Tidal Fraser River's coho salmon fishery opened today so of course, just like every other opening day, we gave it a go during the incoming tide. It is a hit and miss fishery, especially these days when coho salmon are not as common as they used to be. Some days you might encounter one or two, and rarely they are hatchery marked fish. Nevertheless, it is still a very fun fishery, especially that we only have to travel a short distance to do it.
Water clarity has improved significantly since it coloured up over a week ago. I was a bit concerned that I could no longer cast my lures or fly fish for coho salmon when it opens. If it continues to improve, getting one on the lure or fly is very doable.
Our usual spot was already occupied by quite a few guys when we arrived at 2:00pm. Most were familiar faces who return every season. The social aspect of this fishery is a highlight that I enjoy. To have others fish next to you is also a good indicator on how the fishing is. If others are getting bites, then it motivates us more as we know there are fish around.
Today we just bottom fished with roe, because it is the easiest way to fish for my dad. The choice of bait is freshly cured pink salmon roe from a few weeks ago. I also took out some moldy roe that was not dried properly back in August, because
last year I was surprised by how a batch of my poor roe performed.
The afternoon session started out pretty slowly. Nearby anglers had the odd misses. At 3:00pm, the tide picked up and so did the fishing. It appeared that a school of coho jacks was moving through. Everyone was getting some good bites but not many were hooking up. These small jacks can be sneaky bait stealers. I fished with a small spinner while my dad attended the bait rod. The spinner had a few taps but none stuck to the hook. Finally my dad hooked up and he quickly brought a coho jack into the net. It was a wild fish, which was quickly released. A few minutes later, he hooked another one, but it fell off when it broke surface.
Seeing how much better roe was producing, I decided to switch. As soon as I cast out my bait, the rod tip started dancing. The taps were small, but as usual they transformed into these sudden hard pulls. I missed the first couple, but I was ready for the third one. The fight of this fish didn't seem like a coho jack as it was heavy and stayed below the surface. It turned out to be a bull trout around 1.5lb. Just after I recast, I immediately had another hard tug and a wild coho jack was brought into the net.
The bites were on for about one hour before tapering off quickly. When the tide peaked, we were still getting the odd bites but we were not as focused since there wasn't much action most of the time. My dad landed another wild coho jack, while my unattended rod had a few really hard pulls. At one point, I was attempting to take a photo of the rod tip. While looking through the viewfinder of my camera, I saw the rod tip being pulled down but bouncing back before I even had to chance to touch the rod.
We ended the outing at 5:30pm. A few more jacks were landed by nearby anglers. Unlike ours, their fish were all hatchery-marked so some were lucky enough to go home with a few catches. Overall it was a pretty exciting session despite of the absence of adult coho salmon. Perhaps those bigger silvers will show themselves tomorrow.
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Topic: Tidal Fraser River, October 8th 2011 (Read 1329 times)