Little Luckiamute fishing

[pnwbrandon]

In the past two weeks, I've gone on four fly fishing trips on the Little Luckiamute (first trips ever). They have essentially been for the practice and aesthetics!

I've been practicing with nymphs; no luck, though we've heard of a couple of people getting bites with pheasant tails on opening day. We've each had one bite each with dry flies (one jumped for my dad's march brown last week, and today I had my first bite... it was on a kaufmann olive stimulator. I wasn't quick enough to set the hook).

It's definitely gorgeous up there! The water level has lowered quite a bit recently.

Lastly, I'm not experienced enough to offer advice, but it seems the trout are mostly hiding in the shady undercuts. After about four hours of casting in other parts of the river, an undercut is where I had the bite today... and almost immediately.

 

[troutdude]

The upper stretches are great for the scenery. I used to fish it when it was stocked. But, I'd love to go even farther upstream someday. Sounds like it was fun, in spite of the lack of bites.

 

[Sage_Flyguy]

I am not sure where you live Brandon , but this summer if you'd like to get some action on that fly rod of yours , I'd be happy to take you or tell you where to go up quartzville. I am relatively new to fly fishing as well , and the last 3 summers or so I have gone up quartzville and knocked them dead. nothing of any size to write home about , but an all day of C&R fun.

 

[Sage_Flyguy]

sorry , that last picture was terrible , here is a couple others from that same day....

 

[lilsalmon]

That first pic is very familiar......

 

[SmallStreams]

I tried Little Luckiamute for the first time last year, early in the season. It yielded about 3 native cutthroat total for our party of 3, so I have not bothered to return. At least that was 3 fish more than we found on Mill Creek. On both of those streams, I've wondered if the fish were much higher upstream this time of year or if they're just not populated.

 

[pnwbrandon]

Thanks for the offer, Sage_Flyguy. I live in Dallas... and I'm pretty tied down here with work for the time being. But, I'll let you know if I decide to take you up on that someday (at least the directions).

Well, my brother and I went up to the Little Luckiamute early this morning for a few hours. Hiked up past the white gate quite a ways. And... I caught my first trout! Then three more followed (not to mention 3 or 4 missed bites). Used the same orange stimulator for the entire morning. Released all of them; all were native cutthroat and only one was legal (measurements were 5 and 1/4, 9, 6, 5 and 3/4). Beautiful fish.

Had a great time... my brother says he did as well (even though he tragically snapped off the tip of his fly rod and caught nothing)! Got a few bites, though.

 

[pnwbrandon]

I went up again for a quick trip around 5pm today. Within 15 minutes, I caught and released a 9 inch trout on an orange stimulator. An hour later I recasted into the same spot on our way out and caught/released an 8 inch trout (olive stimulator). My little sister was with me; pretty nifty to show her how great fly fishing is panning out to be!

 

[troutdude]

Harder to tell on the first one; but both look like cutties. Nice job.

BTW, if a Game Warden were to ask you which species you had...you'd likely get a ticket if he/she felt you were unsure. According to the reg's; a fisherperson must know what you have, even before you pull it out of the water. So, you would do well to review pics online and keep learning. I'd hate to see you get a citation my friend.

 

[pnwbrandon]

Thank you for the heads up! It makes complete sense.

I do feel strange having caught fish that I struggle with identifying. Fly fishing is still new and with each bite I think, "Oh no! I'm just practicing, I don't deserve the attention (although my cast has improved significantly!)."

Fortunately, these are only my fifth and sixth catches. I'm definitely improving my effort on learning my local fish species.

Again, thanks for the regulation reminder.

 

[troutdude]

You're welcome. They are some really pretty fish.

I'd bet, that there are larger fish in that stream too. I used to fish it, many years ago when it was stocked. I'd imagine that some of those 'bows naturalized. Not to mention the natural (maybe wild) cutties. I'm sure some of those fish have gotten larger, over time.

 

[colt]

Had no idea about that regulation. Is that for specific areas or everywhere? I think that's a bit of a tough regulation considering the fact that sometimes I can't see the fish until it's nearly out of the water due to murky conditions. Are there certain rules for certain fish? I know I should be looking into that myself but I thought I'd ask if someone knew off the top of their head.

 

[troutdude]

I don't want to hijack this thread. I'll send a PM.