Monday, August 22, 2011

Slamming Salmon

Lower Skagit Salmon with the Thomas Family.

Ahhh... Nice to have a bunch of Salmon in the river. I spent a day trying to find some new walk-in spots around Sedro Wooley on the lower skagit. I found a few few spots but when they release water from the damn the fly bars disappear. They are releasing around 2000 cfs per day! Just a few pockets here and there. Just above Sedro the water gets better and there is some nice water but you really gotta boat it to get to the best spots. I've done a few floats in the Lyman area with success. Along with salmon we are finding a few nice dollys too.

Me and my wife also floated the lower stilly with out my rod. I wanted to see the water and see if there are some fish around. I was also checking how the water would be after the water was diverted from Cook slough and all running down the North channel. I was a little surprised, I thought there would be a lot more water. It wasn't that bad. Some beautiful SRC water and I found a few spots the pinks were rolling pretty good.
It's been a few since I've been on it but I hear the lower Sky has been fishing better. I'll be out there this week to hit it.

Check out our Humpy sampler for some trick pink salmon flies. http://streamsideflyshop.com/samplers.htm

Pink Salmon: great for beginners, family and anybody that likes to CATCH fish: Most spots you can Keep 4 fish for the BBQ.
The Pinks are being caught around area beaches. They have been streaming into our local rivers and the lower sections of the Sky and Skagit is open tomorrow the 16th! The Stilly opens on Sept 1st.
We are booking trips now and have some good dates available. We are looking to book up to 3 people per trip. These are $150 PP. If your a single and want to get out for a good price that is a great way to go. We have lots of people looking for partners.  
Sea run Cutts - Now on the Stilly inquire for dates.

Aug 16-30 Humpys - Skykomish and lower Skagit River trips
September 1-15 Stilly Tidewater Humpy/Searun Cutthroat and Skykomish river
For the killer upper Skagit Pink dates from September 16th - 30th we only have the 25th open.

Grande Ronde: 3 day steelhead camp out trips for 2011 are booking now: Inquire for dates. These are during the first 2 weeks of October. This is a great river to learn to steelhead fish and to try to get a steelie on a surface fly!

Methow for Steelhead: Booking the week of October 23rd

Chum Salmon/Dolly varden: November - Looking for partners for the 15th and 17th
Tight lines,

Mike and Dennis Dickson
425-330-9506






Monday, August 15, 2011

East Side Trout.... Now back to the Pink salmon.



Dallas and Julie. A Nice West slope caught at the put-in.

We had some great weather and found some nice fish fishing trout on Eastern Wa. The best part was they were only hitting dries! We tried the hopper/dropper flie combo but eventually took the droppers off cause they were just getting in the way.
During one of the trips we caught 3 different species of trout and what we thought at first was a huge trout that turned out to be just a whitefish. I have a few husband/wife combos on each trip that were a true pleasure to fish with.
One of the things I enjoy the most about this summer fishery is wet wading in warm weather, not to mention watching nice fish roll over a big dry fly.

With Cook slough closed on the Stilly (boooo, I know that they are doing this to improve the fish ladder and probably had to use some funding before they lost it but bad timing!) we have changed our lower stilly drifts so we could still fish tidewater humpys and sea run cutts.

Fresh Pinks!
Check out our Humpy sampler for some trick pink salmon flies. http://streamsideflyshop.com/samplers.htm

Pink Salmon: great for beginners, family and anybody that likes to CATCH fish: Most spots you can Keep 4 fish for the BBQ.
The Pinks are being caught around area beaches. They have been streaming into our local rivers and the lower sections of the Sky and Skagit is open tomorrow the 16th! The Stilly opens on Sept 1st.
We are booking trips now and have some good dates available. We are looking to book up to 3 people per trip. These are $150 PP. If your a single and want to get out for a good price that is a great way to go. We have lots of people looking for partners.  
Sea run Cutts - Now on the Stilly inquire for dates.

Aug 16-30 Humpys - Skykomish and lower Skagit River trips
September 1-15 Stilly Tidewater Humpy/Searun Cutthroat and Skykomish river
For the killer upper Skagit Pink dates from September 16th - 30th we only have the 24th open.

Grande Ronde: 3 day steelhead camp out trips for 2011 are booking now: Inquire for dates. These are during the first 2 weeks of October. This is a great river to learn to steelhead fish and to try to get a steelie on a surface fly!

Methow for Steelhead: Booking the week of October 23rd

Chum Salmon/Dolly varden: November - Looking for partners for the 15th and 17th

Conservation: Aug 21st Wenatchee River clean up. For info www.co.chelan.wa.us/nr

Tight lines,

Mike and Dennis Dickson
425-330-9506




Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Pinks are coming!


July Skykomish School

The Pink salmon are starting to show on area beaches and petering into the Snohomish system now.
We are getting geared up for them now and still have some prime dates available.
Our tips start at $150 PP for 3 or more people and $175 each for 2.
Check out our Humpy salmper for some trick pink salmon flies. http://streamsideflyshop.com/samplers.htm

Lately I have been fishing the Kalama, Cowlitz and the Skykomish for steelhead. I am planning on making another trip down south to hit those rivers again. If you ever wanted to sight fish for steelhead on the Kalama or fish the Cowlitz  for steelies and Cutts let me know.

I am headed over to the Methow River soon to fish for trout, I love that valley and fishing there is one of my favorite summer trips. I do have a opening on the 12th and the 15th of Aug.

The Good - This should be a killer year for pink salmon.

The Bad - Somebody decided that this would be the perfect time to repair the weir and fish ladder on the Stilly. We have a huge run of pink salmon entering the stilly
and it was decided that right in the middle of this huge run of fish that it was a good time to divert the river to fix this. There is approx of 1+ mile of prime fishing water for local fishermen that
is now closed to local fishermen. Not to mention what the construction of this project is going to do to the water color. From the Standwood Redi-mix plant down stream has some great water and should be fishable if the water color isn't dirty.
We are looking into other options to be able to fish the lower stilly but this project is definitely throwing a wrench in our game. What horrible timing!

Action: Close Cook (Koch) Slough (a channel of the Stillaguamish River), the North Meander, and the Stillaguamish River from where Cook Slough rejoins the Stillaguamish to 1,000 feet downstream to fishing.
Effective dates: July 18 through Oct. 15, 2011.
Species affected: All fish.
Closure location details:
All of Cook (Koch) Slough ( the South channel of the Stillaguamish River/including all waters of the barrier/diversion dam channel). The closure begins approximately 1/2 mile West of Interstate 5), 350 feet upstream of the barrier/diversion dam and continues approximately 3.5 river miles to the downstream confluence with the Stillaguamish River. The North Meander, a side channel that connects the mainstem Stillaguamish (at Hevly Road) with Cook Slough. The Stillaguamish River, from the downstream confluence with Cook Slough (below the westernmost Silvana RR bridge) to 1000 feet downstream.
Reason for action: The repair of an in-stream weir and fish ladder on Cook Slough require the installation of a cofferdam upstream of the weir and restriction of flows to 30 cubic feet per second through Cook Slough. A fish exclusion device at the downstream end will prevent fish from entering Cook Slough.
Other Information: If work finishes before Oct. 15 and flows are restored Cook Slough will reopen before Oct. 15.

Aug 16-30 Skykomish River trips
September 1-15 Stilly Tidewater Humpy/Searun Cutthroat and Skykomish river
September 16-*30 Skagit Fall salmon
Methow trout fishing from the August 11th – 15th  (Dry fly fishing for beautiful cutthroat and rainbows. Good for beginners too)
Searun cutt school on the Stillaguamish August 27th
Grande Ronde 3 day steelhead camp out trips for 2011 are booking now: October 2-4th, 4-6th, 8-10th, 10-12th,

Check out our Humpy salmper for some trick pink salmon flies. http://streamsideflyshop.com/samplers.htm

Happy fishing,

Mike and Dennis
streamsideflyshop@yahoo.com
425-330-9506