I was looking at the water flows for the lower Skagit and noticed that with the Dam releases that it varies about 4,000 cu ft/sec over the course of the day. I'm really new to rivers in a boat, but experienced out in the Sound and the lakes. I've got a rowing surf dory and was thinking about using it on the Skagit. Any words of advice? (Other than the usual, wear a lifejacket etc.)

The water here looks like rocks etc shouldn't be an issue so the slightly more draft shouldn't cause me to hang up on the bottom.

Also the flow looks like it tappers off until about noon or so then rises quickly over the next two hours. I was planning on being off the water by 2pm to avoid the worst of it.

-Gary-

How far down is lower skagit to you. we run prop motors in the lower skagit so you wont have any problems rowing. logs are a bigger problem then rocks (lower part of the river)

If you mean the Lower Skagit below Mt. Vernon, the tide raises and lowers the river level MUCH more than Seattle City Light does with the flows out of Diablo dam. Like DJ said, props are fine in the lower river, just be careful.

Unless you're a damn strong rower don't plan on going up river on the outgoing tide.

Plunk - Tried that once in a canoe after a long day of duck hunting...never again!

Thanks, should have the tide with me going both ways.

4salt , not to nitpic or anything..., well I guess I am, but the dams on the Baker River are the ones causing the vast majority of the fluxuation in flows. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv?station=12193500

Dory guy, If you can tell me where you plan to launch, I can tell you what the water is doing in that area.

Keta,

I'm not denying that Baker dam is a large contributor to the river level fluctuation. My point was that by the time the flows reach the Mt. Vernon area, the tide influences the river level more.

For Clarification:

If you look at the charts in the following link you will see that the river in the Mount Vernon area just above I-5 where the guage is located is almost exclusively influenced by the flow from the dams.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/uv/?station=12200500

The obvious fluction of about 3000 CFS reflects the 4000 CFS fluctuation in the flow from the Lower Baker Dam about 50 miles up river. A practiced eye can also see the flow variation resulting from lesser fluctuations in the dam at Newhalem.

The tidal influence at the Mount Vernon guage is minimal and measured in fractions of an inch in river level. It can rarely be seen on the charts and then only during extremely low river flows when the dams are running steady or closed for extended periods and we are experiencing peak tidal movement due to the lunar cycle.

Below the Memorial Hwy bridge the tidal influence becomes more obvious and increases as you travel towards and below the forks. By the Fir Island Bridges on either fork the tidal influence has become the predominant factor.


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Got Your Ears On? ......... Good! :p

I was thinking of doing the south fork in my drift boat. Does the water ever flow "Upstream" with the incoming tide? I've seen the Snohomish do this. I just want to make sure I will actually be able to make it down to the take out.

4salt, right about the tides, sometimes I get carried away with details.

Good info Plunker.

A little more on the back flows in the Skagit. Any back flow is related to the level of the river and the height of the tide. With the river at 10-12 feet at the Mount Vernon gauge and a 10-11 foot high tide you will see a back flow up to about 1/2 -3/4 miles above the bridges on both forks. From there up to the forks you will see a rise in the river and flows slowing to slack but no back flow. Obviously higher river and lower tides will change the back flow to varying degrees. A suggestion for the rowers would be to put in at Conway or Blakes(the north fork gets more fish) just before high tide and row/troll up river with the back flow and as far into the slack as you feel like. This way you have the whole outgoing tide to fish your way back to the launch and not have to worry about miscalculating the tide and have a hard row against the current.

While we're on the subject of river flow, here's a question. Going by the rule of thumb that the fishing is better when the river is dropping, what is the effect on the bite when the river is dropping but the dams suddenly release a large amount of water thus causing the river level to rise for several hours. From my experience I'm inclined to think it has an adverse effect on the fishing but there are so many variables that I still wondering. Any thoughts?

Keta and Plunker, thanks both good bits of information.

The row "upstream" on the incomming tide is the plan and row/float back down later.

So to answer your question about the quality of the fishing on the outgoing tide, with large release of water, I'll let you know how it works out.

Well fishing the lower skagit was fun, however we ended up on the bank. Trailer had a flat. Catching Sunday was poor. The water was the color of blue milk with about 1ft visiblity. Saw lots of humpies but not one took anything we had. Saw maybe 2 fish taken.

BTW, its open for humpies only downstream of Gilligians creek.

Boat ramps were crowded but not nuts. No frayed tempers that we saw.

Drove upstream to look at Baker River etc, its the Sauk that's putting everything in river. Our lines seemed to collect what looked like paper from cardboard boxes. Is there a pulp mill on the Sauk?

I think the Suiattle is spitting out cement. Is there a new fire in the Suiattle basin? Gold Creek fire seems almost out. The really bad water seemed to break loose late Saturday on the Suiattle- possibly a large new slide?

I think the Suiattle is spitting out cement. Is there a new fire in the Suiattle basin? Gold Creek fire seems almost out. The really bad water seemed to break loose late Saturday on the Suiattle- possibly a large new slide?

SeaDory, When the river has the milky water the best shot at catching fish is plunking a spinnglo with a sandshrimp behind it. I think that chalky looking water is from glacier melt, the freezing level has been way up there the last few days. That paper looking stuff is from moss that grows on rocks in the river drying out when the river is low then getting washed off when the river comes up. It can get pretty bad in the fall when the first big rains come.

We did have the usual fresh sandshrimp jigs. It was almost funny how close to the fish we were, maybe 5ft from the bank to mid river was nice school of them. They just weren't interested. I think we gave it an hour or more of plunking, casting, waiting, switching bait, the lures etc before calling it a day. Got my line bumped, just had to laugh. Oh well some days are like that.