ok i just looked at the regs i just want to make sure im reading them correctly. From what i see you cant use bait is that correct? And is anybody doing good c and r ing dollies?
Thanks Kris

End of July was great couldnt keep them off my pole but went last weekend only caught one. I dont know about the bait thing this time of year I only use spoons and spinner I will start using bait up there around the midd sep when salmon are actually up in there.

I've fished for bull trout on the upper Skagit 3 or 4 times since the beginning of July with no luck. I am still very much learning, so I'm blaming it on "operator error"

Last month the dolly/bull trout fishing was off the hook....averaging well over a dozen per trip...as we progress farther into fall, however, the bull trout are moving up into the smaller tributaries...not as many in the big river.

Fish on...

Todd

From what I've learned, the DolBull's tend to come upriver with the salmon/steelhead...

Fishing has been slow for them (down here) for the last couple months, but with all the fish headed up-river between Sept. and April there should be plenty of willing fish to bite.

Hardware (big, small..no matter) will get the DolBull's on your line..

Some changes in the seasons on the Skagit:

Skagit River (Skagit/Whatcom Co.) from mouth of Gilligan Creek to the Dalles Bridge at Concrete - SALMON season is Sept. 16-Dec. 31.

Skagit River (Skagit/Whatcom Co.) from Dalles Bridge at Concrete to Cascade River - SALMON season is Sept. 16-Dec. 31

ALL SPECIES - night closure and non-buoyant lure restriction July 1-Nov. 30

Mike

After looking for dollies on a tributary last weekend and finding none, I was going to float the Skagit this weekend. Maybe not now.

Mike, you ready for Skagit silvers?

Was going to head out friday afternoon, for some camping with the wife and daughter up on the cascade. I was planning on fishing both the cascade and the skagit, but it sounds like it may not be to good of fishing right now.
Has anyone fished the whitechuck this year?

Cupo:

"Mike, you ready for Skagit silvers?

Been ready! Actually, there was a short run that came up in the last 7-8 days. I saw them rolling and jumping off the beach in the evenings/early mornings. Was difficult not to go down there and toss a spoon at them. My guess is that these were part of the Cascade run, likely all hatchery fish. The bulk of the return will be all wilds, and we should have a good, fishable run from mid-Oct. through the end of the year.

The river below the Sauk has almost -0- visibility, so if you do plan to fish it, do the Marblemount - Rockport drift. Much nicer water.

GVbest: I would go anyway! Fishing is about a lot more than catching fish...no? Water is beautiful anywhere upriver of the Sauk Bar, and if I had the time I wouldn't hesitate fishing up at the Steelhead Park in Rockport.

Working to finish the restoration of my drift boat. Got too much to do yet, but it's coming together real well. Hope to have it done and in the water by Oct.

Mike

Hey GV I dont know if they have the road leading to the Whitechuck fixed yet I do know that it was washed out during the last floods. I can tell you what if you go up there and it is repaired let me know ASAP. I love that river. I just dont want to hike 2 miles to get to my honey hole

I totally agree. I haven't been catching anything, but it's beautiful country and a great way to spend a few hours if you can spare them.

so bait is legal??
Ill go this week And if i dont get any thats alright just love being out there i just dont want to get a ticket
thanks
kris

Kris,

No bait restrictions in effect (unless somethng changes) until March.

As for using bait now (eggs?) I would personally avoid using eggs until the Coho are legal. You will catch DolBulls (aka Dolly Varden/Bull Trout) but with eggs may hook deeper and cause much more harm to the fish on release. Those fish will hammer hardware just as good, if not better, than eggs.

Once the Coho open (Sept. 16) I wouldn't hesitate to drift eggs, under a float, for them in the early season. Had good success with that technique last year, but still caught more fish on spoons/spinners. Dick Nite's, Little Cleo's (pink/chrome, blue/chrome) are killers on these fish. My buddies use those little-bitty Dick Nite's, but I typically tossed larger stuff (#3's) and caught just as many fish as they did. Those little thingys are too hard to cast!

Mike

The Whitechuck has looked like cement lately and the bridge is washed out right above the mouth.

Does anyone know a good spot to go camping near the upper skag. .... rockport area?

The Whitechuck is more like the GrayChuck...there is a slide the size of two football fields a couple miles up from the mouth, where more than just the road has washed out...the entire hillside is gone.

Guess where all the sand in the Sauk came from?

There may be clearer water above it, though it is usually pretty silted up this time of year, even without the new gigantic slide.

You'd have to hike, as the only access is via the road that is washed out. I've heard that there is an older slide upstream, and that it is the source of the usual silt...but I don't think it would be practical to try to get above it without the road there...it's a ways up.

Fish on...

Todd

Hey Todd

When do you think the Sauk will be good again.Think all the mudslides up the river is going to hurt the fisherie. I usaully do pretty good on the sauk for nates but last year really was pretty horrible only managed to C&R 8 fish I uasually fish up there and catch 8 an outing. I just hope the sauk can go back to its uasual self

8 fish an outing?

Between three of us in a drift boiat

Todd,

I was up at the mouth of the Suaittle last Sunday. That is where 90% of the crap is coming from. I didn't go any further up then that but the Sauk above the Suaittle had about 2 feet of vis,, below, nada. Hard to imagine that the little Suaittle is blowing the entire system out like I have never seen before.

For camping around Rockport there's Howard Miller Steelhead Park right on the river by the 530 bridge and Rockport State Park on the north side of Hwy 20 about a mile west of where 530 meets 20. Howard Miller has nice facilities. I haven't stayed at the state park.