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Siltyguamish River

2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Old Man 
#1 ·
...long time lurker, first time poster. Been fishing the Stilly a few days a week--things have really slowed down since the lower river has been choked with runoff from the slide. Think I'll do some scouting during the heat of the day this week...can anyone give me some sense of how to get to the famed "Elbow Hole"? Easier to walk up from Cicero Bridge, or down from Oso? Or is there a turnout I've been driving cluelessly by?

Thanks!

mja@rockisland.com
 
#2 ·
The Elbow Hole, a sacred site to many of us, does not exist any longer. It is buried under tons of sand and rock from the Deer Creek silde.

To get to the site, and pay your respects look for the Fire House just west of the bridge over Deer Creek at Oso. Pull in the driveway, and park under the trees at the back of the Fire House. Walk down toward the river, and you will see a gate in front of you, pass through the gate, and find a trail to your left, it will take you past some dilapidated buildings. I believe that these are the buildings of "Camp Bucktail" Enos Bradner's place on the river.

Follow the trail that takes you to the river. The revetment along the river right marks where the Elbow Hole used to be.



Rob
 
#7 ·
I fished the North Fork yesterday and regardless of what kind of water I fished (frog or riffles) and what type of fly (dry or bead-head buggers) all I caught were smolts. I must give the smolts some credit, some of those six inchers put up some serious fight. I kept moving on and doing everything I could to avoid the smolts, but they just kept following me.

I also fished the South Fork of the Nooksack with the same results as the Stilly. Hopefully I will have better luck next time.
 
#8 ·
I guess it all depends on how you name a hole. In my eyes, there is no more an Elbow hole, if for no other reason that it is now on the wrong side of the river.

If you want proof, I have a photograph of me in 1976 with a steelie (my first on a fly) showing the Elbow the way it used to be.

That hole does not exist any more. If you want to call what exists the Elbow, fine, but to me it is just a hole below the confluence of Deer Creek.
 
#9 ·
Becareful what you use on the N/F as there is a no weighted fly rule in effect on the N/F until the end of September. No Bead headed flies, no flys with weight under the materials. No sinking leaders. Nothing With any weight is allowed. Per the Dept. of F & W.

Jim
 
#10 ·
It is clear that the rule indicates no weight on the fly but it is unclear to me if it includes sinktips. They specify that "no weight be attached to the line, leader or fly". ("Attached" being the point of contention) Obviously, in the spirit of the rule no one should use a heavy, fast sinktip to dredge the bottom of a deep pool but sometimes a short moderate or intermediate sinktip is useful in getting your fly just under the surface. I was there yesterday and used only floating line with unweighted flies to be safe. In the frog water there some flies (wets) that wouldn't break the surface film on their own so I had to change up my flies for the water I was fishing. Sparsly dressed flies on heavy hooks will sink like a rock however and are still technically legal. Its too bad that people didn't follow the WDFW warning, they clearly didn't want to implement the rule but people were evidently intent on harassing the chinook salmon which are always illegal to target on the N/F. A positive observation: there are fish in the river: SRC's, steelies (lockjawed) and chinook AND the water temp was a chilly 50 degrees. It is still cement colored from Oso down and gin clear above. Pray for rain.

bh
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the discription of the river. I'm thinking of doing the loop thing. Starting out on the N/F fishing and ending up on the S/F via the Mtn Loop Hiway(what a name for a dirt road).So I guess that my starting point will be the bridge at Oso. But first I have to get off my big butt from in front of this computer.

Jim
 
#12 ·
Thank you for clarification on that Oldman. I wasn't intentionally violating the regulations. I did look at the regs. (I don't have them in front of me now) and I did see that only floating lures were allowed, but when I looked up the definition of a floating lure I thought that it mentioned that sinking lures could be used as long as only a single hook was used and no bait. I stand corrected though.
 
#13 ·
Was up on the N/Fork today and where I was at it was as clear as ever but way to low for any type of fishing. I was down at the access at 127th. But I had to try any way. Caught only one but boy was it fat. It was a little one and as I didn't see any bugs around I wonder what they are eating. But it was fat in the belly like a bass.

I also did some checking on the main river for pinks but I didn't see anything. No rolls or anything breaking the water. Was on the Snohomish for a while yesterday and they were all over the place. But on the Stilly nothing.

Jim
 
#16 ·
Very good on the S/F It's about time for the dollies to be in the river and the people up there target them. I've seen the people up in there use very big spoons for them fish. You can only say so much and if they will listen ok but if they don't there isn't much you can do and no a cell phone doesn't work up there.

From the White Chuck up it is open until Oct 31 But closes on the end of this month above Elliot Creek. But the N/F is open until the end of Oct.

There might be Steelhead in the N/F but only as high up as the falls. Nothing gets above them falls.

Jim

P/S I didn't make the loop thing. Lost interest.
 
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