The Snohomish River is created by the Skykomish and Snoqualimie River confluence commencing its journey to Puget Sound about two miles from Monroe and terminating were Ebey, Union and Steamboat sloughs meet the Sound between Everett and Marysville.
   Access points for boaters are the Norton Street ramp in Everett, Smith Island, another about 1/2 mile above Lowell, the foot of Maple Street in downtown Snohomish, and the Hoover access opposite the Bob Hierman Wildlife Park about two miles upstream from Snohomish proper. Above the town of Snohomish reserve this area for jetdrives as the debris and shallow water cause havoc with props. Below town props are O.K. as the river is deeper and more channelized.
   Fishing in the river includes all of the legal salmon species in the Fall months, some searun cutthroat fishing, sturgeon trolling or plunking. During the winter season very good sucess can be achieved plunking the various bars (Crabb, Douglas) for Steelhead fresh from the saltwater and ready to test tackle.
   Though this is not a scenic river, more like a ditch with vegetation on its banks it can be very productive at times for those willing to ingore the mundane atmosphere.

• Current Conditions - Graph format of flow rates of the Snohomish at Monroe from the USGS
• Current Conditions - Graph format of the Snohomish River Basin from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Jan. 20, 2001
Thanks to: Jason Lees

We started about 9:30, we started late but we fished and fished and nothing until the end. Had one on for about a minunte and [it] snapped my line.

Oct. 2, 1999
Thanks to: Joni Wright

Went to Monroe fished for a couple of hours snagged 2 very tired humpies that were at the end of their journey. Released both, but was chatting with a beautiful Silver haired lady from Tennessee. She snagged 2 humpies also. All of the 4 fish snagged were in the very same spot (just in front of the hump) hers and mine. Why is that? Well the day was still great, the fish went back to their mission and my life partner and I headed to the woods to search for Chantrell mushrooms. BINGO, we scored very well on them. Thanks for an awesome year of great fellow fish people all over the state. I'm proud to be part of it. To end our day dropped down on the Sky to clean our 'shrums and cook a couple of hot dogs. And saw a cute 10 year old hook into a fish (it was snagged) but his dad helped him release it. He was so happy and it was the end of a very great day.

Oct. 3, 1999
Thanks to: Ken van Dorth

Got to the river at daylight, fished for 4 hrs. Only saw the grateful dead humpys. A fishing buddy of mine snagged a half dead hump on the tail, not even good to smoke!! Had a siver on for a few seconds, off a buzz bomb. Other than the tail-snag [of] floating humps, not a good day. The silvers didn't hesitate to play with our minds by jumping every few minutes.

Sept. 30, 1999
Thanks to: Uncle Dino

The silvers are in! But they're not cooperating as you would hope. My fishing partners Chip and Big John fished the Snohomish from light to dark, used everything in the book and came up with only three fish for the three of us [I of course limited]. The fish we did catch were all on various colors of Vibrax. I did manage a nice buck a little over ten pounds and what a battle on trout gear. Lots of fish jumping and rolling, very frustrating but enjoyable at the same time as the weather and scenery were great!

Sept. 30, 1999
Thanks to: CHUCK LAMBERT

I went to Stockers like a lot of guys. found myself all alone for a change. 12:30pm, outgoing tide. I was using a pink rooster tail with a silver blade. I caught two nice humps that were in good shape and released three more. First time for the rooster tail, but it seemed to pay off.

Sept. 18, 1999
Thanks to: Rod Bush

I've been fishing everyday since September 1st. The pink run has been coming in slowly. Somedays it has been smoking and other days slow at best. Strange year? Usually they flood the river all at once and its good for two weeks. This year they just meandered in a few at a time. Dick Nite spoons in a size #1 in 50/50 or nickel will knock these fish dead. Slowly retrieve close to the bottom and wham!! Fish-on!! The silvers will be here as soon as the river swells with some fresh water. Some being caught now but not many. Expect it to turn on soon. Hope this helps some of you nail a few more.

Rod Bush
River Otter
rvrotter@gte.net

Sept. 18, 1999
Thanks to: James "IZZY" Isdell

The Skagit is still closed for Pinks, as we all know. The inside track is, that they may open up the Skagit early for Silvers before the October 1st regular opening due to a substantial Silver run.
   On the Snohomish it has been good, almost as good as Yakutat, Alaska. If you know how to work the pink spin glow and shrip with a 18"+ lead line you will hook them. Best at 6:00-9:00 A.M. to 6:00-dark. The Silvers are present, but still in small numbers at this time. Indications from the scouts in the saltchuck is that the Silvers are there now and should be in the river soon. Try a pink tadpolly for success. If that won't work, try a spin glow with eggs.

Sept. 15, 1999
Thanks to: tony enders

Fished the Snohomish out of Lowell boat launch with my partner, Joe B. We were casting pink buzz bombs toward the beach and managed to hook up 5 times, landing 3 pinks in the 4-5 pound range. Good trip for a three hour outing.

Sept. 14, 1999
Thanks to: Mike Carey

Went to fish for pinks in the Snohomish today, launching at Douglas Bar. The river is quite low. It was an adventure reaching my favorite fishing hole. The passage through Thomas Eddy is quite narrow with lots of snags to dodge. Also, the water is so low that even with a jet its an iffy proposition at best. The bottom in spots can't be much more than 6-8". I was lucky to get back without slamming the bottom. I advise only the brave to get up past Thomas Eddy! Sad to say, I think one of these years that snaggy area is going to become unnavigable even to jets. Anyway, the fish are in thick thick thick! Humpies are jumping everywhere. I tried the same rigs that two years ago I was killing 'em with, but this time the pinks had lock-jaw. I tried everything in my tackle box, including pink buzz bombs. I saw one silver caught, and another fisherman said he caught a pink on sand shrimp. But that was it. If these fish get in a biting mood there will be plenty to go round so for sure I'd hit the rivers for the pinks now.

Sept. 11, 1999
Thanks to: Doug Poppe

Fished the Snohomish around Lowell this afternoon. The river is full of Pinks (no Silvers) limits in about an hour. Lots of waterskiers, jet skis and Bayliner owners. Wicked Willeys off the bottom and pink jigs caught most of the fish.

Sept. 6, 1999
Thanks to: dennis x. geissler

Put in at Langus Park at 7:00am. Up to Bend at Lowell. I had heard how well everyone was doing, not today! Fished till 4:00pm, saw 6 fish hooked, five landed. Was lucky enough to get one myself. All fish I saw were on pink lures. Are some guys using flatfish? The sheriff came alongside me to remind me to put my current sticker on the side of my boat. Thank goodness I had it aboard. When we arrived tide was low. Most fish were seen jumping and being caught on the incoming tide. Would appreciate a head's up when the fishing gets hot as I work a lot. Email me at dkls@gte.net.

Sept. 5, 1999
Thanks to: Ken van Dorth

Fished this am for about 5 hrs., not a one. Didn't see anyone catch any Humpys. I did see about 30 jump, not a good day for the humps.

Sept. 4, 1999
Thanks to: Uncle Dino

My fishing partner for the day was my buddy big John. We hit the river at the crack of dawn, [we put in at Langus Park] and ran up to where the Snohomish and Ebey slough meet and started trolling Mepps cyclops. After about an hour we got our first take down, I fought the pink for about 10 min. [very light tackle] and had her at the boat twice when she shook the lure. 10 min. later I hooked and landed a nice 6 pound hen. We fished until early afternoon having hooked several more pinks and landing one more to round out my limit [big John didn't get a hit]. We saw tons of fish caught on all types of gear, and had a great day on the river!

June 24, 1999
Thanks to: James Bailey

After work a couple of my friends and I hit the slough with the intent of catching a few sturgeon. We had talked to a few of the local bait and tackle guys and they had told us that we should give it a try under the 529 bridge that crosses Steamboat slough. So we set out rigged for bear (sturgeon)we had the usually fair on tap i.e. sandshrimp, anchoives, herring well to make a long story short we came up with 0 sturgeon, but I did land two native steelhead "which were quickly released". Go figure! They were both small but who knows they may get larger as the season goes along. Goodluck guys.

Oct. 20, 1998
Thanks to: Jim McCarthy

Three of us launched out of Sultan at 8am and drifted to Monroe. We used everything in the box. Primarily we stuck with corkies and roe. At about 2:30pm just downriver of the powerlines, my buddy hooked into an 8.5 lb steelhead, hatchery. We had some real good hits throughout the day, but nothing till the steelhead and and nothing after. She was full of eggs and we are going to drift from Monroe to Snohomish on the 22nd. Any suggestions? We didn't see to many fish rolling or jumping. One other boat got a 12lb silver on a hot shot and that was it. Just trying to keep up with dear old dad fishing in Oregon on the Winchuck and Chetko. Has anybody had any luck in the area between Monroe and Snohomish? I have seen a ton of fish in there in the last week but nothing being caught. Email me at jmccar@premier1.net if you know where the big ones are.

Oct. 11, 1998
Thanks to: Michael

Went fishing near the 522 overpass, was there at day break, along with many others! Saw lots of fish, stayed till noon and saw only two fish caught, those were caught off a boat! Stopped in at the Monroe bait and tackle and they jokingly said this was good for business! Everybody coming in was buying every kind of bait and lure possible cause they didn't seem to be biting on anything! Tried the Skykomish for another two hours then gave up. It was sure a whole lot better than staying home and working on my honey-do list! Hopefully it will get better!

Oct. 11, 1998
Thanks to: Mark Weber

I just happened to have Sunday afternoon free this week, so I decided to be a good husband and take my wife fishing. We put the boat in at the Snohomish launch (man can that thing use some help!) and started trolling upriver. Needless to say there were quite a few other boats around. After trolling up past the dairy farm without so much as a strike, we decided to head back to the launch. As we were trolling back downstream along the bank just above the mouth of the Pilchuck river, we finally hit our first fish, in front of about 15 other boats who weren't catching anything but a bad attitude.
The fish turned out to be a beautiful 8 lb. hen, that still had sea lice. So I turned the boat back upstream to go through the same area and about 5 min. later we had another fish. This one was a chrome hen about 6 lbs. No sooner had we put the plugs back out, my wife says "fish on". So, to make a long story shorter, we caught our limits within about half an hour, after going 2 hours with nothing.
We were pulling pink metallic wiggle warts. I think the secret to the Snohomish Silver mystery is just finding a fresh school of fish that haven't been in the river too long. It also seems like the plugs definitely outfished the Vibrax spinners, and Dick Nite spoons. Also jumping fish aren't always the biting fish.

Oct. 11, 1998
Thanks to: Dave Frakes

Arrived at the Langus launch at dawn. Only two other boats had launched, so figured we might have a good day. Ran upstream and found fish and several other boats fishing. Silvers jumping, rolling, etc...We could not get them to bite. Ran vibrax, mepps, eggs, hot shots - what's wrong? Didn't see anyone catching. Finally had two bites at 8 a.m. Around 8:30, Fish On! Caught and landed a small hen 6-6.5 pounds. Fished the same stretch of river for the next two hours-nothing. Fish were still everywhere on the finder: so ran further up river and saw the Indian nets and more boats-still real, real slow. Gave up at 1 p.m. with one fish-Great day on the river but frustrating for the amount of fish in the river.

Oct. 11, 1998
Thanks to: Mike Carey

My friend Randy and I went out again to the Snohomish River to try for some silvers. We hit the water at crack of dawn and fished for a couple hours at my favorite hole, throwing every spinner and spoon we had. The fish were rolling all around us but not a taker did we find. The water was a bit high but not unfishable.
At 9:45 we moved up to the Snoqualmie river and trolled spinners and plugs for an hour. Same fish rolling, same no results. We moved back down to below the 522 bridge and I let out a spin-n-go and eggs. A few minutes later it was "fish on!" as the rod bent over double. A nice, slightly colored 5 lb buck was in the boat, breaking a three trip skunk for me. We were unable to get any more fish to hit, and called it a day at 2pm.
The last two trips have been real efforts to get these silvers to bite and others have made the same comment. Wonder why? Usually I've had much better luck catching these river fish.

Oct. 10, 1998
Thanks to: Matt O'Neal

Arrived at Thomas's Eddy around 6:30, perfect fall day, Geese were flying over head and overcast. Not as much action on the water as the night before, but enough to make it interesting. I had been there about an hour and the guy up river from me hooked one. I netted it for him it was a 10 pound chrome Hen. Twenty minutes after that, I hooked up, and the other guy (never did get his name) netted my 12lb Buck. It was my first, I had the "Silver Shakes" for about 20 min. I could barely get the hook out of it's mouth. I ended up hooking two more fish between 8:00 and 9:00am, but lost a Hen close to shore (got longer net now), then a big buck spit the hook on a fabulous tail walk.

Oct. 7, 1998
Thanks to: Brian Dingess

Hit the river in the late afternoon for the second time since the opener and, for the second time, no fish-on. What is the problem with these fish?! I mean literally hundreds of fish jumping, rolling, dancing, you name it. We have tried it all the last few days (Vibrax, eggs, roe, Hot Shots, Dick Nites, Sand Shrimp, spoons, kitchen sink). We've fished in the pouring rain, sunshine, high tide, low tide, morning and evening. Not like we're the "Lone Strangers" or anything, not many folks at all (at least that I've seen) getting fish. Talked to a few fellas that floated for 8 1/2 hours from Monroe to Snohomish with only 1 fish apiece....I mean come on!! If anyone out there is tearing them a new hole, please post a report and give everyone else some training please...haha!!

Oct. 4, 1998
Thanks to: Mike Carey

My friends Manual, Randy, and I hit my favorite hole in the general area of Thomas Eddy, looking for some hot silver action. We hit the hole at daybreak. Fish were in, jumping around us. Unfortunately, the rains from the previous day had pushed the river up just enough to throw some bad color into the river. We cast for about three hours, but just one fish on (lost). We decided to try some plugs for a couple hours- no luck. We saw no one catch a fish and heard no reports of fish caught. One of those days I guess. Came in at noon. It was still a great day to be on the river. Next time I'll bet we do better!

Oct. 3, 1998
Thanks to: fish on man

Hit the Snohomish today in the rain. There are a ton of fish in the river. We pulled vibraxes and caught our limits. I was astounded at the number of fish the river is holding. Also quite a few people. We launched at Lowell road and headed up river. Morning was best.

Oct. 3, 1998
Thanks to: Tyler Celli

I fished the Snohomish River saturday, October 3rd. Got there at about 10:00-tried spinners, spoons, and eggs. I got 1 hit on a mepps #3. (it has white stripes through the blade). No hits on the spoons and 2 hits on the eggs. I talked to one guy who had one on floating eggs. One guy caught a 17# chum on nightcrawlers? He also had about a 20 inch brown trout. Lots of fish what do they want?!!!

Oct. 2, 1998
Thanks to: Marc Toenyan

I arrived at the river around noon, at the 522 bridge. One guy there all morning had one silver about 6#'s. I decided to stay as the rolling fish were too much to pass up. Fished under the 522 bridge from noon until 1 o'clock, then went I walked upstream where the flow is more concetrated and more fish were rolling. There was 4 people fishing there, up by the rock outcrop. Only one fish there all day too. Still, I couldn't resist, there was sooo much surface activity! Well, I casted and casted--spinners, plugs, jigs....nothin'!! I couldn't believe that not even an "incidental" hook-up happened. There were so many coho in there! Stayed until 5 o'clock, with not even a hit. I saw 4 boats there and didn't hear any "fish ons". Drove down to the park (Thomas's eddy) and spoke with a man who said two fish caught all day. I just hope the rain will loosen those lock-jaws...

Oct. 1, 1998
Thanks to: Ken Elsea

WOW! Am I glad she finally opened. The SNOHOMISH River is full of Coho. We saw lots of schools from Lowell Park down to the mouth and in Steamboat Slough. Fish were bouncing around like frogs in a skillet.
Most of the fish were taken on small Dick Nite spoons, Nickle in color. A few took green Vibrax #3 with chrome blade. Even large boats can fish this water and the boat ramp just past Langas Park is great.
Bank fishermen can fish from shore, just park the car in the East parking of the boat ramp and take the walkway East. Thew walkway follows the river for several miles.

Ken Elsea
Washington Fishing Adventures
(360) 653-5924

Oct. 1, 1998
Thanks to: Rod Bush

Opening day for silvers! Hey and everyone is here. Wow what a crowd. The fish were there but not real interested in biting anyone's hook. There was a weather front coming in. A well-needed one I might add. But I think it was effecting the fishing. I was able to get into four fish with my guys that day and we landed two. Very fresh fish though, just chromers!!

September 22, 1997
Thanks to: Mike Carey

The Snohomish River is running bright silver and pink. Once again fished a mile or so upstream from Thomas Eddy. My parents and I anchored and started fishing at 7am with fish jumping all around us. It was a great thrill for them to see so many fish in the wild. Over the course of the morning we caught four chrome-bright silvers and many pinks (too many to keep track of). The silvers are a bit bigger than last year, ours were 6-9 pound fish. We cast small blades, spinners, and pink/red corkies /spin-n-glows. It didn't seem to matter much what we tossed at them! There were quiet moments and then several fish would be caught. It went that way until 11:30 when we decided we'd had enough. We fished one hole the entire morning without exhausting it. Hope you all get a chance to hit the rivers, as the reports have been quite good on several of them.

September 21, 1997
Thanks to: Mike Carey

My friend Brad and I hit the Snohomish river tody, fishing a mile or so upstream of Douglas Bar. The river is jammed with pinks. We fished from 7 am to 11:30 am and caught three nice 6-7 lbs silvers, but had to catch and release a couple dozen pinks to get them! Any small lure like a #1 DickNite in silver with a touch of red worked well. Just cast toward shore and retrieve slowly. Look for the jumping fish and you can't miss. I'd have to rate the silver fishing as only fair, but the catch and release pink fishing is unreal.

September 12, 1997
Thanks to Rod Bush for the following report:

The river was low and clear and the weather was changing just a little to much for me. We started the day out with fog so thick it was hard to see the road and as the day broke we started to have a little sunshine but just enough time for us to strip all are coats and sweatshirts off only to have it downpour on us. But the fishing was great- we caught four silvers and I lost track of how many pinks we released. The silvers are running small around 4lbs. average. We did get one that was around seven pounds though. I forgot to mention the lightning storm that forced us to the river bank in the search of cover which there was none to be found. Lightning hit just a few 100 yards away which believe me is plenty close enough!! Then the sun came out and there was even a hatch that started the cutts going crazy! What a day. Only fishing can keep me out in crazy weather like that.

(Rod Bush) River Otter Guide Service
(206)399-7145 or rvrotter@gte.net
http://www.greatnw.com/riverotter

September 9, 1997
Thanks to Michael Maruyama for the following report:

Stopped by the Snohomish River Park on Connoly St. to fish for some pinks for about an hour after work. I had six solid hits and hooked three pinks within that one-hour period from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The hookups came while slowly jigging a two inch pink buzz bomb close to the bottom - almost close enough to get snagged. The hits felt like snags at first but then turned into gamey fish that put up a little fuss once they realized they were ere that way last Thursday evening too.

December 20th, 1996
Thanks to Jonathan Fast for the following report:

Any news on the Snohomish river? We were out last weekend and it was pretty slow. Caught one eight pounder with three of us fishing. Any fly patterns you'd suggest?
Can anyone out there help Jonathan with some ideas for fly patterns? E-mail me and I'll post and send them on to him.

Thanks, Mike Carey - Editor, Seattle Region Salmon/Steelhead