North Fork of the Stilly

[Chris DeLeone]

What is the season for North Fork of the Stilly this year - I have seen some finalizations of impacts, but nothing from the NOF on if the Stilly will be open for Steelhead fishing this summer. I read the Snohomish (sky - Snoqualmie) may open in 2030, maybe 2035 - but the department did not want to get anyone's hopes up

It seems only the Skagit is open in June for, whatever is in there over the summer - but if you live in the PS area, where can a guy go to chase a summer run

Thanks
DeLe

 

[doublespey]

I think you answered your own question. Put some exorbitantly priced gas in your rig and head south. All the PS rivers are screwed.

 

[Smalma]

Coming out of NOF the season on the North Fork Stillaguamish for 2026 will be 8/29 to 11/30 from its mouth upstream to the Hwy 530 bridge (Cicero).

I have followed the more than decade long struggle to maintain game fish season on the NF Stilly during the summer fairly closely. After several years of no summer season and then a very limited opportunity the North Fork was season was expanded to from its mouth to Swede Heaven from 9/16 to 11/30 in the summer of 2001(?). Unfortunately, the fishery turned out to be a disaster with the entire allowed Chinook impacts for that fishery as well as the mainstem salmon fishery reached in less two weeks from Chinook encounters by the fly fishers. Following that season the fishery was collapsed to current section though the last couple years the starting date has been moved up to the current date. I doubt we will see any expanded opportunity on the NF any time soon.

As an aside on the good news side the wild Deer Creek summer steelhead seem to be hanging in there. In the summer of 2023 WDFW rough estimate was that between 500 and 600 steelhead made it to Deer Creek.

curt

 

[Matt B]

Coming out of NOF the season on the North Fork Stillaguamish for 2026 will be 8/29 to 11/30 from its mouth upstream to the Hwy 530 bridge (Cicero).

I have followed the more than decade long struggle to maintain game fish season on the NF Stilly during the summer fairly closely. After several years of no summer season and then a very limited opportunity the North Fork was season was expanded to from its mouth to Swede Heaven from 9/16 to 11/30 in the summer of 2001(?). Unfortunately, the fishery turned out to be a disaster with the entire allowed Chinook impacts for that fishery as well as the mainstem salmon fishery reached in less two weeks from Chinook encounters by the fly fishers. Following that season the fishery was collapsed to current section though the last couple years the starting date has been moved up to the current date. I doubt we will see any expanded opportunity on the NF any time soon.

As an aside on the good news side the wild Deer Creek summer steelhead seem to be hanging in there. In the summer of 2023 WDFW rough estimate was that between 500 and 600 steelhead made it to Deer Creek.

curt

I’ll take 3 months of fishing opportunity over zero months. There could be some good days on the water in that timeframe.

I’m curious, what’s the reasoning for the NF Stillaguamish not opening for summer—July/August? It seems like July would be a good time to fish for trout/gamefish and avoid encountering fall Chinook.

 

[jeradjames]

Curt, do you recall what year it was that the fly fishers were targeting chinook and messed things up?

 

[Smalma]

I’ll take 3 months of fishing opportunity over zero months. There could be some good days on the water in that timeframe.

I’m curious, what’s the reasoning for the NF Stillaguamish not opening for summer—July/August? It seems like July would be a good time to fish for trout/gamefish and avoid encountering fall Chinook.

Matt -
The NF Stillaguamish Chinook are considered to be summer Chinook with some fish entering the river as early as late May with building numbers through the summer in the NF pools. The tribe typically collects brood stock (via seining those pools) around the middle of August.

Curt, do you recall what year it was that the fly fishers were targeting chinook and messed things up?

I believe it was 2021.

Curt

 

[Chris DeLeone]

I don't think the June, July, August Steelhead fishery has been closed for 25 years - I think this has all happened in the last five to six years. God, we used to get summer runs in later May up there and for the June opener, there we a number of fish around all the way up to Forston Mill - that Hatchery run was a fun little fishery
Pretty effin sad - I need to move

 

[Smalma]

Chris -
You are correct, I meant 2021 not 2001. Corrected my posts.

The last year summer steelhead were planted in NF was 2019.

 

[DimeBrite]

NF Stillaguamish chinook "encounters" have become a very useful statistical tool for tribal partners to strangle sport fishing opportunity year by year. Every NOF process, salmon seasons and quotas are cut deeper on the sport angler side to "save" this run. Have all the shortened and closed seasons improved the NF Stillaguamish chinook population? I did a fair bit of summer steelheading on NF Stilly July-October around 2005-2009 and had some nice days. During wade/floats I saw summer chinook in large numbers. They were easily avoided and hold in different areas than steelhead and cutthroat. Blaming 2021 fly fishers for the closed season sounds suspect, one group simply wants you off the water. Too bad, it is a wonderful river with a great angling history. Glad to hear the Deer Creek wild steelhead are doing alright. It certainly is time to relocate if you want to live near fishable steelhead and salmon waters.

 

[HauntedByWaters]

It’s really crazy to me that that all my beloved summer fisheries are closed to protect what are basically hatchery kings that are netted in the salt water.

 

[doublespey]

To prove that there's no limit to the crazy levels WDFW go to - theyTRUCK Chinook over Sunset Falls on the South Fork Skykomish and then close the river to protect them. Seems pretty clear that river fishermen are at the bottom of their priority list.

 

[speedbird]

It certainly is time to relocate if you want to live near fishable steelhead and salmon waters.

To where - Oregon and California? The only real option for die hard Salmon fishermen is Alaska, and a lot of people aren't cut out for the lifestyle that comes with. Yeah we have the great lakes, but for me salmon fishing is an experience that includes more than just the fish, and while I have seen gorgeous pictures of that region the experience and scenery is very different

if you live in the PS area, where can a guy go to chase a summer run

The sky has opened up for a few days the past couple years, not sure what will happen this year. The fishing never seems to be quite good from what I hear

 

[jeradjames]

The sky closed July 8th last year including the SF and all tribs and didn’t open again until the fall. Doesn’t make sense you can’t even fish a little dry fly in the summer on one of the SF tribs.

 

[DimeBrite]

To where - Oregon and California? The only real option for die hard Salmon fishermen is Alaska, and a lot of people aren't cut out for the lifestyle that comes with. Yeah we have the great lakes, but for me salmon fishing is an experience that includes more than just the fish, and while I have seen gorgeous pictures of that region the experience and scenery is very different

Still some small communities from northern California up to SE Alaska. Places that don't deserve heavy fishing pressure but can handle seasonal visitors.

 

[johnnyboy]

The sky has opened up for a few days the past couple years, not sure what will happen this year. The fishing never seems to be quite good from what I hear

The fishing could be good but isn’t because they haven’t been planting the numbers like they used to due to transitioning to the broodstock program and WDFW having their hands tied behind their back by WFC. Only 26k smolts planted in 2023 and 35k in 2024 means not many returners for this year.

If they are allowed to plant those 200k skamanias a year like they used to again, we could get halfway decent fishing. Just sucks that what was once an awesome summer fishery is now a meager fraction of what it used to be (along with the NF Stilly, Snoqualmie, list goes on…). It does look like they released 117k last year and release the same amount in future years (skimming the future broad document) so at least we got that going for us.

 

[speedbird]

Still some small communities from northern California up to SE Alaska. Places that don't deserve heavy fishing pressure but can handle seasonal visitors.

That’s very fair. That said for me while I appreciate fishing new places it’s important for me to live near where I can fish. I hope I still have time to do that

 

[Salmo_g]

NF Stillaguamish chinook "encounters" have become a very useful statistical tool for tribal partners to strangle sport fishing opportunity year by year. Every NOF process, salmon seasons and quotas are cut deeper on the sport angler side to "save" this run. Have all the shortened and closed seasons improved the NF Stillaguamish chinook population? I did a fair bit of summer steelheading on NF Stilly July-October around 2005-2009 and had some nice days. During wade/floats I saw summer chinook in large numbers. They were easily avoided and hold in different areas than steelhead and cutthroat. Blaming 2021 fly fishers for the closed season sounds suspect, one group simply wants you off the water. Too bad, it is a wonderful river with a great angling history. Glad to hear the Deer Creek wild steelhead are doing alright. It certainly is time to relocate if you want to live near fishable steelhead and salmon waters.

The impacts and the tool are real enough. What disappoints and strongly irritates me is WDFW's unwillingness to advocate or work on behalf of freshwater recreational angling in anadromous waters. Salmon fishing, commercial and sport, in marine waters unfavorably impacts weak stocks of Chinook salmon, like the Stilly. What is going unacknowledged is that closing the Stilly to recreational trout and steelhead angling cannot, and will not, save Stillaguamish Chinook from extinction. The only action so far successful in preventing the extinction of Stilly Chinook has been the fish culture efforts of the Stillaguamish Tribe since 1978, and more recently joined by WDFW. These efforts should continue, IMO, until the Stilly watershed recovers sufficiently to produce natural origin Chinook. That may take 50 years, or more likely, 100 years. Meanwhile, WDFW should allow recreational angling for Stilly trout and steelhead, as warranted by the respective stock status.

That's not how it works. Note that if WDFW tells the Stilly or any other tribe how to manage its fisheries, the tribes without hesitation tell WDFW to "go pound sand." However, when one or more of the treaty tribes tells WDFW how to manage non-treaty recreational fishing, WDFW does not respond in kind. Instead, when the chairman of the Stillaguamish Tribe tells WDFW how to manage recreational fishing, it like saying "frog," and WDFW Director Kelly Susewind responds by saying, "How high?" So the Stilly, and any other number of PS rivers is closed to recreational fishing.

As for a few fly fishers screwing things up, that story is apparently real. Maybe it was 2021, but I think it was more recent, like 2022. Apparently 3 "fly fishers" spent a weekend on the NF Stilly and handled something like 17 Chinook, posting their exploit on social media. This was a year when the "allowable ESA take" was something like 15 Chinook. Recreational fishing was promptly closed.

I'd say that it's impossible to connect with 17 Chinook on fly tackle over a couple of days unless the anglers in question were deliberately targeting those Chinook. And how they could not know that Chinook conservation was the very reason for the restrictive season in the first place boggles my mind. I fished the Stilly regularly in the 70s and into the 80s and hooked less than a half dozen Chinook in all that time. It's not at all hard to avoid them.

 

[skyrise]

The impacts and the tool are real enough. What disappoints and strongly irritates me is WDFW's unwillingness to advocate or work on behalf of freshwater recreational angling in anadromous waters. Salmon fishing, commercial and sport, in marine waters unfavorably impacts weak stocks of Chinook salmon, like the Stilly. What is going unacknowledged is that closing the Stilly to recreational trout and steelhead angling cannot, and will not, save Stillaguamish Chinook from extinction. The only action so far successful in preventing the extinction of Stilly Chinook has been the fish culture efforts of the Stillaguamish Tribe since 1978, and more recently joined by WDFW. These efforts should continue, IMO, until the Stilly watershed recovers sufficiently to produce natural origin Chinook. That may take 50 years, or more likely, 100 years. Meanwhile, WDFW should allow recreational angling for Stilly trout and steelhead, as warranted by the respective stock status.

That's not how it works. Note that if WDFW tells the Stilly or any other tribe how to manage its fisheries, the tribes without hesitation tell WDFW to "go pound sand." However, when one or more of the treaty tribes tells WDFW how to manage non-treaty recreational fishing, WDFW does not respond in kind. Instead, when the chairman of the Stillaguamish Tribe tells WDFW how to manage recreational fishing, it like saying "frog," and WDFW Director Kelly Susewind responds by saying, "How high?" So the Stilly, and any other number of PS rivers is closed to recreational fishing.

As for a few fly fishers screwing things up, that story is apparently real. Maybe it was 2021, but I think it was more recent, like 2022. Apparently 3 "fly fishers" spent a weekend on the NF Stilly and handled something like 17 Chinook, posting their exploit on social media. This was a year when the "allowable ESA take" was something like 15 Chinook. Recreational fishing was promptly closed.

I'd say that it's impossible to connect with 17 Chinook on fly tackle over a couple of days unless the anglers in question were deliberately targeting those Chinook. And how they could not know that Chinook conservation was the very reason for the restrictive season in the first place boggles my mind. I fished the Stilly regularly in the 70s and into the 80s and hooked less than a half dozen Chinook in all that time. It's not at all hard to avoid them.

Of course if we fish game people checking on fishermen like we used to that might not have happened. I know wishing won’t make it so.