About the Author

Chad Gillespie

Red's and Fjord Fly Fishing have a long history spanning back to 1997. Chad was a guide mentor and friend to Joe Rotter, now head guide at Red's Fly Shop. He taught Joe how to mend line and guided him to his first Yakima River trout.

Chad has an amazing resume as a guide, outdoor writer, fly tier, and is also an Emergency Medical Technician, Merchant Mariner with the US Coast Guard, and was a high school teacher before becoming a firefighter in addition to guiding. He's a great guy to spend time with, an absolute professional, and a master of the Hood Canal Sea Run Cutthroat and Salmon fisheries. Chad hosts remote destination travel for Red's and is a great leader, decision maker, and fishing mentor for these types of groups.

Hood Canal and Puget Sound Sea-Run Cutthroat Fly Fishing - Prime Time is Coming!

August 19, 2016

The two best months of the year for Sea-Run Cutthroat fly fishing in Hood Canal and Puget Sound are approaching fast, and if I was to pick two months to target these wild sea-run trout it would undoubtedly be September and October.

Hot summer days have been on the menu recently here in Western Washington, and so this also means fishing early and late in the day to have your best shot at Sea-Run Cutthroat. SRC's will get aggressive during this time frame and give you the best shot at hook ups. SRC's in hot weather will also look for those cooler water temperatures, so fishing areas next to drop off's will provide better fishing. Another technique to deploy is to use sinking and sink tip lines in Type 3-6. I can't tell you how many times letting my line sink 10-20 seconds in the water column can make the difference in getting takes. A full intermediate Rio Outbound is by far my favorite line, and sometimes I'll let this sink upwards of 25 seconds to get down enough to where the fish want it. Anglers versed in using sinking and sink tip lines while lake fishing can deploy those same techniques during for SRC and find willing fish.

So, why are September and October the best months to chase SRC's? Simply put, the water gets cooler, so fish are migrating back in from their summer time foraging areas and the clock is ticking for old mother nature - as they start getting ready to think about spawning. SRC's begin to congregate close to their natal streams during this time frame and become a little bit more predictable. It is just an awesome time of the year to be fishing - cool, crisp mornings with a good coating of dew on the boat and truck, chasing aggressive sea-run trout - not sure it gets any better than this!

Fjord Fly Fishing - Hood Canal Sea-Run Cutthroat

Red's is booking fully guided boat style fly fishing adventures with Capt. Chad Gillespie of Fjord Fly Fishing. These are fully guided 8-hour trips that include lunch, flies, rods, reels and awesome scenery. Since these trips are motorized boat adventures, we have the ability to travel and cover miles of shoreline from a comfortable North River boat and anglers don't even have to leave the comfort of the boat, as we work shorelines moving slowly along with our Minnekota Saltwater electric motor.

Capt. Chad Gillespie

Hi, I'm interested in Chad's service. Can you give me the full-day rate? Is there any possibility of half days? Thanks, John in Seattle
Hi John, full day trip is $495.00 for two anglers. Lunch, flies, rods, tippet etc. included, and a beautiful day on the water Give Red's a call for more information. Thanks Chad