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Coastal Cutthroat Trout
Oncorhynchus clarki clarki |
JOSEPH TOMELLERI GRAPHIC
TEXT BY DENNIS BITTON
In the Pacific Northwest, steelhead and salmon get all
the attention--but these aren't the only native fish
around worth chasing. Although they don't get nearly as
big, coastal cutthroat trout also spend parts of their
lives in the ocean, and provide good sport for anglers
who can appreciate the inherent beauty of these native
spotted trout, and the waters they inhabit.
Because they migrate to and from salt water (and not
necessarily just to spawn), coastal cutthroat trout have
varied appearances from place to place and from season
to season. Just in from the salt, these cutts are a lot
more silvery than other species. The slash marks below
the jaw are faint, and the spots are subdued. The longer
the fish spends in freshwater, the darker, and more
colorful it gets. The distinguishing mark of this
anadromous cutthroat is its many small black spots
almost everywhere on its body and tail fin.
Catching these fish can be too easy. I once spent a
glorious few hours in a remote British Columbia bay,
right where a freshwater stream spilled into a flat calm
piece of ocean. There cutts were all over, and I had
never caught one.
I asked the lodge owner/pilot what pattern I should try.
"Anything with red in it," he said, already casting to,
and catching 12- to 14-inch coastal cutts. He seemed to
be enjoying himself.
Thinking he thought little of the fish, I cast in a
drab, respectable fly, and waited. And waited.
Meanwhile, my companion was catching fish as fast as he
could reel them in.
Feeling foolish, I then tied on a gaudy concoction that
had laid unused in the bottom of my flybox for years. It
had a red feather tail, a silver body and over-wings of
two or three kinds of dyed hair. I guess it would have
to be called a little minnow pattern.
I cast that out, and they fought each other to get at
the fly. I caught fish after fish, cast after cast. No
cast was ignored. I thought I'd get tired of this type
of fishing and I did. It took two or three hours longer
than I expected though, because I didn't move 20 feet in
four hours.
That's not to say all coastal cutts are that easy to
catch. Obviously, those residing in streams with a lot
of fishing pressure will become finicky.
Like all trout, coastal cutts are opportunists; they'll
eat what's available. That's nice for fly fishers
because you can fish dry flies, wets and streamers,
depending on the proclivities of the stream.
Some fishing is done with small rods in small streams
covered over with willows and trees. Some is done in big
rivers from boats, and other folks wade the shallow bays
and estuaries, catching fish right out of the ocean.
Like salmon and steelhead, coastal cutthroat habitat has
been severely degraded over the last 150 years, but
because their size, numbers, and seasonalities aren't
conducive to exploitation by commercial fishing,
cutthroats have survived marginally better. Still, many
distinct races are either on the verge of extinction, or
already gone from their native ranges.
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