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Skagit River Journal

of History & Folklore
Subscribers Edition Stories & Photos
The most in-depth, comprehensive site about the Skagit.
Covers from British Columbia to Puget sound. Counties covered: Skagit, Whatcom, Island, San Juan. An evolving history dedicated to the principle of committing random acts of historical kindness

Noel V. Bourasaw, editor (bullet)

810 Central Ave., Sedro-Woolley, Washington, 98284
Home of the Tarheel Stomp (bullet)

Mortimer Cook slept here & named the town Bug

Cecil Hittson's Fishing
Memories and Suggestions

A young, jaunty Cecil Hittson fishes on Grandy Lake in the not-to-recent past

Cecil Hittson has read our site since the beginning, nearly four years ago, and has contributed tremendously to our knowledge about the history of the upper-Skagit river. He grew up in Lyman when it was still an active market crossroads as well as an logging center and although he is a little older now, he is still a spring chicken at heart. As we attended the Sedro-Woolley High School Alumni Association picnics over the years, Ray Sundal and others suggested that Cecil's own memories and suggestions would be a tremendous addition, so we start this series. Cecil learned the wisdom of his elders and the Indians who fished and hunted all over the valley and the foothills for their livelihood as well as for fun. We will share his own experiences and photos and we will refer you to the greatest early writer about Skagit hunting and fishing — Frank Wilkeson, who boomed Hamilton in the 1880s and 1890s and published his experiences in the New York Times over a ten-year period. We will soon add other pioneer memories from Cub Ramsey and others. And we will feature Cecil's stories about growing up in Lyman such as the famous floods and the tavern fire of the late 1940s. We hope that any of you who have similar documents, articles and family memories will add them to this growing section.

Chapter 1: What to wear when fishing and wading
in mountain streams
You will be wearing staubed-off pants — pants cut just below the knee. These are worn to allow you more freedom of movement when you get wet. And you will get wet. On your feet you should wear an old pair of caulked boots. The rocks are very slick and the boots provide better footing and protection from landing on rocks in awkward positions.

Try to be one with the river, respecting its power. And always know your position and location in the river.

You definitely do not want to wear hip or knee boots. These boots make it impossible to swim in when they are full of water. You also do not want to wear low-cut tennis-type shoes. They are the worst things. With the numbing effects of the water you don't notice that the find sandy gravel creeps into your shoes and has rubbed your ankles raw. you will have no idea how much skin has been rubbed away until you're heading to camp. One time I had to pack a person out of the Marble Creek area because his feet were so torn up from this.
An inner tube with a saddle and armpit waders are best used in beaver ponds or slow-turning rivers. Always fish down stream. It is much easier to wade downstream than fighting the currents going upstream. Remember that trying to stay dry is a lost cause. You will fall in before the day is over.
Paradoxically, walking along the banks scares the fish more than wading down the middle of the stream. You'll be sure to catch your limit by wading. Wading also provides more freedom in the movement for your pole. You should take a minute to study the flow of the water. The water always flows faster on the top than on the bottom. Have a healthy respect for the current strength, but don't be afraid of it. Also, try not to dislodge debris that can then float down and hit you from behind. One time in Jones Creek above Lyman I was hit in the behind by a beaver whose stick home I had accidentally broken up.
Try to be one with the river, respecting its power. And always know your position and location in the river.
For a midday snack, you might carry a can of sardines that are packed in oil. You can easily eat this as you wade and fish. Our evening meals were always cooked on an old square washing-machine lid. After you cure your lid, you have a perfect cooking pan for four people. Supper will of course be trout and then you will add potatoes, beans, fried corn and maybe hush-puppies. A good swig of moonshine and you'll be off to a great night's sleep. Oh, and hang your pants on a limb so that maybe they will dry overnight, because you'll be wearing them in the morning.
And one more hint. When putting your fishing pole together it is always important to rub the metal sections on the side of your nose. The side of your nose has just enough oil to help the metal sections slide together easily.

More fishing and hunting stories on our pages This section will grow over the years. You may want to go on and read other stories that we have featured over the years.

Col. Frank Wilkeson wrote columns about fishing and hunting here in the 1880s and 1890s for the New York Times and was the first to make the Skagit river area famous nationwide. Read his biography, which leads to a dozen columns, especially these that are specifically about fishing.
Read about Frank taking his son and friends for a fishing trip on Grandy Lake.
Read about fishing for Humpback salmon and trout with his friend and Hamilton pioneer, Ike Morrell, in 1892.
Frank takes time off with his son and friends for fishing and hunting near Hamilton in the New York Times in 1893.
Frank Wilkeson takes his New York Times readers fishing on 6-Mile Creek in the North Cascades in 1890, after walking 14 miles through the forest to Hamilton. These last two columns are from our old site and the links there will not work. Please return here for links to other stories and sections.
Frank Wilkeson writes in the New York Times in 1888 about the joys of hunting and working with a well-trained setter, and about observation and adjusting to your environment.
Paradise of the Cinnamon Bears, number 13 in the series of Northwest stories by Frank Wilkeson, published in the New York Times, July 10, 1892, about hunting across Skagit Pass near Lake Chelan.
A four-part section about the first permanent settler on the upper Skagit river: Otto Klement. He paddled across Puget sound in 1873 and left quite a mark on the county over the next 50 years. Includes his biography, his arrival here and the hilarious story of the Good Ole Boys and the Pig at his Lyman trading post in 1881.
Marv Olsen, our Monte Cristo-Bennettville correspondent, tells an honest-to-God, true story about his late father leash-trained his pet salmon. Shared from our separate Subscribers Edition archives.

Story posted on Dec. 21, 2003
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Skagit River Journal

Cecil Hittson's Fishing Memories and Suggestions

Cecil Hittson's Fishing
Memories and Suggestions