Northwest Fishing Reports

Hi All,

On January 1st 2009 I had the opportunity to join two friends of mine for a steelhead trip to the Skagit River. It was a great trip despite the fact that we did not catch any steelhead. I took several pictures of this scenic river with snow covered shorelines and thought you river fans would like to have a look. I did post a report in the river section as well. Last weekend my two friends took a trip with clients to the Skagit and they landed 4 hatchery steelhead and lost two others at the boat. So we were hoping the bite would still be on but it was not, at least for us. Happy New Year All.

For those of you with dial up (that would be me as well) I did the pics in "small" so hopefully they won't take too long to load.

I'm cold just looking at the pics.Nice pics.I was up on the Skagit on the 30th and it was too much snow to even make it down to the river.Beautiful country area.When fishing and getting to be w/ friends and great scenery is what its all about.Catching is fun but being there is just as fun .Happy New Years Dave.

Those are great pics! I like the one of the Eagle. Too bad it wasn't holding up a Steelhead and WL.com sign!

It was a great trip and very cold. There were maybe 10 eagles in the area flying around. I took 72 pictures.

Excellent pics dave. I'm extremely jealous. I will be hitting the skagit as soon as possible for some winter fishing. I've been fishing for steelhead 8 years (learning on my own.....no guides! and unfortunately I didn't have daddy to show me everything...) and still have to LAND my first one. What a blast. Glad you got out. Is that the same rig you got that MONSTER sturgeon out of?? Anyway....happy new year......here's to a FINE 2000 and NINE ....man what I would give to get out in your Hewes this year...... ....

Brrrrr Dave! Looks chilly, but a good time nonetheless. Awesome pictures. That woulda been an awesome trip had some blood been spilled in the boat, but it still looks like a great outing even without anything in the cooler!

Rollin with Rolland wrote:man what I would give to get out in your Hewes this year...... ....

Rolland you got it right. He's the crabbing master of WL.com! :compress:

Hey Roland, The boat in the pic is identical to the boat I caught the sturgeon in. As mentioned, both of my friends are guides and have the exact same boats, set ups and trucks. I give them crap about it. A9, trust me, it was way too cold for me but I never say no when either of these two guys call me to go fishin. In fact they called me on new year’s eve day at 2pm. I had just got to work (workin 2 to midnight this set because of the holiday) when I got the call. After hanging up I called my boss who without hesitation was kind enough to give me both Thursday and Friday off and he let me leave at 9:000 pm that evening so I could get a few hours sleep before heading to Rockport. My Sarge is great. I have mentioned n other posts that I am a fair weather fisherman so fishing when it was freezing out and snowing hard was out of my element but I had a blast. As a kid growing up my dad and I fished Jameson in eastern Wa in October and it was so cold the guides would freeze. We also fished Salmon Lake in Canada at least a few times every year and in the mornings it was bitter cold. But I was a kid then and loved fishin with my dad so I didn't care. As an adult, I'm a little more selective about when I go fishin, except when these two kind friends of mine invite me out on their boats, using their gear, and never ask for a penny from me. I always offer to buy them lunch or at least Starbucks and sometimes they let me buy the coffee but that's about it. Great guys, and they know these rivers and the Sound better than most in my opinion. I would highly recommend either of these two guys for any guided river trip for salmon and steelhead or a sturgeon trip. They were telling me that the sturgeon in the salt will be starting up soon so I look forward to a few of those trips in the coming months. I am told by both Doug and Brett that the sturgeon are so thick in the Sound that you can literally see a hundred fish fining during the peak time on a minus tide. I can't wait! Anyway, I just thought my fellow members would like to have a look at the majestic Skagit River in the middle of winter. It was beautiful. Anyone feel free to PM me for these guys info. They are both super great guys who will put you in the fish for sure.