SIGNS OF LIFE: Seeking Wild Steelhead on the Skagit River 

I remember every single one. From the first to the last they all ingrained something special in my mind. They're a gift

I love fly fishing but my favorite parts of these patagonia fly fishing programs is where the fisherman start to cope with the fact that spey fishing produces very few fish😂. "Trying to catch a bunch of fish is backwards"😂. Happens in every one of these! Again I love fly fishing but I am not going to call conventional fisherman backwards because they dont want to swing around a $4,000 stick in the cold all day and maybe catch a single fish. Thats probably a good thing though becuase steelhead are more likely to die if they are caught on fly gear due to exhaustion anyways. I wish them luck though, but if you are going to fish with a method that is more likely to kill your catch, maybe you should be more supportive of broodstock programs to help put more fish in the river so you arent killing any of the few remaining wild fish as often. Cheers and tight lines!

Thanks for so accurately and yet simply describing this amazing fishery and the wild steelies, stories and relationships it produces

just smashed the subscribe button.. as a BC'er and watching our Thompson River die a painful sad death due to incompetent management, It's so refreshing to see a video where there's a glimmer of hope and how mind sets need to change on how we approach these miraculous fish.. great work.

Maybe one day all the dams will be removed all the way up to Canada 🤞

Rivers are not dying of poor management. Everything on this planet is dying because of who we are, and how we go about our life's. Sure them Skagit anglers mostly driving huge trucks, wearing gear which when you launder deposits plastic particles in all of us.. including steelhead. You get the picture. It's an illusion to believe you can manage an environment while abusive care takes( all of us) are rampant. Putting a hook into another beings mouth to enjoy the fight is one of the most abusive undertakings imaginable. I used to flyfish for sea run cutthroats from the beach with a fly rig and made a killing. And then one day after I hooked a fish I saw this other trout follow my catch to the beach, acting all concerned about her struggling family member. And something stated to shift in me and I gave it all up. You can't call yourself a conservationist and pretend hooking fish in the mouth for sport is tolerable. You really want to make a difference? Leave them fish alone😮

i fished there when i was a kid.. my father was stationed at whidbey island back in 1969 thru 1971.. caught my first salmon there* Father is a United States Marine ),, also caught trout and other fish there.. was using my grandfathers bamboo fly rod...

How did we ever catch steelhead on single handed rods? Oh yeah. We learned how to properly cast

Natural basin broodstock. Just do it already

Absolutely amazing! Thank you for another video. This one hits home as I live in Oregon and steelhead mean so much to me.

Hatcheries should utilize a broodstock program. The Hatcheries are the answer and should not be used to pit user groups against one another. Remember that those Atlantic farmed fish getting up the rivers are far worse for the fishery.

I hit all those spots that morning with a 20mm bead bobber dogging and caught fish in every spot

I love the Skagit river. I miss it so. 11:57

If you can’t learn to fly cast properly, no worries. Just get a Spey rod.

From the UK -what lovely footage-and what a river; that said, I think we -as the fishers and the people who care most about 'our' rivers'-are too quick to accept blame for reduced numbers; in the UK a madness -like the preservation by law of seals in every worthwhile salmon river estuary-prevails. We need to organise and say-'No-I wont spend money on your permits until you get a grip'. Otherwise-well, casting is quite fun.

The Skagit now is but a joke compared to what it used to be.. can thank WDFW and bolt decision for that. I've only been fishing Skagit since 99 can't imagine how old timers feel. Still enjoy fishing it but these "experts" have destroyed this system. And yes, I do believe in conservation and have no problem catch and release but catch and release isn't possible with nets.. not really good with bait either. I don't have much knowledge considering biology but I have common sense to know that with sheer amount of people that fish spreading nets that kill every fish in it will wipe out all fish.. good luck trying to get liberal politicians to change anything, they only care about money and their image instead of what they should care about which is conservation. Your vid was nice, sorry for the rant but it needs to be said.

Damm this video sparks the flame of passion for me. Been addicted to fly fishing ever since my first trip in middle school. Unfortunately I live in south Louisiana we’re we don’t have the opportunity to fish places like this. Making a trip up to Washington this summer to it’s all about. Gotta love seeing someone repping LSU in this film.

Good stuff guys.. i can see this channel exploding. Great quality footage and awesome fly fishing

Always happy to see Jerry in a video. absolute legend

the stilly used to be good river to fish as well, they ran out around what 2005? dunno if they're back or not haven't been but I wanna get back..

These short films are amazing! Thabks

It looks a bit cold.

Awe inspiring.

Great article

Amazing…made me sad I pray for steelhead Here in Michigan And especially on west coast…. Where I fell in love with mykiss