Had a good day on the Skookumchuck today. Looked at the gauge in the morning and saw it was about to flood, went back to bed. Woke up later and saw that it was dropping, and decided to go for the afternoon.

The high water was actually clearer than normal flows, which helped out. About two feet of vis, which is a lot for the skook. Of course since I slept in, moped around and whatnot, I didn't get there until 2:40pm, but turned out fine.

Second cast I had a big buck on. I was fishing big yarn balls soaked in sand shrimp scent, drifted along the bottom. It was a little dark, so I let him free.

Fooled around a bit more, got into a nice buck with a little color, but man he was lively. Dang near yanked my shoulder out on the hook-set. Put up a dandy fight, and turns out he had inhaled my yarn ball by about ten inches. After that, I knew he wouldn't make it, so on the stringer he went.

Fished for a bit more and hooked a dandy hen. She wasn't as much a fighter, but when she came to the surface and showed me her bright sides, I was like "Darn! Have to go home!" Got her in, cleaned up and in and out in under two hours.

Fishing the Skook on a black dot is great! The water was actually a lot more friendly when ultra high than normal flows. The sticks and logs making the bottom super grabby had been washed downstream, and the big tree at the big bend had moved around out of the way. Loading up the brine as we speak. It was nice to get out by myself for a bit. Glad that we have one reliable river to go to in March. Tight lines everyone!

Nate Treat Fishing
Official WashingtonLakes.com Sponsor

"Specializing in Fishing Instruction and Shore Guiding on Washington's Rivers."
[url]http://www.natetreatfishing.com/[/url]

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