Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey as anybody fished the snoqualmie near tokul creek for salmon or down near carnation.
If so what were the results and lure of choice

I've never seen any salmon up there. Steelhead yes. All the salmon go up the Sky.

The Snoqualmie and its tribs are I believed closed to salmon.Also there is no bait allowed on the Snoqualmie till Dec 3. If memory serves me correctly.There are salmon in the Snoqualmie.

The river is open for salmon fishing right now! You just can't keep anything other than silvers and chum. Not many are caught up by Tokul Creek but between Carnation and Fall City is where I see them the most. Remember, it's selective gear rules until the end of November! Go with spinners, corkies or jigs.

Couple years ago I was fishing the Neal Road area and caught a silver about 6 lbs.With that silver came a whopping ticket and a court date.I went to court pleaded guilty and got nailed for 75.00 and got my gear back.The Judge was very nice and told me that the wardens wrote that I was very cooperative and helpfull(it pays to be nice).Anyways that was then and perhaps rules have changed some.Good luck just make sure and double check the rules.
As I get older my memory needs alot more Ram.

I was just out there last saturday and only saw one fish on the finder. I went from the Tolt/ Snoqualmie river merge all the way to the Tall chief golf course. The native steelies seem to like green the most, so do the squawfish. I ran a red/white spoon with a large 2/0 red hook, had a few hits but they must have been too small to take the hook. 1/0 red hooks on spoons or wedding rings with green in them did well. I trolled and watched the depth. It ranges mostly 10- 15ft but does get very shallow in a few areas <3ft. I snagged someone elses lime green flasher setup stuck to a log at 3ft.

I should also note that when I was out there I was getting blown up stream sometimes, and the usually calm river had 12" swells from time to time. Rain, strong wind, and the sounds of maples cracking with no fish.

I hope you're not taking your boat, it does sit pretty low and would sink like a rock in heavy wind. Be safe and let me know what you get. I'm going to try and get out there again this weekend.

water was 54

racfish wrote:Couple years ago I was fishing the Neal Road area and caught a silver about 6 lbs.With that silver came a whopping ticket and a court date.I went to court pleaded guilty and got nailed for 75.00 and got my gear back.The Judge was very nice and told me that the wardens wrote that I was very cooperative and helpfull(it pays to be nice).Anyways that was then and perhaps rules have changed some.Good luck just make sure and double check the rules.
As I get older my memory needs alot more Ram.

As long as I can remember, coho and chum have been open to retention in the Snoqualmie River. I'm looking at my old copies of the regs from 2005-2008, and salmon is/was open on the Snoq, and I know that it was also open to salmon before 2005. Except that window of time is fairly short, usually September through end of December.

What time of year did you catch your silver Rac? Could it have been after December, or before September?

Shad I actually looked up when I got the ticket.My bad!!!! It was the first week of Jan when I believe then its illegal to keep.I remember fishing the mouth of the Raging for dogs.Total waste of time cuz I release all the dogs.But they are fun to catch.They put up a monster fight.

Yea i may try and take my boat farther down river
but gian how has your area been producin any big fish

racfish wrote:The Snoqualmie and its tribs are I believed closed to salmon.Also there is no bait allowed on the Snoqualmie till Dec 3. If memory serves me correctly.There are salmon in the Snoqualmie.

I've never seen any Salmon past High Bridge. All the Salmon Hatcheries are on the Sky.

Bodofish wrote:...
I've never seen any Salmon past High Bridge. All the Salmon Hatcheries are on the Sky.

There's lots of chums in the upper Snoq at Fall City. Also some silvers at that part of the Snoq, and in the Raging River. I've even seen some sockeye at the mouth of the Raging. During the pink years, the pinks are in thick at Fall City and the Raging. I've seen big kings in the Raging and Snoq near the Raging.

So, there are plenty of salmon in the Snoq, but most of them are wild.

yeah i am gonna work on fishing the mouth of the raging this year
what would u suggest using there

fishingmachine wrote:yeah i am gonna work on fishing the mouth of the raging this year
what would u suggest using there

Your choices are limited until Dec 1, since there is a selective gear rule in effect (no scent, no barbs, no treble hooks, and just one single-point hook). That pretty much means that your choices are spoons, spinners, jigs, corky/yarn, and plugs.

For the mouth of the Raging, spoons/spinners/corkies are the best bets since it's shallow and fast. Above and below the mouth, you can toss or pull plugs since it is deeper and slower.

Just be sure to not fish in the Raging itself for the salmon, or else get a big fat ticket.

After Dec 1, you can start using bait, scent, trebles, barbs...

yeah i will try using spinners and such off the mouth of the raging
Do they get a large run of salmon through there
so yeah any other tips
When would you suggest fishing it
And what color corkies and yarn do u use

fishingmachine wrote:Yea i may try and take my boat farther down river
but gian how has your area been producin any big fish

I haven't caught anything over 14". Just naitive steelhead and squawfish. I did see a large jumper about 5lbs a month or so ago. I also had my line quickly snapped when I was running light 6lb. Last I ran 15lb. The water is pretty clear so I didn't want to go much thicker than that. The raging has a boat launch, you could anchor up above the river and float corkies down stream into the junction.

I did a 3way swivel, 12" leader going to a 1/2 ounce bouncin betty on one side, and a 4' leader going to a 1/0 red hook, red yarn, green corkie and a green mack flasher on top. It was very overcast so I added the flash for extra attaction. The squawfish loved that setup, but no salmon takers.

I'm supposed to be hitting a river out by Olympic National park on Saturday, but if that falls through I'll look for you over by the raging.

Shad_Eating_Grin wrote:

Bodofish wrote:...
I've never seen any Salmon past High Bridge. All the Salmon Hatcheries are on the Sky.

There's lots of chums in the upper Snoq at Fall City. Also some silvers at that part of the Snoq, and in the Raging River. I've even seen some sockeye at the mouth of the Raging. During the pink years, the pinks are in thick at Fall City and the Raging. I've seen big kings in the Raging and Snoq near the Raging.

So, there are plenty of salmon in the Snoq, but most of them are wild.

I believe ya but I've been fishing the Snoq since the mid 70's and I've never caught anything above high bridge but steelhead. Pictures. Pictures! If you guy's catch anything, I'd sure like to see.

Im not sure where the High Bridge is at.Is that the one near the old school house drift? I know I'm old .There hasnt been a schoolhouse there since the early 70's.The Tokul creek hatchery has done steelie but they used to do some salmon also. Also the Raging gets both chums and silvers.

racfish wrote:Im not sure where the High Bridge is at.Is that the one near the old school house drift? I know I'm old .There hasnt been a schoolhouse there since the early 70's.The Tokul creek hatchery has done steelie but they used to do some salmon also. Also the Raging gets both chums and silvers.

High bridge is about a mile or so upriver of the confluence with the Sky. I haven't seen any chums in the Raging for a number of years and I fished it pretty regularly for steelhead with my brother. There is however some Coho and a pretty decent amount of Kings that make their way into the Raging. I still see a good amount of Chums spawning from the Raging to just down below the Carnation Farms bridge. I have even seen Humpies all the way up here by Fall City.

The Tolt River also has Salmon in it. There are Kings, a few Coho and Chums. I sometimes plunk for steelhead during the winter below the mouth of the Tolt on the Snoqualmie at the walk bridge, and have caught bright Silvers with sea lice still on them all the way into January. Not extremely common to catch bright silvers that late but it does happen every once and awhile.

Bodofish, there are Salmon in the Snoqualmie River well above high bridge. Like everywhere else, they just aren't as plentiful as they used to be. Sorry, no pics I have them but haven't figured out how to scan them yet. Why would the WDFW have a season for them if there weren't any?

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/regs/2008/2008sportregs.pdf

If you've figured out what drives WDFW please fill me in. Hiring a conulting group to tell them hatcheries aren't needed and that we should shut them down and rely on wild stocks doesn't seem to me to be in the departments or our best interest. As the price of licenses goes up were do the added dollars go, added fish? No, it goes to pay consultants and support the general fund.
It's all pure insanity to me and our fishing is at stake.

Bodofish wrote:If you've figured out what drives WDFW please fill me in. Hiring a conulting group to tell them hatcheries aren't needed and that we should shut them down and rely on wild stocks doesn't seem to me to be in the departments or our best interest. As the price of licenses goes up were do the added dollars go, added fish? No, it goes to pay consultants and support the general fund.
It's all pure insanity to me and our fishing is at stake.

That is a whole different debate that would be best suited for a different thread. However I do agree with your points. I was merely stating that I have never fished in a river that had an open season on a certain species that was not even there.