John’s Guide Service Fishing & Hunting Blog

Warning to all those planning on fishing the upper Skagit area !!!

There has been a recent string of thefts (mostly gasoline) from rigs and personal property in the Rockport / Marblemount area.

If you are planning a float on the upper Skagit, best to use one of the local shuttle services available here and try to make your float to Howard Miller Steelhead Park here in Rockport (monitored all day long by park ranger on duty)

If bank fishing and leaving your rig un-attended please hide all valuables from eye sight…and by the way locking gas caps aren’t working up here, their just cutting gas lines and getting the gas from rigs that way.

Its getting a bit crazy around here lately!!! Locals here do have some leads and local athorities are aware of the situation as well…just be safe and careful out there!

O.K. Even though were nearing the end of our 2005 season (we’ll do one in here for the 2006 season as well) decided today on the river we should do the L.C.C. (Last Cast Club) again.

Anyone can join, any fish, any state, with any guide or on your own, and rules are simple. Just reply to the post here with your Last Cast Story and I’ll edit this post and add your name along with fish species you landed to the 2005 Last Cast Club list below.

L.C.C. Rules: (be honest now!)
This is how it works:

1. To be a member of the L.C.C. you must hook and land a fish on your Last Cast. Whether you keep the fish or not is up to you, but the fish must be landed on your very last cast to be counted for the club.

2. A witness helps but if you are fishing alone we expect you to be honest here when telling your story. You must say loudly, “Last Cast!” and it has to be just that…your last cast for the day!! None of those, “OK.. one more cast” things and no more fishing for the rest of the day either.

3. It doesn’t matter if it’s first thing in the morning or at the end of a long day of fishing, to join the L.C.C it has to be your last cast for the day.

(We’ll see how many people join here, maybe we’ll give out some kind of trophy or prize for L.C.C. members with more than one species on their Last Cast…it’s up for ideas)

2005 Last Cast Club: (who’s first?)

1. ?
2. ?
3. ?
4. ?
5. ?

Finally weeded through the Pinks to get into some Silvers today!!

Joined today by Bob, Sonya and Josh for a wet day on the Skagit!!

As of 4:00PM today the old rain gauge now reads right at 1 inch of rain…was just a steady light rain all day long today.

Still hooked into a ton of Pinks (”River Vermin”) today but we were finally able to get into some Silver action! Dont know how many Pinks we hooked today but by trying some good Silver spots just above Concrete we were able to go 3 for 6 on Silvers today. Thanks gang for a fun day…and Bob, sorry but I think Sonya out-fished ya.

Hopefully with this rain and a definately rising river we’ll be seeinga lot more Silvers in the very near future!! Stay tuned for more up-coming reports!!

OK…lets see if I can get everyones name spelling right here…from left to right:
The McAfee family …Cody, Katie, Neil, Elizabeth, and Casey with a limit of Pink Salmon.

Why “River Vermin” for this Blogs title? When the Pinks season is in full swing here they are a hoot to catch and the sheer numbers of fish hooked and landed is just mind blowing…but now that the Silvers are starting to show up in fishable numbers the Pinks, while still fun to catch even now, just get in the way while trying to hook into some chrome Silvers … hence, “River Vermin!!”

Had an absolute blast this weekend fishing the McAfee family!! I don’t even want to try and guess how many Pinks we boated this weekend, just wish we could have landed the Silvers we were seeing. Did hook another Sockeye this weekend as well which was pretty cool to see. All in all more killer fishing for Pinks with another great group.

“Sockeye Jay” with a couple of todays brighter Pinks

Was great to have Pete (”Pinky Pete”) back up from California today for another season here on the Skagit and this time out he brought his friend Jay (”Sockeye Jay” because we actually hooked and landed a Sockeye today along with boating over 200 Pinks). These guys were hard-core and fished till their arms were ready to fall off.

Jay struck out on the Last Cast Club today and Pete just missed out on joining and only had a fish on for a brief moment on his last cast of the day.

Thanks again Pete and Jay for a fun day on the water!!

Anyone else gonna try for the Last Cast Club? Still waiting to see who’ll be first on the list!!

Pic above of one of who knows how many double headers we had today. They worked me over good, boating at least 100 or more Pinks!!

Joined today by two of my favorite people to fish with, the wonderful and beautiful Diane and of course she just has to bring Mark (G.I.T.) along too. Hehehe j.k….Love ya too, Mark!!

We fished the upper Skagit out of the Rockport area and it didn’t seem to matter where we went, it was just constant non stop action on Pinks all day long…only problem is we were after Silvers today more than Pinks. Still a tad early for some major Silver fishing but it was fun to try for them and we had fun with the Pinks anyways.

Pinks are an absolute blast right now, just for the sheer numbers and agressiveness of them and they make for some mighty sore arms by the end of any day fishing for them. A few more weeks of them until the Silvers start showing in really good numbers and they become known as “River-Vermin”…they seem to be just way more agressive than the Silvers and tend to get in the way then.

Mark just about joined the “Last Cast Club” today as well, and I have decided to make another post about the “Last Cast Club” after this one under the (Miscellaneous Category). Let’s see who’ll join the ranks this year?!?

September 16th, 2005:

Guided a late afternoon grouse hunt today with Ken. We managed to flush a dozen or so grouse, bag two of them and had an encounter of the close kind with two Bobcat as well!!!

Started the afternoon off with some killer grouse hunting weather yesterday. Just quit raining, was a bit cool and grouse were coming down from their afternoon roost to feed. Just as we started into one of my favorite ruffed grouse units down low in the flats here, we came across our first grouse in the pic above…and no, once again Ken, I don’t have guys releasing them for us as we walk into these areas. Hehehe Jumped a dozen or so other grouse in our first area without a clean enough shot to get one of them. Did see our friendly neigborhood Doe with her two fawns and a nice spike that didn’t seem to be worried a bit about our presence though.

Left the first area and headed up in the mountains for a chance at some Blue and Ruffed Grouse. Headed into our first unit, an older somewhat grown-over logging road looking for some afternoon grouse only to look down the road and see two smaller coyote sized animals running at us. Were a bit puzzled and amazed as they got closer, about 30 yards away, to see that they were two Bobcats chasing each other down the road…and of course I had left my rifle back in the truck. So, I ran back to the truck and to get my rifle but by the time I had returned to Ken the two Bobcat had parted ways; one heading back up the road and the other off into the woods. I won’t be leaving the rifle behind next time!! Decided to leave the area knowing all too well what these two Bobcat were after in the unit and sure there were to be no grouse to be had this day here.

Headed up to Blue Grouse territory only to find some fresh bear sign along with a whole lot of rabbits milling about after the mid afternoon rain. We then took the Pic above, dressed the grouse out and headed back down the road. Rounded the first major corner in the road and there was our second bagged grouse of the day sitting there waiting for us.
Although we were one grouse short of our daily bag limit today, I personally had a great time, enjoyed some great company, and the close encounter with two Bobcat will be something I won’t soon forget.

September 12th - 14th, 2005:

Been splitting my time the past few days between the upper and lower Skagit fishing for Pinks and Silvers.
Lower Skagit visibility is the best we’ve seen it so far this fall, the past two days, and we’ve been finding quite a few Pinks milling around in all the traditional spots on the lower river. Not a ton of fresh fish moving in right now but limits to be had for all on the fresh fish we are seeing.
Upper Skagit remains very consistent for those willing to catch and release Pinks looking just to catch sheer numbers of fish. Had close to 100 fish day yesterday fishing the Rockport area and caught and released our first Silver of the year as well.

Sorry no Pics the past few reports here…Wife has had my camera taking a ton of pics of our now 12 week old Chocolate Lab, 26 lb, Boone. Will have the camera back in the boat before the weekend. So,….here’s one of the pics she took of Boone:

( After a training period of shooting over his head and fetching up his duck, Boone relaxes at my feet )

OK, had Thursady and Friday off along with today due to hurricane related cancellations but managed to get out and fish yesterday both on the lower river as well as upper.

Launched at 7AM in Sedro to about the same vis we had on Wed when we just slayed them (only a foot or two higher this time due to the rain) and headed down-river first to below the HWY9 bridge. Saw very few fresh fish on the move compared to Wednesday’s on-going push of fresh Pinks. Landed only a few and lost quite a few others but nothing near as close to the action we saw the other day. Just not many fish on the move yesterday. Ran upriver to just below Gilligan to see if there were any holding fish around…didn’t look very promising so we decided to head upriver and re-launch in Rockport for some Catch & Release action.

Fishing upriver started off fast and furious with many fish caught and released until, the water being dumped from the dam caught us. Lots of leaves and cotton wood crap got all stirred up, making for some very tough fishing conditions.

Just one of those days I guess! Kinda weird not to see a big push of fish coming in on the fresh rain and increased water flows we got though!?!?!?!

Anyone fish down below Mt Vernon by the Forks see any fresh fish on the move? Were the nets in?

September 7th, 2005 :

Due to the recent cooling trend, the Lower Skagit has finally cleared up enough visibility-wise for me to start running trips down river again. If you’ve been waiting to book your Pink Salmon trip, now is the time to go. I had a few last minute cancellations open up some spots next week, so let me know if you want to get in on the Skagit’s outstanding Pink action.

Here’s what happened today….

Joined again by Greg and Tony for another go at Skagit River Salmon, we decided to venture out in the Sedro-Wooley area for some Pink Salmon…and we certainly found the spot! Great weather and company. We hooked well over 50 Pinks and were off the river by noon with sore arms and a limit of fish.

Very little boat pressure, (tons of tribal netting pressure though) 1.5 to 2 feet of visibility and some pink jigs was all it took once we got below the majority of the nets. Then it was non-stop action to the point we had to take breaks in between fighting so many fish due to sore arms. Gotta’ love them Pinks if for nothing else the sheer numbers and agressiveness of them.

Thanks guys for another fun day and looking forward to doing it again with you next year!