A buddy and I are thinking about throwing some spinners and spoons for bull trout this weekend. Can anyone comment on the conditions upstream of the Sauk? I was thinking the steelhead park but am open to other places. Perhaps with all the rain we should postpone the plans...

Here's the gauge to use for that area:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?station=12181000
I haven't been up there yet this fall but you can usually fish it at this level.

Thanks guys! I didn't have either of those links bookmarked. Always good to have more in the electronic arsenal.

The river at Rockport is sitting at 5.17 today. The Fall norm for that area seems to be about 4.6 to 4.8 so it's a little higher but still very fishable in and above that area. The Coho and Chum are, and have been pushing into the upper stretches of river so there should be penty of fishing for Bull's. If the water is a little high don't worry it opens up some side channels you wouldn't normally be able to get into which is where they will be hiding to avoid more rapid flows.

Fished from Rockport to above Bacon Creek. The Skagit was High, and fast. It was pretty hard to find nice places to fish. Caught 2 nice dollies. Did not see any coho. Tried to fish the Cascade but it looked like chocolate milk.

If you're very familiar with high water flows in that area you'll be able to find the salmon and the Dollies (Bull Trout) but it really takes a motorized boat to get to those places easily. Damned difficult on foot and in most cases dangerous under these conditions. Last year I nearly went bobbin right out in front of Rockport Park while wading due to a rising river while I was fishing.

But enough of that. There's something else going on up in that area that may spell poor pickins for some time to come. I'm not sure what has happened but I understand that Diablo Lake is flowing mud out the gates. If that's the case even receeding water with a flow of 4.6 feet at Rockport won't clear that up. I heard that visibility at Bacon Creek is around a foot and a half. Does anybody know anything more at this??? Inquiring minds need to know!

Fished the Cascade yesterday water high and dirty didnt see any coho caught saw 1 or 2 roll horrible day of fishing.

I fished just above bacon creek on sunday, while the visablity was not good it was, better than a foot, but as the day went on it did get a little worse. I just figured it was from the rain that day.

Titanium,

I'm curious about your observation of chum in the Skagit. Are you pretty sure of that and did you see them in the upper or lower river? I've seen coho and kings up there and maybe even some off year pinks around this time but it seems pretty early for chum on the Skagit.

Even higher and dirtier up there today!

OldChum you're probably right about that. Chum are a month, at least later than this. My Bad!

Anyway I went up-river today to take a look at the conditions and all I can say is dismal! I've taken some pictures and will post but the visibility is horrible in a word. I drove up to Diablo to see if what I heard was true. Sad to say it is. The visibility in Diablo itself is probably about a foot and a half, same at Gorge. There must be a slide that's draining off into the lake with the heavy rains. This is gonna take some time to clear up. Rockport today at 4:00pm had about 4" of visibility and there might have been a foot above Marblemount if that. We'll have to see what it looks like if it stops raining for about two weeks.

If you are determined to fish up there you're gonna have to find some clear water flowing out of the fields into some very small feeder streams for any hope at all. To much work for little chance of a return IMO.

With the Sauk and the Baker still spewing, this REALLY hurts.

Yikes!

Leave town for three days (gotta make a living!) and come home to find the "world" in a mess...

Last year we had the big flood on Oct. 21st...seems this year the crappy stuff is happening earlier. My only hopes are that it can clear itself out by mid-Oct., when the bigger push of Coho comes in.

At this moment the Skagit has puked..BUT, the color is better than it was when I left on Wed.

Let's hope for some cold weather. That is about the only thing that might shut off some of this muddy flow from the high country and give the river a chance to clean itself up.

Glad the boat's not done yet.

Mike

It is becoming very apparent that the damage from last fall's October fall is going to continue to a major factor for some time yet. That huge October rain storm caused major damage throughout the basin. The only relief seems to be when there is long dry spells or the mid-elevation areas become locked up with winter snow.

The poor visibility is compound by the dams on the system. Once the lakes become turbid they spew dirty water for weeks/months. The dirty water in the upper river is a double blow in that it doesn't give much dilution to the mess coming from the Sauk.

Regarding chums in the system - there are always the odd chum in early September but the first real numbers show up in mid-October and begin spawning in the middle river and Sauk. The upper Skagit are a little later with the onset of spawning being in early to mid-November. Those later fish represent the vast majority of the run.

Tight lines
S malma

Ok here's some pics from up river. This river's going to be in less than desirable condition for some time to come because of the condition of the lakes. I went as far as Diablo to take a look and it's completely out. I didn't go up to Ross but for all I know it may be blown too.


All These Pics were taken on the afternoon of Friday 09-17-04

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* Rockport bridge from boat ramp - visibility literally 4" *

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* Skagit at Gorge Powerhouse looking toward Ladder Creek - visibility maybe 8"*

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* George Lake at Stetattle Creek *

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* Diablo Lake from Hwy20 Lookout *

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I'm pretty sure this is what's causing the turbid water conditions in the Lakes up here but you be the judge...

Well the pics make it alot easier to understand the water conditions right now, thanks Titanium. Although they conditions are far less than perfect, I will be up there fishing tomorrow morning. A bad day on the river still beats doing yard work, and honey do's.

When I left for Spokane on Wed. am, instead of heading down to I=90 I went over the N. Cascades. (If you haven't driven over it is a beautiful drive).

Saw that the river had clarity issues (it was raining cats n' dogs) all the way to Diablo. Cold weather is a'coming, however. It was snowing on top of Washington Pass..:-)

GVbest: Flows are high right now, so be careful wading anywhere. Some of this bank has not been saturated since last fall, and is kinda like quick-sand in some spots. (A wrong step on my beach right now and your up to your crotch in wet sand.)

Mark, thanks for the pics. Looking at the color this morning, it does not seem as muddy as it was earlier in the week..there is a bit of green to it instead of the puke brown...not that it will make much of a diff. if the lakes are causing the problem, however.

Mike

Clean enough late this afternoon that there was a fellow fishing off the bridge at Rockport. Don't believe he had thought the whole process through, i.e. what he was going to do if he actually caught something. And pretty sure you can't do a legal release of a native from 40 feet up!

OnTheSauk:

From the bridge? Yep..he wasn't thinking.

As to "legal release", either wild or hatchery Coho may be kept.

Got my dad and brother (and families) coming tomorrow afternoon...may take a run up to rockport with my dad and bro. Don't know if we could do any good, but spending an hour drifting eggs (or tossing spoons/spinners) is definately better than sitting around listing to the womenfolk "chat".

Mike