River Cutthroat Trout help

[PsoasHunter]

We bought some property on the Humptulips river last year and I've read there are cutthroat trout in there, but I have never fished for cuts before. I grew up fishing lakes, I taught myself salmon fishing in rivers in college, but have never targeted cutthroat. When are the best times of year to target them? A simple google search says spring and fall, but are there certain clues that make you want to hit the river? What are your favorite tactics/baits/techniques? jig and floats? bait? spinners/spoons? all of the above?  Are they more likely to be in deep holes, or pushing quick water? I'd think holes as they're not working upstream like kings, but I have no idea.

I'm not looking for specific spots, I'm mostly interested in fishing off my own property or the near vicinity.  There are a few holes in our stretch of river. We're above the hatchery if that's helpful information for targeting fish.

Any and all info is appreciated.

Also, I'm at an age where I could afford a guided trip to glean some of this info instead of spending years trying to figure it out the hard way like I did chasing salmon. If you have experience with a good guide on the Hump, that's appreciated info too. Thank you.

[BigGoonTuna]

They're mostly sea runs in there, which tend to follow the salmon up in the fall.  Most of the effort for cutthroat in that area seems to be in the lower tidewater stretches of the rivers (you'll see guys pulled off along the highway on the Hoquiam and Wishkah rivers in the fall plunking chunks of sucker meat for them), they usually call them "bluebacks".

I've caught them above the 101 bridge but I've never really targeted them in that particular river since I'm usually after steelhead or salmon.  I suspect that if they're around you'll do well with a little mepps or vibrax spinner.  Look around log jams and other cover and you should find them.

[metlhead]

A favorite that I look forward to each year. Cutts will be in the river all year but mid August is when the sea runs show up.My go to is 1/8oz spoons worked around stumps and rocks in deeper soft water adjacent good flows. I can move fast and cover lots of river. They are not shy on a first cast

[birdshooter1189]

My go to lures would be: Roostertail in 1/8oz or 1/6oz sizes.  Kastmaster "spoon?" in 1/8oz size.  Torpedo float bobber, then 24-36" leader and a fly hook. Size 12 adams or similar.

[ASHQUACK]

One if my favorite ways to target them is a nightcrawler on a single hook through the head drifted with a small split shot. Cutts are voracious feeders and will attack the worm as it floats by. I've also use a sand shrimp tail under a float and probably the single most effective is drfiting a single egg or egg colored soft bead.

[7mmfan]

Sea run Cutthroat are high up on my favorites list, they are beautiful and very aggressive and fun to catch. As has been said, mid-August on into the fall is prime time. I prefer to fish spinners for them, small #2 Mepps or Blue Fox. Roostertails work great too. Small, light spoons can be super effective. I stay away from bait because they will inhale it. Bait caught cutthroat are almost always hooked too deep to release. Fish around cover, logs, rocks, etc. Drop offs and riffles. Remember, they're ambush predators, so anywhere you can look at think something might be hiding there is likely water. I used to fish them a lot on my local river and there was a huge stump/log garden area that I could spend hours in just casting spinners to cover and catch lots of fish.

[Boss .300 winmag]

🤔

[Taco280AI]

I haven't targeted them, but have caught quite a few on nymphs down deep.

[PsoasHunter]

Lots of great info on here so far, thank you.

[finnman]

My personal favorite trout of all time.
My family settled on the banks of the Chehalis River downstream of the mouth of the Satsop River.
Raised potatoes on the south bank. My grandfather and his brothers all fished the river and streams for cutts and salmon. My favorite uncle, Toby we called him, but his name was Carl after his dad, was the die hard fisherman, he taught my dad and his brothers and us nephews an out the “giant yellow bellies” of Grays Harbor! Oh the tales!
Back then it was catching…so it was Colorado spoons or Indiana spinners with a piece of worm. Or a drifted worm under a bobber, or salmon eggs, or mepps spinners.

We had an uncle whose aunt owned a nice farm house on the banks of the Hump. We spent several years there as a family swimming and fishing for cutts and salmon. That place was a gem.

Anyway…. it’s all nostalgia now. Enjoy it while it’s there! Make memories…at the end of the day…that’s all we got.

[MeatMissile]

#1 or #2 Mepps spinners or a float and 1/16oz wooley bugger jig when using spinning gear.  On a fly rod, I like to swing streamers.

[metlhead]

Even Kwiks that don't fit!

[Mtnwalker]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

[wadu1]

Back in the day I used Dick Nite spoons. The blue and chrome size 2 worked the best, cast or troll them.

[finnman]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

Yer dern right! My great uncle and grandpa referred to sea runs as blue backs. Cool to hear others make local references as well! 👍🏻

[Chris57]

One if my favorite ways to target them is a nightcrawler on a single hook through the head drifted with a small split shot. Cutts are voracious feeders and will attack the worm as it floats by. I've also use a sand shrimp tail under a float and probably the single most effective is drfiting a single egg or egg colored soft bead.

I used to do the same on the Main fork of the Stilly, so much fun!

[Mtnwalker]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

Yer dern right! My great uncle and grandpa referred to sea runs as blue backs. Cool to hear others make local references as well! 👍🏻

They didn't happen to be loggers did they? I think every single person I know that used to call em blueback were timberfallers, but that could just be because every guy on my Mom's side for 3 generations were cutters 

[metlhead]

These things can be a pain when fishing sea runs. Figrd an evening lookin to see if they have arrived found this guy which made for a tough fight.

[metlhead]

This guy

[2MANY]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

Yer dern right! My great uncle and grandpa referred to sea runs as blue backs. Cool to hear others make local references as well! 👍🏻

They didn't happen to be loggers did they? I think every single person I know that used to call em blueback were timberfallers, but that could just be because every guy on my Mom's side for 3 generations were cutters 

From the Queets area?

[metlhead]

Cutts are in my area in good numbers. Been hitting about 20 per 4hr outing. Did a comparison and small spoons outfished the fly rod and bait did fine.

[WapitiTalk1]

Back a “few” years ago in the Big Sky State, when the cuts would spawn up the surrounding creeks off Hungry Horse reservoir, a single hook Colorado Spinner/single gold spoon w/red beads  tipped with 1/2 a worm would knock ‘em dead. Nothing like catching a 1+ lb cut in a crick u could jump across.

[Mtnwalker]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

Yer dern right! My great uncle and grandpa referred to sea runs as blue backs. Cool to hear others make local references as well! 👍🏻

They didn't happen to be loggers did they? I think every single person I know that used to call em blueback were timberfallers, but that could just be because every guy on my Mom's side for 3 generations were cutters 

From the Queets area?

From Hoquiam but they logged up that way for years.

Curious if PsoasHunter had any luck? Should be prime time

[metlhead]

Chasin cutts today. Backcast put a #2 siwash right into my dog's ear. Wow that was a strange sound. Good thing for back up spin rod. Lotsa folks out today chasin the sea runs. Plenty to catch

[Boss .300 winmag]

Back a “few” years ago in the Big Sky State, when the cuts would spawn up the surrounding creeks off Hungry Horse reservoir, a single hook Colorado Spinner/single gold spoon w/red beads  tipped with 1/2 a worm would knock ‘em dead. Nothing like catching a 1+ lb cut in a crick u could jump across.

When I was a kid and lived in Pomeroy that was my favorite fishing in the blues.

[WapitiTalk1]

Back a “few” years ago in the Big Sky State, when the cuts would spawn up the surrounding creeks off Hungry Horse reservoir, a single hook Colorado Spinner/single gold spoon w/red beads  tipped with 1/2 a worm would knock ‘em dead. Nothing like catching a 1+ lb cut in a crick u could jump across.

When I was a kid and lived in Pomeroy that was my favorite fishing in the blues.

 

[PsoasHunter]

I haven't made it out there since late July, but plan on spending next weekend at the river. I have a long list of to-dos of there and of course keeping the 3 year old and 18 month old alive and excited about the woods,  but I intend to get some time chasing cutts. I appreciate the pms, tips, and success photos to get me excited, hunt wa has come through yet again. I'll keep you updated.

[Skyvalhunter]

Just make sure you know which rivers are opened as the state closed some due to salmon population. Like some of the Skykomish.

[finnman]

There are smaller resident cuts in the hump year round but the sea run start showing up any day now. We've done well on sea run as early as mid june below the hatchery, but like others said august is prime time on through fall. One of my favorite fish as well, big time nostalgia from my youth chasing blueback with grandpa (pretty sure blueback is a local thing cause that means sockeye to most others )

Yer dern right! My great uncle and grandpa referred to sea runs as blue backs. Cool to hear others make local references as well! 👍🏻

They didn't happen to be loggers did they? I think every single person I know that used to call em blueback were timberfallers, but that could just be because every guy on my Mom's side for 3 generations were cutters 

No, not fallers. Yellow Finn Potato farmers. Lubbe farms is still growing the yellow Finn’s…

[PsoasHunter]

I got out for about an hour this weekend and hit the few deeper holes within our property lines on the river. There are a few cut clay banks, but there isn't much structure and no logs or trees, just rocks/gravel. I've seen fish in them before, but didn't see any on this trip and didn't have any bites. I'll have to explore more of the river to find better/more consistent holding water, but it was fun to get out. Even though there were no fish on this trip, it's very satisfying to fish a stretch of river and see no other people, considering I learned river fishing by combat fishing the popular holes on the Puyallup and Nisqually. I've got a lifetime to figure out this river and fishery, and I'm looking forward to it, especially as the kids get older and can get after it more.