Well, I found a couple of spots to fish on the Sky between Monroe and Sultan. They were on the smaller branch of the river next to the road with the “island” being across from the bank. The branch qualified as a nice little river itself, bigger than the Pilchuck I fished this winter.
The first spot was deep and slow. I could see a tailout about 200 yards downstream but there was no way to get to it. The river is so much higher than it was this winter. The water is at the ramp at the boat launch on Ben Howard. Waders aren’t going to help much. Fished for about an hour and decided to find another spot.
I eyed a turn out and I could see the Sky so I parked and left the truck running. There was a goat trail straight down to the water over a rip rap slope. I went back to get my rod and some girl drove by and shouted “your lights are on”. Well no kidding, my truck is still running- duh.
I made my way down to the water and there were several trees down on the waters edge. I used a long fir tree for a balance beam and tight-walked my way down to a big maple. The maple was huge with a 12’ rootball and a big crotch which I could stand on. There was 8’ of water beneath me. I was glad I told the Mrs. where I was going so they could find the body.
I was just below a riffle before it got really deep and fast. I could cast across this water to the shallow slower water and walk the spoon down until the fast water grabbed it . If I cast way out there, I could get the spoon across the fast water and end up in slower water downstream behind a stump and along side of a tree paralleling the shore about 10’ out. I tried a few different spoons and even tried a #5 orange Vibrax thinking maybe some color would help. When it hit the fast water, it planed up through the boil and popped out with a rooster tail like the Atlas VanLines.
Well, I figured is was time to quit, the sun was going down and the juicy goodness of the Redman had faded as well so I broke the pole down and scrambled up the slope to find...........my lights were on.
Thank God I put in a new battery last month.