Staghorn Sculpin – The Party Goblin

December 20, 2017December 19, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

Staghorn Sculpins, Party Goblin, Bull Head, Son of a… Are just a few names for this adventurous little guy. We need to pay some respect to the “Party Goblin.”

These little jerks ambush bait all over Puget Sound. They prefer sandy bottoms, but we accidentally hook the larger Party Goblins over all sorts of bottom structure. Typically, When picking up a sculpin or two, you should think about picking up the pace. Sculpin are not slow or lazy, but their an ambush predator not a sprinter like a trout. Sculpins are plentiful and diverse in size all over Puget Sound, making them great prey for Sea Run Cutthroat.

As far as bait goes, I believe sculpin are not Cutthroat trouts favorite. This could be because of their spiny heads, or the fact that they are hard to find in the rocks. However, in the winter, when the bait is scarce and the pickings are slim… The Party Goblin becomes a savory treat for the big Cutthroat trout that need the calories.

Brits Baby BullHead

Tiers Tips:

Burry your weight behind the big fat heads
Show off those white bellies and big fins
Profile is all that matters (be creative)
2″ is about all you need
Check out the Fly Men Fishing Company Sculpin Helmet

Bad Picture But Shows The Profile

Fishing Report

December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 / Captain Justin / 1 Comment

We have been spending a lot of time out on the water this winter. Winter Trips have been pretty epic so far this year and in between we have been exploring some new water we found (more on that coming soon). After many discussions and tons of feedback I decided we are going to commit to 1 fishing report a week. Simple, Short, and to the point. Hopefully we will be able to do 6-8 a month, but I am committing to 1 a week and that should get you the information you need for your upcoming trips, and fishing.

So here you go!

Puget Sound Fishing Report:

With the great weather we have had recently the fish have been looking towards the surface. Most of the week was spent with the floating line and smaller baitfish imitations getting hit just under the surface. We had awesome action on fast moving Polychete worms for the first part of last week. However, As the week carried on we found them more focused on Sculpin and Smelt patterns. The Majority of the fish are hitting in the shallows and flats (1-5′ of water). I suspect a lot of the surface action we had throughout the week was due to the fish keying in on small shrimp buzzing the shallows, but we were able to nab them on baitfish and never switched over to the shrimp patterns. The fish we are catching were aggressive, fat, happy, and covered in sea lice still!

Up Coming Forecast:

After Tomorrow’s (Tuesday) Mega Wind we should be “Mostly Sunny” through Christmas! With Great weather on the forecast and solid fishing I think we should close out 2017 with some great trips!

If you have any feed back for us about the fishing reports let us know in the comments or email us Justin@all-waters.com

Winter is here! Take advantage of the Floater!

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 / Captain Justin / 1 Comment

Like it or not Winter is here in the Pacific Northwest! Days are shorter and wetter, and steelhead are trickling into the rivers. Chum salmon are all but wrapped up and everything seems to have a squishy texture to it. Well, that means fly tying and half day season is upon us.

Feeling cabin fever already?! That’s because we live in Washington, and you are not supposed to be cooped up inside. It’s time to get out the floating line and take advantage of some great top water sea run cutthroat! It’s not worth trying to cram another fly in that sadly full fly box of yours! With the beautiful views and the great fishing, it’s a shame to waste the winter inside!

This is the best time of year for the floating line! We can pull out the gurglers and traditional baitfish patterns this time of year and really do some of the most enjoyable cutthroat fishing of the season! Cruising the shorelines tossing the floating line this time of year is a blast. The water is nice and calm, and with a jacket and some active fishing it is a pleasant time of year to catch fish!

Washington State has a ton to offer the year-round fly fishermen, between the winter steelhead and the sea run cutthroat we do not really get a lull in the fishing! If the rivers blow out and your steelhead guide has to cancel, you can just run over to the Hood Canal and never leave the Olympic Peninsula and still get great fishing! Here are some tips to keep you hooked up this time of year!

Current seams- The bait is scarce this time of year, so the current seams are critical to cutthroats hunting plan.
Fish The Floating Line! We have great topwater fishing this time of year. When the fish will not commit to coming to the surface, move just below on the same floater!
Make a disturbance. If your fly is moving quick and making a commotion, the fish will find it this time of year. We have the advantage of the fish being aggressive this time of year, so lets have as much fun with that as we can!
Keep moving, as you work a stretch of water just keep moving on down, when you find the fish they will let you know!
No bad days! Fish hard, keep at it, and make a day of it. This time of year calls for hot coffee, great fishing, followed by a cold beverage to reward your efforts!

Kids Fishing Opportunity

July 4, 2017July 3, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

For years we had to recommend kids not come out on our trips. Sure we took a few kids out, however for the most part, it was not suitable for kids. However, with the boat we now have the ability to safely, comfortably, and successfully take kids fishing! Wether the kids want to learn to fly fish, better their fly fishing skills, or just get started throwing light tackle, we can make sure their introduction to fishing be a fun and enjoyable experience!

The best part of taking a kid fishing is pretty simple. For the most part, kids love to fish! Fishing for cutthroat trout is pretty singularly focused for the most part. At the beginning, cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve with some minor interruptions to fight fish or untangle. As long as it is all in good humor both of those SHOULD BE exciting and fun. Cutthroat are a fairly honest fish, so if you can get a kid to do a few things right, the fish reward you. Furthermore, as the kids pick up those little skills we can continue teaching them, because they are used to learning from school and life at a young age!

We love having the opportunity to share our fishery with youngsters. Teaching them about reading water, fighting fish, and appreciating what the water teaches us. We want to ensure that kids know more than a Ipad and tv screen in the future. What better way than show them something they can enjoy for their lifetime! So bring the family along on the next trip, we love taking kids fishing!

The curse of a nice day!

June 20, 2017June 22, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

There is not much better than wading ankle deep in Hood Canal’s cold, clear water to push the boat off the trailer on a nice summer morning. The sun seems to be high before my coffee is gone, and clients are awake before they step on the boat. I truly believe there is no better spot to spend a summer day.

With the high sun and clear water comes some very unique issues in pursuing fish. The fish seem to vacate our favorite wading beaches and they find shelter in the spots less frequented by the stick waving predator.

Sea Run Cutthroat are just like every western trout, in that they need cold clean water to live. Unlike fish in a river these guys have hundreds of feet in depth and miles of shoreline to choose from to find exactly what they are looking for. So as that sun travels through the clear water and heats up the shallows below the fish are forced to move off the shallow flats and find their happiness in some deeper water. As anglers it is our job to find the drop offs and the depth they are hiding in and figure out a way to get our flies to them. This can be made easier if you know where the deepest points on your favorite beaches are.

Another method of dealing with the high sun and warming waters is to play the shadow game. Knowing the sun rises in the East we tend to fish the Eastern shorelines in the morning (if this is possible) and move to the deeper parts of the water column as the sun gets higher. It is easy to do this out of our boat, however when fishing the beach sometimes this is more possible when fishing in bays rather than the open water.

The last method for dealing with high sun is fishing the current line. When the sun is high the bait tends to ball up on the current lines, or under the weed lines in the tidal rips. When the bait gets in these tidal rips the weaker swimmers get turned around and the predatory instincts of the cutthroat kicks in full blast! These poor fish don’t have a chance when you toss a weighted baitfish into the current rips on a nice summer day!

I hope these tips can make your summer a little fishier!

Add it to your list!

June 14, 2017June 15, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

This summer feels like it has taken a decade to get here. We have had an outrageously wet winter, a crazy unpredictable spring, and it’s finally arrived! Summer time in Western Washington. I know we have a ton of plans for the summer, get the yard finished up, go camping in the Olympics, head to the coast for some beach fun, and plenty of fishing in between. However most of our plans involve fishing here at home on the Hood Canal for Sea Run Cutthroat!

Here are the top 10 reasons to target Sea Run Cutthroat this summer:

1.) Great fishing- Not to sound like a hater, but the river fishing in Washington doesn’t hold a candle to our sea trout fishery on the Hood Canal. We go out time and time again and prove this is the best trout fishery in the state. On it’s best days I would put it neck and neck with the Missouri in Montanta. On it’s worst, I’d put it neck and neck with the worst days I’ve had on the Mo in Montana. The big advantage Hood Canal has? You don’t have the crowds and the fish are true wild native trout!

2.) Accessibility -Where else can you get miles of public access to great fishing water? Most of which is drive up access – you don’t even need to hike to catch fish on a good percentage? Oh yeah, and with a boat you can fish almost every inch of the water without argument? We have it good here in the Western Washington salt.

3.) Solitude- Oh man, the crowds are killing me… I thought I saw a boat about 2 hours ago off in the distance. These damn eagles, porpoises, herons, and whales sure are crowding up the places though.

4.) Beautiful- If it was not for these wild shorelines, snow topped mountains, and amazing sunrises coming straight out of the Hood Canal it sure would be a beautiful place… Not to mention the fish breathtaking as well!

5.) Relaxing- Being barefoot up on the casting deck hooked up to a big hook nosed trout sure is stressing me out. I am pretty glad you have that cold one frosting in the Yeti for after the battle… Those sandy points are a pretty nice places to take lunch and kick back too!

6.) Technical- You mean I can learn and enjoy what I’m learning at the same time? Every time I go I will learn new technical skills that will improve my success rate? Who wants to catch more fish anyways?

7.) Bi-Catch- It would be a bummer to accidentally catch a 15lb chinook today… It doesnt happen every day, however for a good chunk of the year I get surprised by salmon pretty regularly. I even have a photo kicking around somewhere of a client with a Greenling… Yeah I know, what the hell is a greenling? (Stop emailing me, I know what a greenling is.) The truth of the matter is while we fish water that is most conducive to Sea Run Cutthroat trout, occasionally especially when there is a ton of bait around, we are surprised by other fish!

8.) Cool Factor- There really is not much cooler than fishing the saltwater. Every day feels like an adventure. Conditions are forever changing with the tide levels. Plus, pulling out fish that can’t really be caught in these conditions anywhere else in the world, and on flies and light tackle is pretty damn cool!

9.) Wild- These are wild fish in wild places. I know, cell phone reception is a little spotty in some places on Hood Canal, however I have been working on adding a tower to my boat… I’ll solve that pesky back cast problem eventually.

10.) Peoples Fish- I have been saying it for years! The best part of fishing for Sea Run Cutthroat is that these are the peoples fish. Making them Catch and Release, putting no commercial value to them, makes their only value fun! This fishery is the best example of what happens when we all work together. It’s catch and release because some folks said “enough is enough” and banded together and fought for it. These are the peoples fish! So come out and enjoy it!

Building a Better Box

June 9, 2017 / Captain Justin / 1 Comment

Saltwater fly fishing has plenty of things to overly concern yourself with. “Do I need to cast further?” “Is my line getting down far enough?” “Is there any fish on this beach?”. The answers to these questions is “Just cast the best you can.” “Just fish the best you can.” “You will find out soon if you do the previous two things.”

When Brita and I fish we have a running joke, she changes flies, and I almost never change flies. We both catch plenty of fish, we both enjoy our own style of fishing, and we both fish our flies almost completely different from each other. I always tell brita that she has chronic fly changing problems in-between fish. However, I would never tell her to fish any differently because she is enjoying herself, and I want to remain inside of the boat.

One thing you will immediately notice if you look in either of our boxes before a serious week of fishing or guiding is that our boxes are full, and our boxes are fairly well thought out. Even Brita’s chaos is organized chaos. I have my “Topwater Box”, my “A Box” and my “B Box”.

My topwater box is my favorite, it’s a old Cliff box full of fun. This is probably the most straight forward box as far as thought. One side is gurglers/popping shrimp, one side has a handful of sliders and injured baitfish, then terrestrials that might fall in the water. I don’t bust this one out as much as I wish I did, however when I do we have a lot of fun with the different ways of targeting fish on the surface. Surface attacks are addicting and this years overcast weather has resulted in some awesome surface saltwater action. Not unlike any addiction, once you open that box, it’s hard to go back.

My A box is the most used… hints “A Box”. This is a C&F Design saltwater box Brita bought for me from The Avid Angler. This is the baitfish box. This one goes from weighted to unweighted. This is the box that unavoidably ends up in any puddle, stuffed in waders if beach fishing, dropped on the deck of the boat, and falling off the tailgate at boat launches while rigging up. C&F makes the toughest box on the planet, and if you think the knock off fly shop logo ones make up for it, I’ll bet you the price of a new C&F that I will destroy it or the seal will fail within two months of guiding. These are the boxes that have the flatwings, the jungle-cock finish, and polar bear flies. Let’s not fill it with saltwater and hope for the best. http://www.Avidangler.com call them up and order yourself one. I promise you will never go back.

The ol’ B-Sides box holds the back ups. The ones that are good enough to fish but don’t make you proud to tie on. It holds the A Box flies of years past. There are levels to fly tying and as you “level up” the flies get moved into this box. This is a larger fly shop knock off box, it doesn’t come out but once or twice a year, however it’s always in the boat bag. Truthfully I carry the B-side box for a few different reasons. 1.) a color combo is working and I run out of the best ones. 2.) I was filling my A box and left it on the tying desk the night before (almost never happens…almost) 3.) The A box somehow goes missing or falls off the boat while running. I have never had this happen but I have heard plenty of sad stories.

Putting thought into the fly box allows you to quickly get your flies in the water when changing flies or re-rigging a broken leader. My A box is always in my rain gear or on my center console right next to my tippet. The faster you can get the flies back in the water the more fish they will catch. The most efficient fishermen catch the most fish. That means not only covering the best water, but covering the best water quickly, confidently, and moving on to the next section of best water. Every aspect of your set up should be thought out to add to this. We fish out of a boat 99% of the time, meaning we can carry and do carry WAY more flies than we would ever need. These are a few ways that we try to organize our furry chaos.

The Best Of Summer

May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

With the sun high and water clear there comes some very unique issues in pursuing fish. The sea trout seem to vacate our winter wading beaches and they find shelter in the spots less frequented by the stick waving predators of the northwest. There are some things to think about that might help you find success on the sunny days of summer!

Sea Run Cutthroat are just like every western trout, in that they need cold clean water to live. Unlike fish in a river these guys have hundreds of feet in depth and miles of shoreline to choose from to find exactly what they are looking for. So as that sun travels through the clear water and heats up the shallows below, the fish are forced to move off the shallow flats and find their happiness in some deeper water. As anglers it is our job to find the drop offs and the depth they are hiding in and figure out a way to get our flies to them. This can be made easier if you know where the deepest points on your favorite beaches are.

One method of dealing with the high sun and warming waters is to play the shadow game. Knowing the sun rises in the East we tend to fish the Eastern shorelines in the mornings to stay in coolest water for the longest amount of time. As the sun rises we move to the deeper parts of the water column and focus on drop offs to provide shelter. It is easy to do this out of our boat, however when fishing the beach sometimes this is easier accomplished by fishing in bays with good tidal flow rather than the open water.

The last method for dealing with high sun is fishing the current line. When the sun is high, the bait tends to ball up or find shelter in the broken water along the current seams. The current brings in cooler water and provides some riffles to break up the sun. The fish use this current to hunt for bait and keep nice and cool on a warm day.

I hope these few pointers will help you find success in the next few months of beautiful northwest summer!

Match The Hatch

May 26, 2017May 26, 2017 / Captain Justin / 2 Comments

Sea Run Cutthroat in Puget Sound and Hood Canal feed on many different bait fish. Right now we have a aquarium of bait in Hood Canal. Chum fry are spilling everywhere still From about Hoodsport north we are still seeing giant swarms of chum fry. We have Sandlance swarming in and out of the more developed eel grass beds, herring bait balls are as large as the eye can see in the more northern reaches of the canal, and the perch are starting to spit live babies all over just to further add to the massive buffet of food.

First lets talk a bit about Chum Fry and why these baitfish are so spread out in timing. Hood Canal has a diverse run of Chum Salmon. No I am not going to give up the run timing of each creek, but Hood Canal gets a run of chum fry in the summer (February-April Chum Fry) then again we get a run of chum in the fall (March-May Chum Fry), then we get a run in the early winter (March-June Chum Fry) which means, these fish are pretty accustomed to eating chum as a little snack this time of year.

Brita Fordice

Sandlance are the next stop on the baitfish train. These fish spawn on the sandy beaches along shorelines of Puget Sound and Hood Canal and forage in the nearshore waters in the area, which happens to be the same places Coastal Cutthroat forage. These baitfish make up a big portion of the diet of Sea Run Cutthroat and just about every other predator from kingfishers – some of our local whales. Because these fish are active for most of the year they remain some of our top baitfish patterns.

Brita Fordice

Surf Smelt spawn at high tide on shaded beaches and seem to be very predictable in their timing. The bulk of the returning adults (two years of age) seem to come into Hood Canal in the late fall and winter months. It does not take many of these adults to fill up a Cutthroat and make them lazy in their attack of flies. However the young surf smelt look like clear chumfry and are a great snack for aggressive Sea runs!

The Pacific Herring are a baitfish we have a love/hate relationship with. These baitfish tend to draw the biggest strikes, biggest fish, and most aggressive cutthroat in the water. However it takes one or two to slow the fish down and the schools tend to gorge the entire beach. What we have found is if we can get ahead of the schools a bit and throw a weighted herring fly we can find some serious fish. The trick is simply getting ahead of these huge schools. Two- Three year old Herring start spawning for the first time in the early Spring-early summer in HUGE schools or baitfish. This brings the bait right onto some of our favorite beaches to hunt big cutthroat. We can watch cutthroat literally throwing up herring as they eat our baitfish flies.

Brita Fordice

Our friend the Party Goblin are the old reliable among all SeaTrout fishermen. The Sculpin is among the most prevalent year round food sources in puget sound. The young sculpin seem to be under almost every big rock in the sound and spread up along just about every beach we can think of. These fish are scavengers in nature however will absolutely crush a lazily stripped fly, so if you end up catching one my advice is “speed up your strip.” The sculpin has spines on its gill plates that prevent the larger ones from being a favorite food source of Cutthroat, however the smaller sculpin seem to be a big hit with Sea Runs of all sizes.

Brita Fordice

If aliens existed they would be in the form of polycheate worms… Slowly I am convinced these creatures are trying to invade land and take over our youth… This could be why Missy Elliot was so popular in the 90s. Either way the cutthroat love to feed on these nasty sea worms whenever they present themselves. After full moons we see them washed up on the boat ramps and shorelines after spawning by moonlight and we find that the Sea Trout are throwing up the remains of a moonlit feast. I give polychaetes a hard time, however they have outlived 5 mass extinctions, come in every shape, color, size, and feed just about every species of fish in Puget Sound. Plus some of these worms have a pretty wild sex life. Bundling in giant worm orgies on the surface while being picked off by fish and birds then breaking apart to release their young. Being a great food to cutthroat, and knowing how to party, they quickly become a favorite pattern of most Cutthroat loving anglers.

Brita Fordice

Brita Fordice

Words by Captain Justin Waters

Photos from Brita Fordice

Wilderness

April 26, 2017 / Captain Justin / Leave a comment

I have always been the guy that gets obsessed. I obsess over the details of anything I become passionate about. When I first became obsessed with the idea of becoming a fishing guide I decided I wanted to first become the best casting instructor I could be. If you have come fishing with me in the last 10 years you probably have noticed, I can’t help but point out the little things you can do to become a better caster. It’s because I spent my rent money and moved into a car to take casting lessons from as many instructors as I could. Not because I couldn’t cast (I did get WAY better) but because I wanted to see all of the different ways someone could teach how to cast a fly line.

My recent obsession has been finding the most wild places to catch sea run cutthroat within the Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Some of the places we found are a bit of a run to some pretty fantastic spots. We left from Alderbrook a couple of days ago and fished some of my favorite pieces of water on the entire Hood Canal. I don’t go to these places every day, you can’t walk here, there are places to catch fish on the way, however when I get the urge to find some wilderness we make the extra run, and these fish NEVER see other flies.

The first spot we stopped is the Cliff Creek (thats what I call it, not it’s name.) and we found quite a few smaller fish munching on Chum Fry, this was a good first stop to get the skunk off and get in the groove of catching fish. Also a good spot to get the dirty jokes started for the day. The fish were ultra aggressive, we just never found any size here.

We then went full on committed to finding big fish, and that is what we did. We lost the first one, it always FEELS like thats the biggest one of the day! However after that we seemed to be on a roll of big solid sea trout! Finding big Sea Run Cutthroat seems to always happen if we commit to the cause, and I couldn’t of asked for a boat of better guys for the job. Thank you guys!

All-Waters

Fly Fishing and Guide Service

troutfishing

Staghorn Sculpin – The Party Goblin

Fishing Report

Winter is here! Take advantage of the Floater!

Kids Fishing Opportunity

The curse of a nice day!

Add it to your list!

Building a Better Box

The Best Of Summer

Match The Hatch

Wilderness