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A Healthy Lone Lake Rainbow |
Dennis, Gary, and I headed out to Lone Lake on the South end of Whidbey Island for a morning of fishing for big strong rainbows. It was a cold morning with clear skies and 34 degrees around 7:00 AM.
When we arrived at the launch around 8:00 AM the sun was out and the air and lake were warming. At the start of the day the water temp on the surface of the lake was a chilly 44 degrees. As the day wore on and the sun heated the water, the surface temp rose to 49 degrees. Most likely, the temperature at the bottom of the lake never rose above 45 degrees. The is cool for April for sure.
From the launch we headed straight across the lake. Dennis got a hit on his #10 olive & orange wollly bugger, but the hook didn't find it's mark. As we worked our way down the far side of the lake, Gary got a hit on the red string leach, but this fish didn't stick either. Finally, around 10:30 AM, Gary hooked into a good rainbow in the 16" range and he managed to get it to the boat....his first fish on a fly. Shortly afterward, he hooked into a brute of a 18" bow with think shoulders that really made him work to get it to the boat.
By the time we were off the water around 1:30 PM, Gary landed four rainbows from 15" to 18", I brought in one healthy chrome bright 18" bow, and Dennis lost a handful of fish. All in all, I would say the fishing was slow, but I wasn't surprised because of the cool temps. The fishing should be great in the next couple weeks as the lake continues to warm.
Chris
Eric floated spent the day floating and fishing the Sauk River. The river dropped slightly from the high of 2500 cfs on Wednesday and the water was relatively clear. His first stop was a run I found the week before. It is a short run with a high bank, a couple of root balls on the bank to provide a little challenge to the casting, and soft seam in front, and some big boulders on the bottom. After only a couple casts, Eric hooked into a beauty of a steelhead that tore downstream nearly 100 yards before stopping, giving a couple tail walks on the way down.....it was a big fish....high teens probably. Having no where to move from his short run, Eric managed to crank the fish back upstream only to have it tear downstream again. After the third downstream run, Eric could tell the fish was starting to tire. Just when he was thinking he might have a chance at landing it, the hook pulled free.....damn!
He worked the good runs on the way down the river and never touched another fish.
Such is fishing the Sauk!
Chris
It rained most of the day on Tuesday and by Wednesday the Sauk had risen from 2000 to 2500 cfs. The water as a milky green with about 2 ft of visiblity below the Suattle and less above...most of the color was coming out of the Sauk. As we moved downstream, the water cleared a bit. By the time we made it to the take out in the afternoon, we had about 3 foot of visibility.
Deene and I ran into Rob, Nate, and Michael at the put-in. They managed to get on the water first and they crossed the river and work the water opposite the take-out. Deene and I rowed upstream a bit and fished the water above the put-in. Usuallly there is someone in this run, but not this morning. In fact, we are the only ones on the water, other and a single drift boat ahead of us for the entire day.
Nate managed to hook into what he thought was the bottom. Afer a few minutes of attempting to work his line free of the bottom, it finally came loose...and concadentally a steelhead broke the surface at the same time is line came free and at the same spot....bummer.
Deene and I moved downstream. I fished a short run on river right against a steep bank and a buch of root balls. The water was softer than the surrounding current and there were big boulders. The casting was tough but the water looked great. Deene worked the left bank. Both of us came up empty, so we moved down after about a half hour.
I stopped in the middle of a long flat about 100 yards downstream of a long sand bar. I made a couple casts into a slow but steady current. Something slammed my fly. As I was bringing it in and saw what I though was silver on its side, I was thinking it might be a small, lazy hatchery steelhead, but it turned out to be a 22" dolley varden. I released it, waded back out to the same spot, made another cast, and something took a swipe at my fly...but missed the hook. I stripped in, made another cast, and got a good grab. This time I pulled in a 18" dolley. I worked my way down the run for another 15 minutes with no more takers, so I moved on.
The next run was a beauty of a spot I found the week before. It is about 50 yards long, nice soft water, and big boulders. I started high in the run and got a hit on the third cast, then the fourth cast, then nothing for a few minutes. Finally something slammed my fly and after a hard fight I pulled another 18" dolley into the shallows. I insisted that Deene finish out the run and I moved usptream to another run with shallower water, but great bottom structure. I got a good grab in this run also, but I never hooked the fish.
Chris
I walked into a couple runs on the Sauk today. One run on the middle section and one run on the upper.
As I was fishing the run on the middle section, 5 drift boats floated by...starting at 8 AM. I left the run at 10 AM and the fifth boat had just passed me.
On my way upstream, I counted 13 rigs parked at the middle launch below the bridge. Compare this to three trucks last week and one of them was mine.
If you want to get up close and personal with a lot of other people fishing the Sauk, now is the time to go. If you want some water to yourself, you might want to wait a while, or head to another river.
Chris
Eric and I floated the Sauk today. Yes...it was very cold. It snowed most of the day. When it wasn't snowing, it was raining or hailing except for the hour of sun that came out around 2:30.
The river was in great shape with 3-4 for of visibility. The Sauk was on the rise on Saturday. The flow topped out just under 2000 cfs and dropped to about 1850 cfs by the end of the day on Sunday. This is really low for the this time of year on the Sauk. The water was that winter green color it gets when the steelhead fishing is good. The water temp was 36 degrees in the morning and 38 degrees in the afternoon.
We managed to find a great boulder studed run with nice soft water that reminded my of the Slide Hole before it filled in with sand. Eric started at the top of the run and I started in the middle. I was swinging a type 6 sink tip and with a purple/black marabou streamer. I worked down to the end of the run without touching a fish. Moved up to the top of the run and started working my way down again. I was about 1/4 of the way down the run and thinking about something other than fishing when a steelhead hit so hard he just about pulled the rod out of my hand. I lifted to set the hook, yelled down to Eric, the fish pulled hard again, then it was gone. I changed flies, went back to the top of the run, and worked my way down again. This time I tied into a 19" dolley varden in just about the same spot.
Good luck out there, and stay warm!
Chris
I was out on the middle Skagit again yesterday. I pulled a guy with a brand new truck and nice jet sled out of the sand at the launch before the trip. I don't think he was very familiar with the launches on that part of the Skagit.
The guy I was guiding got a handful of dollies, but no steelhead. He got the first dolly stripping a purple egg sucking leach over a shallow boulder studded section as we floated down from the put-in. He hooked the rest swinging flies in the steelhead water. We had about 3 ft of visibility.
Chris
Jason and I floated the middle section of the Skagit River. The flow at Concrete was 11,800 cfs and rose throughout the day to around 18,500 cfs as the water releases on the Baker River were increased. The visibility was around 3 feet at the start of the float and dropped to about 1 foot toward the end of the day as the flow on the Baker reached a maximum of about 4500 cfs. The air temperature at the start of the float was a bitter cold 25 degrees. It warmed to just above freezing around 11:00 AM when the sun was on the water, but it dropped to below freezing a few hours later as the sun passed behind the mountain ridge. The water temp was 38 degrees.
We fished a side channel at the start of the float that has produced for me in the past, but today it gave up nothing. We continued down and fished the very top of the next run. Jason was below me and I was high on the run. We were both fished two handed rods with Skagit Head lines and 15 ft type 6 sink tip lines. I was using a purple/black marabou streamer with a head of died elk hair, purple saddle hackle, and medium brass eyes. Jason was using a pink/white intruder pattern. After only a couple casts I hooked into a big fish. My rod went down hard and line started peeling off the reel. Every couple seconds the rod would take a big dip as line continued peeling off the reel….then it was gone. Damn! I didn’t have it on long enough to tell if it was a steelhead or a dolley and it never surfaced. I would like to think it was my first steelhead of the year. If not, it was a monster dolley!
We continued downstream and fished a little riffle where I landed a beautiful steelhead last March. The gravel bar appears to have shifted downstream, but it looks like the holding water is still there. This run also did not produce.
The next run was a long one and we spend a good deal of time there. We continued to fish the same flies and lines with Jason below me. Once again I hooked into a fish after only a couple casts and pulled in a small dolley that I guessed was about 16”, but surprisingly well fed. Apparently these fish survive on more than just chum salmon. I made another cast and immediately tied into another fish within seconds of the fly hitting the water. This dolley was bigger, maybe 20”, but I didn’t get it to hand. Around the same time I was hooking fish, Jason was also hooking dollies below me. His first fish was on the smaller side, but the second one was much bigger and really put a bend in the rod. Both of them threw the hook.
After lunch we hit a little riffle at the top of another long run. I was very surprised to find a number of dolley varden in this run also. All of these fish were also in the 16” to 20+” range, including a big fish that Jason lost before getting a good look at it.
We finished off the day fishing one of my favorite spots on this section of the Skagit. This run almost always produces for me, but not this day. We arrived here around 2:30, but by this time the river had come up due to releases on the Baker and the visibility was down to less than a foot.
We finished the day hooking into nine fish that were big enough to put a good bend in the big two handed rods. The fishing today reminded me of the good dolley fishing of the past. Hopefully it is a sign of things to come.
Chris
Brian and I floated the Skykomish River from Gold Bar (Big Eddie) to Sultan. The river was flowing at 2100 cfs. The visibility was around 4 feet and the water had a greenish tint. The air temperature was between 30 and 35 degrees. It was overcast all day with snow showers off and on in the morning and afternoon.
There were a couple other boats ahead of us when we started the float. We passed one boat on the way down the river, but never saw the others. We fished some great water, but never touched a fish.
We started to see a lot more bank anglers when we got below Start-up and even more as we got closer to Sultan. One bank angler in Sultan mentioned someone walking out with a 12# steelhead.
Notes: The launch at Big Eddie had about 2.5 feet of snow and it was a real pain getting around. You pretty much had to follow the one set of tracks in the snow. We launch the boat on the flat at the top of the launch and pushed it down the hill into the water. I managed to make my own tracks and parked in the parking area. All of the other rigs with trailers parked on the side of Hwy 2.
Chris
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