My goal to explore our local rivers for trout continues with my edition on the Sultan River.

What an excellent day on the river in terms of weather, scenery, fishing, new territory explored and knowledge gained. After getting off of work I headed out to start my exploration of the Sultan, beginning my trip at the mouth in Sportsman's Park. I again started off with what is currently my go-to lure for trout fishing in the rivers; a copper size 0 vibrax on about a 2.5' leader with half an inch or so of pencil lead in a snap swivel for ease of casting as well as sinking. I found a decent looking riffle and began working my way up stream. Within minutes I had my first fish to the bank, a rainbow of around 6 or 7". My next two casts yielded two more fish, one that took the lure while still out of sight and another that emerged as a ghostly gray streak keeping pace with the vibrax as it moved downstream until the point at which it decided to attack. Unfortunately, single barbless hooks as well the ability of little trout to head shake like none-other ended up in both of them popping off as I got them close to me. I kept casting and got another good follow but anticipated the strike and set the hook a bit too soon.

By this point I had already noticed two things that the Sultan had to offer as compared to the Wallace; fish size and water flow. Both were higher than what I had experienced while fishing the Wallace earlier in the week, keeping in mind though that I wasn't fishing the mouth of the Wallace, I was fishing quite a bit upstream from that.

So with some action already underway and more river bends to explore, I started wading upstream, casting as I went. At this point however, my quick start to the trip immediately slowed down and would stay that way for about another hour. At one point I hooked into something with some decent size to it in the bend just upstream of Sportsman's Park, but it too popped off pretty quick. Continuing upstream I waded through the upper stretches of Reese Park where the river broadens and shallows quite a bit. Just above that though, a nice channel forms on the east side of the river and so I again began casting into the deeper water hopping that something would show some interest. This is the point at which I learned another new technique for spinner fishing in rivers that proved to be extremely valuable throughout the rest of the night.

Up until this point in my limited career of river fishing for trout with spinners, I had predominantly been casting almost directly upstream, or slightly up and out, and bringing the lure more or less straight back downstream at a rapid pace. This had been working quite well, but it also stands to reason that in slightly deeper and slower stretches, this technique wouldn't work as well. If you assume that in most cases the fish are sitting at the bottom of the river, then it makes the most sense to get your lure right in their faces if you want it to get hit. So, on one particular cast at this deeper and slower channel, I let the lure sink deeper and brought it back slower then with my normal technique. It was either on that cast, or the next one like it, I had something nail the spinner while it was down deep. I didn't get it to shore, but I proceeded to repeat this tactic and I could not keep track of the number of hits and follows I was getting. The slightly frustrating part was that the fish were not committing to the lure, but it was nice to know that they were interested. For probably at least 20 minutes I fished this spot with either a small tap or a follow on literally almost every cast that I made into this deeper channel while letting the lure sink at the top of the cast and then bringing it back downstream slower. It was undeniably entertaining though watching these fish repeatedly chase my lure into the shallows, nipping at the last second and then darting away again. I finally prevailed though and managed to hook and land a whitefish that was around 8" or so.

I continued to fish the spot for a bit, but eventually moved on. Wading upstream again I left Reese Park behind me and began to near Osprey Park, another point where the river broadens out quite a bit and shallows up. Casting as I went I was able to hook and land a nice little rainbow, and then I finally arrived at an excellent looking channel right in Osprey Park. This thing screamed of fish. Good choppy water flow in the deep section with great looking soft water seams on the shallow sides. Sure enough, fish were around, but yet again they were playing the "follow and dart" game without taking the lure. I finally decided that maybe my vibrax was just too much, so I tied on a 1/24th oz roostertail with a silver blade, metallic blue body, and white and black feathers. I think I got one follow with that lure, but no fish hooked.

By now it was just past 8pm and I needed to start wading back to my car. I didn't intend to fish much or at all on my way downstream....but you all know how that goes. When I got back to the channel near Reese Park where I had so many follows earlier, I took a few casts and I think it was on my second one that a beautiful little cutthroat nailed the lure. I now knew that I was really on to something. Maybe it was the roostertail, maybe it was the slower and deeper retrieves, maybe it was the fading twilight, all I knew though was that things were starting to click again. Continuing downstream I took some more casts at some deeper sections that I had only fished briefly on the way up with my "top water method" and again began getting strikes that I had not gotten earlier in the day.

Upon arriving back near the upstream section of Sportman's Park I took some casts out into the deeper water and hooked another cutthroat. Then it happened; I caught my trophy river trout of the day. Again using the slow and deep retrieve, I had something nail my lure and put a great bend into my pole. I could immediately tell that this was a much better fish than all of the previous ones. My first thought was "please let me land this thing!" Well, I was able to get it to shore and discover that it was a gorgeous rainbow. Indigo par marks, a slightly yellowish belly, iridescent blue and purple flanks, a vibrant pink stripe and white tipped fins; this fish was a piece of art. The picture does not do it justice. It was probably a solid 9" long with a very healthy amount of meat on its bones. That isn't to say that the other fish were incredibly skinny for their size, but this one had been dining quite well. I was thrilled, knowing that when it comes to river fishing for trout on smaller streams, this really was a pretty nice fish. I took some pictures and then sent it on its way. Rounding the final corner in Sportsman's park I landed one more little rainbow and then called it a day.

It was definitely a great day out, and a great learning experience for me. I landed seven fish and had so many follows and spit hooks that I couldn't keep track. As much as I love catching a nice big steelhead or salmon for the sake of the fight and the fact that they taste awesome, I am really learning to also appreciate what these little resident river trout have to offer. It is a different mindset from salmon or steelhead fishing, or even from trout fishing in a lake, but once you learn to enjoy it for what it is, it can be a lot of fun.

Tight lines!

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