Hi.

Will be fishing Skagit for chum on Sunday. Never fished for chums on Skagit before.

We catch and release so we don't care how good they taste, just how well they fight.

My question is: what launches would work for 20' jet boat this weekend, and have the best chum fishing?

Also, what lures/colors would be best?

Thanks!

You'll find fresher ones around Concrete. The Marblemount/Rockport area is where alot of them end up. Launch at Howard Miller and you can go up or down. Most of the gravel bars will have some fish.

Surely there are a lot of chum in the upper Skagit, but I think you'll find fresher ones lower down. I'd consider launching at Birdsview or Hamilton and fishing up and down from either launch.

They'll eat any sort of chum candy, but I've had them hit any color marabou streamer and simple green yarn flies. And the damn things hit every steelhead pattern I've tried to drift through a run. It's annoying when you're trying to fish for steelhead and the chum won't leave your offering alone.

Good spots are usually where the run includes a gradually sloping and deepening bottom from the shore toward mid-river and where the current speed clearly gets faster with the increasing depth of water. And if you find a run with a sharp current line between a decidedly fast current and a softer shoreward current, well stop the boat and get out and fish!

Of course, the fishing gods will award you a demerit for every chum you hook on purpose, but that 's another conversation entirely. t.i.c.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Well I just got back from sedro and must say we had one on every 10 min or so. We were plunking and using white/black or purple spin bobbers with purple yarn and shrimp sent.Any where you go from sedro up is full of chums we even caught 3 today with sea lice.