I woke up at 5:00AM, threw my stuff on, grabbed coffee, put on Tool's 10,000 Days CD, and rocked out on the way to Skate Creek for some trout fishing. I fished the upper river, above the second bridge because the river was moving way too fast down below. In addition, there are holdover trout up above and way less people. A new thing this year: Skate Creek is NO LONGER being stocked by WDFW because the rainbows eat all of the fry from the salmon that are being planted in the Cowlitz at the Franklin Bridge...So no more easy pickin's for the trout...That being said, the fishing was tough...I had to work hard for the fish I caught - a couple of nice rainbows 16" and 14" and a bunch of small cutthroat (pictured). The river was running high and there are fish in it but not as many as there used to be...Probably a good thing with the salmon being re-introduced into the upper Cowlitz. I fished black ant patterns and some small brown secret specials... Next weekend I am heading up to Summit Creek/Soda Springs for some excellent fishing...

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