Put my saltwater hands to use for the first time this year.

I decided to make to the trip to the South Sound today in search of the area's famed "SRC's" or Sea-Run Cutthroat. The weather was going to be great, the tides cooperative, and a more knowledgeable me would be standing on the rocky shores, rather than a mere novice less than a year ago. I still am in my early stages of fly fishing, but have gained much casting prowess since I last walked a rocky beach.

Unfortunately, the fishing didn't hold up as I would have hoped. Covering a couple miles of beach thoroughly, from 10:15AM- 5:45PM, covering the outgoing and incoming, yielded only two fish brought to hand. One was a 14ish inch Resident Coho and the other the target species, a nice Sea Run of around the same. I missed 6 more fish, some of which were short strikes which didn't stick and wouldn't follow further, and some plain whiffed hooksets (I am a gear fisherman at heart- the hookset is still developing). I met a couple other fly fishermen and they had similar luck.

The most interesting thing: I saw no fish activity at all today. No jumps, rises, or rolls of any kind. The other fishermen reported similar findings. I did see a few small schools of chum fry, which is a good sign. I was fishing blind the whole day. Surely the fish were around, just at a different beach. Cutthroat are mobile buggers. Those that were at the beaches visited were acting pretty spooky. None were close to shore; most bit my presentation 50-60 feet out. Fishing the close water and that parallel to shore didn't produce.

Just an off day for the South Sound. I still had a really fun time, enjoyed almost every moment, save the horrendous line tangles and the poorly adapted line I used. A full floater, not designed for long casting. A compact shooting head would be ideal to minimize false casts and cast further. My arm definitely feels the hundreds of casts put out today. And the fish, while not plentiful, made the trip that much more worthwhile.

Tight, Unbroken Lines!

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