Few if any of the Westside Cutts in Lake Washington and Lake Sammanish are "searun". They are resident fish that just become very difficult to catch in the summer months. If you spend any time viewing the "Locks" one sees very few upstream Cutts.

Hmmmm that might be true ARK , but I have boated a great amount of cutts from lake wa. on the north side of 520 that still have sealice on them at any rate 1 cutt is beter then no cutt ! : ) By the way where do you fish for the sea run cutts? and what do you throw at them if you dont mind me asking thanks for the report!

Snake ....I prefer the Nisqually or Snohomish Delta's. I use a wedding ring type rig with worm. Yellow Chartreuse blade, also whole Candle fish when I can net or Jig them, even small Herring.

Ark ... Are you sure?? I makes a certain amount of sense .. Yet as Snake mentioned, these fish I'm letting go have the Sea Lice scars around the anus and tail. I takes 24 hours for Sea LIce to fall off once exposed to Fresh water, and as a kid we used to get fresh fish with Lice in the "middle" Cedar River when we were Steelheading back in the 70's ...

I have fished Lake Washington since the 60's.....Mostly in the south end. My favorite searun cutt river is the Stilly....has to be one of he best in the NW. I have a wall hanger of one. Above tidewater is a C and R stream for cutts now. I have a couple of secret streams in the Forks area that always give a couple of wonderful cutts. They look like someone painted them with oils...so beautiful. Les Johnson's book on searun cutts is a NW classic. Take a peek at it..is still in print.

I'll add one thing...in streams searuns will attack almost any lure...if spinner fishing, use a Colorado Spinner with a bit of worm or sculpin chunk.....Steelhead will be the surprise catch many times.

I believe the cutts in this system go where the food is. If the lake is lacking, I bet they head out to the Sound. Also, Lake Washington's run of smelt peak every 2 years and I think this is a peak year. I expect to catch a good number of cutts this summer, last year was pretty poor in comparison to the prior year.

Many schools of upstream migrating salmon pass through the Locks, bypassing the fish ladder. It is possible the Cutthroat pass through this way also. That could be why few are seen in the viewing area of the fish ladder. Just a thought

What is interesting .... I've picked up Cutt's down in the 90'+ range along 520 .... I'll get bored fishing the upper part of the water column and I'll see bait balls, drop my gear down and putz around, and sure enuf ..... Cutt's!! Now .. what exactly those Bait Balls are is a mystery to me. Smelt, Sockeye fry, Stickleback .... I have no idea. I don't keep the Cutt's I catch, so I've not done any stomach checks.

I'm new to fishing LW. I've taken the boat out three times since April and haven't caught any Cutts. I've been trolling from Kirkland to Kenmore. I've only got one downrigger...so I've been between 30'-75' depth. I've tried wedding rings, needle fish, silver apex, rooster tails. Can anyone give me some direction on what I can do to try to get into the fish? I'm getting pretty frustrated at this point. It sounds like I should try to fish near the 520 bridge and probably get down in the 75'-90' range.

Calihick21,

Here is my experience: For starters I have found March through June the best for Cutt's, as I fish the salt in the summer and I get tired of all the boats in the summer. Also the fish are higher up in the water column in early spring. As the water warms up they go much deeper. I prefer to fish lite ... and on the surface as much as possible. Wedding rings with worms, small Spoons and tiny herring. I did get a very nice Cutt at 90' a week or so ago, yet I normally don't go that deep. I do however, run back of the Down-rigger a good 50 - 60' behind the boat.
Also I like the structure of the bridges, and the deep channel west of Mercer Island. Watch your fish-finder for bait or even fish, and target those. I've never pulled Pop Gear ... It's against my nature, yet slow trolled wedding rings on the top 15-20 feet, or quick (2.5mph) spoons down deeper seem to work fine for me.

Thanks for the help fishmanjh. I'm headed out to LW tomorrow morning!

Thanks for the help fishmanjh. I'm headed out to LW tomorrow morning!

Trolled Friday morning from 7am - 1pm. Started at Coulon and motored around to I-90 then over to 520. 1 strike on a Blue Fox at 35' near Coulon. Tried depths from 30' - 90'. Started working the docks from Bellevue to New Castle where we got 3 Cutthroat. 2 small and one nice one at 4.5 pounds. Moved to Mercer Island area and caught 4 Cutthroat and 1 Small Mouth. The Small Mouth was just over 3 pounds. Caught all fish on chartreuse rooster tail, and silver minow.

CaliHick21,

Well done .... I've never fished too close to shore and docks for Cutts. Mostly open water for me.

YET, the Bass Guys at the docks have told me about large Cutts they have gotten while pursuing SM Bass. Especially when they move away from the spawning beds and fish the humps ...