Effective Cutthroat Presentations

[JustCallMeDave]

This weekend while at ifishstock I plan on doing some cuttie fishing, as I haven't fished a river for trout in years and miss it terribly. I grew up with a near permanent pink grunge under my nails from Pautzkes, so I never really dabbled in the art of artificials like spinners.

Anyone have any suggestions on good spinners to throw? I plan on removing the existing treble and replacing with a size 1 hook to reduce the chances of mortality, but other than that I'm pretty green to the whole thing so suggestions would be great.

Thanks!

[KillerDave]

My favorite trout spinners are any of the #2 or #3 sizes with black blades. Favorites are Mepps Black Fury, Blue Fox or you can make your own.

Where legal, leave the treble hooks in place but pinch down the barbs. Trout tend to slash at the lure, and the trebles lip hook the trout and do less damage. With singles, you get a lot of impailing through the head & eyes not to mention missed strikes.

For presentation, I like to cast downstream along current edges, letting the spinner swing behind rocks, under banks or into deeper water. Swing slow, be patient. Strikes are hard.

Good fishing!

[brushpuppy]

Rooster Tails always seem to be effective. Don't be shy switching colors around.
Wet flys also do a good job. Spruce, Muddler, Grasshopper and Wooly buggers. (okay, you can float a muddler/hopper but they work well in a wet presentation too)
And small Super Dupers, probably the most versatile Sea Run Cutt lure on the planet. (Be sure to trade out the trebles on these other wise you are going to hurt a lot of fish)
Have fun! Maybe you'll get a surprise hit from a Silver or nook.

[3riversBob]

Dave, great idea on replacing the treble hook. The mortality of these fish is important to reviving a once great fishery. Good on you! :applause:

Bob

[Mokai]

I like Roostertails,1/8 ounce,salmonfly color. It has worked everywere ive used it.I dead drift it through the current and then let the current swing it around.Let it sit there for a bit after the swing ends and bump it a few times.This will sometimes trigger the strike of a following trout.I hav even caught steelhead with this little lure and same technique.A close 2nd is a #2 or #3 Blue Fox in Chartrouse with silver blade and copper on copper.I usualy splash a little shrimp oil on it to enhance the catch rate. I hope this helps..

[Fish Wheels]

antyhing small has always got the cutties when they are in. panther martins, blue fox, Roosters etc... I've also caught them incidently on bright plugs, but I wouldn't target them like that. Good luck.

[FireCat]

A good friend of mine who has now passed away use to fish Yellowstone very much and he used , in the mornings a red beaded body spinner with a brass blade that had red spots on it. And when the sun came upon the water he would switch to a black beads for a body and light green blade all in the 1/8 oz cadagory. This worked great for him in Yellowstone and in Idaho also.

[JustCallMeDave]

Thank you everyone for the recommendations. I went down to Freddies today and picked up spinners and #2 siwash hooks based on your recommendations. Found it interesting that the Blue Fox spinners size 3 and above come with a siwash hook in the pack for changing out. Very good of them for that.

[Jennie@ifish]

I wonder, though, wouldn't a cutt swallow a siwash deeper than a little treble?

Not sure, but I've had good luck releasing little fish on trebles.

(The only bad is when they get two hooks and it holds their mouth open. Now, that's not good!)

So, what is better for release? Sorry.. I really don't know, except by my experience with trebles and being able to release them most often, without deep injury.

Jen

[Mokai]

I use trebles 99% of the time and 99% of the time the little guys are fine..

[troutski]

QUOTE:I use trebles 99% of the time and 99% of the time the little guys are fine..


:yeahthat: