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Skykomish River Report
Snohomish County, WA

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Details

07/08/2011
Drift Fishing
Steelhead
Attractor
Orange
Corky & Yarn
Morning
07/08/2011
4
2042

Managed to make the late morning show at Reiter today. Didn't want to wake up for dawn, so I slept in, left about 6:45 dunno when I got there, I've got to set the clock in my rig.

The water has dropped about a foot since I was last out, but the river can't make up it's mind with all the snow melt and crazy weather. Fished a couple of my favorite spots, the score today was 1/1 fish, so I guess we are tied up now.

Got this beauty drifting a corky amidst a bunch of bobber folks. I knew if I could go a couple of casts without snagging on the darn christmas trees I'd do alright, and what happens? The first 3 casts I make in a row without getting snagged and I've got a little tug.

He acted like a baby at first, barely pulling until he saw daylight. Then it was quite a lot of fun on my 6-10 9' GL# Loomis steelhead series. I love this rod like I love bacon. Which is quite a bunch.

Lost another fish at the tail out as it ran upstream into the darn christmas tree. Ran some braid and a hook through it and pulled out a couple spools worth of 20 lbs line, a bunch of lighter line and a myriad of 3 to 5/0 hooks. Who fishes with 5/0 hooks for steelhead? I did score two nice shiny vibrax spinner though that will do well on the coho this fall. A tip for all you would be steelheaders out there: Most of the reels that you're fishing only have 10 to 12 pounds of drag on them. This means that you're just fine using 8 pound test leader with 10 pound main. Skykomish hatchery steel rarely get bigger than 15 pounds, you won't be losing any fish. I never fish anything over 12 pound Maxima, even for kings! Thank you in advance for not leaving yards of braid on the bottom.

The fish landed was a whopping 32" and 14.75 pounds. I've got it vacuum packed and marinating for tonights feast.


Comments

dmangler69
7/8/2011 4:30:00 PM
Good looking fish. The wife, dog and I will be there this weekend. Your fish has got to be a record? I have never seen a 32 inch get over 11 pounds maybe 12, but 14.75?? STATE RECORD!! ... Way to go.
natetreat
7/8/2011 4:56:00 PM
It had 19" of girth on it, I weighed it at home gutted and it came out 14.45, so I added some for the guts and gills to get that. For kicks I looked it up on the weight calculator, here http://flyfishingresearch.net/fishweight/weightcalculator.html and here http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/resourcecenter/weightcalculator.htm and got a result of 16.7 and 14.905 respectively. No way was it 16, and no, it's not a state record. I got another fish that was 15 and a half about three weeks ago on the Wallace Flats.
lawdog
7/8/2011 6:52:00 PM
what color yarn and corky where you using, and where you using any smell sauce IE shrimp oil, i dont get up to the sky very much because my work is down in tacoma now, but i have yet to get a steelhead on the sky system, any help would be appreciated
Anonymous
7/8/2011 7:32:00 PM
Come on man, I seen on gf.com a 5/0 hook??? Really??
Sthao92
7/8/2011 7:54:00 PM
I'm jealous :) I have yet to catch anything of size this year.
knotabassturd
7/8/2011 7:56:00 PM
Nice fish nate!!
Aaidian
7/8/2011 8:19:00 PM
Very solid fish Nate...gj!
leviP
7/8/2011 9:59:00 PM
corkie and eggs? and pencil lead?
also, do you fish the highway side or reiter side? when you hit the creek do you go to the right and walk way down?(if you dont mind spilling the beans) haha
leviP
7/8/2011 10:00:00 PM
corkie and eggs? and pencil lead?
also, do you fish the highway side or reiter side? when you hit the creek do you go to the right and walk way down?(if you dont mind spilling the beans) haha
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709