upper Skagit conditions?

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.

http://www.johns-guide-service.com/Fishingreports.html

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

I have a question non-bouyant lure restriction.................. Dick nights are non-bouyant so that means they cant be used correct??

sthld_drming:

In a word-

No.

In more than one word-

DN's: sinking but Siwash = okay / legal.
Any sinking lure with a treble, or a hook above the floating portion of the lure (cowlitz corkie set-up) = not okay / not legal.

Stlhd:

You can toss any hardware you wish, but change the treble out for a single siwash, barbs pinched off or barbless.

Same goes for drifting eggs or shrimp, corkies, etc. Single hook with barb pinched is required.

You can only use a treble IF the lure (aka plug) floats.

Cool thansk guys

Do I smell an upside-down spinning reel?
I've seen quite a few people try it from the bridge on the Cascade too. Someday I want to see somebody hook one.

Just a quick update:

Fished the bridge at Rockport (under it, btw.. ) for an hour with my dad.

As we got there another fellow was rigging up at his truck. He was kind enough to let us fish the "under the bridge" hole, while he fished off the side in another spot. (Which I generally prefer to fish, but it's too steep for my dad to get down the bank.) While I was fishing, not even knowing the other fellow was there (brush is thick), I tossed a spoon into the water in that hole and caught his line, which he released in quick order. Wish there were more like him.

Whoever you were, thanks for the class shown out there today. Your welcome in my boat anytime. (once it's done and as ugly as it is)

That said, we fished an hour and I had one solid strike (missed him on the hook-set). Visibility was about 12", so it is improving, but the flow was still real high.

Mike

Fished the Skagit from HOMI up on saturday. Vis. was 12-18", We had five hook ups and mangaged one 7lb hatchery coho for our efforts. There were lots of fish in the river, coho, kings, and humpies. It was a day of a 100 casts.

LT

Mike B (and stlhd-dreamin):

For a non-bouyant lure restriction, single barbed hooks are LEGAL so long as they meet certain size and placement requirements.

Barbless single hooks are only required for "selective gear" waters, along with a bait/scent ban.

Ummm,...Mike and Lunchtime, dunno what time ya were fishin' the river yesterday but the vis was more like 2-4 feet. I could stand up to my thighs at the Howard Miller Ramp and see my feet.

Vis is improving more and more now with the cooler weather. Upper Sauk above the Suiattle even had a few feet of vis today,..belwo the Suiattle there was about a foot and a half today. Lower river below the Suak will hopefully drop in sometime this week as well.

Hey John!

It was in the late afternoon (4'ish). About the only place I took a look was under the bridge where we were fishing...I guessed 12", ...but then I didn't have my glasses with me.. :rolleyes:

Still have only about 12-18" vis below the Baker (on the South bank, that is). Looks like all is improving, and IF we can avoid another flood like last Oct. 21st it should be an awesome year.

John: Remember a guide up here named Falavalito? (not sure if spelled right). Well, if you remember his old green drift boat, it will soon be back on the river (and looking a hellofa lot nicer too!). I'm hoping the "Fish Mojo" didn't wear off when that Sport-Green paint was removed..

See you on the river soon, and hope all your clients bag hogs this year!

Cheapskate: I went and re-read the rules, and see that your 100% right. My screw-up. I'll still fish the pinched barbs, as there are too many Dollies that will be caught this year, and most of my spoons have 1 or 1/0 Gami's on them..too hard to get out of a Dollies mouth without harming the fish if the barb isn't pinched. Personal choice, I guess, but on the definition you are correct.


Mike

JohnnyCoho - I don't want to debauchle over water vis. but the river was far from four feet. Now w/a little more persuasion I might buy two.

LT

Same here LT. The color flowing out of Diablo won't allow for anymore than two feet for some time, well let me take that back, the only way it could get better is if the Cascade, Bacon, Swift and all the other feeder streams flow crystal clear, and dilute the mud flowing from the lakes. The visibility in the lakes is a foot and a half. Just shooting from the hip here but it looks like it will probably take at least a month for the water in the lakes to clear up to the four to six foot range. At least it flows a nice green color even when it's cloudy!

Mike - The drift boat was owned by John Falavalito - I'm sure many know him. He wasn't a licensed guide but he did fish at least three days out of a week during season. As for Fish MoJo - I'm certain it's not in the paint but the hands of the fisherman, besides EVERY fish that touched Johns boats met the priest. Things have changed a bit over the past few years and the chances of the runs surviving will improve since you now own the boat. That's not to say you won't catch fish but that the rules will likely be adhered to. When's she going to be ready for launch and the inagral cruise?

Mark, John is pretty much accurate for Rockport. The river has made vast improvements over the last couple days (it has been cold at night) and I just went down to the beach here and there now is a min. of 2 ft. vis. here, below the Baker. Awesome! I am going to fish this evening...but haven't decided to try here or Rockport yet.

Uh-Oh..I thought he was a "for real" guide..:-) No matter. As for the Fish Mojo, then I'll know for sure as soon as I get some blood in the boat.

So far I've got close to 200 hrs. of work into it, along with about $800 (on top of what I paid you for it). Most of this was for needed equip., paint, varnish, etc.

I was in the Portland area on Biz. last Friday, and took the afternoon and made a visit to ClackaCraft. Went there to get oars, stuff, but wound up setting my sights on their 16' Steelhead Guide Model. Wife says "no go" till this ones done, and sold. (and she is always right. Can't complain though..she just brought me home a new Berkley IM-7!)

The boat is now outfitted with 9' ClackaCraft PowerStroke composite oars, a full 5 pulley anchor release system, brand new bronze oar locks, etc. Fish-On padded front seat, and a ClackaCraft padded tractor-style rowers seat (with the short back).

New bottom is on, seats are being built now (tough with no plans to follow). I built them all new, with storage under both the rowers seat (36" X 12" X 12" fish box) and a 40" X 12" X 12" strorage compartment under the passenger bench.

I'm finishing the seats this weekend, then I need to re-install the gunnel rails, coat the bottom with the gallon of Coat-it I got from Tap Plastics, install the anchor system, built the UHMW oarlock holders to install between the gunnel rails...paint the whole inside and outside...yada, yada. (honestly, all the hard work is finished!)

Yep, it's almost done! Don't have a launch date..yet, but were getting closer.

Mike

Ok dude... We want progress pics - under a seperate thread of course...

LMAO - Hey Mikey, I just went outside thought about your sunglasses looked down and guess what I found!

Cool!

I was "forced" into buying another pair of cheap ones...hate 'em! (They look like spaceman goggles).

Where were they? Are they broken?

As to pics, I must confess to not having taken too many pics lately, but I'll get some this coming weekend. Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress..:-)

And of all the %^^&$# luck, my business is really picking up. Carp. It was dead all summer when I wasn't fishing much, and now everyone wants to buy stuff. Go figure. I am buried in ppwk, and probably on-the-road 3-4 days a week through Nov., which leaves little time to work on the "Toad".

Mike

Hey boys/girls I was up there today and the river look sweeeeeet!
Saw many fish too hand today.
Color was nice a little glacier water never hurt anyone.
Fish were moving; saw some big kings and silvers and humpies.

Homer:

....saw some big kings and silvers and humpies

Yep, there were quite a few of them Humpies in the river this year. I have finally figured out the smaller ones I've been seeing jump across the river from us are even year pinks. Now, the bulk of them are looking like boots...nasty!

Gonna give the Coho a try this evening off our beach. All I got to toss (till I catch a hen and get some eggs) is hardware. Bigger metal since the water is clouded...we'll see if anyone's home..

Mike

Mike,
Those coho where bright.
I didn't have my sun glasses with bad mistake!

Mike go and check out that river 14 miles east of you.

Well, the fish may be 14 miles east of me...but they are also here, as well.

Saw one with me own eyes..

I was tossing a spoon in a deep pool down the bank a ways, and was about knee deep in the water. This big fellow (had to have ba11s to do what he did) came up and rolled not 4 ft. in front of me...probably 10+ pounds of chrome Coho!

Sad part was neither he (or any of his buddies) ever went near my offering(s).

If I had been drifting eggs, might have gotten one to find them. Visibility here is still 2 ft. +, but improving. Did manage a nice 15" Dolly in the 2 hrs.

There's always tomorrow...and then tomorrow after that..:-)

Mike

Hey Homer that river 14 miles east of mike is pretty damn good right now isnt it. Hey I am telling you Mike you need to hit it.

I am just sitting here waiting for my shuttle to the airport. I have my flyrod in its case and all my flies and gear packed and desperatly wiating to throw bugs back home I am getting so excited. I will try and post pictures of my adventure if I can ever figure it out.

OK, OK..I'll go!

Kevin, have fun back east...as for the pics, if you can't figure it out send them to me and I'll post them up for you.

Mike