Puget Sound

Started slow at the first beach but as the super high tide dropped a lot of water was moving and fishing was really good for an hour or more at the second beach. Fish after fish splashed water on your face/glasses but never mind you gotta keep casting and catching kind of good :)
The biggest cutt had some gnarly teeth on him,i don't think I've ever seen teeth like this on Cutts before, long like a bull trout.

While I was gearing up @Stonedfish stopped by in his mobile eco system to say hi :)
Found this really cool piece of chart.
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I’ve been out of town for an extended period of time so was able to fish the sound today for the first time since 11/12. Decided to stay close to home and squeeze as much out of the north Sound season as I can before she really shuts down. Good day, lots of fish in the class below but the quality was just ehh. Not going to complain though. It’s mid December and I was fishing. That said, time to start heading south from here on out for my src fix.

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Fly of the day for me…..

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Met up with @jasmillo for some cuttie fishing this morning, that's him hunching over a fish.

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Pretty decent fishing, fair mix of different size fish.
Icy breeze, light rain, useless frozen popsicles for fingers, what's not to love about Puget Sound? ;)
Picked up a gas stove top and half scissor aka coho shiv, I'm thinking fresh panko BBQ coho on the beach next season!

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Met up with @jasmillo for some cuttie fishing this morning, that's him hunching over a fish.

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Pretty decent fishing, fair mix of different size fish.
Icy breeze, light rain, useless frozen popsicles for fingers, what's not to love about Puget Sound? ;)
Picked up a gas stove top and half scissor aka coho shiv, I'm thinking fresh panko BBQ coho on the beach next season!

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Nice work Brian.
That rusty scissor blade could do a person in quickly placed in the right spot.
You could go undercover and start fishing some of the sketchier places with that Arkansas toothpick.🤣🤣
 
Yes, good morning with @Kfish on the water. Decent number of fish. Average size with a couple good fish mixed in. Being a better steward of our local beaches than I am, Lou did get rewarded with said coho shiv on the walk back to the trucks. Now it’s time to thaw out in front of the fire….

Pardon the photography. I am not great with fish photography in general and I am useless trying to use my phone with nitril gloves on! Some of the fish from today.

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This is my favorite time of year to tie for SRC. You can have some fun with it. Everything from your standards, experimental stuff and tiny patterns imitating shrimp if you see them sipping (I like small soft hackle type flies in white and pink in those situations).

Last weekend, the fly on the lower right was the hot fly.

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This morning, the fly on the left was the hot fly.

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When in doubt, I always default to a bead head olive bugger. Catches fish all year long. So many flies out there that will work. Find the fish and you’ll catch them on a lot of things usually. If they are being picky, I tend to go olive and slow or small shrimpy soft hackle stuff also stripped slow. If you have not already, dig through the What’s in Your Vise thread on this site and the old. Lots of good SRC guys (much more experienced than me) post their stuff out there.
 
With no kids and both my wife’s and my immediate family 3k miles away, I decided to do some Xmas day SRC’n! Lots of rain, a good number of SRC and even a few other anglers out and about. Hit 3 beaches, landed a dozen or so fish (nearly all on the small side). Made it home in time to cook up a turkey breast on the BGE for me for dinner (and a lot of turkey sandwiches in the coming days) and some halibut for my wife.

Love the variation of the color of these fish. Even from the same beach. Most were in this size range with a few larger (nothing noteworthy) thrown in.

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Spent yesterday chasing the elusive winter time north sound cutthroat. They exist and I have seen them caught, and hey, it makes about as much sense as Puget Sound Steelheading. Got some good casting practice in (Still struggling to shoot line with the 6 weight, 8 weight is actually a little easier for me) and saw some bird and seal activity. I ran over my spool of fluro leaving the beach, does anyone have any tips for salvaging what’s left of the line?
 

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Spent yesterday chasing the elusive winter time north sound cutthroat. They exist and I have seen them caught, and hey, it makes about as much sense as Puget Sound Steelheading. Got some good casting practice in (Still struggling to shoot line with the 6 weight, 8 weight is actually a little easier for me) and saw some bird and seal activity. I ran over my spool of fluro leaving the beach, does anyone have any tips for salvaging what’s left of the line?
Respool it on a chunk of pool noodle or old leader spool for tying leaders? Leaders require shorter pieces so you’ll be able to cut out/avoid damaged sections.
 
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Spent yesterday chasing the elusive winter time north sound cutthroat. They exist and I have seen them caught, and hey, it makes about as much sense as Puget Sound Steelheading. Got some good casting practice in (Still struggling to shoot line with the 6 weight, 8 weight is actually a little easier for me) and saw some bird and seal activity. I ran over my spool of fluro leaving the beach, does anyone have any tips for salvaging what’s left of the line?

Good job getting out.
Catching a searun every month of the year on the east side of the sound would be a good challenge if someone was up for it.
Say from 8-2 northward…….
Probably doable but many skunks would be expected at this time of the year.
SF
 
Good job getting out.
Catching a searun every month of the year on the east side of the sound would be a good challenge if someone was up for it.
Say from 8-2 northward…….
Probably doable but many skunks would be expected at this time of the year.
SF
Quite doable if you’re flexible on the fresh/salt water thing, but still doable in the salt in/near a certain estuary near Mt. Vernon and along Chuckanut drive.
 
What is your guys fly of choice right now during winter?

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I whipped up some shrimp variants that can be slow stripped/fluttered but wondering if I should throw something else.

Tempted to try an egg sucking chartreuse thing.

I have good results, in the dead of winter, with a Squimp and a Delia Squid. I use Nick Clayton's pattern on u- tube...
 
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