Sandy River

[ChuckDog]

So who's hit the Sandy in the last couple of days? Is is slowing down, holding it's own or picking up?

[Jbug]

i hit the upper sandy on saturday morning and picked up a 10 pound hatchery coho and released a chrome bright 15 pound native coho. i'd fish the upper stretches until the season ends. stay above dodge park.

[garyk]

I am not familiar with the Sandy, so don't take this as coming from an expert, but here are my impressions from the weekend:

Sat. 10/20, got a later start then I wanted and went to Cedar Creek Hatchery stretch. By 9:30am the parking areas were packed, fortunately there's plenty of elbow room on the river. Seemed to have been a good early bite that was ending by 10am or so. There appeared to be plenty of coho, lots of folks with one to three apiece, and saw two nearby anglers catch three.

I had been tipped to concentrate on broken water but I think I wasted my time on a piece of water that looked good to me but not the silvers.

Also learned the rigging style is different then what I'm used to on the coastal streams.

Result = 2 bites missed.

On Sunday, I set out confidently rigged with small corkies and better knowledge of the river. While there were still plenty of fish, the bite was definitely off. One local who clobbered them Sat was fishless on Sunday.

Result = 1 dark fish released

One flyfisher dude put on a good show nailing ‘em using a floating line, very small #4 flies to drift a slot. Small naturally drifting rigs, corkies & yarn, or even just small yarn seemed to be the best.

Hatchery worker explained that they've had 3-4 thousand coho return; he said that was normal and the bulk of the run comes in after Oct. 31 when fishing for silvers ceases. He added that most of these will be dark fish.

Biggest surprise – How many slobs will walk half a mile or more to leave their garbage on that pretty river.

Greatest relief - With my rain jacket's hood up and head down I didn't have to make eye contact with anyone as I left for a second day without a fish.

[ChuckDog]

Well our story was about the same for Friday. Fisheromen and myself hit above Dodge and landed 7 fish and had a few others on. One thing to note is that 2 of the fish I caught were 'mint' bright. However they had what appeared to be 1/4 of an adipose fin attached. It was obvious the fin had been clipped just not 'flush' like it should have been. I've talked with others over the past several weeks that have seen the same thing. Anyhoo, all but one of the fish came on #5's (even in the clear water); the other on eggs.
So is this run over for the most part or are there fresh fish still to be had after/during this rain?

[wiser]

Chuckdog, there will still be fish in the river but all salmon angling on the Sandy closes on October 31. Gotta get them by halloween night or forget them.

[ssteelheadsteve]

At 4 PM this afternoon the Sandy at Troutdale was not fishable.Very Muddy.