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Skykomish River Report
Snohomish County, WA

Details

12/12/2016
36° - 40°
Fly Fishing
Steelhead
Streamer
Raining
Fly Rod
Afternoon
12/12/2016
3
3392

Slept through my alarm this morning so I got out to the river around noon. I parked at the train overpass pullout thats next to the big Bend gated community. I walked up river to the run I wanted to fish and began swinging away with a purple skunk to start things off. Worked my way about half way down the run and a nice pink faced steelies rose about 30 feet in front of me. Spent the next 3 hours fishing up and down the run throwing every fly I had at him but no luck. But it was good to finally see a fish I know they're there just need the right fly. If anyone has been hooking steelies on the fly I need some pattern suggestions.


Comments

Joey Smith
12/12/2016 10:37:00 PM
there still a lot of snow around there?
Bhomma
12/12/2016 10:42:00 PM
No not too much there's small patches along the river about 1 inch deep
Joey Smith
12/12/2016 11:16:00 PM
sweet when i was up there on saturday there was too much to even pull off the road
Joey Smith
12/12/2016 11:16:00 PM
sweet when i was up there on saturday there was too much to even pull off the road
dogfish7
12/13/2016 12:19:00 AM
I haven't flyfished the Sky for Steelhead in years, but I do fish it a lot with bait, plugs, and hardware. But from what I have heard over the years is egg sucking leech patterns, and egg puff balls, streamers like purple perils and skykomish sunrise and emerger stone fly nymph patterns with nymph pattern droppers, and San Juan worm patterns can work well. Jigs under floats, beads, cork and shrimp, and eggs for bank anglers seem to produce. Good Luck
dogfish7
12/13/2016 12:29:00 AM
Another pattern I remember were butt skunks in various colors and sizes. Maybe I should throw a fly sometime soon, sounds like fun. Again, good luck to you!
dogfish7
12/13/2016 12:29:00 AM
Another pattern I remember were butt skunks in various colors and sizes. Maybe I should throw a fly sometime soon, sounds like fun. Again, good luck to you!
Bhomma
12/13/2016 12:38:00 AM
Thanks for the info and luck dogfish, it's always fun just to get out there and practice my spey casting even if no fish present themselves. Good luck to you
finni
12/13/2016 7:31:00 AM
Most of the patterns that Dogfish suggested are more apt for summer and fall steelhead. This time of year, you may need to go a bit larger and deeper in order to hook a fish while swinging the fly. I favor flies in the 1/0 to 2 size and patterns like marabou spider type flies (Alaskabou), intruders, large leech patterns, General Practitioners, etc. However, as Dogfish mentioned, nymph and egg patterns under an float seem to work year-round, but not very conducive to spey fishing.
Best of luck!
Ian Horning
12/13/2016 8:57:00 AM
Larger patterns for winter fish with lots of movement. Take in mind that the rising fish are often the ones moving upriver and as a result not extremely keen on biting. But, with a big, annoying fly, you could piss one off enough for him to take.
jonb
12/13/2016 1:04:00 PM
I hooked and lost 3 steelhead last season on a size 6 pink and white clouser minnows on my 6wt. Full floating line 10ft of leader. Sunk deep and slowly stripped in. I see most winter runs taken on hobo spey/intruder type flies with the appropreate sink tip on switch/spey rods up here in bc. I don't personally fish two handers yet though, so i can't go too far into specifics on that, as that is something i am not experienced with.
rpbfishin
12/14/2016 2:04:00 PM
99% of the time, the fly isn't the problem. Steelhead will pretty much hit anything as long as you present it right. Try getting deeper and make sure your fly and sink tip are weighted proportionately to one another (heavy sink tip = heavy fly) and your chances of success will increase. Hang in there!

@jonb, What are you waiting for!? Its a blast!
jonb
12/15/2016 5:22:00 PM
Waiting on finances lol. Spey rods aren't cheap, im not really into cheap gear in general either. Ad truck payments and thats why i don't fish a two hander yet. Ill stick to single hand spey for now, snap T's and C's until i can afford a decent spey rod.
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Available Guide

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

Phone: (509) 687-0709