Pilchuck River Steelhead

[MatthewHunter98]

Heading up to the Pilchuck in a couple weeks, friends got some property up their and he got a nice 16lb'er. I don't know if it was luck of the draw, but hows fish in been for you fellas, I'm excited to hit a new river for steelhead!

[Bullkllr]

Pretty much every North Puget Sound river- actually I think all rivers in the Puget Sound area- are closed right now. It is "the new normal" for the past several years. Checking the regs confirms the Pilchuck closed on Jan. 31.

[Goldeneye]

Pretty much every North Puget Sound river- actually I think all rivers in the Puget Sound area- are closed right now. It is "the new normal" for the past several years. Checking the regs confirms the Pilchuck closed on Jan. 31.

Agreed, It's closed. 

[6x6in6]

Tag.....

Hope it wasn't a native and after the 31st of January.

[_TONY_]

After jan. 31st is when the local poaching season starts on the 'chuck.... 

Don't believe me? Go take a float trip down it in a toon and count how many plunking rigs you see on people properties...

Tony

[6x6in6]

Yep!!   
Been like that for years, even back in the days when it was open to the end of February.  The March run of big nates got hammered!

[87Ford]

After jan. 31st is when the local poaching season starts on the 'chuck.... 

The thought of that makes me nauseous..   

 

[87Ford]

Heading up to the Pilchuck in a couple weeks, I'm excited to hit a new river for steelhead!

CLOSED

[7mmfan]

It's the same on the Sauk, Skagit, Stilly, and Skykomish. All the "S" rivers get pounded after they close. No eyes on the river to keep people honest. Fish and Game's perspective on it is that since its closed, no one should be fishing it, so we don't have to monitor it. No wonder the numbers keep declining, all the big aggressive wild fish get poached out of these rivers every year. Really really sad. I used to live for the Sky in March and April, and when that closed, I lived for the Sauk and Skagit in March and April. Now I get one weekend a month out on the OP to get my fix, makes me sick.

[87Ford]

I also used to enjoy those rivers during March/April.  I don't see those C/R seasons ever coming back..  The North Fork in April was a wonderful thing.  The Pilchuck is especially dear to me.  Have a lot of memories fishing that little river.

The Pil is no longer planted and with it closing end of January, It really shouldn't be open at all..  Glad I got to enjoy it back in the day.  She gone.

[D-Rock425]

I've only heard of how good it use to be wish I would have fished more as a kid.

[RG]

I fished the Pilchuck for 20 years, lived on its bank for 10. As have all the good rivers, it has been ruined by closed minded fish managers and special interest groups.  My grand kids will never experience the adrenaline rush that comes with fighting an 18 or 20 pound steelhead on a small river. Many times my hands were shaking so hard it was difficult to remove the hook. I asked a fish bio why they closed the season so early since it appeared to me there were a good number of wild fish. I was told they didn't know how many fish there were and didn't have the resources to find out so they closed it and the Sky just in case. That's weak and really a tragedy for the people who lived for the catch and release fishery. What do you expect anymore though. I've become used to it after watching the trend for 60 years in this state. True outdoors folk, experienced life long hunters and fishermen used to be an important piece of the decision making here. Now those same people are patronized and misled while other interests push them aside in the decision making process. I see lots of surveys on the WDFW site these days. I'd be pleased to think they are all of a sudden interested again.  Sorry for the soapbox but the steelhead fishery in Washington was superb for decades then got destroyed in one.

[6x6in6]

I have no idea how many times I waded the Lochsloy to Schwarzmiller run in the late 70's to early 2000's with my fishing buddy.  Dawn to dark, probably close to 500 times or more I would guess.  I'd venture to guess that less than 30 times we got skunked.  Many, many times we walked the last 1/4 of the stretch with a pair of fish each.
Sure, we bonked natives way back.  We all did then.  Quit in the early 90's or there about's.  It really didn't have much affect on our success.  We just got to fish a little more since we weren't punched out yet.
Never did land one that cracked the 20# mark.  Lost a few that I knew would have.  No big deal - hoped his/her mouth was sore enough that the rest of the journey was a tight lipped one.  Plenty in the upper teens, even a 17# hatchery fish got bonked one year.

It's been toast for quite a few years now really.  Sad!

[87Ford]

Here's a fish from one of the "S" rivers back in the good old days...  Not that long ago really.  I believe this is from March 1997.

[backyard bucks]

ya it is too bad. I kept hearing from 87ford for years during wrestling seasons past about the fishing on the chuck, and when I finally moved out and gained access to the river and some great holes 5 years ago it was too late.. now I just head east for my steelhead fix.. this year seamed a slow year for seeing fisherman on the river or even hearing of any taken.