Trout and their lairs

Brian Miller

Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting Cutthwoat Twout
Forum Supporter
I very often will photograph a fish's lie after I hook them. I think it helps me recognize what they look like.
A couple of weeks ago I had a couple of grabs from the upstream side of this sweeper "tunnel" that put the fish down. It was the only way through the sweeper to continue on my way fishing so I waded through. It was getting on in the day and after a half hour or so it was time to turn around and head back. I tried a sidearm cast to get below the branches into the tunnel that only got to about here but the lie was further in. The 2nd cast got to there.
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Completing the cast with a raised rod tip out of the branches I was able get a good hookset and control this guy that had regained his appetite.
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Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
I dig sneaking around skinny water, dapping one minute, long fine casting the next.
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Gotta go with the curtis creek style sneak, or the better fish hide.
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Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
I dig sneaking around skinny water, dapping one minute, long fine casting the next.
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Gotta go with the curtis creek sneak, or the better fish hide.
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Man I miss those creeks out your way. In college I dated (then married) a walla walla girl and she always found it strange how much I liked visiting the in laws. So sad to see them move to tri cities. Really need to get back over there.
 

Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
Could have used those knee pads, some of the summer lairs can be small, and leave the fisher totally exposed on a gravel bar with the sun at your back. If your willing to curtis creek it and spend your time going slow and genuflecting however, it's possible draw out fish even in the cool morning skinny water. The 6wt CT is a delight to fish, and was helpful. The fish is getting turned mid pool near seam left side. Pretty obvious where it 's feeding station was upstream of the rod.
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Greg Armstrong

Go Green - Fish Bamboo
Forum Supporter
Half the fish I caught while working up this run were in relatively shallow water, about 18” deep - within three or four feet of the cobbles on the left.
Biggest challenge was in not lining and spooking them. This Rainbow and Westslope were among them.32FADCDB-554A-4C34-BA4C-C008625D6FE4.jpeg4DC5B359-F125-4E48-989E-7D66242AA5BA.jpeg01CAF0E8-CD06-480F-918C-6950CFC618B3.jpeg
 

ffb

Chum Bucket
Forum Supporter
Exploring some new to me water on a tributary of a river I've fished quite a bit. Just off the right of this rock in a seam. Fishing dry/dropper, took the purple chubby in the rain. Gotta love when the big old cutthroat head pokes up out of the water!

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Oliver1329

Life of the Party
Exploring some new to me water on a tributary of a river I've fished quite a bit. Just off the right of this rock in a seam. Fishing dry/dropper, took the purple chubby in the rain. Gotta love when the big old cutthroat head pokes up out of the water!

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I can remember some times like that. Some of the best dry fly cutthroat fishing I've had was fishing a massive purple chubby in the rain! So much fun
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
Is the first cutthroat with the purple fly a Greenback? The only place I’ve seen one with that orange on its side is a picture in my trout & salmon bible; Behnke’s “Trout and Salmon of North America”.
I don’t believe so. It’s from a westside cascades stream that has some westslopes, coastal cutt, and interesting hybrids like this one—I think anyway.
 

Divad

Whitefish
I’ve used this creeks name countless times in discussion to identify an area, drove by it hundreds of times yet never wetting a line. Yesterday I changed that.
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Looking up the creek after entering.
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Unexpected fishing apparel trips are some of my favorite.
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Stumbled on the first deep pool after spooking a couple.
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Which held this cutt.
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And the next obvious lair.
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Held this one.
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Then just below it I saw this! A jumbo for the stream (12-14in).
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Which I spooked once, worked downstream, came back and spooked again from the backside 🤦‍♂️ Oh well, there will be a next time. It was neat to see how the big cutt chose a relatively open gravel run to hold. The fish had all lines of sight covered, reminded me of how the big browns held in MT.

Lots of wildlife, nobody else and no other footprints.
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Good hidden lairs.
 
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