So, the weather has been awful so far this winter for those inflicted with fishing withdrawal fever.  Never fear…. high-water news has its upside as well.  High water in local small streams makes it easier for sea run cutthroat to get up-stream to spawn.  Cutthroat spawn mid-winter.  These cutts will stay in our small streams for up to a couple of weeks, long enough for their eggs and milt mature enough to be viable spawn. After spawning, and as stream levels start to drop, they will make tracks back out to the saltwater as fast as possible.  This is to avoid being caught upstream in these small watersheds.  This is also because more abundant food sources are in the salt, not in the stream.  Post-spawn cuts are ravenously hungry. They have used an enormous amount of energy migrating up-stream and including loss of body fitness migrating and spawning. These starving cutts aggressively scavenge local beaches. Coincidently, during March and April juvenile chum salmon will be emerging from spawning gravels.  Unlike King and Silver salmon, Chum juveniles move into the saltwater shortly after emerging. Observant cutthroat anglers will see large schools on these tiny fish running in very shallow waters, often inches deep, along our Kitsap shorelines. If you see masses of minnows close to the shore in the next several months, they are undoubtedly juvenile chum. And, guess what, sea run cuts will be in hot pursuit.  Chum juveniles are one of their favorite foods. Cutts typically stay out just beyond these schools in somewhat deeper water waiting for the stray minnow to nab.  They will often forage back and forth from deeper water into these schools. The next several months are an ideal time for sea run cutthroat anglers to get out on local beaches.  We have all the materials for tying many different salmon fry imitations. For more detailed information, come in to the shop and get a signed copy of our book on sea run cutthroat trout along with some of the right flies and gear for this time of year.  We are your local experts on what works.