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Chitwood Lake Report
Snohomish County, WA

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08/02/2014
Stationary Fly Fishing
Cutthroat Trout
Olive
Cloudy
Floating Fly Line
Morning
08/02/2014
5
2243

I decided to take the easy, flat 2 mile walk out to chitwood for some cutty action, the lake didnt dissapoint either.
I brought a raft, oars, ,3wt fly rod 6 wt fly rod, and a box of flies i tied up last week.
I arrived at lake chitwood at 9:30, trout were surfacing all over the lake immediately as i arrived, and continued to rise all day, some fish jumped 4' airborne, the fish were feeding aggressively. The first set up i got ready was the 6wt with a olive wooley bugger tied on, first cast, strip strip (slurp) set the hook, nada. Missed the hook set, 10 minutes go by casting and retrieving from shore, i changed over to a olive spider pattern, this pattern worked awesome, every 5 minutes or so i would get a hit. About 10 minutes after the pattern change, i hook up, and land a 9 1/2" cutthroat trout that hooked herself in the eye, kept. About 20 minutes later using the same pattern i hook up, but this time a larger fish. This one pulled some line of the reel, and gave a very nice fight, landed, 13 3/4" cutthroat. On the next hit i got i hook up with something very large, it took my fly and headed directly away from me like a freight train, pulling 30' of line off my reel until i felt a snag, then the fish was gone, and i was snagged on a submerged log :( i lose my fly, so i tie on my next fly which is a kind of cross over pattern, olive wooley bugger, with mallard barred flank tied on like a spider, so i guess an olive wooley spider size 2 (very large fly) i finally diceded to take the time to ready my raft, i brought, might as well use it. So onward i go, this time im using my 3 weight, olive wooley spider, almost immediately i land a decent 12 1/2" cuthroat, then a 11 1/2" cuttthroat, then i decided to paddle over to the other side of the lake to find nice looking open water, made one pass c&rd a 7" cutt and missed 2 hits, then i heard thunder so i headed straight for shore, i left my line in the water thoufh, i got all my gear out of tge raft and through my rod in the bushes (fly still in the water) and got on shore, dragged the raft up the bank, and just as i did this i see my orange fly line straighten out from the bushes, so i jumped over picked up the rod, and the fight was on this is a nice fish, it fought valiently, and jumped several times, i landed it after 2 or 3 minutes14" cutthroat and that was my limit, just as i finished packing up all my gear, it started to sprinkle and i left with my limit, and had an awesome time.


Comments

The Quadfather
8/2/2014 10:24:00 PM
You got a new camera!
Nice report, thanks!
jonb
8/2/2014 10:46:00 PM
yup, new phone, :)
watfordr
8/3/2014 2:09:00 AM
The wdfw site says there are "naturally producing coho" what is that about?
jonb
8/3/2014 7:52:00 AM
anadromous coho pass through that lake every year in the fall, they spawn in its outlet creek and in the lake, there are alot of fry in the lake, which i believe are mostly coho fry( that the trout gorge themselves on) i haven't ever caught an adult landlocked coho in there yet, but i have certainly seen the anadromous ones in there, they shouldn't be fished for (my opinion) as they are definitely not landlocked, and landlocked rules shouldn't apply, if my understanding is correct.
john maher
8/3/2014 10:30:00 AM
Thanks for the report. I've hiked in to that lake, but the hard way....from the the popular Lime Kiln trailhead. I'm guessing you went in from Scotty road. I've yet to try that approach as I've heard there were issues with parking there. Been wanting to go back there with a fly rod. I read a hiking report that you can park just before the turn around. Is that right? No issues with land owners for you?
jonb
8/3/2014 5:12:00 PM
the parking is at scotty rd, 2 flat easy miles, but there isn't much parking, you need to find a place away from the gate where there is enough shoulder to fit your vehicle completely off the rd, i believe there is room for maybe 6 cars, but Ive only ever seen 1 other car there at any given time.
sleepyferret
8/4/2014 1:38:00 AM
I vote for this for "Best Damn Fishing Story"! Sounds like a perfect day! Thanks for sharing!
jonb
8/4/2014 8:44:00 PM
thanks sleepyferret!
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Rising Son GS

Phone: (509) 492-8852