Northwest Fishing Reports

i have talked to several people about panfish in snohomish sloughs, anyone have an answer??????

I've never heard of anyone fishing for anything but Salmon or Steelhead and Sturgeon in the Snohomish Slough/River, but I imagine there are some kind of other fish in there. The main issue you would run into is that the river is under an emergency closure to all game fish, which would rule out fishing for them until it reopens. I'm not sure when that restriction ends, but I have always been curious what else resides in there so if you drop a worm in later in the year keep us updated as to what gives it a tug.

I've caught bass in some small sloughs on the sno before with vibrex spinners just messing around while salmon fishing.

There are lots of suckers bullheads and a few whitefish. Never caught anything else. Other than that, searun cutts and salmon when it's open, and sturgeon. As for panfish, some of the suckers are very large and can give you a good time, they eat as well as anything, just waaaay bony. There's always a russian guy down there filling up a bucket of them.

thanks for the replys. i kinda got hooked on pan fish [eating wise] after fishing leader lake last fathers day, i fish mostly the sound and lk stevens for koks, that will be reel soon, last year fishing steamboat slough for pinks i kept seeing something finning next to shore, so i thought i would ask.

I'm an old guy and have been fishing Everet/M'ville/Priest Pt. for 60+ years. It appears to me the fish you saw "finning" were sea-runs sipping surface spinners (hatching-returning flies). You can use -and should - little 14/16's on a long leader with plenty of floatant and cast back into the little inlets off the sloughs to nail them.

I don't know about the regs now, but years ago when I used to fish pinks in the sloughs with Martin Red Magic spoons, after I'd limit out (took the kids for more) I'd see the cutts and the hatches and have some top-water treats.

The Snohomish is - or used to be - stuffed with cutts - and you could troll over the beach rocks at Priest Pt. in about two feet of water at high tide with a D.Nite or a Muddler (looks like a rock sculpin to them) and get good cutts to three or four pounds. Best fishery for trout in the NW bar none and no one did it. Well, a few did it. But regs have made cutts like "bull trout" on the Skagit and maybe I'm wandering down memory lane too much. But the cutts on drys in the sloughs... better than Bridget Bardot in front of the fire!

CBCapps