Murky Water Swingin' - Skykomish River Report

With the Endangered Species Act season quickly approaching causing most Puget Sound rivers to close January 31, we decided to hit the Skykomish on Sunday, regardless of river conditions. The clouds dumped the two days before shooting the river up to about 15,000 CFS. The Skykomish fishes decently anytime it drops below about 10,000 CFS, so we decided to play it by ear.  Woke up Sunday and made a game time decision.



Skykomish River January 25th, 2015

Flowing about 13,000 CFS Sunday morning, it was dropping quickly. We decided that waiting until mid morning to launch would give the river some time to clear. After a breakfast sandwich and a couple cups of coffee, we rolled into High Bridge/Big Eddy access about 9:30. The river was still running hard at 12,000 CFS. She was high and swift, but surprisingly there was hint of green and about 1’ – 1 ½’ of visibility.
High water allowed for an easy launch and made our trek down the sketchy boulder field below the railroad tracks a walk in the park. It’s always interesting to see the river in different conditions. Many of the typical spots where we have hooked fish in the past were not there or the water was cooking through way too fast. We stopped at we have deemed “one fish hole”. I’m sure there is a different name for this stretch, but this spot seems to consistently put out one fish of some kind. Today was no different.

Skykomish River Dollies

We parked the boat river right and got ready to swing. With low visibility, we decided to wade in no more than knee deep and fish the shallow water right next to the shore. T-11 is too much for two feet of water… It’s funny how it takes twenty minutes to tie a fly you are so proud of and two seconds to lose it in the rocks. After a couple lost flies and a few “choice” words, too lazy to change tips, we were back in with lighter flies. Mine a black intruder and Katie’s a pink bunny leach. After retying, I went down river below the boat and Katie went above. Half way through my swing, I pick my nose, look up at the bluebird sky, and then peek up river to see Katie’s rod in full bend and water swirling in front of her. Seeing the head pop out of the water at first I think steelhead, but after getting closer, it was monster dolly varden. Hooked in about 8 inches of water right next to where the boat was parked. Snap some pics and off it goes back to its cloudy home. That was it from “One Fish hole”. On we went.

We played hop scotch with a couple other groups of fly fisherman all day, and as they were in some of our normal runs, we decided to pull over on a place I hadn’t fished before. With the water swift, and basketball sized boulders in about 8” of water along the shore, I pulled a not-so-graceful sideways drift boat parking job slamming into the shore at the top of a run. Just before my crash job into the bank we see 4 or 5 large shadows swimming all different directions and tails splashing out of the water. This caused several more of those “choice” words. But it did confirm that in murky water you fish the shallows next to the shore!! Fished down a ways to no avail with the wind howling and then continued our quick float down river.



Skykomish Swingin

One or two more spots swinging through along the way. Katie hooked a second dolly that was long distance released. This one on a white bunny. I have always heard to use big and black in muddy water to create a large, easy to see profile of a fly. I didn’t get a tug or a sniff all day fishing large and black. Katie fished medium flies in bright colors and hooked two fish. So much for the large and dark in dirty water theory. But that’s fishing.

Pulled into Sultan about 3:00 pm and heard of no fish caught. But the best advice to give any fisherman is to go every chance you get, every time you can, and learn. I’ve never fished the Skykomish River in conditions like this, and it was definitely and exciting learning experience.

  

 

 

 

Started to think it would never happen...

First year with the spey rod

Like most people who fish, I began my time on the water gear fishing for whatever was in the lake that day as a kid or trolling the Hood Canal for whatever we could find. I fly fished on and off growing up, but still very little. It's only been in the last couple of years that I really began to take fly fishing seriously and develop a serious addiction to the sport. After the first 15 minutes of casting my new two-handed fly rod and also after whapping myself in the back of the head several times, I caught my first fish on the Spey rod. It was a 13” shiny little Dolly Varden in October on the Skykomish river. I thought to myself “this is going to be easy if I'm catching fish already.” Little did I know…

 

Now, I can't even count all the holes in my jackets from learning how to cast or how many flies I lost because I had no idea what a T-17 was. I even snapped off an expensive shooting head one time because of that heavy sink tip. The learning curve has been massive. After a least one day nearly every weekend for the past two years, gallons and gallons of gas, several long road trips to different rivers, watching Skagit Master 1 multiple times, watching Skagit Master 2 multiple times, and then reading from front to back a book written by the great Dec Hogan, I finally am now feeling at ease with my spey rod in hand.  It's only within the last year or so that I've felt confident casting in most situations and conditions and have actually started to see results.

 

 

First Swung up Salmon

This past fall I hooked my first salmon on a swung fly on the Skykomish river. Throughout the last couple of years, I have swung flies and hooked up on several Dolly Vardens,  some Chum salmon, multiple Rainbows, and a whole grip of cutties. All are great fish and all have brought me great satisfaction, but in the end it boils down to my personal vendetta for those chrome ghosts.

 

 This past weekend on the Sky we hiked in to a spot on the river where I knew there should be some fish (since we caught one there two days before on the meat sticks). After a couple casts with my gear rod (aka meat stick) I became bored and decided to go back to the spey rod and walk down river a ways. Wind howling, I had to adjust my casts to figure out how to get some line out without creating a rats nest in mid flight. Second or third cast up just from the tail out, mid swing, there was a weird “nudge” on my line, half a second later, SMASH!! Lifted my rod and there she was! Three acrobatic spin jumps, and she swam right at me full speed. THIS is why they tell you get a large arbor reel for steelhead fishing. Reeling in at full speed I was terrified that she may have spit the white and orange barbless intruder, but then I caught up to her. Got her to shore and that was it. Two years of practice for 2 minutes of enjoyment. Bonk! Off to the grill, it was a nice 6 or 7 lb chrome bright hatchery female. Never been so happy about a dang hatchery brat.

 

 

You always hear about the “grab” and that moment was something that will be hard to forget. I have caught fish many different ways, but none as satisfying as this. It was a swing I will never forget, and I will never be able to pass through that run on the Skykomish river without swinging my fly through its entirety with anxious anticipation of another "grab".

 

For the last couple years I have been severely addicted to fly fishing. This did not help…. 

 

 

 

 

Occupy Skagit - 2014

Last year there was a movement that started on the banks of the Skagit River. Hundreds of steelhead obsessed fisherman put on their waders, dusted off the fly rods they weren’t allowed to use, and made signs to speak their voice to reopen the catch and release fishing season on the Skagit River. This is a group of knowledgeable and experienced steelhead anglers who have put in the time and research to get this movement started. The likes of Dec Hogan and Bob Triggs were there last year and ESPN even pulled their little red tug boat up to the launch to cause a scene. It’s happening again. March 29, 2014 9:00 a.m. at Howard Miller Steelhead Park on the banks of the Skagit. Below is an excerpt from Washingtonflyfishing.com forum written by member _WW_ who has been spear heading this movement:

"Occupy Skagit 2014

Last April we gathered at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport to show support for changing the management paradigm for wild Skagit Steelhead. Currently, all of Puget Sound Steelhead are considered by the ESA as one Distinct Population Segment (DPS) and as such are listed by them as threatened to become an endangered species.

The decision can be read here:http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2007-05-11/pdf/E7-9089.pdf

The decision covers all of Puget Sound from the Elwah to the Canadian border, every piece of fresh water between these two points that dumps into the sound is affected by this listing. The health of each individual run is not considered on its own merit, but instead the entire area's steelhead are tainted with the aura of “nearing extinction”. While this may be true of many streams affected by the listing it is not true for all of them – the Skagit in particular continues to return healthy escapement numbers. These numbers can be seen to be fluctuating up and down in what many consider to be it's carrying capacity zone.

Scientists can argue over the numbers, their validity and what they mean but here they are in ten year increments:
1978 – 5,757 (the first year that I can find for WDFW escapement numbers)
1983 - 7,732
1993 - 6,900
2003 - 6,818
2013 – 8,800

The goal of Occupy Skagit is to restore the Catch and Release Steelhead season on the Skagit that used to run for Feb 1 – April 30.

In order for this season to be granted by NOAA and NMFS a basin specific Steelhead Management Plan agreed upon by all parties, WDFW and Tribes, needs to be submitted and approved.

Is it possible?
Yes!
It was done for Chinook (almost instantaneously I might add) and it can certainly be done for Steelhead.

The event last April garnered the notice that it was intended to. Believe it or not, we were actually recognized and discussed in the halls of bureaucracy. The wheel is starting to turn, but it has yet to gather it's own momentum. It needs another push!

There are two events scheduled with the meeting in Olympia being the single most important thing you could attend. Rockport is fun, but the real deal is in Olympia.

Occupy Skagit - March 29th
Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport

Occupy Skagit Commissioners Meeting - April 12th 8:30 am
Natural Resources Building
1111 Washington St SE, Olympia, WA - First Floor, Room 172"

 SOURCE: http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/forum/index.php?threads/occupy-skagit-2014.96220/

 

 

The numbers are there. The Skagit is healthy. We need to look at our rivers on an individual basis. Opening the Skagit to catch and release would also take away some of the overwhelming pressure that is happening out on the Olympic Peninsula. I am not a biologist, but it seems like more good than bad would come from the opening of a catch and release season on the Skagit River. One might think that opening up a river to fishing would just cause harm to it. There are mortality rates involved with a catch and release fishing season, but not enough to affect the run. It didn’t when the season was open. This is a legitimate concern in a river system that is in danger. But the Skagit has healthy returns of wild steelhead.

The Hoh River is a beautiful place and is steelheader’s paradise (or is it). However, it often fails to meet wild steelhead escapement goals. Even though the goals are missed, the season continues through April AND you’re allowed to keep a wild fish!! The Skagit has been above escapement and we are not even allowed to swing single hook barbless fly. The logic seems flawed. Let’s Occupy Skagit so we can experience a catch and release fishing season in 2015.

OCCUPY SKAGIT 2013 photo by Sozinho Imagery

Awesome Fly Lines - Wulff Ambush

One of the greatest advances in fly fishing in recent years is the development of new fly lines. Shooting heads and running line have allowed fisherman everywhere to be able to sling 75 foot casts across rivers with spey and switch rods. But what about single handed rods? My attraction to two handed fly rods was the ability make long cast in tight quarters. In the past, weight forward, floating or sinking lines have been the norm for single handed rods. I’ve spent a lot of time attempting to learn the art of roll casting with traditional single handed fly lines. Most of the time was spent untangling the rat’s nest I turned my long leader, heavy fly, and indicator into.  It’s hard to have confidence in your fishing when you can't cast and are constantly fighting your gear. The development of new fly lines such as the Wulff Ambush Triangle Taper have changed the game for single handed fly rods.

I recently purchased the Wullf Ambush TT-7-F for my single handed 9’ 8 weight. The line has a 20’ 265 grain shooting head that transitions smoothly into the running line. Since the line is all one piece, there are no loops or knots between the head and the shooting line, creating smooth casts.  I purchased the line with hopes that it would double as a roll casting nymph line for steelhead and as a rocket launcher on the beaches for Coho.

My first outing was a trip the Skykomish River on closing day of the season in mid-February. Using a big thingamabobber, a long leader, and a heavy egg pattern I tied the night before, roll casting has never been so easy for me. The 265 grain head turned over my long leader and heavy fly extremely well. The full floating and smooth running line was very easy to mend. Line control is essential when being a dirty nympher, and the Wulff Ambush made it easy. 90 percent of my time on the river has been spent swinging, but the productivity of nymphing has encouraged me to do it more, and this was fun. The argument between nymphing vs. swinging is a whole other debate, but I like “fishing” so I’m just gonna do both.

Yesterday we hit up Picnic Point Park during high tide in hopes to find some sea run cutthroat. My normal rod of choice for sea runs is a 6 wt., but I thought I’d bring the 8 wt. and my new line along to give it a try. The Ambush line casted decently with normal overhead casting. Casting these lines is much different than standard single handed lines. I found that pulling about the first quarter of the shooting head in past my tip and making as few false casts as possible worked best. Too many false casts with too much line out and you’re going to be asking your fishing partner to use his needle nose pliers to extract a hook from your ear.

My 8 wt. is a 9’ 4 piece that I built for myself a year or so ago. I think a 10’ rod and the 235 grain line would be ideal for this. But even with the shorter rod and heavier head I think it worked pretty well. The best piece of gear to catch fish that a person can buy is gas to put in your car to go fishing with. Experience and time on the water is #1 to being successful, but some of us can’t help but be gear whores sometimes.  So overall, the Wulff Ambush line has definitely added to my fishing arsenal and I'm getting excited for salmon season from the beach.