skookumchuck first timer
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Forum Post Guidelines: This Forum is rated “Family Friendly”. Civil discussions are encouraged and welcomed. Name calling, negative, harassing, or threatening comments will be removed and may result in suspension or IP Ban without notice. Please refer to the Terms of Service and Forum Guidelines post for more information. Thank you
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bassbuzzer
- Petty Officer
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:25 pm
skookumchuck first timer
Hey all, im trying to plan a trip to the skookumchuck for some steelhead. Unfortunately ive been up to my neck with work lately and I haven't been able to get out to my local river. Now, its closing soon. Ive tried doing research through the site on what to expect for the skook but I havent came across much good information. Other than it can be a real zoo. What methods work best for you? Where is the best bank access and parking? Fish closer to the hatchery or further down river? What is the bloody run hole, what is the big bend hole? How is the bank access? Im dying to get out and any info is always greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Mike Carey
- Owner/Editor
- Posts: 7765
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:56 am
- Location: Redmond, WA
- Contact:
Re: skookumchuck first timer
Here's video we did a few years ago, has some info for you:
"Takers get the honey, Givers sing the blues".
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AJFishdude
- Warrant Officer
- Posts: 125
- Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:58 pm
- Location: Snohomish County
Re: skookumchuck first timer
Hey bassbuzzer,
While I am not an expert on the Skook by any means, I have fished it a decent amount over the past two seasons for winter steel and have started having repeatable success. What I have found works the best for me is drifting small corkies in size 10 or 12 on about a 3' to 3.5' leader. I am a fan of pearl pink as well as light orange or peach. Go light on the lead too! Just enough so that you barely feel the bottom. I see so many guys casting huge pieces of lead that are totally unnecessary (snagging......), and it isn't surprising that they get hung up so often. In my experience the lighter the lead, and the shorter the leader, the easier it is to tell when a fish actually hits your drift offering. If you like floating jigs, 1/16th or 1/8th oz nightmares seem to work well. I also like to put sand shrimp scent on basically everything I use. The Skook almost always seems to be fairly colored up, so I think that scent is especially important. As for bank access and parking, truthfully, it is almost everywhere near the hatchery. There is tons of access and quite a few pullouts that you can hit. The river is small enough that it is pretty easy to hike/wade, which is great for me because I am much more of a fan of run-and-gun, cover the water style fishing, rather than hunkering down in the hatchery line with everyone else...I have had success both up near the hatchery (red gate area), as well as further down in the fields, again the key being, in my opinion, to cover the water with a few techniques that you know work, and not hold out at any one spot too long. I would recommend that you drive all the way up to the hatchery, see how things look up at the deadline, and then just move your way down river throughout the day. There are so many bends and pockets and tailouts that it is sort of hard to explain them. The easiest thing would simply be to start up high and sequentially move downstream.
While I am not an expert on the Skook by any means, I have fished it a decent amount over the past two seasons for winter steel and have started having repeatable success. What I have found works the best for me is drifting small corkies in size 10 or 12 on about a 3' to 3.5' leader. I am a fan of pearl pink as well as light orange or peach. Go light on the lead too! Just enough so that you barely feel the bottom. I see so many guys casting huge pieces of lead that are totally unnecessary (snagging......), and it isn't surprising that they get hung up so often. In my experience the lighter the lead, and the shorter the leader, the easier it is to tell when a fish actually hits your drift offering. If you like floating jigs, 1/16th or 1/8th oz nightmares seem to work well. I also like to put sand shrimp scent on basically everything I use. The Skook almost always seems to be fairly colored up, so I think that scent is especially important. As for bank access and parking, truthfully, it is almost everywhere near the hatchery. There is tons of access and quite a few pullouts that you can hit. The river is small enough that it is pretty easy to hike/wade, which is great for me because I am much more of a fan of run-and-gun, cover the water style fishing, rather than hunkering down in the hatchery line with everyone else...I have had success both up near the hatchery (red gate area), as well as further down in the fields, again the key being, in my opinion, to cover the water with a few techniques that you know work, and not hold out at any one spot too long. I would recommend that you drive all the way up to the hatchery, see how things look up at the deadline, and then just move your way down river throughout the day. There are so many bends and pockets and tailouts that it is sort of hard to explain them. The easiest thing would simply be to start up high and sequentially move downstream.