Anyone been to the skagit lately? if so you have any luck?

I was up at swift creek last Saturday. No fish caught. I saw a lot of brownish fish jumping. They looked like smaller salmon, so I did not target them since the season is not open. I could not identify them. What do you guys think they were??? Most silvers I have seen in the river at his time are fairly bright if I remember correctly but I could be wrong. I will be up there frequently in a brown DB. Say hello if you see me.

When the Skagit opens on Sept. 16th I'd stay downriver around Mt. Vernon -- Spud Bar would be a good spot for plunking, while fishing the big horshoe bend below the I-5 bridge is good for drifting and throwing spoons. By the last week in September try the upper river around Concrete and up to the Cascade. This is prime time when, if there are September rains, the silvers will really stack up throughout the Skagit. If we have a dry month the fish may stay out feeding in the salt .

On my drive looking at the Skagit Tuesday I saw Plunkers hitting coho up too Burlington.

The upper/middle river (Grandy Creek to the Sauk Bar) has been steadly improving over the last week or so...but the rains we are getting tonight and the next few days could change that. Visibility yesterday here at Concrete was 2-3 ft., today it was more like 18", and with the rains..???

Stray Cat: From what I've learned the Kings tend to be more "bronze" than red, and there was quite a number of them in the river. I've seen a lot of those too (some I KNEW were Kings...30 lb.+!). A good run of them this year, so lets hope people left them alone, and they get to make lots of babies and bring bunches back a few years to come....

Talked with the guys at Northern Sales in Mt. Vernon and Phil told me he weighed an honest 17 lb. er late last week.

Just cause the season in the upper river opens on the 16th, Y'all don't just come rushing up here..there should be lots of fish through the end of the year. Last year we were still getting bright fish in mid-Dec. in the Rockport area.

And wouldn't ya know it...I got to be out of town on the 16th - 18th. Having to make a living can really stink at times.

Mike

The lakes on the Baker system are still pretty milky and the Sauk will go out with just a few drops of rain. Conditions will make things interesting.

I got a nice one Jan 9th just above Rockport last year while steelheading. The one in my avatar is from a different S river, caught Feb 7th.

Though I haven't been up river and observed what you saw I can tell you that there are off-year humpies in all the systems. The fish will color rapidly to a darker green/brownish color and will generally be substantially smaller than the on-year humpies... Dunno, timing would seem right.

I know you may find this difficult to believe but two seasons ago I caught a fairly bright Coho in MARCH on the Skagit at the 101 hole - BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

Titanium:

I certainly believe you could catch a silver that late..but the 101 hole?

Those may very well be Humpies I've been seeing on my side of the river...I know the Kings were over in the Baker waters on the N. bank, but also seeing a number of rather acrobatic dark fish just off the beach today. They do act like humpies. Could be???

As predicted, the heavy overnight/morning rains have brought some more color into the water up here. Visibility, as I type, is less than 12". If I were to try for them now it would be drifting eggs under a float..if they can't see it, maybe they could smell it out....

Back to working on the boat...of late I feel a sense of urgency to get this thing done. (Most of it from the wife, who wants the garage back so she can park her car out of the rain.. )

Mike

If they were humpies they would tend to be on the small side--- 4 to 6lbs.

Some fish are more eager then others

Likely what you saw were even year humpies. That area from swift Creek down to theold rip-rap in the river is one of the areas where those fish are commonly seen - there were several hundred in that area in 2002 and would not be surprised to see several thousand there this year.

In regarding the coho - most folks don't realize the diversity that we have in our North Sound coho. Several of the upper Skagit tribs have coho spawning in them well into March and occassional early April. I have personally caught adult coho in North Sound Rivers every month of the year except April and May (from late June to the end of March). Those early fish tend to smallish and spawn in the higher elevation tribs though their spawning timing is much the same as the majority of the coho - that is late October/early November into January.

Tight lines
S malma

Stopped and watched two fellows today, just across the highway from the West end of the blueberry farm, tossing eggs with a bobber up against a log jam. I would call that salmon fishing, a week early, and IMHO, targeting late kings.

OTS:

Understand what you mean. I watch guys fishing the bank across from the house (almost daily) where the Kings have been spawning.... One fellow was over there today tossing a chartreuse spinner...hooked a King...lost his spinner...

Serves his arse right.

We've got the makings of the first fall storm tonight...windy, rainy and just plain nasty outside. I expect this won't do wonders for the clarity of the river...but we do need the rain. Hopefully the river will go back to it's "Old Ways"...a cool, clear night or 2 and the river comes back into shape.

Mike

the fish saw last weekend were way too small for kings. They were smaller than the average odd year humpie and darker brown. maybe 2-3 pounds max. I have to agree that they were probably even year humpies. There were probably hundreds of them. Who knows- maybe some day we'll have an even year season. I'll be closer to home this weekend fishing near shilsole or everett.

Two of my buddies floated from Marblemount to Sutter Creek earlier this week, fishing for dollies. They watched a guy catch and keep three silvers at the mouth of the Cascade.

Sad to say that is likely an all too common occurance up here. Only one warden to cover a lot of turf.

Much as I hate to say it, aside from the Sockeye fishery they might consider leaving the upper river (bacon Creek to the Cascade) closed to all fishing until Mid-Sept when the Silvers do usually open. It would cease the harassment/catching of the Chinook and early catches of the Silvers that are hatchery bound (escapement), cause no one could say they were just fishing for Dollies.

Doubt any fish will be caught today, or at least everything below the Sauk Bar. River is pretty much gone out right now. Muddy, -0- visibility.

Mike

Hey mike, 15,000cfs at Marblemount as of 7:15am. I'd say the whole river is out.

I may be wrong, or there may have been a change, but as I sit here and thumb threw the rules pamphlet for 2004/2005 it says that the skagit river from the Dalles bridge in concrete to the cascade river bridge is open for salmon fishing 9/01-12/31, with a limit of 3, and must release all chinook, and chum.
So wouldnt that make the river open?

gvbest, check the WDFW website, they goofed on the Sept 1st Opener printed in the regs. Actually opener is the 16th.