Skagit and Sauk to Open Catch & Release

Some positive news for once. Now same thing needs to happen on the Stilly, Sky, Sno, Green, Puy, & Nisqually. Would take lots of pressure off the coast!

https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/erule.jsp?id=2628
https://fortress.wa.gov/dfw/erules/efishrules/erule.jsp?id=2627

One can only dream...

I would love to see the rest of the Puget Sounds river re-open in some way but I don't think fhe Stilly will ever be open again.

Can an old guy fish out of a boat there?

Yes, just can’t fish out of a boat while under power on the Skagit.
Can’t fish out of a boat equipped with a motor on the Sauk.
SF

Collapsed clay bank, Huge slides, and puking mud and whole trees in the river thru May. I wouldnt go, river is milk toast.

If they opened all ps rivers for c&r the indians would net the [Bleeeeep!] out of it. Best to hope for no opener till theres a catch & kill fishery because numbers will be higher.

Slides are more common on the Sauk and it's feeders, fouling the river
below the mouth of the Sauk. Couple clear, cold nights and it'll clean
right up.

Unless the mud is coming in above Rockport, you can always fish
Marblemount to Rockport and miss it all.

Lol! Huge slide up there as well. People are saying its very big. Very very big. Stay away from all these areas.

Just back from the Skagit. Good to visit an old friend, but as far as the fishing goes, it might as well be puking mud and whole trees. Heard of one steelhead in 2 days.

Yeah, but that is probably for a bunch of fly fishermen and it is January. I have taken my nephews twice and they had fun catching dollies/bull trout. I'm looking forward to taking them when it is warmer and they have a better chance at a steelhead. It is tough in the cold with kids.

What are the drift put in/take outs? I want to hit the mixer as well as a couple drifts up on the Sauk. Also is there anything technical I need to know on each drift?

Salman, there's several to choose from in the open area.

There is a nice launch at the Marblemount Bridge, another at the park in
Rockport, and for short drift you could launch at Fabers (North side). There's
a couple more, but those are the best.

For a take-out, I'd use Concrete (by the Baker River).

March and April will be the best months.

As for the Sauk, it can get thready, so be sure of your route before you go.

Don’t leave anything of value in your vehicles, especially on the Sauk.
There have been recent threads on the local flyfishing board about vehicles getting broken into.
Really sad you can’t enjoy a relaxing day on the river these days without having to worry that your vehicle might get [Bleeeeep!] with.
SF

The oft mis-named "Mixer" aka Sauk Bar and sometimes the "fly bar" is no more. All shallowed up with no holding structure any longer. In fact there's very little good fly water between Rockport and Concrete any longer. Some good long boondogging runs remain, however.

Skagit launch sites include: Marblemount bridge, Rockport county park, Faber's Ferry, and Baker River. Sauk launches include: rough launch at Darrington bridge, SCL/USFS launch at Hwy 530 bridge, and Hippie Bar.

Generally speaking...

All the Skagit launches and drifts are pretty easy...just be aware that the river is big, and fast...faster than it looks until you are in it.

The Sauk launches vary from requiring a 4x4 to easy, and none of the drifts are easy, or obvious...without a network of folks sharing daily information, as that river changes on the daily, either be really good, and really careful, or go with someone who knows the river.

Fish on...

Todd

What would I have to watch out for on the Sauk?

Wrapping your boat around a boulder, going through rapids upside down, getting sucked under a log jamb, death by drowning, etc. No worries... {;>)

I understand the logjams can pop out of nowhere but wrapping the boat around a boulder I don’t. Are there sections where you have to take an exact line through a maze of boulders, if so which sections are worse?

You're asking a lot of questions that you could get an easier frame of reference on by just flying the river in Google earth..

Took me 5 minutes to do and realize that by your questions that you have no business floating above the darrington-sauk bridge.

The boulders are boulders...they stay put...but it is really bouldery, and low water like now can make it really boney.

The river above 530, however, doesn't stay put...it moves back and forth across the flood plain a lot, sometimes weekly if it is rainy. It's new sweepers that showed up overnight that cause the most trouble up there.

Fish on...

Todd

If you don’t understand wrapping around a boulder maybe you need to do a little warm up run from bear crick to the salmon hatchery on the Sol Duc. Seriously with questions like that it sounds like this is no place for you to learn.

That’s what I want to know! Would you wrap yourself around a boulder because you need to zig zag through a run or would you be trying to stay away from one when you can go inside, pictures?

Get off that marlin speed, the proper trolling speed up this channel is 1 to 1.4

Back when I had my own driftboat(s) I fished the Skagit a couple times a week
when fish were running, but when it came to the Sauk I decided to have
John Koenig take me and a buddy down.

Had an awesome trip, and nailed a few chromers while we were at it. Even
after drifting it with John, I still didn't feel comfortable enough to try and
row it in my own boat.

Swarms of elitist fairy wand swingers and locals, mostly. You may be haunted by Kid Sauk's ghost if he's in a ghoulish mood. See what I did there????

Expect someone to throw a fit (and maybe some rocks) if you are fishing from a boat (you know, unfair advantage and all) and "low hole" a swinger by casting your line in the water 1,000 yards below them. I hear that's a pretty common sight up there.

Be careful of the Sauk River Sodomy Shack.



Yeah, and stay off of Sky-Guy's home river!



Certainly do not even think about fishing it in April. Near Dan's Creek. Totally not worth it!

And if you're a Plug Monkey, don't even think about plugging the fastest, deepest, knarliest, boulder infested runs on the river! Like the one above the Suattle. Not a fish will ever be found there by a plug! Ever.

Put away those stupid pink worms as nothing lives under the wood in that river. Just beavers.

Spoons? Forget about it. The Sauk fish are not aggressive or large and run for cover if they see a shiny spoon.

Even the large dolly's up there want nothing to do with a big, green, streamer clouser type fly or something like a 4" long minnow casting plug.

Did I miss anything?

I might go just to watch and laugh.

elparquito is it as technical rowing as the Calawah?

This kinda escalated lol...

Salman, it's quite different from the Calawah, but every bit as technical...on the Calawah it's all about the boulders, and while there are plenty of boulder gardens on the upper Sauk that require some technical rowing, it's mostly blind channels that end in log jams that weren't there yesterday...if you aren't *very* comfortable rowing in and around lots of wood, then it's not a good place to be.

Fish on...

Todd

The Paker nailed it. I've seen all that and more on the Sauk, including drift boats wedged into log jams as I paddled my canoe on down the river.

It wasn't the Sauk, and it wasn't in a boat but I once snorkeled the Kalama, in the summer, above the falls looking for summer steelhead to see how many jumped the Falls rather than used the ladder. What a kick! Went through a riffle going downstream while a Springer went up. Nice way to see the critters and I would just bounce off the rocks. Wetsuit helps.

No, but kinda depends.

You doing it in a hard boat or a raft?

Raft's seem to be the "great equalizer" on that river. You can bounce off some rocks and wood and not get in too much trouble. You can also just as easily get in to trouble with a raft up there if one omits the basic common sense when boating a river.

It's very doable in a hard boat, especially if you've been down the river this year and know what has changed and hasn't changed. As with most rivers, the lower it get's the more challenging and skinny some places will get.

As many have pointed out, the Sauk is a very dynamic river, where the Calawah generally is not. The main channels on the Sauk change every year, which means new lumber, rocks, sweeps, new hazards, etc.

I'm guessing getting information about the river from this board may be slim to none, minus what other's have mentioned.

Personally, I'd tackle this river like any other unknown river I was going to row. Yes, I'm firmly aware that I do not own a drift boat, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to row one. I'd float it first with someone I knew and trusted and once I saw first-hand what I was up against, I'd decide whether I could row it in a hard boat. Else, If I had a raft, I'd also just go for it, take my time on some unknown areas, ask some fellow boaters if you came across them, get out and scout if I really needed to, etc.

Google Earth isn't going to help you much...unless photos are updated frequently. There's a good chance the river will change course between now and the end of the fishing season.

I will go up there and row it in a hard boat a few times this March/April...but I've been fishing up there since the 80s in drift boats, and learned to row on that river.

Still can produce a pucker or two each season, and back before closures and whatnot, it ate more than a few boats every year, and unfortunately a few fishermen, too.

As noted, the only reports that are really useful so far as rowing conditions are this week's, and if there has been any rain of note, yesterday's might help.

Floating it 30-50 times each spring, it was fun to get to row a new river every week without having to move camp or change rivers YMMV.

Fish on...

Todd

I still love the worm pile in Toff's .sig photo.

Must have been fishing with Rico on that day?

Got any Vision Worms left over?

That pile is in the bow of the boat after a short 4 mile upper Sauk drift...considering the can of Copenhagen in the pile, that must have been at least 10 years ago lol...the other pic is a collection of dead soldiers from a couple of days up there, that's a rafter brace in one of the Adirondacks at Howard Miller Steelhead Park

You can tell how old I am by where I stay up there...it used to be 45 days in a tent in the woods getting soaked...then it was 30 days in an Adirondack that was at least dry-ish, and we could put a heater inside and not freeze balls.

Now it's a couple of weeks, and in a really nice AirBnB in Rockport with heated tile floors...getting old ain't all bad.

Fish on...

Todd

I took that pic, and it was a hell of alot longer than 10 years ago bud

Ike

Damn. I can't argue with you on that. We aren't exactly spring chickens any more, eh?

Maybe...2004?

Fish on...

Todd

How technical is the wood? Packing the boat over a pile or picking my way through piles that touch both sides of the boat? Are the boulder gardens going to hit both sides of the boat or do you need the right line?

You trying for that worst troll ever award from f4b there salman? Parker might need to change the title

Yeah, around there...maybe 2002 even?
They shut us down in what, 2006? It had to be quite a bit before that, obviously.

Looks like Broodbusters Lav, so probably back in the Joe and Gacto years. Or JJ or Justin's? Good times those were.

And to answer Salman's stupid questions, nobody floats the Sauk without a Come Along and a chainsaw...common knowledge.

Ike

Haven’t posted forever. I know we are all excited about a river or two opening, but the Sauk is literally the only river that I jumped out of the back of my boat while rowing after getting pinched between two log jams. Luckily river was low and could push the boat through. No room to put the oars down and getting pushed broadside into a jam doesn’t usually end well. Been rowing for over 20 years, so no newbie here. Great river, but needs to be respected. I am a little concerned what it could turn into with everyone wanting to get out. Stay safe!

What is a suak and skajit

The "expert oarsman" section of the Sauk is the reach between the Whitechuck River and Darrington, with some technical boulder gardens. That section is not open to fishing during the winter season. The section from Darrington to Bennettville Bridge (Hwy 530) would be pretty easy but for the ever-changing channel braids and logjams and sweepers. And that, I think, is why it takes out a few boats from time to time, because it's pretty easy, except for when it isn't. The section from Bennettville bridge to the mouth has always been pretty easy in my experience and opinion. BTW, there is no take out near the mouth of the Sauk, so if you're there, you're committed to another 4 or 5 miles downstream to Faber's Ferry on the Skagit.

Just what I was looking for! Is the last 4-5 miles pretty fast or will I be rowing?

Depends on the flow, wind and how much dinking around you choose to do. After fishing all day on the Sauk I usually row out for the exercise.

Quick update for Y'all...

Big landslide today just east of Concrete on Hwy. 20., so you can't get
to Rockport via Hwy. 20.

Also, Concrete-Sauk Valley is closed a few miles east of Hwy. 20
(another landslide and the roadway is gone).

South Skagit Hwy. (comes off Hwy. 9 and goes to Concrete) is also closed
due to yet another landslide.

To get to Rockport or Marblemount, your only option is to take Hwy. 530
out of Arlington to Darrington and then over to Rockport.

The Skagit is clean and very fishable, so I would think the same goes for
the Sauk.

A boat launching at Darrington typically takes out at Bennettville bridge access. Launch at Bennettville and take out at Native Hole, just upstream of the Old Gov't. Bridge. Launch at Native Hole and take out at Hippy Bar, but that can be difficult. Launch at Hippy Bar and you're stuck going to the mouth and down to Faber's on the Skagit, which can be a long drift. I've exited the mouth of the Sauk into the Skagit in mid-afternoon, only to be met by the upstream breeze. If I'd had a sail, I could just about sail upstream to the nearby Rockport launch, but really not quite. Getting downstream to Faber's requires some rowing.