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.

Sea-Run Cutthroat Fly Fishing on Hood Canal - The Beach QuadFecta

May 30, 2016

A fishery that continues to impress me! Hood Canal Sea-Run Cutthroat - never gets old!

I've been on the water a lot lately, and I gotta say the weather over here on the wet side has been nothing short of phenomenal. It's more like July and August than May weather, and I'm not complaining. If you haven't tried this fishery, it can be very daunting to the new angler looking to tap into this blue-ribbon salt water fishery. Large expanses of shore line, no moving current (like a river at least), and the feeling of where the heck do I start fishing - may come to mind.

Hood Canal and Puget Sound encompass a large area with thousands of miles of shoreline. Breaking down this fishery just like a river is key to the anglers success.

Here's my beach Quadfecta algorithm when looking to try new beaches.

The QuadFecta - meaning top four priorities to look for in a new beach include a point of land, some moving tidal current, a decent gradient or slope to the beach, and some structure like rocks and oyster beds. Generally, fish like to hang out in these areas. High tide, low tide, incoming or outgoing - well those are the things that anglers have to figure out with time spent on the water - or you could hire a guide like myself to show you the ropes. This Sea-Run Cutthroat above was holding just in an area like I described - Big Fish Structure - lots of boulders, current, and a point of land. That fish went 23 inches and one of the largest landed on my boat.

A great beach might fish well on an incoming tide, but be void of any activity on an outgoing,

sometimes it just doesn't matter as these fish move. One day might be great, and a return on the next day and same tide could be dismal. That's fly fishing for SRC, and what makes it interesting.

Sight fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat! Guests on a guided trip, and on clear days with little ripple on the water, are able to see through the gin clear waters of Hood Canal. This creates an exciting sight fishery, where anglers can sometimes see fish outright chasing down their streamers and viscously attacking them multiple times until they get hooked - hopefully hooked. Yesterday, I had a nice fish pushing the 20 inch mark inhale one of my sculpin patterns and I saw the whole thing happen 30 feet in front of me - unfortunately he let go. My heart was pounding though, and this fishery is second best to a large rainbow sucking down a dry fly.

Interested in booking a trip? Fishing will just keep getting better as the summer rolls on. Fjord Fly Fishing is booking trips through Red's, so please give Red's a call for details.

Capt. Chad Gillespie

Fjord Fly Fishing

chad@fjordflyfishing.com

That top fish is a pig. Seriously that belly is absurd.
Chad, I am interested in scheduling a trip. How are the months of July and August for SRC? Or would later in the year be better. I live in Carnation and am retired so I pretty much free to fish any time. What are your rates? Thanks
Hi, you can check out my rates and information at www.fjordflyfishing.com. July and August are great months for SRC. Please contact me, or Red's and we can find a time to get on the water!