FISHING An angler prepares to release a sea-run cutthroat back into the depths of a Puget Sound bay. The anadromous species provides a good winter fishery in shallow waters at the south end of the inland sea, shifting northward later in the year. (BRIAN BENNETT)
The 411 On SRCs Saltwater cutts prowl Puget Sound’s beaches, providing a good fishery at a slower time of year. By Mark Yuasa, WDFW
N
estled in the fertile marine waterways of southern Puget Sound are a myriad of bays, inlets, estuaries and beaches. Within these confines, the searun cutthroat trout is a fish species often overlooked, but as other winter saltwater opportunities dwindle, anglers have taken notice of this exciting fishery. According to the Coastal Cutthroat
Coalition, a nonprofit organization, sport fishing for sea-run cutthroat in Washington generates more than 20,000 angler trips and roughly $1.1 million in economic value annually. In the 1980s, sea-run populations began to decline, and became a catchand-release-only fishery in the mid1990s. Their numbers and average size (10 to 15 inches, with some more than 20 inches long) since then have gradually seen an improvement. “There are likely more anglers
targeting them than in the past, but with the catch-and-release-only regulation in all of Puget Sound, the population appears to be relatively stable,” says Larry Phillips, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regional director and avid saltwater fly angler. “I think everyone who fishes for sea-run cutthroat trout for a long time thinks they’re special. A nice thing about southern Puget Sound is there’s cutthroat around 12 months out of the year.” nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2022
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