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The Skagit: Where Concrete meets steel(ies)
Washington state fishing map feature
By Joel Shangle
Fishing and Hunting News
SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — We fish Blue Creek on the Cowlitz because that's where
the hatchery fish are bound. We hit Tokul Creek on the Snoqualmie for the same
reason. We target the Hatchery Drift on the Bogachiel because it's the water
closest to the rearing ponds.
Follow that same line of thinking this month on the Skagit River as fish bound for the Cascade River and their hatchery home waters blast upriver to Concrete, Rockport and several good slots in between.
"All those hatchery fish are headed up to the Cascade," said Cal Stocking at Cause for Divorce Guide Service (360-428-5038).
"Any time we get some higher water, like we're having now, those fish will blow from the mouth to the upper river in four, five days easy. When the water starts to drop again, they'll start to stack up in there below Rockport, and that'll be the place to go after those 8-pound hatchery runs."
The drifter
If ever there was a river that demands eggs, yarn, shrimp and Corkies, it's the Skagit. This massive, plodding river drops out of Ross Lake in the North Cascades before eventually spilling into the salt at Skagit Bay below Mount Vernon.
From top to bottom, it's defined by big stretches of relatively flat, unimaginative water that might drawn yawns from those of you accustomed to fishing the rock gardens of the Olympic Peninsula.
"The Skagit is such a great river to boondog," Stocking asserts. "There's so much wide, featureless water out there that it's a real key not to stay in any one place for a long time.
"It's important to cover as much water as you can out there — you want to hit as many seams and trough edges as you can in a day, until you find some stacked fish."
This time of year, the best piece of river to find those hatchery fish is between Rockport and Concrete, specifically from the launch at Howard Miller Steelhead Park to Jackman Creek, roughly a half-mile above Concrete.
"I'll usually cover that area in a day, boondogging first," Stocking said. "If for some reason we're not doing anything in the morning with that, we'll go back up and concentrate on the tailouts of some of the slots with spoons and spinners.
"(Between Rockport and Concrete) is probably some of the best holding water we have on this river — it gives you a good variety of water to fish with just about every technique imaginable if you want."
Winter sledding
You can toss No. 3 Vibrax blue/silver spinners right up against the riprap that runs along the campsite side of the river for fish holding close to the bank in high water, or boondog down through the Sand Hole right into the Sauk Drift.
"It's good all the way from the launch down to the Sauk when the water's up," Stocking said. "I'll start at the bridge and drift 300 to 400 yards down toward the Sauk with Corkies and eggs. If it's slow, I'll throw on a sand shrimp and switch to green-, pink- or clown-colored Spin-N-Glos."
You'll find some big boulders strewn throughout the holes on the north side of the river, in 2 to 4 feet of water, but Stocking will work both sides of the river here. You'll drop over Fly Bar into the Mixmaster, where you want to work the south side if water is low and clear and the north side if the water's up.
From the bank
Areas to target from the bank include:
"The Cascade is the place to work on hatchery fish," Stocking said. "It's fishy from the creek down through three really good holes. The tailout of the second hole is also a good place to throw spoons and spinners."
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Copyright © 2007 Last Modified 8-21-07
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