New to fishing in Washington- Skykomish River

[PNWLobo]

Hi all,

I am new to the fishing scene in Washington. I am originally from New Mexico and am well accustomed to small river and lake fishing. I am looking to head out to the Skykomish river this weekend, maybe Ben Howard area. Not super well equipped, so I am looking to just do some bank fishing for trout. Was wondering if any of you seasoned vets out there have any good advice to a newbie in the area. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

[spoonman]

All I can say is be careful, know the rules. And handle with care. You may catch a bun h of little trout that may come back in a few years as steelhead. I never really go out to target trout, but would bet Thomas's eddy would be good for trout fishing. And I know the fly guys like to go up to beckler river just past skykomish. Good luck.

[jonb]

The sloughs of the snohomish system are great for sea run cutthroat trout this time of year. use a free sliding 1oz casting sinker held by a red bead pegged 18" from a size 6 octopus or sickle hook and a half nightcrawler as bait. Incoming high tide and high slack tide are best. thomas eddie is a decent spot, try drifting/ slow retrieving half & half dick nite spoons for bows and cutts. From my expirience the miller river is better than the beckler if you want to drive that far. After sept 16 the wallace river opens, which is a fantastic trout fishery. I expect others will try to tell you not to fish the rivers for trout and otherwise say discouraging things because they think every trout in the river is a steelhead smolt, or is reproducing with one, but from my years of expirience fishing the rivers for trout residents are quite abundant, and the fishing is fantastic if you dial yourself in.

[Bodofish]

Yep, I concur, lots of resident RBT's and Cutts and Dolly's too.

[sealegs]

wow good information. I'd like to land my first SRC.

[sealegs]

All I can say is be careful, know the rules. And handle with care. You may catch a bun h of little trout that may come back in a few years as steelhead. I never really go out to target trout, but would bet Thomas's eddy would be good for trout fishing. And I know the fly guys like to go up to beckler river just past skykomish. Good luck.

Yes, it might seem overwhelming at first but understand and read and re read the rules book. Amazing how quickly worn out my book gets!

[PNWLobo]

Thanks for all the info and the warm welcome. I'll keep everyone updated on how the weekend goes!

[Froggie]

Hey PNBLobo...go Lobos!!! We are also from NM and now living in Northern CA. Looking to move to Spokane, WA in a few years after my husband retires. We fish here for kokanee salmon & trout on local lakes and on the Sacramento river for salmon and stripers. Maybe we will meet up with ya sometime fishing???
Froggie

[jrodell27]

Anyone have a good idea at what a good water level is for the Sky? I was thinking after looking at the water level sensor site that "avg" for the time frame is close to "good water level" as I'll get for an answer but wasn't sure if there was a good magic number to look for on this river. Thanks for any input from another newbie!

[spoonman]

Its all good, just determines where and what to fish as a very General rule, when its high, fish high, and when its low, fish low. Now that is a very broad generalization, but is a good starting point. one exception is hatchery steelhead, which pretty much just shoot right to Reiter.

[jrodell27]

Thanks for the input spoonman! I figured fish where the fish were but am so green to this area I've been doing as much research on the levels and good spots at certain times. Thanks again!