Sorry to break away from this Emerson guy, but has anyone actually been catching and releasing any fish on any of the inland rivers? We were bank fishing a bunch of spots on the Sky Sunday and only heard of a couple fish caught. Water was coming up.

Fished the Sauk for a bit Saturday and it was looking pretty low.

How's anyone else doing? Seems like we've gotten away from this important subject on the new bboard..

BG

As far as I can tell the fishermen have far out numbered the fish on the Sauk so far this season.Took a drive last Saturday afternoon the 6th and counted at least 25 trailers between the Mill and Fabers. Floated the middle section the next day and hit one fish. Did the extended kill season on the Skagit have anything to do with that?
I've heard rumors that there are a few fish in the Stilly but I fished 3/13 from Swede Haven all the way to Seapost, hitting all the major holes and found nothing.The river was rising fast however that day.
The Sauk did come up a bit this weekend and had nice color yesterday(about 3 feet).Got a chance to fish one hole. Didn't hit any fish but saw some nice fresh sand shrimp hanging in the brush.Must have been a late hatch of the Sauk River Corkie Shrimp.

We fished the Sky and the Sauk from the bank on 3/12. On the Sky, we started fishing the Cracker Bar Hole and worked our way around to Jim's Rock. We threw Marabou Aeroflys in both black and purple in addition to the "standard" drift gear...corkies, yarn, spin 'n glos, etc. NOTHING. We quit and drove to the Sauk and only had time to fish the Suiattle Confluence Hole. Again, we threw everything but the kitchen sink. ANOTHER SKUNK. Talked to one drift boat who put in in Darrington who claimed to have nailed 8 and landed 5 pulling plugs. We're going back again tomorrow early. This time, we've added some plastic worms (thanks Bob and STS magazine) and gooey Bobs to the aforementioned arsenal. I'll update on our luck tomorrow. Hopefully the higher water will bring in some new fish. Later.

[This message has been edited by JoeB98003 (edited 03-15-99).]

Thanks JoeB. I'm especially curious to hear how you do up on the Sauk. I'm taking off Wednesday and will most likely up there.

B.G.

Floated the Sky from Sultan to Lewis Street on Saturday, pulling plugs. Had the river to ourselves in the morning and maybe about 10 boats in the afternoon. Productive day, pulling Tadpollys. Dirtied up on Sunday, though.

My buddy and I pulled plugs from Sultan
to Ben Howard on Sunday 3-14. We had
fished hard most of the day with nothing
to show for our efforts when the left
rod went nuts. It was my friend's (an
excellent rower) turn for a fish, so as
I set the hook and held it for him, he
rowed off the fast water. Seconds later
the right rod goes off. Doubleheader!
Suddenly I have two rods with two fish
in my hands with no way to reel either.
The right fish is good sized, 15 - 20
lbs., and is thrashing on the surface.
My buddy is finally able to drop anchor
and relieves me of the big fish.
Meanwhile, the other fish has come
upriver and I've lost tension on my
barbless hook. Luckily, fish on! My
fish isn't large, 7 - 8 lbs, but fun.
The big fish ran right into the adjacent
riprap and broke my buddy's mainline.
That is the second Skykomish buck in as
many weeks that I have seen kamikaze
into the riprap, very strange. After
too short a play and a few pictures we
released the beautiful chrome bright hen
back into the murky Sky.

Sorry to go on, but I love that story.

Good luck to all!

B. Gray,

My friend Brian and I fished several holes on Tuesday on the Sauk between Darrington and the Sauk/Concrete Road Bridge. Before we arrived at the first hole, Brian had already "rigged up" with a black Marabou aerofly. We arrived at the hole and while I was busy tying up a purple Marabou, Brian banged out a 14 lb. chromer hen on his fourth cast! I stopped what I was doing to help get the fish to shore and take pictures. After two pictures we released her, and I got back to tying my knots. Just as I finished getting set up, Brian hooked his second steelie on his 12th total cast! Again, I put down my rod and helped get the 13 lb. hen to the shore and get her picture. I cleaned up and finally got my line in the water AFTER two fish had already reached the bank. I've learned a lot from Brian, but today I learned that if you aren't ready to go when you hit the river, you're going to be getting his leftovers. By the way, the water was "steelhead" green and vis was around 4 feet. Any questions just email me.

[This message has been edited by JoeB98003 (edited 03-17-99).]