Skagit Sept 16

[professori]

Well, the reports on the pinks haven't been encouraging, so I decided to head up to the Skagit today.. I have to admit salmon are meat to me, true fishing is for trout. There has been some discussion on how the Skagit seems to have suffered some loss in fish population. I had thought the fishing was quite a bit poorer this year than it had been in the past several, but last week and this have definitely changed my mind. Last winter's heavy rains have altered the flow on the Skagit as much as they have our other rivers. The fish aren't in the same locations they have been in the past, largely because the same locations aren't in the same locations either. I seemed to have broken the code last weekend and this weekend it continued. I hit the river about noon today, rain wasn't heavy, but was pretty much continuous. Even so, there was decent spinner fall happening from about 1:00 until 4:00. Yellow comparaduns did the trick for about an hour, during which i landed a couple of very nice rainbows of about 14", and then seemed to loose their magic. I switched to a number of different flies (para adams, caddis, stimulator, etc.) until finally tying on a small Tom Thumb. Man that was golden. I hooked and landed another 6 fish in the next couple of hours including the largest I have ever pulled out of the Skagit, a 17' brute. (yeah, I measured it!) Overall I landed 8 fish and rose at least an equl number in the 6 hours I was on the river. I didn't land a single fish less than 14", and they were all stout, healthy fish.
I no longer worry about the state of the Skagit trout population, They are all there , just not where you might think they are. It was fun to have to "read" the water extensively instead of just going to the runs and pools I have known and fished for the last number of years. Kind of makes you feel like you do know something about fishing after all.

[Finn]

Gotta love a good old Tom Thumb. For such a basic little fly it does so well in so many different conditions.

Glad to hear you had a good time on the river Prof.