By August the snowmelt has run out of the Skagit, and the river settles into emerald pools under cedar and Douglas fir. All afternoon a pool can look empty. Then the light goes off the water and wild rainbows start rising in it, picking tiny mayflies out of the film.
The river comes in three parts. It starts as a mountain creek that crosses back and forth under the Hope-Princeton highway in Manning Park. Where a second river joins it at a stand of old growth called Sumallo Grove, it turns south into a narrow valley with no road, only a trail. Then it slows into glides and runs, and from the 26 Mile Bridge down it wanders across a flat floodplain to the reservoir at the border. It is a river of four months: the rules close it to all fishing from 1 November to 30 June, so the fishing runs from July through October.
The highway creek is the part most people see and the part to leave alone. It holds few trout, and small ones. Look at it from the road and keep driving.
The trail water is the find. Below Sumallo Grove the Skagit River Trail follows the east bank south through big cedars, and nearly every pool and run that looks fishy holds a resident trout. Camps along the trail let you stay the night and fish the evening. You carry everything, and you have the river to yourself.
The valley water below the 26 Mile Bridge is where to start. A gravel road from Hope runs beside it, the river spreads into long runs and wide bars, and log jams and deep slow pools hold the bigger fish. Many of the rainbows here came up out of Ross Lake to spawn; the residents that stay in the river tend to be the larger ones.
Bull trout share the water, now and then a very large one, and the odd one takes a streamer.
At the bottom the river runs out into Ross Lake, which is full only in July and August. The rest of the season the Canadian end is mud flat, with a few good pools left in it for anyone who doesn’t mind the view.
Start with the evening rise between the 26 Mile Bridge and Chittenden Bar, then walk the trail and see what the upper pools hold.
Fish in this water
Each fish is rated by its strongest evidence. A rating says how sure we are a fish is here, not how many there are, whether it is worth fishing for or whether you may keep it.
Likely
Older records here, recent stocking, a local guide or fly shop, a guide listing, or recent records on connected water nearby.
Water and habitat
The Skagit drains the Cascades north of the border and runs clear once the snow is gone. In the narrow valley it is pool, rapid and glide, fast and shaded. On the floodplain it braids around gravel bars and piles timber into jams, and the deep slow pools beside those jams are where big fish sit through the bright hours. In late summer and into September and October trout move to the heads of runs, where the current brings them nymphs and they can drop back into depth. Tail-outs hold fish too, though many are awkward to reach.
When to fish it
July opens the season, and early July can still carry high, fast snowmelt; heavy rain brings it back up. August and September are the heart of it, with lower water, steady hatches and the dusk rise. By late September and October the fish feed mostly on nymphs at the heads of runs, and the valley is quieter. Stay late: the best hour on most days is the last one.
How to fish it
A 3- to 6-weight rod, 8 or 9 feet, with a weight-forward line and a 9-foot 5X leader covers the trout. Bring a 5- to 7-weight if you want to swing for bull trout.
When fish are rising, wade in below them and dead-drift an emerger in size 16 or 18 in the film, with no drag. If they refuse it, go smaller, lengthen the tippet, and change your angle until the fly comes down ahead of the leader. If nothing shows, tie on one small beadhead fur-bodied nymph and fish it through the head of the run and down along the seam. For bull trout, swap to a single streamer and work it slowly past the deep side of a log jam. Fish one fly at a time; BC law allows no droppers.
Some of the wading is chest deep in fast water. Carry a staff, and cross at tail-outs rather than heads.
Access and safety
The valley is reached by the Silver Skagit Road, which leaves Highway 1 near Hope: about 37 km of loose gravel to the park entrance and roughly another 23 km to Ross Lake and the border. Logging trucks use it, so drive with headlights on and slow down after rain, when it turns slick. There are no services in the valley; bring fuel and food from Hope or Silver Creek, and buy your licence before you come. Ross Lake campground has 88 sites, Silvertip sits under fir and cedar, and seasonal gate closures can shut access to them.
The Skagit River Trail runs about 14 km between Highway 3 at Sumallo Grove and the Silver Skagit Road, with backcountry camps at Delacy and Harlequin Flats. The shifting river has affected the footbridge at Sumallo Grove before, so check the BC Parks trail report before you walk in.
Bears are very active in the park. Carry spray and use the bear caches. The river runs very fast in snowmelt and buries boats in its jams, so it is no river to paddle. Mosquitoes are thick at dusk; wear long sleeves.