The Westslope Cutthroat is a trout that has been on my bucket list of fish for quite a while now. Perhaps it is because they have such a neat coloration, perhaps it is because they are a cutthroat and I simply love fishing for cutthroat, or perhaps it is because as a dweller of the western side of Washington I simply don't have any easy opportunities to fish for them. More than likely it is a combination of all three of those things. Regardless of the reason though, my time to catch my first westslope had finally come.

I took advantage of the long fourth of July weekend to go on a two night backpacking trip to Lake Valhalla and Lake Janus with my wife and a couple cousins. Despite the great scenery, sunny weather, and fun that comes with backpacking, my primary goal throughout the entire trip was to catch my first westslope. Heading out on Friday morning, we reached the lake, claimed a camp site and then headed down to the water to survey the fishing prospects. After a brief return to camp to get the tent setup and prep the fishing gear, we were back down to the water and casting within just a few minutes.

I started at the beach on the north shore of the lake with one of my all time favorite lures, the gold and crimson 1/8oz Kastmaster, and immediately began getting action. I had a few hits here and there until something big came out of clear water and nailed the lure as it was passing over the abrupt deep-to-shallow drop off right by shore. Unfortunately, trout are ridiculously good at shaking single point barbless hooks (I had no intention of keeping any of the fish I caught as I didn't want to deal with cleaning and cooking them) and this first real hookup was gone after about a three second fight. I knew the fish were around though, and clearly interested.

I then moved over to the west side of the lake and worked my way down to the shoreline and began casting parallel to the bank, hoping to hook something cruising in the shallows. Sure enough, this technique was good enough to not only land me my first westslope, but to get me two more in roughly the same spot within just a few more minutes. Mission accomplished! After wearing that spot out I moved over to a bedrock outcropping in the north west corner of the lake and let my wife take over the Kastmaster pole while I tied a size 0 copper Vibrax onto my other pole.

While fishing this particular point my wife hooked and landed two on the Kastmaster, letting the lure sink for probably a good 10 to 15 seconds before retrieving, and I managed to hook and land another fish on the Vibrax while casting back towards the shallows along an underwater drop off.

At one particular point while fishing the deep water at the bedrock drop off, I actually had a westslope charge the Kastmaster, coming all the way out of the water to try to grab it in mid air only about 5' away from where I was standing! I have never seen a trout actually leap out of the water trying to chase down a lure before. That just goes to show how active they were this night. At one point my wife and I even had a double header while fishing this spot, although her fish unfortunately spit the hook before she could get it close enough for landing.

After some dinner we headed back down to the lake again and I managed to catch two more fish from the beach area, one on the Kastmaster and one on the Vibrax. Our total count for the evening was eight fish landed (six on the Kastmaster, two on the Vibrax) with probably at least eight other solid hits/fish on with spit hooks.

The next morning I headed back to the beach bright and early, hoping to continue my success from the previous night. The fish had other ideas though. It was obvious that they were active as they were jumping even more than they had been the night before, but no matter what technique I used or what spot I fished, I couldn't get any action on the Vibrax or Kastmaster. I'm not sure that I even had hits on those lures. So I decided to try some flies with a bubble float. My first offering was a Royal Coachman, probably a size 16 or so. No luck. My second offering was one of my hand tied beadhead olive Woolly Buggers, probably a size 10. I managed to hook a fish on this fly and get it right up to my feet before it popped off. My third offering was a white Caddis, probably a size 16 again. I actually saw a fish rise out of the depths and peck at this fly, but not commit. I then decided to switch to a 1/24oz blue and white Roostertail with a silver blade. I had numerous follows, and at least one tap with this lure, but again could not got anything to commit to it. So, for my records, I didn't technically land anything the second day, but I did manage to get a fish almost to hand, and it was on my own tied fly as well (somewhat of a small moral victory there, seeing as they wouldn't commit to anything else).

All in all, it was a great trip. We caught some beautiful fish, I got my first westslope, and I finally fished my first true alpine lake.

Tight lines!

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