I'm wondering if the lower Skagit is still blown. I've got reservations this weekend at an RV park in the Mt. Vernon area, and I'm trying to figure out whether to cancel them or not.

If anybody's seen the river today and could post a report, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I fished the north fork last Saturday and Sunday. While visibility was only about 2 feet we still caught fish.

I was up there last Saturday, and I would not have called it "blown" it was just chalky like a glacial river. We didn't catch fish, and I would guess there only a few fish were caught at the forks of the delta, even though there were 100s of anglers.

Maybe this weekend will be better, but you will probably want to say bright to have your bait seen.

Rob

I guess I should clarify:

There was talk that a slide had occurred upstream on the Suiattle river last Sunday morning, and that the glacial muck had the visibility in the lower Skagit down to just a couple of inches, and had pretty much shut the fishing off. There were some posts here and on another board about it not being worth the effort. I know that the usual visibility is about 2', but the reports said that it looked really bad.

I'm just trying to get some real-time info on current conditions to help me decide what to do. I must cancel my reservation within 24hrs. or my credit card will be billed.

Thanks for the responses.

Try calling the Holiday Market tackle shop for current skagit water conditions. These guys are really helpful and have very current reports coming in!
(360) 757-4361

4Salt,

Vis shouldn't be a concern. Last sunday we had over 20 hookups. I would like to think we will repeat that this weekend as well.

LT

I saw it near Lyman and also by Burliington (both on 8/20/03) and it had very little visibility. 13000' freezing level on 8/21/03 won't help much at all (chocolate glacier.) Try Humpy Hollow near Everett in the salt-chuck.

The event happened sometime Saturday but it was up at Glacier Peak so it never affected the lower river until Sunday. It seems that a pece of the Chocolate Glacier broke loose an slid into the upper reaches of the Suiattle and has been putting out a lot of silt ever since.

The bite turned completely off Sunday, even for plunking with scented bait, as the visibility dropped to avout 2 inches and spooked the fish. It may have also affected their sense of smell due to irritation.

The river has been very, very slowly been clearing and the bite is finally beginning to happen again although the fishing is not really hot.

By this weekend it should be ok with a couple of feet of visibility if you are planning to plunk bait. Don't expect to find fishing like two years ago and expect difficulty bringing fish to a spoon or unscented jig.

If you do use spoons, scent them and work them as slow as possible along the bottom.

Thanks everyone! Good tips Plunker and Fishtales!

I had made the reservations a few weeks ago anticipating that the river would be on it's normal schedule. My wife likes to camp in the RV and fish for pinks, so I think we'll go anyway. It is called fishing after all, not catching, so I guess we'll just have to work a little harder.

p.s. I have been hitting the Hollow and spankin' em!

Supposedly we're getting a bit of a cool down with the weather over the weekend. I would imagine that the snow level will drop and the glaciers won't be spewing as much silt. We'll see.

The river is like a Hershy shake and no fish stay home, the sound is infested with red tides stay home , everyone stay home, :p

I say "go on your trip, use scent or sand shrimp, and have a super time"!!!! Give us a report when you get back!