I've fished a lot in the past for chum on the Skagit above Rockport. My experience is that there are definitely fish but that they are already on the slide toward getting a lot of color. Not always but usually. Can anyone suggest how far up on the Skagit is a reasonable limit if I we're interested in getting into fresher fish? Concrete? Sedro? Hamilton? Tidewater? Anything appreciated. -Old Chum

Old Chum:

They are still (about 90% of them) colored up here in Concrete. I have heard that brighter fish are being caught in the Lyman - Hamilton area, and downriver from there.

Mike

Not sure where the line would be but was watching some plunkers in Burlington yesterday. They caught about 6 fish in the half hour I was there. A couple of double hook ups. Anyway some of the fish were so bright that you had to look very closely to see the bars. Brightest chums I have seen come out of the river. One of them also caught a bull trout that was over 30 inches long. Largest bull I have seen.

The Chums don't seem to blast upriver quite as fast as other salmon, so when they get above Concrete they are almost all darkies. Try below Mt. Vernon down to the tidewater for chromers, and you might still be surprised by some bright silvers, too.

Thanks for the input. Now I've just got to figure out how to swing a fly for them in the lower river, not. Actually, plunking sounds kinda relaxing. Maybe take the kids and hand them a rod, oh, and anchor them to a tree or something for when that chromer hits.