SKAGIT / SAUK / CASCADE RIVERS
Approximate mileage / time from home:
Jackman Creek          62 Mi / 1+30
Howard Miller          68 Mi / 1+40
Sauk County PK         74 Mi / 1+45
White Creek                75 Mi / 1+45
Bridge near Suattle         81 Mi / 2+00
Mouth of Cascade via Rockport Cascade Rd  79 Mi / 1+55
Marble Creek CG        88 Mi / 2+10
Max fishable flow 10,000 CFS at Marblemount
NOTES on Marble Creek Campground:  Sites in order of preference:

#3  On River, back in to put door on camp side, no fish at site.
#5  On river, no fish at site
#12 At end of road, nice site on river, but people will probably come       through to get access to the river.
#9  On river but short and not level.  Sites on side of road opposite river much better.
#6  Fair, but not level.  Would need blocks under tires to level.
#1   A very nice site, but reserved for Host.  If no Host very good.
Clear Creek Campground, 3 Miles SOUTH of Darrington.  Right on river. Several sites ok for motor home.  About a dozen sites.  Reservations OK.

Fly Bar - walk 25 min from bus turn at end of Sauk City Road off Sauk Store/Connection Road

2/8/2006        Sauk River at White Creek
        Water Temp (Skagit at Marblemount USGS report) 41°, sunny and clear
        Visibility Unlimited
        USGS Discharge at Sauk 4400cfs, at Darrington 850 cfs
Water level at base of bank near parking area.  Needed to wade down White Creek and cross mouth of creek in river to get to bar below creek.
        Fished 6 hours.  Got one 20" Dolly Varden on white/yellow streamer.

2/17/2006        Skagit River below Rockport with John's Guide Service, w/Martin
        Water temp 37° ref John, 39° ref USGS,  Air temp 20°, 12° overnight
        Visibility Unlimited
        USGS Discharge 7800 cfs, Gage Ht 4.5
        Fished 8 hours (gear fishing, jet sled).  Got one large Dolly Varden (est 4#) on egg cake.        

2/25/2006          Sauk River at White Creek, w/Martin
        0830 Water Temp 36°, Air Temp 28°, overcast, mostly calm wind
Visibility5 ft.
USGS discharge at Sauk 2300 cfs, at Darrington 350 cfs
Water level 5 or 6 feet below bottom of bank near parking area.  Could fish river below parking area.  Very nice hole there.
        Fished 6 hours.  Martin got 1 12-14" Dolly Varden on white streamer
        Note: Skagit at Rockport 39°

3/6/2006        Skagit River at Jackman Creek
1100 Water Temp 39°, Air Temp 45°, Visibility 5 ft, Alternating sun and clouds with some rain.  Marblemount discharge about 8300 gives very fishable Skagit.  Bacon Creek flow about 200.  Walking along creek fine at this flow.  Watch Bacon Creek flow to see how it relates to Jackman.  Should be ok with 50% more water.  Walked down creekbed from parking by Hwy 20 - about 5-7 min. walk.
Caught one 4-5# Steelhead on third cast at upper riffle - above creek - on black articulated bunny.  Fished til 1530.  Not another strike.  Tried both white and black bunnys.  Great fishing water in riffles at several creek mouths, and all along the bar

3/18/2006        Sauk River 1 Mile Below Sauk/Suattle Headquarters, w/Martin
0930 Water Temp 40°, Air Temp 45°, Visibility +5ft, Overcast with sun breaks later.  Sauk at Darrington  discharge about 330 (average for date 600+), Sauk at Sauk 1700.
Parked beyond end of guard rail.  Bushwhacked up opposite side of river about ½ mile, until tribe HQ building in sight. And crossed from east to west side above point where two channels merge.  Tried just below point and too deep.  Excellent pools and holding water but couldn't cross if river much higher.  Worked down river and crossed back to east side again at lower end of bar on west side - DON'T TRY THIS AGAIN.  Then crossed back to west side near where cars parked.
Tried black articulated bunny, black bunny, and white articulated bunny.  About 1330 I caught 1 18" Dolly on black bunny in hole farthest upstream where tribe hq in sight through trees.  Martin lost one.

4/5/2006 Skagit River at Jackman Creek
1045 Water Temp 41°, air temp about 50°, remains very low and gin clear water.  Marblemount flow about 3800.  Jackman Creek noticeably higher than on 3/6 but still plenty of room to walk down bank.  Bacon Creek flow about 270.  Clear and sunny after a couple of days light showers.  No real rain for several weeks.  River has remained well below median levels.  1400 water temp 43° with medium to light overcast.  Walked about ½ mile down to next bar.  VERY nice riffle goes ¾ way across river ankle to knee deep at this flow.  Great looking water below riffle.  May be able to access from small parking at east end of guard rail along HWY 20.  Absolutely no action all day.  Left for home about 1530.

6/2/2006  Rainy and showery day.  Very high snow pack this year.  Checked Skagit from
Jackman Creek to Marblemount, Cascade River to Marble Creek
Campground, and Sauk River to Darrington.  All very high,  visibility 0-1
foot.  Skagit.  Jackman Creek high but could probably wade down it and use bank to get
to the Skagit (Bacon Creek flow 1600 cfs).  Skagit at Howard Millar covered the bar but
not on bank itself.  Could wade, but visibility was near 0 (Marblemount flow 9200 cfs).
When I crossed the Skagit at Marblemount the river looked somewhat cleaner above the
Cascade.  The Cascade River at Marble Creek CG was VERY high.  Well up on bank,
visibility 0.  Sauk River could be waded a little at the Skagit County Park, or at the bridge
below the Suattle at this flow (Sauk-Sauk 12,000 cfs, Sauk Darrington 3,300 cfs) but it
would be limited.  White Creek area not wadable.  Visibility was 0. 

6/13/2006  Skagit at Jackman Creek.  Walked down dry bed of creek.  Skagit still very muddy,
but some clear water at and below creek mouth.  Fished about an hour with no luck.
Marblemount flow about 7200, Bacon Creek about 900.  Couldn't wade down creek but
Could cross it when I got near mouth.  Temp 44 °, vis Skagit 0, at creek mouth 2'

9/26/2006
Toured Skagit (Jackman Creek), Cascade (pull off just above bridge and at campground), Sauk, and Stilly (Fortson Hole).  All VERY low.  A few spawning salmon in Cascade at pulloff just above bridge.  Nothing else.  At Jackman Creek gravel bar/inslnd out from creek mouth was vislble.  Waded across and fished from island in channel.  At Fortson the big hole was only about 10" to 12" deep most of way across with a slightly deeper channel at south bank.

11/24/2005 w/ Martin
        Skagit flow at Marblemount 10,500.  Bacon Creeek  450.  At Steelhead Park water part way up bank, water over bar         but could wade ok.  Visibility about 1 ½ -2 ft.  Fished Cascade River below hatchery channel.  Visibility 3+ ft.  Water         temp 40°.  Debris and evidence of flood waters along top of bank on north side.  Several others fishing both sides of         river.  Only stayed about an hour.  Went up to Marble Creek.  Water clear.  Water over top of log dam, nice level for         fishing.  Large tree with roots at bend now gone due to flood.  Mud and debris into campground and at entry of new         restrooms from flood.  Martin had one nice fish on lost it.  Beautiful snowy day

12.01/2000
        Flow about 6,000, Water Temp 4°.  About a foot of snow in area.  After record floods a week to 10 days ago and         cold and snow last few days the river is in good shape.  Level above the bar at Rockport but could easly fish there.          Visibility 1 ½ to 2 ft.  Fished right at outlet of Swift Creek for 1 hour.  Got one small Steelhead (15 inch, could be         resident Rainbow).  Then went to Jackman Creek.  No sign anyone else there since snow.  Creek much changed.          Several smaller  channels where only one before.  Lots of Chum below upper riffle inboard channel.   Also above         upper riffle.  Hooked two but couldn't land them.  Also caught one nice Dolly.
12/03/2006
w/Martin.  Conditions similar to 12/1.  Fished Jackman Creek from 0930 til 1430.  Caught and landed 4 Chum and one very nice Dolly.  3 on Purple Egg Sucking Articulated Bunny.  One on White Articulated Bunny and lost another.  Both from above the upper riffle.  Found that there is a long bar running upstream from the upper bar.  Less than knee deep at this 6,000 cfs flow.  Visibility above the riffles less than a foot but fish still taking flies.  Below upper riffle 2 + feet.  Another beautiful day.  Still no sign of anyone else being to this area.  Both 12/1 and today noted river level came up 6 - 12 inches around noon.  In the morning the rocks of the inner upper riffle were mostly out of water,  after noon they were covered.  Broke my rod tip releasing the last Chum.

  1/9/2007  Skagit flow about 9,000, temp 40°  -  following info sent as e-mail reply to Martin:

I did make it out on Tuesday.  I tried the Skagit at Jackman Creek first.  The river was pretty high and visibility less than a foot.  The creek was quite a bit higher also.  I fished for about an hour with no luck.  Then went up to Swift Creek.  The water above the Sauk was much clearer but still no luck.  After that I thought I'd give the Cascade a try.  I went to the hatchery and walked down to the river where the spawning channel comes in.  Looked good there but there were a bunch of people casting bobbers and stuff so I didn't stay.  Saw several big Steelhead pairs in the channel, though. 
 
By then it was about noon and I wanted to see how the Sauk was looking so I drove down to White Creek.  What a difference.  The river was fairly high but the big surprise was the creek.  It was thick with reddish brown mud.  There must be a slide up there somewhere.  I didn't even bother to get my gear out of the truck, just ate my sandwich and moved on.  Thought I might as well keep going so I went on through Darrington to Fortson Mill.  There is a big tree down across the creek from the mill pond that makes getting to the river a bit harder.  The river was fairly high here also, but I gave it a try for a half hour or so.  There were several people at the access area at the big hole but no-one below that.  The stretch that we fished before was reasonably accessible even though rather high.  By the time I found a way through the down trees and logs it was about 2 PM and the wind was beginning to blow.  I fished for a half hour or so but decided it was time to get home before the wind got any worse.  By the time I got to Conway and across the Skagit flats the wind was really fierce with super heavy rain. 
 
My new rod worked great for casting, unfortunately it didn't get tested for catching.  Nice day to sort of wander around the rivers, though.

1/24/2007
Fly Bar.  Beautiful sunny day.  Water temp 38%,  (4.75 USGS Marblemount), Flow 8,500.  Visibility 4 - 5'.  Perfect day, No fish. 
2/2/2007 Dickson Skagit Steelhead School w/ Mike Dickson and Jonathan Knapp
Excellent day of schooling on techniques, gear, etc.  Drifted with Jonathan.  Stopped to fish various places between Marblemount and Rockport.  Took out at 101 parking area.  Plan to go on Sauk school on the 24th.   None of the 4 students caught fish, but learned much.

2/16/2007 w/Marti
Fly Bar.  Vis about 2-3 ft.  Flow about 9300.  Good flow, good vis.  Fished from about 1300 til  1500.  I got one Dolly.  Using new Yancy line.  Seems too heavy for Rainshadow 8 wt rod with 10wt tips.  Think I'll try ordering 8wt tips.
3/10/2007  w/Martin
Flow at Marblemount about 8500.  Cool with a few showers.  Fished Power Line and the bar below Marblemount bridge for Dollies.  We both fished 5 wt rod with floating line.  Martin caught 3 nice Dollies (one at Power Line and two at Marblemount) and lost a couple more using white fry type pattern.  He got two quickly late in the day skating his fly on the surface.  I didn't get a strike all day.  Wading to bar at Marblemount fine at this level, part of way about knee deep was about as high as I would want to wade back upstream, it was fine going down and most of the way was ankle or thigh deep.

3/4/2007
Fished bar at Marblemount for about 2 hours.  Water very clear.  Flow about 6500.  Easily waded all the way up to bridge.  Deepest water near top of bar, shallower all way back up to bridge.  No fish,  same at Power Line and Swift Creek.  Nothing all day.

11/3/2007  Skagit River at Jackman Creek w/ Martin
        Fished riffle and channel along bank above the creek from 0900 til 1530, 1 hour for lunch.  Several Chum moving         up through the riffle.  More gathered in slow water along bank channel.  Caught one and lost 2 fair hooked fish,         snagged a couple more.  All when stripping purple or black wooly flies up current.  In the morning the water was         low enough to walk dry on island out from riffle, fish were gathered in very shallow water along bank -         Marblemount flow about 3500.  By 1300 level was rising noticeably.  The island was completely covered and there         was a couple of feet of water in channel along bank.  Fish moving more in channel - Marblemount flow about 6000         by noon.
        Martin walked up as far as the large tree stump and saw several soho and dollies in that pool but couldn't get any         to strike.  We also saw three chum in Jackman Creek as we were walking down to Skagit and back up to truck.
11/8/2007  Skagit River at Jackman Creek
        0900 Flow about 4000, Island well out of water.  A few Chum in channel between island.  Walked up river to large         down tree and hole.  Got one large Chum in the hole inside the tree on purple articulated bunny with red head -         dumbbell weight.  Fished until about noon.  Several spawning Chum in channel along bank above riffle.  Went up to         Sauk at White Creek.  Water VERY low.  Dolly area below bar/riffle completely dry.  Flow about 1800.
11/10/2007 
        Skagit River at Cascade Mouth w/Martin  Fished in hole at mouth for about an hour or so. - til gear fishermen         started coming.  A number of fish rolling but no strikes. 
        Went up Cascade to Marble Creek about noon.  Martin got one nice Steelhead on  silver/green Dick Nite.  At lower         hole below riffles -  in mid part of hole.

12/26/2007 w/ Martin
        Snowy and cold day - about 30°.  About 2-3 inches of show on ground.  Snowed off and on all day.  Sometimes very         pretty with huge wet snowflakes.
        Waded to bar at Marblemount in AM.  Saw a few Chum but no strikes. 
        Went to mouth of Cascade for awhile but water was VERY low and clear.  No sign of fish - hatchery fish must be         moving up here but didn't see any.
        After lunch went to Power Line Hole.  Martin hooked three Chum, landed one.  I got one very nice Dolly. 

11/28/2007 w/Martin
        Cool and snowy all day.  Occasional light freezing rain.  Another pretty day.  About 6-7 inches of snow on the ground.
        Fished all day at Power Line.  Hooked and lost quite a few Chum.  A couple took the fly very hard and kept on going.          I landed a couple, Martin the same.  He hooked and lost 8 or 10 after lunch.  Fish which took the fly were mostly in         the seam near the top of the hole.  There were also some spawners in the slower water where we snagged a couple if         let the fly drift too far into the slow water.

08/02/2008
        Fished briefly at power line.  VERY hard getting through blackberries to river.  Need to cut a new trail.  Hiked up to         Slide Lake.  Martin took his float tube and caught some fish.  I just walked around the lake for an hour or less.

08/11/2008 - 08/15/2008
        Stayed at Howard Miller park.  Beautiful weather all week, mid-high 80's.  On Tuesday Susan dropped me at         Marblemount with my pontoon.  Flow about 6,000.  Floated 1100 to 1700.  About 2 hours or less fishing, lunch, etc.          Solid four hours float.  From Swift Creek to Howard Miller took nearly an hour.   LOTS of attractive stopping place         all the way.  For fishing would be good to float about half way, or even less, to have more time fishing. 
        Got a couple of small trout not far below Marblemount. 
        On Wednesday we relaxed, drove to TTN/KOA, and up to lookout part way up road to Slide Lake.
        On Thursday Martin and I hiked to Slide Lake.  See Cascade Lakes.

10/20/2008
Some reports on WFF of Chum in Skagit already.  Fished briefly at Jackman Creek.  No sign of Chum or other fish. 

11/15/2008 w/Martin
        Got shuttle for launch at Sutter Creek, float to Rockport.  Flow about 6,000.  Perfect river conditions, visibility over 4 feet  I.n water at 0950, Rockport 1400.  Fished several nice spots.  Martin got on 13" RB.  Nothing for me.  Saw very few salmon in the river, only 3 o4 four carcases.  Quite a few eagles, though.  Chum are coming but not here in good numbers yet.  Very nice four hour float.  Saw one drift boat, and one jet went by us going upstream.  Beautiful day to be on the river.

11/29/2008  w/Martin
Sutter Creek to Rockport.  Flow about 5,500.  1000 to 1500.  Water still clear, cool and rain all day.  Martin hooked two nice Steelhead on chartreuse streamer.  Landed one, other broke leader.  River left at first small island.  Got both within about 15 minutes from same hole.  Nothing for me.  Very few Chum seen, few carcasses.

12/7 - 12/11/2008
Stayed at Rockport, #7, Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning.  Floated Sutter Creek to Rockport Monday and Wednesday.  Tuesday had breakfast at Tootsie's, worked on tile plan for bathroom, no fishing Tuesday.  Monday and Wednesday flows about 5-6K, water clear, cool and cloudy.  No fish either day.  LOTS of eagles.  Only a fair number of Chum carcasses.  Rusty says no one catching much, fishermen at restaurant same.  Only one other rig in campground and he left Wednesday morning.  Site #8 quite wet and muddy in rain.