Skykomish Post Flood

[Dave Westburg]

Hadn't been on the Sky in years. Drifted Sultan to Ben Howard yesterday to see what the flood did. Firemans is still the same. Two Bit is gone. The entire river goes right and the old left channel is now almost dry. Anyone else ever catch a steelhead at the pool at Rivers End Cattle Ranch side channel? That pool has been gone for a long time.



Thunderbird is about one third the length it used to be. Nice, but what might have been is not what is. IRS, however, still looks and fishes the same...



The Ben Howard ramp was closed.



We moved the cones and manhandled our raft up the hill.



We saw one other fisherman all day which I suppose is a comment on how the Sky has been fishing. One bull trout and some resident rainbows but no steelhead.

 

[speyflyfisher]

Wow the change to two-bit is amazing. I haven’t fished there since before the native closure began so it’s been awhile

 

[Paige]

That change at 2 bit happened 2 or 3 years ago.

 

[speedbird]

I like those pheasant tails. What’s the pattern called?

 

[skyriver]

I never fished IRS when it was that low. I really liked the way it fished at about 5k. At that flow the fish hold right where your buddy is standing.

 

[DKL]

Were you fishing with Peter by chance?

 

[doublespey]

Thanks for the pictorial trip down memory lane Dave, haven't floated that stretch in years. Yes, we caught fish in the old backchannel including the pool in front of the Cattle Ranch. Eagle's Nest and our old highwater spot are also gone.

I wonder how the run across from IRS fishes these days? That was always one of my favorites.

I also wonder why there were cones at Ben Howard? It's a fishing access site as well as a boat launch.

 

[Dave Westburg]

I wasn't the only person who knew about the backchannel pool. Figures that @doublespey knew about it. It was overlooked by most of the boats and gear guys coming down the main channel.

The run across from IRS fishes nicely. Isn't it called Jack Daniels?

I think the cones were up at the fishing access site to prevent people from using the ramp because WDFW prob thinks it's a hazard. Seems silly. You should be able to park in the lot and fish the riffle or launch a hand carried inflatable.

@DKL I was fishing with my nephew Peter.

@speedbird, the fly is a Roderick Haig-Brown pattern called the Golden Girl.

@skyriver, it's surprising how close the fish are at the head of some of the sky riffles. Two handed rods are sometimes a disadvantage. You start immediately throwing long casts and are over the head of the fish nosed up in the riffle.

 

[Smalma]

Dave-
I too caught a number of steelhead from that backchannel but then I have always been drawn to such areas.

Curt

 

[SKYKO]

Thanks for the report, I also fished the back channel and caught fish there back in the day.

 

[Dave Westburg]

Dave-
I too caught a number of steelhead from that backchannel but then I have always been drawn to such areas.

Curt

Of course you knew about the back channel Curt. Why am I not surprised.

I also took quite a few steelhead in the long tailout between the back channel pool and thunderbird. Never saw anyone else fishing there. I think they might have been fish getting ready to spawn because I saw redds there. All gone now.

The flooding has created some nice new riffles.

 

[skyriver]

@skyriver, it's surprising how close the fish are at the head of some of the sky riffles. Two handed rods are sometimes a disadvantage. You start immediately throwing long casts and are over the head of the fish nosed up in the riffle.

Good thing I was a single hander back then.
You're right though. I remember telling a beginner buddy to "start at the top...well, start just above the top." He's like "you mean the tailout?" I'm like "no...."
I would then go on to say what you just did and that he should start with his feet literally above the top and l try to swing a fly within a foot of the riffle break, right along the downhill side of the spill, like you might for trout.
Sometimes easier to do with a floater, but I could usually do it justice with an unweighted fly and hardly any sink tip on the water. Only worked a couple times, but after seeing fish spook a few times while wading into the "top" I always made sure to start "above the top".

If nobody has spooked them they'll sit in that foot deep water that's just a foot or 2 off the drop. Just like big winter nymphing trout. Man I miss that river and the C&R season!

 

[Dave Westburg]

Agree that a type 3 tip or very short line is what you need to do when fishing the riffle head.

 

[Denwor54]

I wasn't the only person who knew about the backchannel pool. Figures that @doublespey knew about it. It was overlooked by most of the boats and gear guys coming down the main channel.

The run across from IRS fishes nicely. Isn't it called Jack Daniels?

I think the cones were up at the fishing access site to prevent people from using the ramp because WDFW prob thinks it's a hazard. Seems silly. You should be able to park in the lot and fish the riffle or launch a hand carried inflatable.

@DKL I was fishing with my nephew Peter.

@speedbird, the fly is a Roderick Haig-Brown pattern called the Golden Girl.

@skyriver, it's surprising how close the fish are at the head of some of the sky riffles. Two handed rods are sometimes a disadvantage. You start immediately throwing long casts and are over the head of the fish nosed up in the riffle.

The south side from IRS is either Jack Daniel’s or whiskey dicks depending on who you know. That tail out was one of my favorites as the bottom was very productive. Thanks for the report.

 

[Denwor54]

How did the afternoon hole look like or as the old guard name as bull run. Is there any thing left, I would guess it has filled completely and not much pace to it.

 

[Dave Westburg]

How did the afternoon hole look like or as the old guard name as bull run. Is there any thing left, I would guess it has filled completely and not much pace to it.

Dennis, is Afternoon hole the long left hand bend below IRS which flows along US 2? Today the top of the pool has a nice riffle and break. The middle of the pool is a big wide flat (bull trout water). The tail of the pool is very slow and not particularly fishy.

 

[Smalma]

Dennis, is Afternoon hole the long left hand bend below IRS which flows along US 2? The top of the pool has a nice riffle and break. The middle of the pool was a big wide flat (bull trout water). The tail of the pool was very slow and not particularly fishy.

My very first steelhead from the Skykomish was taken from the Afternoon hole in 1965 (can that really be 60 years ago!). Over the decades have caught fish from most of the length of that "Hole" with the riffle at the top being the best but also caught fish in the "corner" (where that first fish was taken -on gear) and the tailout flat. But what really stands out in my mind was that in 1965 we ran upstream from Ben Howard in a 14' John boat with a small outboard motor. Don't think that has been possible in what 50 years?

Curt

 

[Dave Westburg]

My very first steelhead from the Skykomish was taken from the Afternoon hole in 1965 (can that really be 60 years ago!).

Curt

Oh to have been a fly fisherman back then. I read in one of Enos Bradner's books that the Skykomish River sport catch (sport catch, not the total run) was 7,800 fish in 1968...

 

[Salmo_g]

Oh to have been a fly fisherman back then. I read in one of Enos Bradner's books that the Skykomish River sport catch (sport catch, not the total run) was 7,800 fish in 1968...

Before US v WA, WDG used a method to estimate catches that consistently over-estimated catches. The best estimates of catches pre-1974 are believed to have been about 60 - 62% of the old estimates. That's still a lot of harvested steelhead by today's numbers however.

 

[skyrise]

Two bit and below and elwell changed a long time ago. Cracker bar, Lewis street, etc etc . All the runs and pools are not the same anymore. The usual shifting of sand at reiter hatchery area.