Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii spp.) are a species of fish, comprising many subspecies, native to western North America. They are in the same genus as, and closely related to, rainbow trout, steelhead and the Pacific salmons. This month we will look at the only anadromous subspecies of cutthroat – the coastal, or sea-run, cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii).
Coastal ‘cutts’ are found along shorelines and rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to California. Unlike true anadromous fishes, like salmon and steelhead, coastal cutts will not spend months, or years, traversing oceans, but will generally stay close to beaches and shorelines within a few kilometres or miles of a river mouth or upstream in rivers, never more than a few dozen kilometres from the sea. In this way, their habits are more closely aligned with sea trout (sea run brown trout). Some form resident populations in lakes close to coastlines.
Like other cutthroat subspecies, coastals can be recognised by their orange or red ‘slash’ beneath their gills, which accounts for the species common name. They generally have very silvery colouration and their bodies are often heavily spotted.
Coastal cutthroat are winter spawners, and they can often be targeted with wet flies as they congregate in backwater sloughs and gravelly, slow flowing river sections during the coldest months of the year. At other times these fish can be targeted on surface flies but are more often caught on wet patterns cast and retrieved in sloughs or off beaches - even trolled in lakes, or on streamers swung in rivers. They are often accidental bycatch when fishing for other species like salmon and steelhead. Favourite fly patterns for coastal cutthroats include wets such as rolled muddlers and reverse spiders, and streamers like egg sucking leeches in rivers.
The western United States and British Columbia draw thousand of visitors from around the globe each year to experience fishing for the steelhead and salmon the area is famous for. But if you are ever in the area, and want to try your hand at sometime you can target on a lighter rod, remember the fun year-round proposition of the coastal cutthroat trout.
Video: Spawn flyfish
Thanks for the great entomology lesson this month. The description of the mayfly life cycle was great.