Well, since H2o is providing "on-the-spot" reports for the Duc, I best keep up with the Jones's.

Skagit was low and slow last night...emerald green and 5+' of vis. below the Sauk and Baker.

Everything changed overnight. Flow this morning peaked at about 16,000 CFS at 8 am. (was 6700 last night), and is down to 12,500 as of 8:15 tonight. Level last night at 6 pm. was about 15.25...peaked at near 18.5 today and is now back to a bit over 17.

LOTS of color now, sadly. Visibility at the Dalles bridge is about a foot, but is much better above the Sauk (I am guessing 2-3').

River is set to give a great days fishing tomorrow, especially above the Sauk. Lower river is a brown/green, low visibility. I did not see any fish rolling tonight, but if the river continues to settle overnight it could be a great mornings fishing.

Fished Rockport this late am, and got -0-. Heard of one fish caught...saw a couple roll at the HMSP.

If the rain holds off for a couple days we can expect some HOT fishing early in the week.

In my most humble opinion, of course..

Mike B

The above report is approved and endorsed by the author, and is worth no more than you paid for it..no warrenties expressed or implied, vin numbers posted at dealership.

Hey Mike,
Thanks for up to the minute accurate report on the mighty Skagit!
Can I get pics with that report next time?
Hope to fish with you soon on the Skagit!

Howdy SR:

You know your always welcome, anytime..

Been spending as much time as possible on the DB, but between work (travel) and the in-laws being here for 2 weeks it is dang hard to get in a days work. New chines are now installed, and sanded to shape. Sealed the bottom edges with epoxy tonight, and by mid-week the bottom will be ready for the Coat-It. New seats are built and just today added the 5th coat of varnish to them. Still, a long ways to go.....I'm obsessive about details

Colored water or not, I'll be on the beach at O'Dark thirty tomorrow morning...there HAS to be a fish in there somewhere...

Mike

Go and have a great day out on the water! Mike.
Pretty soon, I can picture you starting a whole new Mike B DB mfg co.

I'll be up there on Monday, Mike, so I'll help out with a "river droppin'" report...at least I hope it will be a "river droppin'" report...one with a few fish to top it off...

Fish on...

Todd

Skagit still looked pretty big today, so I fished the Cascade...and there were very few fresh fish...not much more than last Monday.

I was pretty sure there'd be a ton of fish in there after the river came up, but I guess not...

Landed eight, but only managed three bright hens...had to leave a fish short of my limit

Saw two others caught, heard of another...pretty crowded for a Monday, must have been the holiday.

Oh...river was up a little from last week, but still low and clear...as usual, eggs were the ticket.

Fish on...

Todd

Sounds like you did alright to me.

Good catch, Todd! Hope the crowd wasn't too bad...I would think you had the place all to yourself on a Mon.

The river has cleaned up FAST, and (sadly) is back to pre-rain low levels and gin clear, even below the Sauk.

Lots of Chum (there is NO season on these fish this year) showing up, and some fresher Coho did come in with the rains. Got an 8.5 bright hen last night, and saw a few good fish rolling this evening, but no biters.

Going to try drifting some eggs under a float in the early AM and see if they can be coaxed to the hook..

We need some more rain, steady drizzle, not a downpour that muddy's the water too bad, but enough to bring a 1-2 foot rise in the level and make it last a couple days.

Mike

Three of us floated the upper stretch Saturday and only hooked one silver. We didn't see many rolling once we got below the first couple of holes. Saturday morning the Cascade looked like chocolate milk.
Sunday evening I went back and banked it for a couple of hours. The Cascade was back to crystal clear. I landed one buck that was starting to get a bit red on the sides.

Thanks for all your reports. This morning we had folks who had driven 6 hours, all the way for the tricities, to fish the Cascade.

Yeah, Craig...I'm not complainin'...

Mike, there were a lot of people there in the morning, must have been due to the holiday. Monday is my fishing day right now, and there were a lot more than I've seen the last few Mondays...no fishing this coming Monday, as I'm off to the Vedder next Wednesday.

I scoped out a small, underfished spot, where I was pretty incognito from most of the others.

A fella came down at about ten just as I was landing one of my keepers...he said there were a bunch of people up by the hatchery and that he had seen one fish caught up there.

I offered to share my little spot with with him, and he ended up getting two keepers, and I released several darker bucks and kept the three hens.

I didn't see any others caught besides the ones that we did...on the walk out there were a few guys still fishing, but none had fish. I noticed a lineup of fishermen just below the bridge, but I don't know how well they did or not.

Overall, fishing was pretty disappointing after the rains last weekend, I expected it to be a lot better...but as I said, I bonked three hens over eight pounds, so I'm in no position to complain.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd, Maybe I will see you up on the Vedder next Wednesday. Gary and I have planned on that day to go as well.

Craig,

We're thinking about going up on Tuesday night to buy licenses, etc., and get an early start. I'm driving my van, so you're welcome to hop in with us if you want to leave on Tuesday...

If not, let's plan on hooking up and fishing together...is 4Salt coming? I tried to call him today and his cell # isn't working for me...

Later,

Todd

Hope you do better than the Skagit is giving up...and it ain't for lack of fish in the river....I think someone came in and sewed up all their mouths.

(edited in note): Fished a total of 5 1/2 hrs. today, in water with good numbers of fish rolling. Only thing I hooked was a Chum, who took a silver/pink DN (and I mean took!.)

Tried everything I could think of...eggs, spoons of all shapes, colors and sizes (itty bitty to large), spinners of all colors. Not a thing to show for it...except having enjoyed a beautiful day on the river.

We need rain. Bad. Please send some...soon.

Mike

OK...we got some rain...

Begining last night, Flows at Concrete shot up from 6800 to over 14,300 as of 9:15 this AM.

Level this morning (still going up while I was fishing) went from 15.25 at midnight to near 18 ft. now.

Saw only one fish roll this morning.

Good side is that fresh fish will be entering the river...bad side is I hear rumors the natives NETS are going back in tomorrow (Sun.) through Wed. If so, many of those fresh fish will be taken in the nets, with maybe a few getting upriver. Can't say for positive, but that's the buzz.

If they don't net, fishing should improve greatly over the next few days, and hopefully these fresher fish will bite on something...I've fished hard (morning and night) the last week, and haven't caught a Coho since last Sun. evening.

Mike

Yesterday (Friday) I started on the Cascade using eggs under a float. River was low and crystal clear as expected. Fished from the hatchery down around the 1st bend. Pulled a couple of dark silvers from under the logs but norhing bright enough to keep. Drove around to the mouth, waded across and fished the first hole up stream. Found 1 nice fish and turned back 3 dark ones. Spent the rest of the day fishing down the south side of the Skagit for zero fish other than dollies. Until the tribes are finished netting for silvers the Skagits not worth the gas it takes to get there.

Think it went up enough to bring in some fish? Hope so.

Color here in Concrete is about like iced tea, vis. is < 18" at the moment.

MB

Sorry for the late report but it was Ball$ to the Walls4 for the Coho this weekend up at hte cascade for the first time this year went up there and there was only 4 guys fishing where I was at I was hitting them all morning nice looking fish couldve left around 8 with my limit but decide to play catch and release for 4 hours averaging around 6 to 8 fish an hour and everybody aropund me was oding the same it was real fun the best day fishing this year!!! 4 hens brought home 14# 11# 9# and a 7#.
Question though someone told me that you could keep natives on the cascade this year is that true ??

Kevin: Cool! I saw your question about fishing the Cascade too late, but I had planned Sat. to do boat work, anyway. I GOT to get that critter done so we can do some proper fishing the rest of the year.

SportJet: Yep, those spikes are when the Baker opens and closes. You can check it at:

http://wa.water.usgs.gov/realtime/htmls/skagit.html

The Baker link is immediately up and right from the Skagit at Concrete button.

Pushing close to 19 ft. here today (Baker on), and we got SNOW just in the local hills; this is good, so long as it doesn't warm up again and melt it all off.

Mike