Fished the Skagit Saturday and Sunday for humpies.

Saturday I landed two, lost two at the boat, had another keep my spoon and missed about 20 strikes. They were striking light and it was a tiny little flick to the rod tip, and this was on a medium-light casting rod.

I thought I'd discovered a pattern and decided to go back on Sunday.

Well, it wasn't a repeat of Saturday, sorta a scaled down version.

We got there an hour later on Sunday because of the tides. Started hitting fish right away. I landed one, lost three at boatside and missed some strikes.

I thought the pattern was based on tide, so that's why we went later on Sunday. Turns out it seemed to be based on light intensity so we ended up missing an hour of the bite.

I ended up "schooling" my fishing partner on humpy fishing and showing him why he needed to upgrade his fishing gear. Also I got "schooled" by a boat fishing sandshrimp anchored in front of us. That boat was hitting a bunch of fish and the fish were taking the shrimp deeper than the spoons we were using. His fish weren't throwing the hook.

I may be back up next weekend. Headed out of Everett on Friday and if the fishing is good there we'll fish Everett again on Saturday... if not.... it's humpy fever time again.... and a side trip to GI Joes for flame orange Spin-and-Glows.

Zen & everybody else -

I'll be heading to the Skagit in the next few days for humpies. I suspect I'll start by tossing spoons but would like to know how to have lunk in the plunking arena too.

What size spin-n-glos do you use and how much weight is needed to hold them down in the Skagit (say - near the railroad bar). Also - bait or no bait? It sounds like shrimp is good. Would that be sandshrimp or just a coon shrimp tail?

The advice - as always - is appreciated.

Last but not least - I was also thinking in terms of tides - though the best trip I ever had was pretty darn early in the morning. If we are talking early morning trips - do evening trips also work on the river?

Thanks all for the info!

They are talking about a #6 Spin-n-glow. It also takes a little corky or a bead between the spin-n-glow and the hook. It takes about a minimum of 2 ounces of lead to really hold bottom. At least that's what I needed when I was there. (I was fishing just outside the current break line in the faster water)

Last weekend I fished Humpy Hollow and racked up some numbers. I'll be there again this Saturday.

Tides can be quite important on the lower river. I also find that fishing, all things being equal, before 11AM seems to help a bunch, too.

Thanks guys!

I'll be dove hunting on Monday - Humpy fishing on Friday this coming week or the next. Should be fun!!

JK