Puget Sound is open all year for catch and release of sea run cutthroat which are native to Puget Sound. SRC’s are anadromous and believed to be capable of traveling between fresh and saltwater at any time, a very unique trait to these fish.
Tidal Predictions For:
Seattle
Whidbey Island
Hood Canal
Tacoma Narrows
Bremerton
Bainbridge Island
Belingham
Port Angeles
Flies:
Sound Searcher, Sound Advice, Chum Baby, West’s Smelt, West’s Herring, Southworth Special, Herring Popper, Reverse Spiders, Morrish’s Small Fry, Rolled Muddler, Silly Leg Spider and Euphasid patterns, Chernobyl ants/hoppers, Miyawaki Popper, Clousers, Bend Backs, Deceivers, Foul Free Herring, Shock and Awe
For the past 17 years, we have worked hard to help fly anglers in the region become more familiar with and less intimidated by Puget Sound. Our goal is to assist fly anglers in better understanding the various factors to be considered when planning to fly fish in the Sound. First of all, being a saltwater fishery the food forms or entomology is completely different than in freshwater lakes or streams. Here being familiar with the various baitfish, shrimp and smaller foods predatory fish feed upon and then identify flies to correspond with them. There is a seasonality to when all of these emerge, similar to that of the insects in rivers and lakes.
Knowing your tides and how they correspond to beaches is also important. Some beaches will not have space to fly fish at high tide while others will fish poorly at low tides due to netting, lack of water or substrate on those particular beaches. It is always good to see beaches at their highest and lowest tides, both flood and ebb. The idea of fishing beaches 30 minutes either side of a slack tide is insinuating the need to fish moving water.
Lastly, wind can and will play a role in which beaches are capable of being fished or not. Wind above 12 mph is going to be a challenge to tackle head on for most fly anglers so knowing the orientation of particular beaches to wind direction is very helpful.
