Really cool to see so many Fly Anglers on that river, usually when I've fished salmon it's just gear folks
Temporary opening of the Skykomish
- Thread starter ChrisC
- Start date
I find a single hander to be my preferred method for targeting coho. Doubly so in a high pressure systems like the sky. Being able to present tiny offerings without a bunch of lead to get it there is a huge advantage.
I missed these reports and all y’all by a day. We floated BH to Lewis St yesterday [friday] started early and it felt like a foggy time warp until about 10:30 or 11:00 when the valley fog finally started moving a bit. Yeah, fishing results were a little meh I suppose but I have been jonesing to get out so bad I was just thrilled to be on the river, salmon fishing. I tried twitching jigs tied the night before, spinners, dick nites, flies on a sink tip and flies on a floating line. Got a coho jack on the vibrax (which also moved but did not quite stick several other adult fish), a couple SRC and a whitefish on the DN, a large bronze coho buck in the back 
on the jig, and a what I guess you’d call comparably, surprisingly ”fresh” pink hen on fly, on the ECHO OHS 8wt with Wulff Ambush and 10’ sink tip. Such an enjoyable and versatile river salmon fishing rod, I missed fishing that thing. Some pinks are still digging—crazy.
Randy, if you are out there, thanks for giving my buddy a ride for shuttle! Really a pretty fun day. Glad I took the day off; I really needed the river time!
on the jig, and a what I guess you’d call comparably, surprisingly ”fresh” pink hen on fly, on the ECHO OHS 8wt with Wulff Ambush and 10’ sink tip. Such an enjoyable and versatile river salmon fishing rod, I missed fishing that thing. Some pinks are still digging—crazy. Randy, if you are out there, thanks for giving my buddy a ride for shuttle! Really a pretty fun day. Glad I took the day off; I really needed the river time!
So my "late for a date" pink hen from MA9 did make it to the grounds in time!
They figure a million pinks, maybe more, made it back to the Snohomish system this year. The bell curve of this run is very wide. I saw pinks still digging reds and spooked a chum in a riffle on the same float.So my "late for a date" pink hen from MA9 did make it to the grounds in time!
Got the better halfs permission to truck it up to the sky for a few hours this morning. Will report in.
Fished the lower sky from 7:30 to 11. Had a run to myself for the first hour. Was damn cold. Iced guides and numb digets. Got into 7 or 8 with 2 to net. Kept 1. Everything was sluggish today. Soft takes and grabs that didn't quite stick. Not sure how much of that was me or the fish being cold. Not a ton of fish showing which was unexpected. Guess most have moved up river but l wasn't going to brave that gong show for a short morning.
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
Was my grandpa's who passed it on to me a few years back. Back in the early 90s(?) there was talk about cutting back smolt releases or closing reiter. I think it had something to do with license fees being moved over to the general fund but dont quote me. I was too young to be following it and internet documentation isn't really there either. Some club (grandpa says the skykomish steelheaders but maybe he's thinking of the snohomish sportsmen) sold these as a fundraiser and my grandpa bought it.
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
Shortly after the merger of the old Departments of Fisheries and Wildlife it was discovered that in the budget there was not a line item to fund the Reiter summer and winter steelhead program. The old fishery guard was not much of a fan for segregated hatchery programs so it was left to the region to find funding to continue that program. I think it was the Snohomish Sportsman that was selling the hats. Fortunately the Snohomish PUD put up some mitigation funding to tie the program through that first winter period. Ultimately it was identified that there were consistent surpluses in both the Wallace coho and Chinook programs and reducing the Wallace production of both salmon provided enough money to continue the steelhead program. Ultimately funding for the steelhead program was secured allowing the continuation of the program and the resulting fisheries for another 15 years or so.
Curt
Curt
Reasonable chance it was my grandpa (his name is Jack). He fished the sky extensively. If there was a snot nosed brat with him, it was probably me!
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
There was a ton of fish back then, the hatchery change happened in 2003, and it was a slow decline to the shit we have now!
Looks like we get a November opener with the snoqualmie as well.
