Reference: Joins Snoqualmie River southwest of Monroe; map A2 inset, grid g9. How to get there: Take U.S. 2 through Monroe and continue east along the north side of the river, or drive south through Monroe, cross the bridge, and turn east (left) on Ben Howard Road to reach fishing spots along the south side of the river.
Facilities: There's a boat ramp and access area just below the Lewis Street bridge in Monroe, another about two miles upstream from the bridge, off Ben Howard Road, and two near the Mann Road bridge at Sultan. Food, gas, tackle, and lodging are available right along the highway in Monroe.
Contact: Sky Valley Traders, (360) 794-8818.
Species available: Winter and summer steelhead; Dolly Varden; coho, chum, and pink salmon.
Fishing the Skykomish River: Long one of the Puget Sound region's most popular, most publicized, and most productive steelhead rivers, it's probably impossible to say anything about the" Sky" that hasn't already been said hundreds of times and written at least once. But that's never stopped me before, so here goes.
This big, beautiful river is consistently among the top two or three winter steelhead producers in Washington, giving up at least 2,000 fish per winter season and some years more than doubling that output. Strong hatchery returns in December and January make those two months the best times to fish the Sky, but unlike many other Northwest streams, this one doesn't experience a February lull, so the fishing can be as good then as it is earlier in the winter. March and April see the winter steelie fishery here turn to a catch-and-release affair—one of the best and most popular of its kind in the Northwest. The biggest concentrations of winter steelheaders—and, often the biggest catches—are around the Reiter Ponds steelhead facility and from Sultan downstream to Monroe, but you might find a willing fish almost anywhere along the Sky during the height of the winter season.
Summer steelheading can also be extremely good on the Sky. The summertime catch sometimes tops the 2,000-fish mark, making the Skykomish an occasional entry on Washington's list of top 10 summer steelhead producers. June, July, August, and September all provide excellent summer steelheading possibilities. As on many Northwest streams, gearing down to lighter tackle and using a more subtle approach is often the key to summer steelhead fishing success here.
Cohos and chums share the salmon-fishing limelight on the Skykomish during a typical fall salmon season, with pinks playing a big part during odd-numbered years. Salmon angling is allowed up to the confluence of the forks, but it's hard to beat the numerous pools and drifts from Sultan down to Monroe, a stretch of river that is as good as any salmon stream in the country. Pinks show up in September (every other year), cohos in October, and chums are most numerous in November. Fish for all three and you'll quickly see the improvement in fish strength and stamina as the runs change.
The Skykomish—and the entire Snohomish system—is one of few places in Washington where it's legal for anglers to catch and keep Dolly Varden as part of the daily trout limit. Any Dolly you keep must be at least 20 inches long, but fish of legal size are certainly within the realm of possibility. The Sky, in fact, has produced much larger Dolly Varden. The state-record anadromous Dolly, a whopper of exactly 10 pounds, was pulled from the river back in 1982.
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