Well, here's my $.02 Based on living in Darrington '81-'85 and working for the Forest Service there for about 21 years, the Gov't Bridge is the lower one. Historically, the run from the Suiattle down to the Skagit is the safer water, but Sauk water is never really safe. There are somewhat more defined channels there and they move less often.....the upper run has a put in at the Summit Mill - just by the bridge. That run is the worst for moving around. The soils types just let that thing go everywhere. I lived on the banks of that section for 5 years...it is the most dangerous IMHO. More folks wreck or are killed in the upper section than anywhere else. But that upper section also has some of the best water for attracting the native fish. Great spawning water in the main channel and side steams. DO NOT take any portion of the Sauk lightley.....the locals have a great big selection of bent canoes, drift boats and what remains of some smaller floaters and rafts.
JeffO Preston Singletary wrote: > We were fishing not too far above the mouth of the Suiattle. I've never > floated the Sauk so I can't say much more about the put-ins and takeouts > than the obvious. First of all, there is apparently some difference of > opinion about which bridge is the "government bridge" some, as I always > have, applying that name to the first bridge below Darrington, the one just > below the mouth of the Suiattle, while others apply it to the next bridge > downstream (anyone able to clarify that?). I don't know where the upper > launch is, but I assume it is somewhere near the bridge on the Sauk Prairie > Road just out of Darrington. There is a launch/takeout just above the > government bridge, across and slightly below the mouth of the Suiattle. The > next launch/takeout is a rough one just upstream of the next bridge > (Sauk-Concrete Road?) downstream. Cross the bridge, turn left immediately > and go back upstream about a quarter mile. If, instead of turning left, you > continue down this road you'll eventually come to the gauging station where > there's a rough launch. From here on down there's nothing until you get > into the Skagit and I seem to recall hearing that there's a big full-width > sweeper down there somewhere this year. If you're going down there you'd > better get some current information. I guess I'll have to float the Sauk > one of these days, if only to get more familiar with those long stretches > between the bridges. Maybe someone can give you some more specific > information. I went back up Sunday and the Sauk was a bit high and very > dirty. We fished the Skagit at Diobsud Creek (one ugly, red coho cock, but > at least the hook was in his mouth) and opposite the mouth of Corkindale > Creek, where I lost a VERY large dolly. By the time we got back to the Sauk > in the late afternoon it had dropped and cleared significantly and I got one > dolly of about eighteen inches. > Preston -- JeffO You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
