EC,

Get out your gazetteer again and look on page 95. You'll see that Gilligan Creek enters the south side of the Skagit River about 5 miles upstream of the Highway 9 bridge. That's pretty stingy; the state used to open the river for silvers all the way up to Marblemount.

The map shows a boat ramp at Gilligan Creek, but there isn't one. Sometimes you can launch off the gravel bar there, but I haven't seen it this year and wouldn't count on it. Anyway, the Skagit is pretty much a boat or plunking show downstream of Gilligan Creek. There's no shortage of good coho water. If you're coming from Everett and don't want to drive far, you might check the lower river, below the forks. There's a fair bit of access on the south fork, and there's a boat ramp at Conway and another at Mt. Vernon at Edgewater Park.

Get out and get after 'em. And good luck.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.