Decided to take the day off from work and drift the Skykomish from High Bridge to Sultan today.

Checked the rain forecast, checked the river levels, everything looked good. The river was dropping nicely after the last rain and should be full of fish. Next time I'll check the wind forecast too.

Launched the boat in a pretty good breeze but nothing unbearable. Got around the first corner and the wind cranked up to gale force. It was next to impossible to pull plugs, or even fish from the boat. Anytime I was rowing most of my effort was taken up with just keeping us from being blown into the trees. Going through the fast water was challenging as the wind was constantly blowing you out of your line, plus all the standing waves had spray blowing off them, so it was hard to tell where the rocks were. A couple of gusts hit us broadside and had the boat tipping precariously.

Tried anchoring up and bank fishing. But that didn't work too well either. Sometimes we could hardly get the boat stopped because of the tail wind. If we did manage to get stopped I had to pile rocks on the anchor to make sure the boat didn't get blown away.

Drift fishing was difficult as your line was getting blown around so bad you couldn't tell what your lure was doing. A couple of gusts almost knocked me off my feet.

We saw two trees get blown down. One was a big one, that went down with a loud POP!, POP! and then CRASH!! Fortunately neither one fell in the river. However, we did see two big logs float by. I'd be curious what the mph was on some of those gusts, it had to be way up there.

Needless to say we didn't touch any fish. Only two other boats on the drift and neither one of them had done any good when we talked to them either.

So let's hear some windy day stories. Misery loves company .

Thats why I call it BlowBar not GoldBar! Having fished that strech many a time I have seen the same thing. I make it a habit to check the local forcast before making that run because of wind problems, that valley leading up to the Index area acts as a natural funnel for the winds. You'll see the same effect with the Easterly wind flow in the afternoon on a calm day.

The wind was blowing so hard last night my windows were actually flexing. The wind usually hits the front of my house head on. Really sucks every time I open the garage it pins me to the back wall My neighbor got so sick of the wind they moved.

Been on that same drift in those same conditions, sure makes the day go by quick.

Hey should we anchor up and.......... oooops to late, darn that looked like a good spot

No fishing story I was at work. But probably take me all weekend to pickup the 30 foot long branches laying in the yard.