im prayin for rain tonight, if it does im outa here bright and early tomorrow mornin. just wonderin if its been any good this last few days?

I have heard good reports from the lower river in the Lowell area and mixed reports from lower Sky and the confluence on the Snohomish. My friends went this morning and hit fish at Monroe off the bank and said that fish were jumping all over the place. These guys, sorry Dave and Andy, are complete crackers and if they can catch fish without me then there must be plenty in the system. I will be on the Sky/Snohomish Friday through Sunday. See ya on the river. I'll be in a Black Thor Built
drift boat with an electric motor hangin' off the back.

Justin
CEO, Sauk River Steelhead Ranch

WE NEED RAIN... not a ton, but enough to get the colored up fish out of the way and get us back into chromers that bite. Ive got a good start on storing eggs for this winter =)

Try to release them Nates... THere's plenty of hatchery Coho around...

- BW

The river is full of silvers around Snohomish, and plenty of them are bright. It looks like the most productive thing to use is a buzz bomb with an oversized treble hook. That's what most of those goofballs are doing. I'll be there in the morning but with tiny lures and small hooks.

I'm hoping to be on the Snohomish Sunday Morning. I will be fishing from an 18' Eastside.
Is Lowell the put in just up from Snohomish? Looks like a short drift to town? Is it "froggie" enough to just row up from Snohomish?
Any info would be appreciated.
Guts

Fishguts,

Lowell is way down below Snohomish and not to far above the I-5 bridge. It is accessed throgh the Lowell River Road. I can't remember the specifics but they have a very nice ramp there. Depending on the tide it can have significant flow or actually flow upstream with the incoming tide. I fished it last year and got fish but nothing like I did in the upper river. It is mostly a trolling show in the lower Snohomish as the fish don't stick around to long and it's fairly big water so you want to cover lots of ground anyway. If you want a good workout, then rowing upstream is not a problem. There is not too much flow at Lowell even when the tide is running out unless the river is way up. Same thing around the town of Snohomish. I strongly suggest using an electic motor of at least 50 lbs. thrust. I run a Minn Kota 50 and I can cruise upstream in slower flows and it saves me a lot of rowing. Not that I'm lazy, not at all, but Its hard to hold a rod and oars at the same time. Can't let my buddies have all the fun. Not to mention you can troll through the frog water. Very productive method. Good Luck.

Justin
CEO, Sauk River Steelhead Ranch

I fished the Sky at Sultan today. No hardware...just drifted eggs. Had dark looking silvers rolling in front of me all morning non-stop. Hooked one early (didn't stick though), but that was it for the silvers...they seem to be real active, but they've got lock jaw for sure. I caught a few steely smolts (all released cleanly...no casualties today) and a feisty whitefish. The water is gin-clear and very low. With some rain + a little water color + some fresh fish the action should vastly improve. Had a good laugh when I saw some older kids launch an aluminum v-row boat 25 yards up the trickling Sultan River and then bang bottom, stop, and then bang bottom the rest of the way down till they about got swamped nose diving into the Sky... probably a few leaky rivets after that oopsy. No life vests in there either I'm sure, but probably lots of beer.

[This message has been edited by SteelyBob (edited 09-29-2000).]

Steelybob, good story, reminded me of a couple guys I saw on the Cowlitz a few years ago. They were probably in there late teens and they had an 18-20 ft fiberglass ski boat with a jet and it was stuck on a gravel bar, I helped pull them off with my boat, then watched as they hit another gravel bar, gotta believe they had some glass work ahead of them.

Dropped my sled in at Everett riverfront park and headed upriver past lowell. We hammered lots of chrome silvers in the lowell area on ****-nites, float/jig combo, eggs, one on a buzz bomb, several on corkie/yarn combo. Point wilson dart, super vibrax spinners, even tried the rigger with coho-fly in deeper holes and nabbed a couple. Dang my arms are sore! If you saw a sled with some guys filming our catch, that was us. We were trying to see how many different ways we could catch them, sorry banjo-minnow fans, it didn't work here...lol
Were going to try dodger/flasher combos next on high tide.

p.s.-
Person with the 8 inch chartruese buzz-bomb with 3 trebles by lowell bend, you know who you are. DONT BE DOING THAT. watched ya bonk 6 and haul outta there. I hope you get caught next time.

Glad to hear some folks are having luck and doin' it proper! I'm stuck on the bank and could only find access at Lowell yesterday (too much traffic to get to Monroe). No takers on vibrax, pixies, and various hardware, but lots of surface activity. Didn't see anyone with much success, by bank or boat. Most of the folks on the bank were fishing trebles... I guess they assumed non-bouyant lure restriction meant they couldn't use anything that floats!

Anyone willing to share some bank access areas or tricks to help open some jaws? I don't mind walking a piece to avoid crowds or get better scenery. My next bet will be to drift my float tube from Snohomish to Lowell. My wife might disagree if she sees some of the loonies in boats up there.

Saukit2em and I hit the Snohomish this morning (Friday). We hit one fish on a u20, but that was it.

The bankies over in Thomas Eddie had a field day snagging fish all morning. Oh excuse me, "lining" fish. One guy was outright jerking a buzz bomb, but the rest were doing the Kenai Classic lining with a single corky and hunk of lead. Some guys were releasing their snagged fish, but a lot kept the belly hookers. Most of the folks on the bank were damn proud of their snagging abilities and would boast out:

"You got 'em above the gill plate. That thar is legal! Oh good one Billy Bob, you got him on the face!!!"

I also liked the fact they got really upset when a boat would invade their snagging hot zone. Only once did I yell out "Your freekikng snagging, what the heck do you care?"

That didn't go over so well with the Banker Snaggers.

Parker

Parker forgot to mention the guy that jumped in the water past his waist to tail a fish(which was probably foul hooked). He wasn't wearing waders, just jeans and a jacket. My stomach still hurts from laughing so hard. Parker even applauded the performance. I am bringing the video camera tomorrow because fall salmon on the Snohomish seems to bring out the best of 'em!

They can have all the dark fish up at thomas eddy all they want. and as for snaggn maybe a drop in by enforement might help.

fished the snoho friday afternoon, just about the time it started raining cats and dogs. i can honestly say iv never seen that many fish in a river at one time. unbeliveable! 95% were chrome bright. but, they werent at all interested in eating. no one i saw caught a fish in the 3 hours i was there getting soaking wet. ill give em till monday to get up to the sky.

Fished at Thomas Eddy on friday. Reel nice to see that many fish in the rivers again. Its been a long time coming. Silvers everywhere. Also saw some nice Kings too, during the downpour. Yes they do have lock jaw for certain people and certain places. Certain spots where killing them, others were dead. Look for a spot where they are rolling constantly and are thick, then anchor or stand above them and cast all around. Buzz bombs, **** nites, eggs, jigs, seem to be doin the best. Saw several boats limit out ( in those certain spots). Did not see any one snagging. Hey I was checked by Game Warden, 1st time in 5 years, and she is the best looking and most frienly one I have ever run into. Also, afaid some are keeping wild fish too, PLEASE RELEASE WILD FISH, this ultra important. Even though I did not hook any, this was fun to see again, people hooking fish, and lots of fish around. so get out there, this wont last, and lord knows what the steelhead season will be like.

probably the same hottie warden that gave me a ticket 2 years ago on the snohomish when the humpys were runnin. (for using a treble, ya know non-boyent lure thing). i also saw a few nice lookin kings which kinda surprised me.

Hey Parker & Saukit2em, were you the 3 guys that anchored up in the eddy across from the so called rough drop in boat launch? The group that was right at the launch were policing ourselves quite well thank you. I was there from 0630-1730 hrs friday and not 1 snagged fish was kept in that spot. I don't know about above or below but not there. You were only there about a half hour or so. The guy you saw go in the water was attempting to hang on to a legally hooked fish. The fish he landed was hooked in the end of the snout. I have fished that spot 3 days in a row and enforcement has been there off and on all 3 days and have only pinched a few folks compared to years past. Thats because we have put excessive pressure on those that attempt to not follow the rules. And fishing that hole you have to expect to snag fish. Why did you choose that hole?. Because THERE WAS FISH! DUH! How many boaters in secluded spots on the river with a minimum of other boats are keeping snagged fish? Just because we are trapped on the bank doesn't mean we are all snaggers. I took 4 fish over 3 days and all were hooked in the mouth. I don't care if they were "flossed" or not. A fish hooked in the mouth is a legal fish no matter how you try to slice it! I have to ask though. Would you appreciate another boat anchoring on top of you and fishing your hole? Probably not. They have the whole river to fish and they choose your hole to fish right. We stuck to the bank feel the same way. Give us a little space and remember what life was like before you got your boat and you were stuck on the bank. Bet you *****ed about boat fishers too hey?
Tight lines.

Chumkiller - I'm not too sure what your rant is all about. We anchored well above Thomas Eddie - way out of harms way from the Bankies. Never came close to that collection of Bankies. We always give bankies plenty of room to fish.

There was one or two power boats that anchored up right across from you guys. You should be complaining to them, not us. We just sat above all that and watched the guys in the boat hook lines with you bankies. Heck ya I'd be pissed if I were you. Corkin' a bankie is way un-cool.

We pretty much see the worst in "fishermen" on the Snohomish. Doesn't matter if it's on the bank or on a boat. There are no ethics on that river, which is really too bad.

Parker
President, Sauk River Steelhead Ranch