Sea-run cutthroat

[Mutiny]

Headed out to the Wilson early this morning with my brother looking for some SRC. Got this one in the first pool we fished on a Borden special I tied. First sea run I've caught!!



After that had some misses and caught an 11-12" rainbow on a muddler, but the bite seemed to die off as he sun came over the ridge and the fog burned off.

 

[rogerdodger]

beautiful and they are so tasty! we get an SRC here now and then fishing for coho...haven't found time to target them yet, on my to do list..cheers, roger

 

[TimberTodd]

I was on the Wilson Friday late morning tossing flies. I c&r 4 and missed several. At times the rain bucketed me. Great pictures.

 

[troutdude]

Great pics. Congrats on #1!

(can't wrong w/ a Borden Special...SRC's are what they were made for)

 

[Stonefish]

Nice looking searun. One of my favorite fish to target, especially in saltwater.
SF

 

[Mutiny]

Around what milepoint were you fishing Todd? I was up close to jones creek. Just curious about how far into the river they are right now.

 

[TimberTodd]

I started around MP 18 and then worked my way down and finished the afternoon at the siskyville boat ramp.

 

[bass]

Beautiful fish, thanks for sharing!

 

[Admin]

Thanks for report!
Big waves of excitement are coming from the pic. )

 

[DrTheopolis]

Not to be a buzzkill, but I don't think that's a sea-run, it's a riverine/resident. Commonly confused. But no less cool of a fish.

They call SRCs "bluebacks" for a reason.

 

[Mutiny]

It was blue/silver, Looking at the pictures it does look more green like the residents I'm used to catching, but I would attribute that to the phone camera...

 

[brandon4455]

Not to be a buzzkill, but I don't think that's a sea-run, it's a riverine/resident. Commonly confused. But no less cool of a fish.

They call SRCs "bluebacks" for a reason.

contrary to popular belief, sea run cutthroat do not stay chrome while in the rivers, bluebacks as they may be, it does not remain that way for very long. The color of the fish does not determine whether it is anadromous or not especially when caught that far above any salt water.

they color up just like a salmon or steelhead after being upriver for an extended period of time. i have caught sea runs while fishing for salmon and steelhead that are very colorful. In the wilson,nestucca,trask,salmon,and siletz i have caught resident cutthroat up to 12 inches, but most anything larger than that is usually a sea run fish.It's also believed that sea runs will only enter the rivers in fall, and while it's true the largest push is in the fall, i have caught chrome bright sea runs and colored up sea runs 20 miles upriver in the middle of july and august.


that is most definitely a sea run cutthroat.

i attached a pic of the face of a 16 inch sea run i caught while steelhead fishing a few years ago. notice how colorful the fish is.

 

[rogerdodger]

contrary to popular belief, sea run cutthroat do not stay chrome while in the rivers, bluebacks as they may be, it does not remain that way for very long. The color of the fish does not determine whether it is anadromous or not especially when caught that far above any salt water.

they color up just like a salmon or steelhead after being upriver for an extended period of time. i have caught sea runs while fishing for salmon and steelhead that are very colorful. In the wilson,nestucca,trask,salmon,and siletz i have caught resident cutthroat up to 12 inches, but most anything larger than that is usually a sea run fish.It's also believed that sea runs will only enter the rivers in fall, and while it's true the largest push is in the fall, i have caught chrome bright sea runs and colored up sea runs 20 miles upriver in the middle of july and august.


that is most definitely a sea run cutthroat.

i attached a pic of the face of a 16 inch sea run i caught while steelhead fishing a few years ago. notice how colorful the fish is.

X2

We call them "ocean colors" and "river colors"...SRC shift between them...

 

[Stonefish]

Interesting subject.
It can be difficult to distinguish between the resident and anadromous forms of coastal cutthroat.
Here are a few pics that help show the different color variations of coastal cutthroat.
Searun caught in the salt in January. Starting to show some color but likely not going to spawn for another month or two.

Resident coastal cutt caught above a barrier (falls)

Resident or searun cutt? I'm not sure, as it was caught in the same river as the second fish but below the falls.


Regardless of what form they are, they are great fish and fun to catch.
Apologies to the OP for any thread drift.
SF

 

[DrTheopolis]

It was blue/silver, Looking at the pictures it does look more green like the residents I'm used to catching, but I would attribute that to the phone camera...

We must use similar cameras -- my phone doesn't quite nail the colors, either.

And I also will go with Brandon, I've caught them above tidewater as early as July. I've also caught residents much larger than 12".

I also agree that it doesn't matter -- cutties are magnificent regardless whether they've hit the salt or not.

Not to horribly long ago, I read a long, boring article about coastal cutthroat. Heck, seems like the (alleged) scientists writing the dang thing weren't 100% sure of all things cutthroat... part of their allure.

 

[SmallStreams]

I haven't been finding any searuns yet this fall, only what I'd consider residents.

If they're fat and over 10", then I'm going to call them searun. The three I've banked this fall were skinny with empty bellies, but 13", 14", & 15"... IMHO, either the searuns aren't finding the food or they haven't been coming upriver yet.

Definitely nothing strikes a spinner like cutthroat! If they grew as large as steelhead, they'd eat the other species into extinction.

 

[SiletzTroutKiller]

Goodness I love bluebacks!!!! Haven't gone out chasing them yet but hopefully soon!

 

[Mutiny]

This guy was fat, and probably beetween 12-14 inches, Not sure exactly. I'm thinking about heading back out this weekend. My brother had what we think was another SRC eat and spit out his fly, that looked about 20".

 

[GungasUncle]

Good job - I think I saw you guys rigging up by your car a couple times on Sunday - I ran over to Nehalem to check out some boat trailers that I wound up not getting, and remember vividly seeming a few guys pulling on waders and stringing fly rods as I was driving by both directions. Were you guys fishing out of an SUV by chance?

Water looked beautiful, low but beautiful. Sea run or not, that's a nice fat cuttie for the Wilson.

 

[Mutiny]

Silver nissan pickup with black canopy