Tillamook cutthroat?

[McClane]

I’m not trying to offend you, I’m trying to give the original poster accurate advice so that he can have a good time fishing.

And I'm very grateful. I've caught a lot of fish in my years, steelhead, striped bass, weakfish, mahi-mahi, albacore, Atlantic Salmon, etc., etc., etc., but my resume is incomplete without 50% of the "true" native trout in our country, lol - the cutthroat.

 

[McClane]

The Trask is an amazing river. I recommend never venturing too far from the car as it gets pretty remote, and I've seen some sketchy stuff while out in that area. I enjoy exploring the North Fork of the Trask, some big cutthroat. I am no expert, but I purchased a handful of Borden Specials but ended up fishing more traditional flies.

I'm a former prosecutor and I've been "carrying" for about 25 years, heck, I don't even hike to my mailbox without being armed, so your advice does not escape me. . .though traveling, due to state-to-state laws sometimes at odds with my own (I live in a "rural" county in Upstate NY, closer to VT, MA and Canada than I am to NYC), I often don't carry outside my state.

 

[Snopro]

The name fits. Loved your work at Nakatomi Plaza.

 

[brandon4455]

I will second the info about cutthroat of all varieties being in the river all of trout season, and it varies on each stream. I have caught some very nice fresh sea runs on a handful of coastal rivers in June and July, some even with sea lice on them. This is very accurate information.

Wet flies sure do work especially if you’re fishing those slower moving pools/ frog water areas.. but being the dirty bobber fisherman I am, I have caught a lot more of them with nymphs/dead drift. Egg sucking stoneflies or rubber legs, general attractors like ice dub prince, possie buggers with rubber legs. A lot of the fish especially in the middle of a hot summer during mid day much like steelhead will tuck up into bubble curtains at the head of those runs and they stay down and aren’t as readily catchable on a dry or light wet fly presentation.

My absolute favorite sea run cutthroat fishing is in October after it rains and they’re eating salmon eggs. Usually fish a little shrimpy/fleshy colored bead head bugger with a bead or yarn egg type dropper and catch a ton of fish that way. All of my largest sea runs have come during this time with this setup. You also do have a decent chance at running into a steelhead or salmon with this setup.