Awesome stuff that I'll never do again..

Drift fishing on a kayak...Sounds relaxing right? Images of Huck Finn and bobbers come to mind. ( ).   Not On the Skykomish with 5900 CFPS pulling you along for 8 miles!

So our trip started off pretty much like most. Good weather?  check.   Fish are in (steelhead)?  Maybe.  Water conditions?  6200 CFPS and falling "fast" (interpreted from graph on USGS Website).
Historically the Skykomish is know to empty out fast so their was a good chance of pulling up to see slow, calm water...
Now I'm not speaking from any experience here as I have never been to the Skykomish.  I have extremely limited experience river fishing.  I certainly had no experience white water kayaking ..before yesterday anyways.

So Zee and I met up at his house Sunday morning.  He was bringing his 9' mirage inflatable.. I had my 15' OK PT-A. (red flag maybe??) . After about 1 hour we arrived at Sportsman park near Sultan WA.  We left my truck there and proceeded to the top of the drift.  On the way up I would peak over at the river and see a wide, flat, lazy body of water. "looks a bit fast" I thought but their were bound to be a bunch of nice calm eddies to drift through in and 8 mile stretch

We arrived 10 minutes or so later at a launch just down river from HWY 2,(http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=monroe+washington&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Monroe,+Snohomish,+Washington&ll=47.835831,-121.658134&spn=0.010601,0.019248&t=h&z=16) unloaded the kayaks, dry-suited up and went down to look at the river.  "Whoa"  Zee said which to me meant "HOLLY FREAKIN CRAP"  The river was up and moving fast!  Just down from the launch about 400 meters there was a sharp right turn with what appeared to be nice class 1.5-2.5 rapids.  Zee asked if I was comfortable going out in that?  after going over a few plans of attack I decided that I could safely get to the other side and walk it out if the rapid was too bad.  "Sure" I said.  "lets do it!"

After everything was strapped down and rods were stored in the rod-pod we launched.  I shot off at a 45 degree angle for the other bank and calmer water.  I was able to skirt the inside of the turn without much trouble while Zee  on the other hand, hauled ass through the thick of it and came out clean with a huge smile on his face.
After walking out that rapid I figured I could just do that for the rest of the way if things looked unsafe. I was wrong.

Immediately after that last turn there was another large rapid but this time it was on my side of the shore and there was not enough room to paddle across to bypass it.  I had to go through it.  I lined up on the safest route through and made a mental note to keep the bow facing forward no mater which way the water wanted to take me.  Deep breath..death grip on my tethered paddle..here weeeee  gooooooooooo.  Left.. right,  rudder right..left, shift weight forward...back..left..right...500 things going on at once and any wrong movement could send me rolling along.  Water covering the bow completely and at one time I swear the whole kayak was under water!  and just as quickly as it came it went.  20 seconds that seemed like 20 minutes later, scupper holes draining, everything still with me (including my kayak) I let out a thunderous "WOOO  HOOOO!!"  

OK.  Now its time to fish.  The water was moving too fast to drift so we decided to anchor up in some calmer water.  My 3 lb anchor was useless in the current so I ended up banking it most of the way and fishing from shore.  I tried jigs under a bobber, spoons and even egg pattern flies..nothing!   Zee tried all the same stuff and even floated roe...Nothing.

The same thing went on for about 4 miles (intense rapids, stop and fish...intense rapids, stop and fish)  Then we stopped  to eat lunch.  I'm not sure where we stopped at (back woods West Virgina maybe?) But It looked like the Made'r  family reunion (from "Cars") with matching occupants who were bonfire fish'n from lounge chairs.
With the smell of rotting chum filling our noses  we scarfed down much needed energy for the last half of our trip.
The last half was a bit easier rapid wise.  But still too fast to fish effectively.  We ended up walking over some shallow rocks to a small off shoot of the river and found calm, clean water.  I tried without success with my fly rod to entice a single 10 lb chum swimming in place in the slow current..no luck.  We put in our kayaks and started a nice lazy drift in about 4-5 of water.  Seeing "nervous water"  towards the bank I tossed my jig and bobber up against some downed timber then WHAM he slammed it.  A nice bright 8 lb chum!  "Alright!", I though, the skunk is off!
 We continued floating peacefully down that creek. Admiring the towering snow capped  mountains , the bald eagles in the trees, and the fall leaves on all the trees.
Our adventure ended with as much excitement as it started or should I say "terror".  Drifting down our little offshot, we came  to the main river.  It was oriented perpendicular to our creek and a straight shot into it would have rolled our kayaks for sure.  We came up with a plan to attack it at a 45 degree and pointed downstream to minimize to bow jerk.  I paddled up, lined up on my angle, then a rock bumped my bow in the middle of my dash and angled my bow straight at the 10-12 mph water!  FULL LEFT RUDDER....PADDLE PADDLE!!  I did not get my 45 degrees instead I ended up with a very scary and wobbly 60-70.  But the river was not done with me yet.  About 200 yards up on our side of the river was a giant downed pine tree sticking out 150 feet!  From where I was, the current was taking me straight towards the trunk of this thing.  Now when your moving that fast staring that thing in the face you have two options.  1. Go for the trunk and hope to slip under it.  Now that would not work because I had my rods sticking straight up and they would be toast for sure.  Option 2. While seemingly impossible, is to try to paddle my ass off to the center of the river and clear the tree completely.  tic toc..tic toc (100Th of a second later)  I started paddling my ass of and try to go around.  5 seconds later and 75 yards away I'm at the middle of the tree...3 seconds later 5/8Th's....1 second later with only 1-2 feet of tree in front of me...SCRATCH>>>WHISP>>SNAP....I barely made it.  The very tip top if the tree caught the line on one of my rods and snapped the line (small price to pay for not getting packed underwater in the damned thing)

This is that spot: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=monroe+washington&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Monroe,+Snohomish,+Washington&ll=47.85736,-121.791258&spn=0.010597,0.019248&t=h&z=16

We pulled back in to Sportsman Park after 6 hours of terror, beauty, a little "banjo", neither of us "taking a swim", all our gear (minus a couple of jigs), and all our body parts.
Well If you hadn't guessed by now I  wont be taking that trip again (or at least in those conditions and certainly not in a 15' sit on top kayak).

Thanks "Sky" for the adventure!  But unfortunately this will have to go in the category of: "Awesome stuff that I'll never do again"

Brian.

(Not many pictures but I'll post them soon)





 

  


    

haha! Sounds like a great time!  Also having a 15' yak, i've been holding off on drift fishing till it get a smaller one. 

and, you know you'll go back out there......

Glad you guys made it back safely!   And thanks for sharing the adventure.   

They ought to ban those magazines that print articles about potentially dangerous undertakings without any safety info.!     

Definitely go with a shorter yak and loose the rudder!  Yikes!!!

-Mark-

Thanks for sharing hopefully we can learn from your mistakes hard work.  Glad everyone is okay.

Definitely go with a shorter yak and loose the rudder!  Yikes!!!

I'd also look at doing this during lower water.  While certainly not flood stage, 5900 CFPS is well above the mean/median for this time of year.  A falling river is good, but I wonder if there isn't a phone number you can call to find out the real-time flow once you get to the river?  It's hard to judge flow sometimes from the bank.

Here's the historical mean flow for the Skykomish over the last 80 years.
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis/dvstat/?site_no=12134500&por_12134500_1=1179714,00060,1

Brian

I would venture a guess that drifting "winter steelhead type" fast flowing rivers holds more potential dangers than the ocean.  Thing can go south fast and when they do, they often go way south.

I have floated quite a few fast flowing coastal rivers with my fish and dive and I personally don't like the traditional SOT hull for drifting these kind of rivers.  They don't turn well in/across fast current, are slow to respond in heavy water and are easily pushed around by current seams etc.. If you miss your line it can be real hard to salvage your run through the rapids/around obstacles etc.  In smaller rivers with low/medium flows I think they can be decent/safe option.  But the longer hulls and little to non-existent rocker in the hull that most SOT's have make them less than ideal in my opinion. 

A falling river is good, but I wonder if there isn't a phone number you can call to find out the real-time flow once you get to the river?  It's hard to judge flow sometimes from the bank.

I dunno man, I think the "HOLLY FREAKIN CRAP" observation was very accurate - and a lot more fun   

I would venture a guess that drifting "winter steelhead type" fast flowing rivers holds more potential dangers than the ocean.  Thing can go south fast and when they do, they often go way south.

I have floated quite a few fast flowing coastal rivers with my fish and dive and I personally don't like the traditional SOT hull for drifting these kind of rivers.  They don't turn well in/across fast current, are slow to respond in heavy water and are easily pushed around by current seams etc.. If you miss your line it can be real hard to salvage your run through the rapids/around obstacles etc.  In smaller rivers with low/medium flows I think they can be decent/safe option.  But the longer hulls and little to non-existent rocker in the hull that most SOT's have make them less than ideal in my opinion. 

+1

-Allen

I agree with everything everyone has said here.  I hope I don't mislead anyone by using the word "awesome" in the title.  While our journey was quite exciting, I (and I'm sure Zee) in no way wish to endorse kayak fishing in such conditions as effective,appropriate or completely safe for the greater majority of paddlers.  I usually pride myself in researching to death places and conditions I plan to kayak fish then pair that information up honestly with my abilities and equipment.   I obviously dropped that ball last weekend.  Had I did the right thing, I would have determined that the river conditions that day did not fall in line with my  equipment or abilities.  I was lucky that things did not "go south" for me or my equipment.  I would hope that anyone reading this will come across the same conclusions.
Brian

They don't turn well in/across fast current, are slow to respond in heavy water and are easily pushed around by current seams etc.. If you miss your line it can be real hard to salvage your run through the rapids/around obstacles etc.  

This is important information for anyone who plans on drifting a river from an SOT.  It doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't.  It's just something you need to know before you launch.

I personally don't like the traditional SOT hull for drifting these kind of rivers.

I wonder if we could convince one of the manufacturers to make and let us test drive experimental SOTs designed with bottoms like driftboats or prams?  I'd be 1st in the crash-test dummy line!!!

I'll bet Zee had a pretty good time although he probably did not get to use the pedals as mush as usual. That inflatable with two fat azz sponsons, lower center of gravity, and a flat bottom sound a lot more comfortable for those conditions than pretty much any plastic SOT.

They don't turn well in/across fast current, are slow to respond in heavy water and are easily pushed around by current seams etc.. If you miss your line it can be real hard to salvage your run through the rapids/around obstacles etc.  

This is important information for anyone who plans on drifting a river from an SOT.  It doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't.  It's just something you need to know before you launch.

I personally don't like the traditional SOT hull for drifting these kind of rivers.

I wonder if we could convince one of the manufacturers to make and let us test drive experimental SOTs designed with bottoms like driftboats or prams?  I'd be 1st in the crash-test dummy line!!!

I think there is huge potential for a SOT river runner but I just haven't seen a current model that fits the bill perfectly.  I would buy one in a heart beat if someone would make one that would handle more like a pram/drift boat etc.  Wide, lots of rocker, set up for drifting etc.

Would my inflatable self-bailing Sevylor River XDS (looks like this one) be good for that? 

It's supposed to be whitewater capable  ... not that I would try it in a class IV or V

I'll bet Zee had a pretty good time

I'll let Zee chime in on this one...But this is all I saw from him ( )  ME= ()
Brian

It was a great time with lots of adventure for sure CK76! The flow was a little high but the upper Sky can handle and the aforementioned drift is pretty to easy... if you have the right kayak. CK's Prowler was a bit long and like PP I also feel most yaks w/ a keel are pretty tough to use in rivers. That's why I ride the mini white water raft, the i9s. I let CK know the odds for this drift and he was good so I kept my eye out for him.

While CK was a little worried about the first rapid I thought he could handle it as it wasn't too crazy. The river had some different characteristics to it this time w/ the higher water and newly fallen trees. There were choke points that made some interesting runs. But we made it through good. I'm pretty confident that I could do a lot of help if he flipped and he was smart keeping his yak organized. The last convergence zone of the two stems of the river was nuts. That was the heaviest river situation I've ever been in and was really happy to be in the i9s. The 150' tree CK mentioned was just out of view so when we came around the corner we both got blind sided. I was able to pop over most of the turbulence and since the bottom is as flat as a drift boat was able to skirt across the current w/o too much trouble. CK, let me tell ya bruddah, a lesser man woulda' been stuck in that strainer. You handled that situation.

The fishing was tough but it is early season so we knew that from the start. I got a few bites side drifting roe but just light biters so nothing sticking.

Finally I want to echo what others said about kayak fishing rivers. It's one of the most technical types of kayak fishing so make sure you're up to it and you're going with someone who knows what they're doing.

Z

I think there is huge potential for a SOT river runner but I just haven't seen a current model that fits the bill perfectly.  I would buy one in a heart beat if someone would make one that would handle more like a pram/drift boat etc.  Wide, lots of rocker, set up for drifting etc.

The i9s has not let me down. It's got all the features you're talking about and since it's inflatable bounces off boulders and slithers over shallow rocks. It is insanely stable and durable. If you want to give it a demo let me know.

Z