Some sort of cosmic/aquatic event must be in process, the stars are aligning and my boat got wet three weekends in a row. WL member bassplayer17 and I hit the sockeye opener on the Skagit Saturday morning. Anticipating major crowds at the ramp I got up at 2:00 with a plan to launch the boat and then just hang on the beach until my guest fisherman arrived. All in all the plan was sound but not without a bit of a calamity. On arrival at the ramp at somewhere around 2:30 in the morning I find one other rig in the parking lot with the boat long gone. As I was preparing to launch solo I was approached by a gentleman that offered to help. After a brief what the heck assessment I said I usually get it myself but accepted his offer. I back the boat down, undo the winch strap and hand him the rope and continue backing the rig into the water. That is where things didn’t exactly go as planned. The river was way up and the water was up over the top of the slope of the ramp. I had to back the rig further into the water than usual. When running solo I usually tie the bow line to the trailer, back down until the boat is floating then pull the truck forward a bit to untie the line and secure the boat on the beach, dock or whatever is appropriate. In this case my assistant was holding the rope and instead of waiting for me to pull the rig clear of the water he pulled the boat into the back of the trailer. I now have a dent and fairly deep scratch in the side of my boat. I cringed to myself and didn’t yell at him or anything and in fact I kind of felt sorry for him. I think that he was going to try to bum a ride but opted not to. Regarding the scratch, I will try to burnish it and repaint the area but I hope that the damaged area doesn’t become the focal point for a stress fracture.

Stuff happens but we were there to fish so after my boat mate arrived we headed off down the river to my chosen location. After a couple of realignment sets we were on the hook for the morning. On both sides of my boat we were running the standard size Brad’s bait diver 4-5’ leader to a spin-n-glow setup with a sand shrimp tail. Right after I run the offering back we get a solid hit but I violate the bait diver/plug rule and pull the rod out of the holder before the rod was loaded up. As the fish came to the surface I saw it and my spin-n-glow part ways. I re-bait and the waiting game begins. For the next couple hours between Tony and I we had a few more drive-bys but no solid hooks. Then after clearing some weeds from my diver and running it back down, my rod gets crushed and is buried in the water. Shortly after my rod goes slack and on examination of the set up I find that my 5’ leader had broke right in the middle. It must have been damaged somewhere along the line and I did not notice it. Oh well stuff happens… I set up a new leader and get back to it. After a brief exploratory trip down the river to check out a few additional slots I re-anchored where we started and we went the rest of the morning with a few more drive bys but no commits.

I am no river expert, bait diver expert or in all honesty not much of an expert on anything, but for different fisheries I do have a standard go to methods. For Skagit River sockeye my go to is a black standard size Brad’s diver, 4-5’ of 10 or 12 pound leader and a spin-n-glow set up. Saturday we were running a pink spin-n-glow on one side of the boat and a black/pink spin-n-glow on the other side. The black/pink spin-n-glow seemed to have the most action which I attribute to the increased contrast in the thicker water. After some metering around we found a few fish in 6-7’ of water right on the edge of a drop off and anchored 50’or 60‘up current from the edge. Again the expert thing but when fishing a diver I usually drop back 50-60’ then put the reel in gear and let the diver do its thing. To make this easy I run a 60’ top shot off my braid and run it out so the knot is just in the water. I could get line counter reels buttttt, I’m a cheapskate…

Aside from the dent in my boat, sitting all morning in the rain and no fish the morning was a blast. Fish or no fish the time was just what the doctor ordered. Good conversation and time on the water is good for the soul. As far as take a ways go or lessons learned; with the higher off color water run high contrast offerings, sand shrimp and scent and then leave the rod in the holder until it is loaded up when you do get a fish. Be safe on the river and good luck.

Mike Carey

6/16/2014 1:13:00 PM

Glad you got out, sorry about the dent. :-(

Toni

6/16/2014 1:45:00 PM

Sorry to hear about the dent! Great report

riverhunter

6/16/2014 3:36:00 PM

I heard the same story this weekend, "I had a few bites" Sockeye are not soft bitters nor are they nibblers even though they do have soft mouths. If a sockeye grabs your rig you will definitely know as they will almost yank your rod. they are in a rush to get upriver and will not stop to check bait out. They grab it simply to get it out of there way and anger. That is why plunking is productive for sockeye as the rig is stationary on the fish's travel lanes. What is usually tapping your line is leaves,twigs and grass flowing in the river

Norm

6/16/2014 6:56:00 PM

They both slam it and nibble. I hooked 7 socks one day a couple years ago and not one slammed it. Sometimes they sit there and nibble on it before deciding to take it. And sorry to hear about the dent

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