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Had to pick up a car part in Rainier, and the skookumchuck happens to be a short ride over the hills. Soooo we made a fishing stop. On the way there along the WDFW access we drove past the proudest lab prancing around with a pheasant in its mouth. Super cute. Went to the usual spot below the hatchery and saw a few rolling and jumping. Some bright ones too. I started with the rocket red corkie, but no love. My guy was fishing bobber and eggs and a nice guy that joined us was floating jigs. After nothing happening for awhile and knowing there are fish in that hole I decided to see if I couldnt tease a bite out by twitching a jig. Put on the jig that slayed at the Tahuya, chartreuse jig head with purple marabou and green flash. It only took a few seconds before I had a fish on. After a quick fight I slid her up on the beach, not too shabby! So I kept her. Walked and fished all the way to the rock wall next to the road only seeing a few pairs of coho trying to spawn. Then went and walked and fished down the fields. Nothing after that first fish and no one else hooked up. Did see a pair of huge kings digging a redd. Snagged a nice steele spoon from the river that looked brand new. Not as many fish, and quite a few hunters. If we make it out to the skook again for salmon I will definitely wear a hunters orange beanie. Id suggest wearing something bright as well if youre going to fish the fields.

oh fyi if you keep seeing fish with their tails cut off its the wdfw science technicians that check for microchips. I noticed it awhile back and was curious and today I saw the wdfw techs doing it to fish they checked.

salmonbarry

11/9/2012 10:51:00 PM

Nice report and boy I know what you mean on wearing bright garments as I have fished the little Green off the Touttle river this time of year and have had some close calls with hunters. I am going to give the Tilton a shot this Friday and then head up to Lake Scanewa on Saturday for some recycled coho's and kings. If you have never done that before it's a hoot as they get all the fish from the Cowlitz hatchery and they can be pretty bright sometimes.

slayerofsteel

11/10/2012 12:49:00 PM

actually, the wdfw biologists are counting the dead fish on the banks. they cut the tails off so they don't count the same fish twice. i asked them once when i saw them down there.

schu7498

11/10/2012 1:02:00 PM

Yeah but oddly they were also waving their wands over them too. maybe they were dead hatchery fish?

Brat Bonker

11/10/2012 7:55:00 PM

good job and nice fish there are some good twitching holes down there for sure. I have seen some nice ones caught in the later part of the year on twitching jigs too. What size jig were you using?

schu7498

11/10/2012 7:57:00 PM

Cheap 1/4 danielson. you can get a pack of 3 for like a 1.19 colored and long shanks.

slayerofsteel

11/11/2012 11:10:00 AM

yeah the wands are checking for chips which are implanted in the head.

slayerofsteel

11/11/2012 11:13:00 AM

some hatchery fish die on the banks yes but, you'll be surprised to know that only about 25% of the "hatchery" fish are clipped. a lot of what we see as "native" fish are unclipped hatchery fish. they do this to help ensure the survival of the hatchery run.

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