Fished the Skagit yesterday at Swift Creek with fellow club member Scott Donough. It was 23 degrees when we got on the water about 8:30 am but did warm up as the day progressed. I wore 6 layers of clothing and was comfortable. To my surprise we had the entire run to ourselves until mid-afternoon. The bite came in waves with periods of slow fishing (one fish hook up every 10 minutes) to super hot, one fish on almost every cast. The magic fly was pink in smaller sizes. I fished an 8 wt. with sink tip but found the fish were so close in at the head of the run that the tip would hang up.If you fish a sink tip it needs to be very short and very light, maybe 60 grains. Scott fished a spey rod and was able to hook fish further out in the river. We pulled off the water around 2:30 giving up the hole to two anglers who just showed up as we were leaving. Landing these fish is a real challenge and I highly recommend bringing a wading stick as it takes some time to get to shore after the hook up. BTW: you must fish barbless hooks on the Skagit and release these fish also. WA. Fish and Wildlife were netting fish on both Thursday and Friday last week at this run to get eggs for the broodstock hatchery program. No idea if they will be back next week. For those of you who want to know how to find this run it is up the road from Rockport State Park maybe 2 miles. Park at the pullout and access the trail across the road. There is one small hill descent that requires some careful navigation to get to the river.
walked down the bank that Joe described. There is a rope that someone tied to a tree to help get down the slope. We walked downstream and fished off a shallow gravel bar for about 30 minutes then we move back upstream past the creek. There was a nice pool below some faster water. It took Tom about three casts to hook a fish. Then Paul caught a hot fish that jumped and ran and fought like crazy. In the meantime Tom hooked and landed a couple more. He gave me the rod and I caught a couple. It was nonstop action for the next 30 minutes. We called it quits about 3:30 and headed to the Rockport Pub for a beer and burger. Awesome day. Just shows you sometimes you just gotta go! Gear: Tom used a 7 wt with a 200 grain sink tip and purple fly. Paul used a 6/7 wt with a floating line, beaded pink fly. The fish are really big averaging 10 + lbs. Recommend 8 - 10 wt rod.
