Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: jazzbass on October 17, 2007, 06:35:59 PM
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Got up nice and early and started fishing at dawn.. The roe I cured up yesterday was working right away and I had two strikes but didn't manage to set the hook soon enough.. At 8:45 I pulled in a nice little 4 lb hatchery coho and thought that today was the day for some hot and heavy action... Then came 9:45.. 10:45... 11:45... 12:45... 1:45 and I caught my breath and looked up and no one was on the river any more.. What happened??? Something I said?? Nope!!!! The water had dropped a bit from yesterday and the color of the water was great but there simply wasn't any fish coming through except for the odd tired spring and some old pinks going in the wrong direction down river.. Stayed and kept casting in my slow moving pool I found at Tamahi but except for the odd dipper coming by for a visit I was all alone.. At around 3:00PM a few more fishermen showed up on the opposite side of the river but all I saw as far as action went was the odd spring tearing at their lines and cruising down the river through the rapids..... Maybe tomorrow... Sure, tomorrow will be better... I'm going to stay optimistic!!!!!
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Depressing!
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I hooked into 6 coho (landed 3, one of which was a hatchery), 1 steelhead, 2 springs and a chum today.
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Steelhead? i've heard of november fish but october? wierd.
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And then you woke up!!!!! ;D
Just kidding---good for you.
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I am a guide and work for US Fish and Wildlife along with a friend of mine, we both id fish for a living. We know what fish we are looking at. He caught and landed a steelhead today also. We were below the campground hole using BC Blades and were off the river by noon.
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Summer Steelhead are notorious wanderers. I heard of one caught last week in a river that sees no summer runs and has virtually no winters. Sometimes fish just stray ???
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bentrod never said it wasn't possible, and i know what u do, so i didn't question ur comment, they're just un-heard of.
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It was a great surprise. I saw one last year and caught one three years ago the same time. Going back out tomorrow.
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bentrod, how big was it?
Summer runs from a couple area rivers do wander into the Vedder, they are caught every year... Just not on my line :)
What a rush that would be!
;D
Nicole
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there was a stray summer run in the hatchery last year .... couple week later it wasnt there it .. talking to the staff there, they said it was there for a while then one day it was gone.
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I am disgusted! Well, not by the "Vedder gong show" (since I rarely see people at places where I fish ;D ), but by my own performance this morning. :-X Today was special. Each year I bring along my friend Iwan from UK for a couple of trips to wherever the fish are. The two of us, along with Luke, ventured out from first light to last light (just so Iwan could get his money worth on the non-resident freshwater fishing license + salmon stamp = $50 ;) ). We arrived at our chosen spot well before sunrise. It gave me enough time to set up his rod in the dark (Threading the main line through a bead is much harder than through the guides ::) ). Once it was light enough, we loaded our hook up with freshly cured chum roe from yesterday, and waited for the early float dives.
The bites came pretty fast actually. Within the first 30 minutes, the two of us had missed up to eight hits. Still asleep as usual, but it was good to see the fish being active right away. Meanwhile, Luke's float was enjoying its buoyancy.
Finally I had enough of the float dives and switched up to my favorite spoon. ;) A few casts in the tailout resulted in one distinct hit in the middle of the run. The poor hookset brought a rather large, silver coho to the surface. It wiggled three or four times while I frantically kept the line tight before the spoon flew over my head. I estimated the fish to be between 8 and 10lb. :-\
Not long after that, Lew showed up on the other side of the run. I gestured that the coho were here and I had just lost one. He gave me the thumb up. I decided to switch back to float and roe once again, and worked the slow tailout to see if another one would take it. Sure enough, the first cast with a huge clump of juicy roe brought action immediately. The float did not dive suddenly, instead it bobbed a bit before slowly sank down. I set the hook hard, immediately I could see the silver flashes underneath it. Luke quickly ran for the catch and release net, which we brought along hoping to land fish more easily. This fish, roughly around 5lb, came in pretty quickly, took a few short runs. Just as I was about to lead the coho, which was identified as a hatchery fish, into the net, the 1/0 hook popped out again! >:(
Disappointed, I jokingly ask Luke why he did not dive forward into the water and net the fish for me. ;D I looked across the river, Lew had that grin on his face once again. It's like a repeat episode of what happened two weeks ago.
Seeing that the fish were biting, I urged Iwan to get his bait out there fast. A few casts later, he was into a fish briefly, most likely a coho salmon too. By now, Chris and Gwynn had joined the party. While watching Chris fishing away, my float went for another deep dive. When I looked back, the float was completely submerged and reflex made me set that hook right away. A strong deep dive suggested a spring jack on the end of that line. Indeed it was, I brought the semi-chrome fish to the net so Iwan could take a look before releasing since he has never seen one before.
More people showed up at 10:00am. I decided to switch back to the spoon again. Once again, a few casts into the tailout brought a distinct tug on the rod tip. The first tug was light, so I slowed down the retrieve. The second strong tug came soon after as expected since coho salmon are known for following lures. This time I set the hook as hard as I could. The headshake and silver flashes in the water indicated the third coho salmon of the day. Luke once again went for the net. I carefully played the fish to shore. Again, just as he was ready to net the fish, the hook popped out! >:( This pathetic yet comical performance was witnessed by numerous individuals, who were unable to connect with a fish this morning. ;D
After Lew landed a spring jack, the action died down at 11:00am. Water seemed to be dropping steadily, and clearing too.
We took a lunch break and went back out at 1:00pm to a mid river spot. The chosen run seemed productive. Lew, Luke, Iwan and I hammered it with roe for two hours. At first we were missing numerous quick hits, then Lew was into another jack spring.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_01.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_02.jpg)
The fish was slightly coloured, indicating this year's jack spring run is coming to an end. It has been a fantastic year for them.
Iwan was the next lucky angler. His first fish after his arrival in Canada last week turned out to be a female chum salmon. He was so excited while bringing it in at one point and fell on his butt. ;) Luke and Lew assisted him with the landing and unhooking before I snapped a photo of the fish and its happy catcher. It maybe a chum salmon, but this was very exciting for him as he only gets to fish for pacific salmon once per year.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_03.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_04.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_05.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_06.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_07.jpg)
After being skunked all morning, Luke finally got himself a chum salmon too, which went back to spawn after a few photos. ;D
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_08.jpg)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_09.jpg)
We gave our last two hours of the trip to the run where I found some coho salmon this morning. The hope was to see these fish becoming active again at last light, which never really happened. The most exciting part of this evening was a few brief coho tugs on my spoon and seeing one solid coho following my spoon to the river bank before turning away.
The day ended with a big headache.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_10.jpg)
23 coho hooked this season, 10 landed, time to go sharpen my hooks. :-\
River was in very good shape tonight when we left and should be just as fishable tomorrow morning. Lots of chinook and chum salmon around, with coho salmon mixed in some spots, happy hunting before the river rises and colours. :)
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summers are quite often in the vedder in october . They are burnt out skinny and males mostly!
Before the river changed ... We got 4 out of the thurston meadows rock in one day .... daily,,,,,,, and CHROME REDS TOO! that was a great pool . There's better now thogh
Ry
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Stick to a coffee grinder Rodney and leave the casting reels to the pros ;D ;D
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They were 6 to 8 lbs at best. They were actually fairly bright, just a little blush on the cheeks. They didn't put up much of a fight however. Either way, it is always fun to catch one
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I have fished for many years and have recently started to view the posts on this forum. I appreciate peoples posts, however , i am confused about how some can say fishing is great when they only catch a few jack springs. Good fishing is 10 or so coho on the bank and chrome. If we keep accepting this as good fishing then nothing will be done to bring back the original hatchery numvers we once had. All i see now is more and more fishhermen and less fish. The fish community needs to stick together and demand more hatchery production from the feds. If the coho keeps going like this there will be no fish left.
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I have fished for many years and have recently started to view the posts on this forum. I appreciate peoples posts, however , i am confused about how some can say fishing is great when they only catch a few jack springs. Good fishing is 10 or so coho on the bank and chrome. If we keep accepting this as good fishing then nothing will be done to bring back the original hatchery numvers we once had. All i see now is more and more fishhermen and less fish. The fish community needs to stick together and demand more hatchery production from the feds. If the coho keeps going like this there will be no fish left.
i am sorry but only a person who only cares about meat would make such a statement.. more pressure for higher hatchery production???? It's not hatchery clones that determines the health of a system rather the numbers of wild fish. Perhaps more pressure to protect the wild stocks?? ie, habitat protection, commercial interception, etc.
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I have fished for many years and have recently started to view the posts on this forum. I appreciate peoples posts, however , i am confused about how some can say fishing is great when they only catch a few jack springs. Good fishing is 10 or so coho on the bank and chrome. If we keep accepting this as good fishing then nothing will be done to bring back the original hatchery numvers we once had. All i see now is more and more fishhermen and less fish. The fish community needs to stick together and demand more hatchery production from the feds. If the coho keeps going like this there will be no fish left.
It's all subjective; what's normal for one is great to another.
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Wow Rod it is quite a thrill to be able to show people who don't usually fish a piece of river that produces salmon that are catchable with a rod. I'm sure you've done this many times but have you taken people to the Squamish when the fresh chum are in? I WILL take the occasional one that are sporting sea lice and smoke them for friends of mine but more than anything else I'm there for the battle. It can be thrilling to see the look on newbie's faces when when you hand them a fly rod after a quick lesson on how to cast even a short distance and then they feel the power that a nice 25 pounder can give them. The one thing that I tell them is that they have to be a bit careful at first since a fish that size can literally pull you over.. I'm sorry your day yesterday was filled with unfortunate incidents but one thing I KNOW is that your buddy had waaaay more fun than if he was laying on the couch with a remote in his hand.
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25llbs a big a$$ chum
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jazzbass, funny that you brought up a Squamish River trip, because I took him out for that in 2003 and we had an excellent day with 20+ fish each with a few chromers kept. :)
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071017_11.jpg)
In fact, we were discussing last night on the way back a possible trip next week if the weather permits (which is becoming quite unlikely based on the forecast).
When I bring an out-of-town friend or new fisher out for a trip, the venue is picked carefully. It's not necessarily based on the productivity of the fishery, but its uniqueness so my friends are experiencing something that they have never done before. capohoc, a coho-less day maybe disappointing to me (the fish were found after all, just not beached), but it certainly wasn't considered a bad fishing day. We saw a breathtaking sunrise, which Iwan couldn't stop commenting about as it emerged over the snowy mountains. He got to see a jack chinook, which he has never seen before and now knows how to recognize them. We saw a coho chasing my spoon. We saw chum salmon spawning and fighting for territories. We saw american dippers hopping around us, bathing and drinking. We had very minimal amount of rain while fishing. All these factors, which we regulars take for granted, resulted in an excellent outing.
As FA said, expectation is subjective and changes throughout a fisherman's career. ;)
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Stick to a coffee grinder Rodney and leave the casting reels to the pros ;D ;D
I have tried to get him to graduate to a single action reel. Using the reel he does is why he loses so many fish ;D ;D ;D but I did not have the heart to tell him that, until now. ;D ;D
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I am totally in agreement with Rodney. (Expectation is subjective and changes…)
Just last year I started salmon fishing. When I caught my first spring (in my first trip in vedder) I was very excited and showed the fish to everyone. But… that was a very colored fish. This year when I catch that kind of fish, I release the fish as silently as possible.
To my believe, more hatchery production will not save the fish….
If we can go to the fishing only for fishing not for the fish (to eat).. That will helps a lot..
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Iwan was the next lucky angler. His first fish after his arrival in Canada last week turned out to be a female chum salmon. He was so excited while bringing it in at one point and fell on his butt. ;) Luke and Lew assisted him with the landing and unhooking before I snapped a photo of the fish and its happy catcher. It maybe a chum salmon, but this was very exciting for him as he only gets to fish for pacific salmon once per year.
A lucky angler indeed. Yesterday after some searching, Iwan finally landed his first ever coho salmon. To make it even sweeter, it was easily over 10lb.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071023_2.jpg)
The weapon used was the same spoon that has produced all season.
(http://www.fishingwithrod.com/albums/album34/071023_1.jpg)