I hooked either a Salmon or Steelhead on my 5wt today...

[Chinookie]

Preface, I'm new to fly fishing and this is my first post here! I was going for cutthroat in the N. Fork of the Nehalem today. I was trying to dead drift my fly along a seam and it would get sucked under the water due to current near the end of the drift. On one of the drifts, I realized I was hooked into something. It must have taken the fly subsurface at the end of the drift/swing. As soon as there was tension the fish leapt out of the water and broke the hook off the small fly I was using.

I'm bad at identifying fish since I'm new but it was silver with a red band down the sides. Steelhead or coho? It was awesome and I need a bigger rod now.

Bonus question: How far up rivers can I expect to find coastal cutthroat? I was starting to wonder if I was too far up the N. Fork.

 

[Zak]

Preface, I'm new to fly fishing and this is my first post here! I was going for cutthroat in the N. Fork of the Nehalem today. I was trying to dead drift my fly along a seam and it would get sucked under the water due to current near the end of the drift. On one of the drifts, I realized I was hooked into something. It must have taken the fly subsurface at the end of the drift/swing. As soon as there was tension the fish leapt out of the water and broke the hook off the small fly I was using.

I'm bad at identifying fish since I'm new but it was silver with a red band down the sides. Steelhead or coho? It was awesome and I need a bigger rod now.

Bonus question: How far up rivers can I expect to find coastal cutthroat? I was starting to wonder if I was too far up the N. Fork.

Nice first post, welcome aboard! Getting broken off by a huge fish is a pretty great way to start on your flyfishing lifelong adventure!

 

[JACKspASS]

You'll always remember the ones that got away vs the ones you obtained.




p.s. I'm talking about fish

 

[Divad]

You likely weren’t too far up, anadromous cutts can/will travel a long way up those systems. Especially if you are finding adult salmon/head. Identifying them over residents gets a little tricky.

"Spawning surveys during 1991 identified adult summer chinook in the mainstem Nehalem from River Mile 41 upstream to River Mile 88." Coastal cutts have been caught in that range as well.

Grab a 7wt in preferably a medium-fast action (to keep the cutts fun) and some strong hooked flys and give it another go! Welcome by the way.

 

[Divad]

My $.02, not to derail your question, if I wanted a good budget 7wt I’d probably grab the Redington Wrangler (CT big brother) for $160. Played with one the other day at the shop and surprisingly well built for the money, not too soft and tracked well.

 

[Chinookie]

My $.02, not to derail your question, if I wanted a good budget 7wt I’d probably grab the Redington Wrangler (CT big brother) for $160. Played with one the other day at the shop and surprisingly well built for the money, not too soft and tracked well.

No derail at all. Appreciate the tip. I’m interested in learning Spey for Steelhead but feel like it may be overkill for these smaller rivers on the coast.

 

[Sam Roffe]

Sounds like baptism by fire. You never know what you're going to hook, sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. That's cool you saw the fish before it broke off.

If you up your rod size, you'll want to up your tippet size too, so it won't break off.

 

[SSPey]

Statistically (location, time of year, run size) it was likely a coho. Cutts can be anywhere in the system that they can access.

 

[Jim F.]

As soon as there was tension the fish leapt out of the water and broke the hook off the small fly I was using.

2 entities were hooked. 1 got away. Congratulations! We should all experience such a thrilling introduction. Welcome to the forum.

 

[LBL]

Looking for SRC in June with a 5wt and this happened!

 

[speedbird]

I did a guided trip a couple Septembers ago in Tofino, the rain pushed all the salmon in so the fishing sucked, but me and the guy chatted a lot about the freshwater fishing. His advice to keep me motivated summer steelhead fishing was "just target the Cutthroat, and eventually you'll get lucky". Sometimes I get more excited thinking of all the fish I could potentially catch, than I get excited for the fish I am actually targeting haha. Part of the fun of fishing for me is never knowing what is out there.

He was kind enough to suggest an incredibly pretty remote river, but me and my family got chased out of the spot by Canadian rednecks lmao

Welcome to fly fishing and an awesome way to start!

 

[DanielOcean]

I did a guided trip a couple Septembers ago in Tofino, the rain pushed all the salmon in so the fishing sucked, but me and the guy chatted a lot about the freshwater fishing. His advice to keep me motivated summer steelhead fishing was "just target the Cutthroat, and eventually you'll get lucky". Sometimes I get more excited thinking of all the fish I could potentially catch, than I get excited for the fish I am actually targeting haha. Part of the fun of fishing for me is never knowing what is out there.

He was kind enough to suggest an incredibly pretty remote river, but me and my family got chased out of the spot by Canadian rednecks lmao

Welcome to fly fishing and an awesome way to start!

Absolutely fantastic point of view. I have never thought of it like that. Heck I am certainly going to try this next time I am out.