Douglas bar help needed

[Jaksonbrown]

Hey all,... new member here.

I need some advice on running my boat up through doug bar. I live on the hill right above it and can watch out my window and view the guys fishing and running boats up and down the river. I wake each morning to the sound of boats running up and down and launching at doug bar. It is a really great place to live.

My question is this.....

Yesterday, I ran my boat up from Snohomish up through doug bar to the 522 bridge to do some fishing. I ran the river just as I have seen hundreds do from my view off my deck. The tide was out, so the river was down. I ran up past dougs bar as far away from the bank as possible hugging the opposite shore as I have seen others do. The 6 or so fishermen on the bank went crazy..... Giving me the bird, yelling, etc. What the heck? The river was low so I was only in about 1.5-2 feet of water. It would have been impossible to go past them slowly as I would have come off step and hit bottom. I know that there is another channel around the main flow, but it was quite low and I was not sure of the route. I have seen plenty of others run the way I did almost daily. Is this typical attitude towards jet boaters around here? Is there something I should have done differently? I plan on fishing this area alot and always try to be respectful of other boaters and fishermen, but what else can one do?

Any advice from other boaters familiar with this stretch of water would be appreciated.

Cory-

[Matt]

That is the typical response from the guys on the bar (not speaking for everyone, but getting the bird is normal). The key is to hug to the right, otherwise you're gunna get plunking rigs chucked at the boat. The side channel around the back of the island is navigable, but woody. There are lots of stumps and deadheads in there. I ran it yesterday and took the side channel to avoid the hubub on the bar. You may/may not experience the same attitude from some of the people at Thomas Eddy. I leave these two spots to the bank guys, and don't even fish at them, but in order to get upriver you have to pass by and it HAS to be on plain otherwise, you are correct, you will get stuck.

Wouldn't want to get stuck within lead weight range! Yikes.

[Jaksonbrown]

Thanks Matt,

I appreciate the responce.... Nice fish yesterday!

[Matt]

The other option is to launch up at Highbridge Road out of Monroe on the Monroe/Duvall highway to fish that stretch. It can be a real **** to launch there on the weekends, but it is really close to the 522/confluence section, only about a 5 minute run to fishing.