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[coastangler]

I recently went fishing to a local beach in the LM (sorry cannot share which one exactly but it doesn't matter much, as many can be productive and is about luck and putting the time) and had a surprisingly good day. I wasn't expecting to find cutthroat as every time I hit that spot I get coarse fish and if very lucky, you may see some Coho jumping this time of the year. I started with a Buzz bomb as they allow to cast far and caught what I think is a flounder (see below). Tried a few more spots and then saw what I thought was a Coho jack jumping. Super exciting moment!  Switched to a different lure and it turned to be a cutty. There was a big school in front of me and I caught 4 more - all were released with care. I thought cutties were almost extinct so close to Vancouver due to seals and decrease in hatchery stocking but it was such a good surprise to find them in a beach close to home.

[CohoJake]

Wow, what a beautiful cutthroat! I'm surprised by the size. Do you mind sharing what the lure was that caught the cutts?

[coastangler]

Wow, what a beautiful cutthroat! I'm surprised by the size. Do you mind sharing what the lure was that caught the cutts?

Just a good old Gibbs Croc in silver as I assumed they were feeding on bait fish. I regret not taking the fly rod!

[RalphH]

Very nice fish. Both of them!. No cutthroat haven't totally disappeared. I expected to see a decrease once that last stocked fish had been caught and killed or otherwise died. It's been a little worse than expected but things have been bad all over. Little populations of cutties live year round in above impassible barriers various small creeks but some of them may make down to the ocean or the Fraser & may help get some stocks rolling again. Development is the worst problem for them. Some forms of bait fishing can be very negative if there is much angling pressure. Cutthroat are really susceptible to catch and release mortality partially because they seldom reach the size of coho or steelhead. 

[coastangler]

Thanks Ralph! Also thanks for sharing your knowledge as usual. Side note, I did notice that this season the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC stocked coastal cutthroat in the Wahleach Lake, Alta Lake and a few lakes in the Sunshine Coast (from what looks like the Horne Lake strain from Van Isle?) and also 10k on the Oyster river with a slight distinction in the report (specifies anadromous coastal cutthroat) so here is to hope they reconsider the Fraser River north tributaries again since they have the infrastructure in place already.

[RalphH]

somewhere I have the letter about the end of the program of stocking anadromous cutthroat only. In the LM/Fraser Valley that meant the Alouette, stave, Little Campbell , Fraser & Harrison systems. The recommendation to cease that program was about 15 years old when they finally made that decision. The only system that is still stocked is the Oyster on the Island. There was never a plan to stop the enhancement of lake cutthroat though that is a limited program.

[coastangler]

Thanks Ralph, I wasn't aware of this so I looked around and believe I found it https://fishingwithrod.com/fishy_news/files/2018-10-13-region-2-hatchery-cuts.pdf

Very interesting letter and rationale. Let's hope they will achieve their objective "Once wild stock status is established, it can be determined if a hatchery program would provide sufficient angling benefits without putting wild populations at risk"

[RalphH]

yes that's it. The same concerns were raised as far back as 2005 and was in a report issued at that time. Astonishingly little survey work has been done on our local cutthroat stocks, the last one dating back 20 years or more. There seems little interest in the health of anadromous stocks by the angling community as a whole (the situation is very different on the Island) beyond how to catch them, where and when. There is little to no organized advocacy for cutthroat as opposed to steelhead and salmon let's say. Where fishing regulations between those species come into conflict with what may be best practice for wild trout the attitude of many anglers more focused on the bigger & more abundant species is "who cares?".

[clarki]

That’s a lovely SRC. And yes, little silver spoons are da bomb.

Wise choice in winging a cast to the jumper you saw! In my experience, jumping cutthroat in the ocean are active and aggressive. I can’t count how many times I’ve winged a cast to a jumper and had a hit, sometimes before I can even engage the reel and start the retrieve. I can’t say for absolute certainty that the fish I hooked and the one that I landed are one in the same, but jumping cutthroat = catchable cutthroat.

[dennisK]

congrats coastangler; funny thing I've had the best luck with buzzbombs on coastal cutties like that one used. Sweet fish!