to be better prepared if I run into that situation again.
Yeah, it would certainly add up to what we were seeing. I too had quite a few similar takes, and takes that were just..... different? Than what I'm used to. Like they weren't so much attacking, or smashing the fly, but just slurping it in or something, I dunno. One of the patterns I fished a lot yesterday was one I've long kinda thought might be eaten as a worm, but of course who knows. I'm definitely going to mess around at the vise with maybe some slightly longer versions of a similar pattern or something.
In years past I've messed about with tying so long, articulated worm style flies, but I've never been a big fan of fishing trailing hook patterns for cutthroat so maybe just a bit bigger version of that fly I fished yesterday, tied on a standard hook, would get the job done, especially with the way they were gulping down those flies. Stinger hooks were definitely not needed.
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Try this guy's catalog https://youtube.com/@Avery_Alexander?si=cBrfVxoOZbfKjW8X
That is a Northern kelp crab, Pugettia producta (see here). This picture is a ventral view. You will often see them on pilings. I suspect that it is a molt as it is missing its abdomen and the top section of the carapace.
Steve
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I’ve had 2 occasions where a smallish northern kelp crab has climbed up my legs and positioned itself between my stripping basket strap and my waders. I didn’t know it had happened until taking my basket off at the end of the day or for a quick break. I read that they like to climb pilings so maybe that’s what they were doing on my legs? I’m just glad that they stopped at the belt line and didn’t venture up and over the top. 
Plenty of comedic potential there....I’m just glad that they stopped at the belt line and didn’t venture up and over the top.
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I've heard of people getting crabs after a weekend fishing in Soap Lake, but while I figured some funny business had gone on they didn't find anything funny about it.
Dave Boyle
Life of the Party
Like many I was wondering WTF you were up to but didn’t want to be nosey. Very happy to see you back on this forum.
I’ll reach out to you for comment when the chum fry fever goes ballistic
Welcome back Nick!
Dave
WolverineSRC
Smolt
Fished in a long sleeve tee last night for the last hour of light. One of those evenings where the water looked incredibly fishy but not a fish in sight. No complaints here. The weather was surreal. Two people walking on the beach asked me how the salmon fishing was. I spent some time looking for garbage to pack out and was pleasantly surprised at how clean the beach and walk to my Jeep were!
Tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus. Note the relatively small mouth and narrow head (for a sculpin). Its sister species, fluffy sculpin or Oligocottus snideri, has fleshy cirri on the head, the base of the dorsal fin, and the lateral line. Tidepool sculpins are common in Puget Sound and the western sections of the Strait of Juan de Fuca; fluffy sculpins become more common on more exposed areas especially as you head west in the Strait and along the coast. Individuals in the genus Oligocottus and Clinocottus (both intertidal specialists) lack scales or major spines. Mark-recapture studies have demonstrated that this species can return to its home area (often tide pools) even when displaced by up to a mile.
Steve
VMP
Steelhead
Picture is grainy, but it sure looks like a Pacific staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus). Although sculpins vary quite a bit in coloration and certainly in their common and street names, there are some that really stand out such as the staghorn sculpin for its antler-like gill spines (hence the staghorn name). What kind of fly fouled that voracious little predator?
I would say staghorn sculpin, Leptocottus armatus. It has a large mouth, relatively flattened/broad head, and branched pre-opercular spines (the spines that extend off from the pre-opercular bone. The body color is black/gray with a few lighter spots. There are two other sculpins with prominently-forked pre-opercular spines: the Northern sculpin (Icelinus borealis - longer spine and browner) and the rough-back sculpin (Chitonotus pugetensis - more upright posture and more laterally flattened). All three species like soft sediments: sand, mud, shell debris, but the staghorn is often found in the shallow subtotal while the other two are found in deeper water, more than 30' (10m). Both great sculpins (Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus) and buffalo sculpins (Enophrys bison) and be found in shallow water, especially when juveniles, but they tend to be deeper; both species have long, rod-like pre-opercular spines.
Steve
Even with the super slow fishing this morning @jasmillo still had the hot hand landing several cutts to my one little cutt.
We fished some very fishy stretch but blanked out so I decided to make a long run to another inlet, back to a spot where we caught fish before and that saved a skunking.
This little son of a gun had a gruesome wound on the back I don’t know for how long but damn what a tough species they are!
Good boat deal here, look at that beautiful patina and the all natural organic hull armor coating.
We fished some very fishy stretch but blanked out so I decided to make a long run to another inlet, back to a spot where we caught fish before and that saved a skunking.
This little son of a gun had a gruesome wound on the back I don’t know for how long but damn what a tough species they are!
Good boat deal here, look at that beautiful patina and the all natural organic hull armor coating.
Evan might have an interest in tuning her up.
Hadn’t planned to fish today due to the slow cutt fishing lately, but since I had to head south to visit my mom at her care facility threw the gear in the rig. Glad I did.
February is usually a very slow month for me, but today was one of the best February days I’ve in a very long time.
Got to the canal at about 8:30, about two hours before the high and fished until 1:00.
Generally catching a fish on your first cast is a bad omen, but not today. Fish rising pretty much all day with multiple targets at the same time and lots of fish to hand.
Took some advise from @jasmillo and based on @Nick Clayton and @ffb recent report mentioning possible food sources, tied up some unweighted olive buggers last night. The plan was to imitate polychaete worms, but I didn’t have any long shank salt hooks so tied them in size 6, 3X long TMC 5263 with an extra long tail. Never had to change the fly all day. Fished on a full intermediate fish super slow with lots of pauses. The fish weren’t pounding it, you’d feel weight and the next strip was fish on.
Lost two really nice fish that both spit the hook on jumps.
I noticed the bigger fish don’t have a lot of color but some of the smaller fish did. Very similar to last year and hopefully there will be some nice pre-spawn fish like last year in April.
Fun day on the water. Kind of felt like spring.
Some pics from today.
SF
February is usually a very slow month for me, but today was one of the best February days I’ve in a very long time.
Got to the canal at about 8:30, about two hours before the high and fished until 1:00.
Generally catching a fish on your first cast is a bad omen, but not today. Fish rising pretty much all day with multiple targets at the same time and lots of fish to hand.
Took some advise from @jasmillo and based on @Nick Clayton and @ffb recent report mentioning possible food sources, tied up some unweighted olive buggers last night. The plan was to imitate polychaete worms, but I didn’t have any long shank salt hooks so tied them in size 6, 3X long TMC 5263 with an extra long tail. Never had to change the fly all day. Fished on a full intermediate fish super slow with lots of pauses. The fish weren’t pounding it, you’d feel weight and the next strip was fish on.
Lost two really nice fish that both spit the hook on jumps.
I noticed the bigger fish don’t have a lot of color but some of the smaller fish did. Very similar to last year and hopefully there will be some nice pre-spawn fish like last year in April.
Fun day on the water. Kind of felt like spring.
Some pics from today.
SF
3.5 - 5 this morning for me. Little guy got off at the boat while getting the net. With how slow it was, I’ll take .5 for that fish 
. Smallish fish in general. Still fun though. 5 fish hooked on 4 very different patterns off the same 150 section of shoreline. Couple from today.
. Smallish fish in general. Still fun though. 5 fish hooked on 4 very different patterns off the same 150 section of shoreline. Couple from today.
