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The latest Skagit flood level update (4:15{M) is getting very scary. The forecast is for levels 4.89 feet higher at Mt. Vernon Friday morning than the modern-day record. Perhaps even more worrisome is the length of time the river is expected to remove at or above major flood levels. It...

According to USGS peak flow records - The station on the Snohomish near Monroe goes back to the 1964 water year (beginning in October of 1963) The station on the Snoqualmie near Carnation started in 1941 The two stations on the Sauk also began in 1929. The Skagit near Concrete began in 1925 On...

For lakes I would nominate soft hackles. These simple flies require a body, some ribbing, and appropriate color hackle. For more than 50 years a box of soft hackles in sizes 14 to 6s and in a variety of colors/hues have been a staple in my lake fishing. In fact, if I was building a...

Matt - A "story" in line with one of the themes of "Nighty's" initial post. The day before this story a friend and I had floated the river on one of those winter days common in this region, A steady drizzle with temps in the upper 30s and fresh snow on the ridge tops. On reaching home I took...

You two definitely made lemonade out of the lemons you were giving. Reminds of the many times I have forgotten some piece of essential gear - for some reason those times seem to have always been in chase of those bulls. Thanks for reminding us of what wonderful fish bulls are and the...

A very discouraging result! However, after the discussions in the various town meetings on this topic it was abundantly clear this would be the result. The department of salmon continues to fail to recognize the life history differences between salmon and our native resident salmonids. In...

Aah the leaky wader game! The only waders I have used that were likely to last 5 years of about any kind of use was the 1970s rubberize canvas type waders (aka walking saunas). I never was so glad to finally wear out my wader and convert to the more modern lighter/breathable waders. The...

An awesome capr. Wonder if the fish were focusing on zooplankton - maybe daphnia?

Sorry for your loss May she rest in peace

Wow what a ride! Have been a Seattle baseball fan since the Pilots and while greatly disappointed in the loss last night. The 12 playoff games were must watch TV for the wife and myself A couple thoughts - Thought Wilson on the whole pushed the right buttons but those moves only work if...

The cutthroat spawn almost exclusively in those small creeks. While the resulting fry and parr will move up and down in those small streams - typically moving downstream with lower summer flows and back upstream during the late fall/winter period. Can find the cutthroat parr using the...

To expand a bit on the needs of Puget Sound Cutthroat - they are a critter of the regions small creeks. Their primary spawning grounds and rearing habitat of the resulting fry and parr occurs in those small creeks (many of which can easily be crossed without getting one's feet wet). The...

As SF mention the behavior of north Sound cutthroat is much different than those of south Sound. While the south sound provides essentially year-round fishing for cutthroat while in the north sound it is limited primarily to the spring/summer months. On the Skagit older repeat spawning...

All the North sound "S" rivers can produce excellent fishing for sea-runs in the late summer and early fall. That fishing typically holds up into depending on the flows. The cutthroat is a low water game. My advice is select a "S" river that you find interesting and spend some time on it...

I'm afraid that steelhead are indeed that "stupid". Over my decades of chasing steelhead, I recall 3 occasions that I caught the same fish on consecutive casts. In one case I was sampling and tagging some fish. I would slide a fish into the shallows, measure the fish, take a scale sample and...

Have long considered the sea-run cutthroat fishing on the central Sound "S" rivers to be both an iconic PNW fisheries as well one of the best wild trout regional fisheries. I too have 50 years of experience on the river in question with roughly equal experience on the other "S" rivers. I...

Over the last 10,000 years or so our local salmonid populations had developed into diverse and resilient populations with inherent productivities that allowed individual populations to adapt rather quickly to changing environmental conditions. Unfortunately, over the last 150 years the human...

Underlying issue for our declining fish population is really simple - exploding human population growth. Curt

Baker sockeye is indeed an impressive case of salmon recovery however there is a bug or two in that story! NMFS in the Puget Sound Steelhead recovery plan lists the historic abundance of Skagit steelhead as 57,205 of which 5,495 (9.6%) were considered to be from the Baker. Those are just...

Well done Matt! There is no better way to introduce youngsters and newbies to salmon fishing. Unlike say fishing for Chinook a lost fish is no big deal; there likely will be another chance soon. For the fly angler making progress up the fishing ladder hooking and playing pinks is wonderful...