Karen and I just got back from the Tumwater/Tacoma area where we continued our mission to catch all 12 subspecies of cutthroat trout. Karen and I travelled to Spokane to pickup our friend Leon and then carry on to the Olympia Peninsula. It was definitely a long drive but we knew that it had to be done to carry on with our quest. After getting set up in rainy Tumwater we hit several beaches to try to catch coastal cutthroat. We had to focus on public beaches.
Our friend Steve Anderson's son, Austin, is a biologist in the area and he helped set up our fly fishing! We also met up with Greg Shimek, Executive Director of the Cutthroat Coalition of Washington State. Greg was an excellent source of information about coastal cutthroat! He has been working on the science of the coastal cutthroat trout for many years! We all were able to connect with some coastal cutts. It was an excellent day. We all learned a great deal about the behaviour of the cutthroat.
Fortunately the coastal cutthroat population is protected and seems to be doing very well. I was surprised at the following of fly fishers in the area that love to pursue coastal cutthroat! Of course we had to pay attention to the tides. We tried to fly fish on the outgoing tide. I am sure an incoming tide would have been productive too!
We mostly used a fly called a Chum Baby! It imitates a chum fry which start to head to the ocean from the spawning creeks early in April! It was all cast and retrieve with intermediate lines!
We owe a great deal of thanks to Austin Anderson and Greg Shimek! They helped point us in the right direction and they both took time off to fly fish with us. It was also so nice to spend three days with Austin's dad, Steve. We have spent many a day fly fishing together.
Austin with a coastal cutthroat!
Tides change close to 15-17 feet twice a day in the area!
Greg Shimek
Steve with one of the larger coastal cutthroat that we caught!
Celebrating!
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