Sea-Run Cutthroat

So I had a few free hours last Sunday and decided to head out to the Harrison River in search of my first elusive Coho salmon. I haven't caught a coho yet, but I also haven't fished specifically for them either. So Sunday was going to be my day dedicated to catching one. Unfortunately, I got skunked...and got poured on for almost five straight hours. I did however, meet an awesome local man named Tom who let me tag along with him.

Tom has been fishing the Harrison for 25 years so I figured I lucked out getting the chance to fish with him. We fished all morning and neither one of us were able to hook up with a Coho. Apparently they have began moving up the river preparing to spawn. The Coho action was slow so we decided to target some of the smaller Sea-run cutthroat. With light tackle these fish are a blast. The best thing about them is that once they stopped biting, I tied on a different fly and lengthened my leader and it was pretty much like starting all over - the bite was on! I fished a rolled muddler minnow, an olive wooly bugger, a blue clouser, and each of them produced a number of fish. Now that salmon season is coming to an end, I think I might try to target these fish a little more...especially once the salmon eggs start washing downstream!