By Dusty Routh

As they're surveying the Sioux land below them in the 1970 movie Little Big Man, muleskinner/scout Jack Crabb, played by Dustin Hoffman, says to Richard Milligan's George A. Custer, "You go down there, general, an' there won't be nothin' left of you but a greasy spot."

Custer didn't heed his guide's advice, and he paid for it with his life and the lives of 262 7th Cavalry soldiers in June 1876.

If Jack Crabb were to look down on Washington's Skagit River, he just might come to the same conclusion for an angler contemplating an attack on its steelhead. Rather than total demise, however, those who tempt fate on the Skagit typically come back with fishing confidence shaken and shattered nerves.

Fishing the Skagit, as some guides who ply this big river's waters will tell you, is a lost art. Casual anglers who might hit the Skagit once or twice in a season might find a fish, but most do not. They are left to grumble about the experience for months afterward, even as they deftly avoid the river while searching for easier water and more cooperative fish elsewhere.

There are, however, some fishing practitioners who understand the Skagit. These are anglers who carefully cultivate the mental fortitude and physical stamina necessary for consistent success that includes an ongoing mantra: keep the faith, have confidence in what you're putting in the water, don't give up, never mind the cold, and don't take it personally when this river whips you like a rented mule.

Steelhead exceeding 20 pounds, such as the one caught by Seattle resident James Seno above, are possible in the Skagit for those who put in the time each year to discover the river's constantly changing riverbed. Photo by Dusty Routh

One of those faithful practitioners is Tom Nelson of Lake Stevens. Just like Ken Griffey Jr., was born into baseball, Tom Nelson was born into fishing the Skagit. His father, a Marysville dentist, arranged his work schedule so that as much time as possible could be spent on the river plunking for kings. The junior Nelson started fishing this water with his father when he was 3 years old, and he hasn't stopped fishing it since. He now runs Skagit River Outfitters, a popular guide service.

Over the years, Nelson has become as self-confident about fishing as Griffey is about hitting a baseball, and as expert at coaxing out fish as anyone who's ever tried it. If there's a dyed-in-the-wool angler who understands the complexities of steelheading this vast river system, it's him.

"My dad was the one that first took fluorescent golf tees and put them on the shaft of a winter spinner for kings," Nelson recalls. "I remember all these wooden sled boats parked next to us, who talked about the fantastic fishing upriver. So in the late 1970s I started boon-dogging up there (also known as side-drifting). By the early 1980s I had my own wood sled, and I kept it, too, up until about 10 years ago."

You'll likely still see plenty of those unique wooden scows on the Skagit today. And while just about every steelheader you'll ever meet will argue about where the style of boon-dogging for steelhead was first developed, Nelson is convinced it was done first on the Skagit.

"Fishing the Skagit is a totally lost art," Nelson emphasizes. "It's where the technique of boon-dogging originated, because it came out of necessity. See, the whole key to fishing this river is to cover water. You have to cover water. You have to have faith in your technique, you have to know it's effective enough that you only go through the holes once. That's boon-dogging right there."

SEASON DATES & REGS January and February can be two of the most productive winter steelhead months of the year on the Skagit River. The Sauk River from the mouth to Darrington Bridge is open from June 1 to Feb. 28, with a catch-and-release selective gear season from March 1 to April 30. From Darrington Bridge to the Whitechuck River the season runs only to Feb. 28. From the Whitechuck River upstream to Elliott Creek, including the North Fork and South Fork, the season runs to Oct. 31 under selective gear rules. The South Fork above Elliott Creek season runs from June 1 to Aug. 31. On the Skagit, the season is year-round from the mouth to the Memorial Highway Bridge in Mt. Vernon. From the bridge to the mouth of Gilligan Creek, the season extends to March 31. From Gilligan Creek to the Dalles Bridge at Concrete, and from the bridge up to the Cascade River, the season closes March 15. From the Cascade River to Bacon Creek, the regular season closes March 15 but remains open for catch-and-release fishing under selective gear rules until April 30. From Bacon Creek to the Gorge Dam, the season closes Feb. 28. If you’re a sea-run cutthroat trout fan, the lower Skagit River remains one of the best places in the state to find them. The lower river is managed under selective gear rules: Barbless hooks and flies are the norm. While there can be sea-runs in the river virtually anytime of the year, August, September and October provide priceless and explosive fishing. (Try an orange Stimulator fished close to the banks on a warm morning). Dolly Varden fishing can also be exceptional on the lower river. — Dusty Routh

Nelson also talks about how the Skagit lost its top-stream rating in the state. "It was the number one winter steelhead stream in Washington for years - for generations," he laments. "But since the hydro-mitigation project happened on the Cowlitz, and that huge hatchery was put in by Tacoma PUD, the Cowlitz out-produces everything." Nelson mentions there's a new licensing agreement on the Cowlitz, however. "In the future the Cowlitz may not be as good as it was, and there's a proposed facility on the Skagit that might have the river back to its rightful place as the top steelhead river in the state."

For Nelson, there are only four ways to fish this river: boon-dog it, plug it, anchor it, or fish it with a fly, although he doesn't do much fly-fishing.

And those are primary reasons why a lot of anglers don't catch fish here, or they catch very few fish. The prime directive on this river is that you have to go to the fish, in a constant search-and-seek mode. "The amount of fish you encounter is a function of how much water you can cover. Period," iterates Nelson.

Enter boon-dogging, especially when water conditions are just right.

"It's all about positioning your boat in faster, deeper water and working your rig up close to the bank where the water's slower," Nelson instructs. "You want to hold yourself out in the main current, using your trolling motor to keep your drift straight and to slow the boat to the same speed as the current next to the bank. That's the whole key to doing it right."

For rigging, Nelson uses a pencil lead weight or a Slinky, interchangeably, based on bottom composition for optimum feel: He uses Slinkies over rocks, pencil lead over sand. Tie on the least amount of weight you can get away with and still remain in light touch with the bottom. Nelson ties up 4- to 5-foot leaders, a small pink Corky - "Any color will work," Nelson points out, "so long as it's pink." - between two small bait hooks, and a gob of cured eggs.

Boon-dogging gear can afford to be light, because once you've hooked into a fish you'll be drifting with that fish, or chasing it upstream or down, which reduces strain on your gear. "It's almost a zero-current situation," Nelson figures. He goes with 9 1/2-foot rods and 10-pound-test on spinning gear.