It's fall and living in the Pacific Northwest lends to many amazing views and gorgeous scenery. It seems as if all the decidious trees are on fire - their colors bright and crisp. Fall happens to be my favorite time of year for this reason and handful more, jost having to do with fishing though.

I had a few spare hours today so I jetted on over to a local beach and spent the afternoon casting a baitfish imitation I had tied a few days previously (my first attempt using epoxy) to fairly willing and eager sea run cutthroat and one jack coho, a resident. He fought with valor though. Lept and shook and tailwalked like it was his last fight.

jost fly fisherman are consumed this time of year with steelhead and the numerous salmon runs that are starting to pick up around the area rivers. I tried Salmon fishing once, definately turned off by the 'combat' feel. All the rivers had meat fishers slinging overweighted 'lures' (read: snaggers). It makes me sick. I would rather not fish for the salmon and watch nature at it's finest.

I have yet to fish for steelhead, however I did hook into one. Scared the living hell out of me. Fishing the lower Deschutes in Oregon, high-sticking nymphs and egg patterns on an indicator rig and my line stops dead in the middle of the run, I set the hook and it feels like a log - then the log takes off downstream. I aljost had a heart attack.  I knew instantly it wasn't a Redside (native to that river). After I set the hook an unnecessary amount of times and took a few big gulps of air I started running (as best as you can thigh-deep in a river in February) after my 'log'. It tail-walked a few times, screeched line off my reel and then shook the hook like it was toying with me the whole time. I concluded that had to be a steelhead. Maybe, maybe not. I'd like to believe it was. Moral of the story: I should take it up, but I haven't yet with no good reason.

All the other, more sought after fly fishing opportunities this time of year leaves the rivers and beaches that don't readily produce salmon and steelhead open for a nice quiet afternoon alone. So; I will take advantage, just as I did this afternoon.

The tide was just about right and after about thirty minutes of working the beach cover and lies, I hooked into this feisty sea run cutthroat (on the left). Sea run cutthroat love to hang out over rocky beaches, usually near a fresh/brackish water source. It's best if the beach contains oyster beds and eel grass along with some type of natural cover. They're typically fished for with a baitfish pattern or other food source imitation (not unlike the majority of game fishing). SRCs (as they're typically referred to) usually spend jost of their time in fairly shallow water chasing after some type of food (bait fish, sand lance, shrimp, etc). Attractor patterns typically work well also.

A few minutes later I picked up a Jack Coho (on the right) on the same pattern. Larger and stronger, they fight with a vengence. A fun fish to catch.

I am certainly blessed with living in the Pacific Northwest, all of this within 15 minutes of my doorstep. I can only imagine what lies beyond that.