Has anyone been fishing salmon in the lower Snohomish River?
- Thread starter Beartrack
- Start date
Thanks - I went Friday evening and made a few dozen casts at a few different spots. Sounded like from the people I talked to that it had gotten spotty after a surge of fish following that last rain... last weekend and the weekend before seemed to be a bit better. From the 3 holes I was at I saw 11 fish folks had caught throughout the day being carried, but all were caught earlier in the afternoon as a batch of pinks that had moved upriver about mid way through the upcoming tide. I only saw 1 fish hooked. I also only saw around 5 fish total roll in a couple hours, which was a big suprise since the tide was almost to high slack when I was there, and I expected a lot, lot more than that. But I imagine within a week or 10 days it ought to be chock full of pinks from the sounds of things. I do think there are probably enough fish there for it to be fun, but you'll have to put your time in to find em and stick with em as they move. Later of course the fish ought to be throughout the system everywhere almost, based on the # of fish they are predicting for the Snohomish. Anyway, let me know what you guys see too if you go and here's looking forward to a lot of tight lines! 
Beartrack, a friend and I went today in my sled. We hooked about 20 fish and landed about 14 keeping 8. We let a few go as we didn't want to keep any that had the start of a hump! We started about 6am and finished up at 2:45 pm. The fishing is far better on the incoming tide. And fishing while during slack tide is a waste of time.
Pods of fish will come in and as they do the bite will turn on for 10-15 minutes and then turn off again until the next pod comes in.
We were using size 0 or 1 Dick Nite spoons in the 50/50 color rigged "Drop Shot" style and a 4-5 ft leader. Cast across current and slowly retrieve. We were fishing upriver of the I5 bridge.
The boat next to us hooked just about as many as we did but they got their limit by about 10:45am. Supposedly the evening bite is better.
The river was far better than Humpy Hollow from the reports we heard from the fish checkers.
Pods of fish will come in and as they do the bite will turn on for 10-15 minutes and then turn off again until the next pod comes in.
We were using size 0 or 1 Dick Nite spoons in the 50/50 color rigged "Drop Shot" style and a 4-5 ft leader. Cast across current and slowly retrieve. We were fishing upriver of the I5 bridge.
The boat next to us hooked just about as many as we did but they got their limit by about 10:45am. Supposedly the evening bite is better.
The river was far better than Humpy Hollow from the reports we heard from the fish checkers.
Thanks! To confirm, by 50/50 do you mean the chrome/brass combo or something else? Great fishing report, thanks! I may just have to carve some river time out tomorrow! (have to work) I need to get my C-Dory up to Dagmars tomorrow anyway if possible time wise. By the way, how deep were they running -were you bouncing bottom with your drop shot rig? Thanks for the info!!
Scott
Scott
Yes, the 50% chrome/ 50% brass. The drop shot is rigged to keep the line just off the bottom. We are fishing in frog water so you want to fish slow enough to keep the weight on the bottom and yet fast enough to just keep the lure suspended and wobbling. Too slow and the lure will sink to the bottom. Too fast and you will move the lure out of the strike zone. You can play with retrieve speed and drop length till you find the right combination. We found that the drop length didn't matter as much as having a new pod of fish come in.
To rig the drop shot, I put a swivel on the end of my main line. I then tied a foot long leader to my lead (I used pencil lead with a hole punched through) and attached that to the same hole on the swivel as the main line. I attached the 5' long leader to the other side of the swivel. I used 7lb Flourocarbon leader tied directly to the Dick Nite spoon (it was what I had handy).
We went through a lot of spoons! Good knots are essential! These fish fight HARD. The take is usually very subtle. All of a sudden the line gets heavy. Often you will have them take just as you are getting ready to pull the line from the water. They have fairly soft mouths and the hooks are small so you can't bully them in! These small spoons require small leader to be effective. And don't change out the hooks for heavier ones. It will ruin the action.
Done right this is fun fishing. Simply cast out and slowly reel in. I had one point where I had 3 fish on in 3 consecutive casts. I lost 2 of them and the third one I threw back as it was starting to get a hump. IMHO if the fish has started to turn the meat will be very soft and not worth eating even if smoked!
To rig the drop shot, I put a swivel on the end of my main line. I then tied a foot long leader to my lead (I used pencil lead with a hole punched through) and attached that to the same hole on the swivel as the main line. I attached the 5' long leader to the other side of the swivel. I used 7lb Flourocarbon leader tied directly to the Dick Nite spoon (it was what I had handy).
We went through a lot of spoons! Good knots are essential! These fish fight HARD. The take is usually very subtle. All of a sudden the line gets heavy. Often you will have them take just as you are getting ready to pull the line from the water. They have fairly soft mouths and the hooks are small so you can't bully them in! These small spoons require small leader to be effective. And don't change out the hooks for heavier ones. It will ruin the action.
Done right this is fun fishing. Simply cast out and slowly reel in. I had one point where I had 3 fish on in 3 consecutive casts. I lost 2 of them and the third one I threw back as it was starting to get a hump. IMHO if the fish has started to turn the meat will be very soft and not worth eating even if smoked!
Thanks! Did not read your reply in time and took the Dory out and launched at the ramp there in town (Snohomish) late in the day. A friend and I got on the water about 4:00 but by dark had landed 4 and lost 4 and missed several. We picked them up all at mid depth to the surface, though I did run deep for a while first with no luck. We got most on 1/8th ounce leadheads that my daughter and I tie up fished VERY slowly. But we had others that hit pink spinners. My buddy tried the 50/50 small spoon for a while with no luck up there in Snohomish, but that's a bit farther up river, who knows why it wasn't working for him. The bite was definitely the hottest right after low tide turned and it just started to come back up! By the way gljjr, the method you mention (and the lure for that matter) is almost exactly how we used to fish for silvers on the Sno - though I haven't done that in a couple years. Yes, very familiar with the # of lost spoons though.
Anyway, we didn't hit as many fish as I'd hoped we'd get him into (he hasn't fished a whole lot) but we had a great time and it sure was nice to be back on the Dory... 2 weeks since Neah Bay and it seems like it's been a very long time!
Side note: the former engine problems (popping and backfiring alot, then more recently only occasionally) didn't surface at all this trip! Yeah!
One other very interesting side note: the fish we caught tonight, which interestingly all were females, were not nearly as big in length or girth as the ones we were hitting a couple weeks ago off shore out of Neah Bay. I wonder (since we encountered those ones eating enormous amounts of krill out there) means the fish will be a bit bigger on average later in the run this year... time will tell I guess.
I'd sneak out before work in the morning to try for some more pinks but my rear axle on my 2005 Avalanche 1500 died late last week. Will be in the shop another day or 2 getting a new ring and pinion. As it was lifted and regeared right after I got it on New Years 2006, it's not a factory warranteed item :-( So it looks like it will be another couple days before I get back out to the river... probably from shore since it will be before or after work. By the way, anyone hit any silvers on the Sno yet? I saw what looked to be 3 or so roll tonight! I also saw 1 dark king quite close to the boat which suprised me a bit - more because the darkness than that a king rolled I mean.
Anyway, we didn't hit as many fish as I'd hoped we'd get him into (he hasn't fished a whole lot) but we had a great time and it sure was nice to be back on the Dory... 2 weeks since Neah Bay and it seems like it's been a very long time!
Side note: the former engine problems (popping and backfiring alot, then more recently only occasionally) didn't surface at all this trip! Yeah!
One other very interesting side note: the fish we caught tonight, which interestingly all were females, were not nearly as big in length or girth as the ones we were hitting a couple weeks ago off shore out of Neah Bay. I wonder (since we encountered those ones eating enormous amounts of krill out there) means the fish will be a bit bigger on average later in the run this year... time will tell I guess.
I'd sneak out before work in the morning to try for some more pinks but my rear axle on my 2005 Avalanche 1500 died late last week. Will be in the shop another day or 2 getting a new ring and pinion. As it was lifted and regeared right after I got it on New Years 2006, it's not a factory warranteed item :-( So it looks like it will be another couple days before I get back out to the river... probably from shore since it will be before or after work. By the way, anyone hit any silvers on the Sno yet? I saw what looked to be 3 or so roll tonight! I also saw 1 dark king quite close to the boat which suprised me a bit - more because the darkness than that a king rolled I mean.