Got to the lake at about 11 am, several boats were leaving, the docks were jammed with folks still fishing the opener. About 4 of us on the lake were drowning flies. I was noticing there must have been a midge hatch on weakly, as I saw some shucks, and swallows were dipping low, and even feeding off the surface of the water. There was no significant rising going on, just a bunch of jubilant hatchery fish that don't understand how to be a good wild trout jumping and splashing. Casts to them were worth nothing. I tried: gray hackle peacock, various soft hackles, various chironomids, and a wooley worm. Finally I gave up on casting, and started trolling a bead head wooley bugger, and got strikes, but no fish. I switched to a sinking line, and trolled some more, still some more short strikes. I put on an orange soft hackle, and slowly trolled back to the launching area, within about 100' of the launch, I got a savage strike and a hookup with a 10" cutt. I let it go, and my day was preserved.

Please note, some of the cutts in King County lakes are absent the red marks that give them their name. They don't look like a rainbow, and are too spotty. Browns and char don't look the same, either. Don't expect the cuts on cutthroat, this one was absent, and so were some a few weeks ago on another lake.

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