Once again a very warm welcome to all anglers to The Journal on FWR.
As I awoke this morning I heard the last few drops of rain on the roof of the house. Tired from the last two days on the river I did not hear a thing last night so I did not know if they had been enough rain to colour the Vedder or not. It was not much of a worry as if it was colored, the forcast was for a sunny day so it would clear as the day progressed.
My first task of the day was to tie some roe bags but could not find the roe I had thawed on Monday, must have dropped it somewhere on the river. In the freezer I go and get the bright idea to thaw it in the microwave.
Do not tell my wife.
The only trouble was I set it for too long and it came out almost cooked.
Anyway I had no choice and tied up some terrible looking roe bags, feeling what a way to spoil some good steelhead roe.
They would not give me much confidence today but I had a couple of excellent looking bags that Toothpick Tom had graciously given me a few days ago.
I reach the parking area a little earlier today but find the early birds already there. As I look down the trail 3 anglers are moving at a steady pace with only one thing on their mind I am sure, ironhead.
I load up the two tubes, my packsack with a thermos of coffee and some snacks, ready for a day of work
chasing fish for the tube. I find I am spending more time running up and down the bar after fish than fishing but that is fun anyway as I meet some great people and all are so good to donate their wild fish to the program. Of course it will pay dividends in future years to provide hatchery fish for those that like to take a steelhead home. Hats must go of to the staff at the Chilliwack River Hatchery that do a great job providing not only steelhead but coho, springs and chums for the recreational angler, both in the ocean and the river. They certainly know their stuff.
As I reach "The Torpedo Run" it is well occupied by about 6 anglers, drop in for a chat to G. and he said one lost already.
It is hardly light. The river had coloured from the rain from last night but still plenty fishable.
I say to G that I am going to "The Above Run" as only one angler there.
It is not long until that angler is into one, at the tail out and as it is a hatchery it goes to steelhead heaven. It is second steelhead in as many days.
The angler after filling out his license comes to chat and with my attention not where it should be I miss something close in. I am not sure if a fish but when The Maple Leaf Drennan goes down it is usually telling me it is a fish as I am way above bottom and my leader has gotten shorter lately, 10 inches.
O, by the way I have started with a Toothpick Tom egg sack as my new recipe, microwave roe sacks are best left in the container.
A few casts later, a tad further out, no sign of the MLD
, I am ready this time and we have action boys, action. The steelhead respects "The Above Run" and we play back and forth tag for about 5 minutes and as it breaks water its crimson cheeks and sides signal buck. It is a fish in the 12 pound or so range but we can not tell if it is a hatchery or a wild yet.
Finally I get it close enough to see it is a wild so I once again flip the tube off my back and the other angler zips it open and helps me get the now tired steelhead without incident in the tube.
We then pack the fish and the water filled tube quickly to the side stream,tie the tube to a small root, the time is shortly before 8.
I phone the hatchery at 8:30 for pickup. GB who is trying fly fishing today has also been working the run and we have been given him room to ply his trade. The run starts to fill up by some of the anglers from "The Torpedo Run". This time the early birds did not get the worm.
Later however "The Torpedo Run" does pay off, a fish on, I make my way to it but it is soon too bouncing on the beach, a small hatchery.
Then G. another brood capture volunteer is into a good one and he waves for help as he is in a tight spot. It is a nice wild doe but when it is beached it has a bad seal bite that we decide could get infected while it is waiting to ripen so we let her go. I move up to "The Above Run" and anglers are coming from every where now. funny how taht happens when fish are being caught.
The fish for some reason start biting or move in as there is fish or two on in a number of spots all in the space of 30 minutes or so.
In between this action Ron comes and picks up the tubed fish. The fish that are being caught today are mostly hatchery so I have only the one for him to take to the hatchery.
One of the fish is a good sized one and I have to follow it down a run checking if it is a wild or not.
As I prepare to take a picture as this beauty comes to the shore, cell phone rings, it is "The Master' giving an update. He has had a good morning as well with I believe 4 or 5 hooked before he had to go for a meeting.
Dave the angler with the hatchery fish on slides it safely ashore. He asks me to take his picture which we will post later as he gives us the ok to do so. I have brought my digital scales out today and it tips the scales at 16 pounds.
The exciting part for Dave was, it was his first steelhead ever. Wow and in all my years of fishing steelhead I believe I have only had one that size. ( actually it was 17 pounds 3 ounces) then the next biggest for me would be under 15.
Then another angler gets a nice buck that is close to 14.
Things then die off and I go up and try a few casts in "The Steelieman Run" but like it has the last few days it did not produce.
It is 12 and I head to Woody's Grill at the intersection of Vedder Mountain Road and the Cultus Lake turnoff to join a few others for the best mushroom burger in Chilliwack.
Steve as usual makes us very welcome.
Back to the river and I run into Funfish and it was a pleasure to meet him, he is pleased to have taken a hatchery fish in today's bonanza as well. I then see GB, the fly guy who perservered through all the bait fishers as he connects with a nice hatchery steelhead, well done.
I put up two more garbage bags in a couple of parking area's and cleanup up one area a bit. I am glad some anglers are using the 5 I have out in the lower river but it still amazes me the number of coffee cups, bait containers, hook packages etc. that anglers still throw out. I am going to put some signs on this bags saying they are put there by the Chilliwack Vedder River Cleanup Coalition, please use them. Lets respect our rivers that give us so much pleasure day in and day out.
It is 3 o'clock and I decide to do some exploring to end the day and check out some new water as well to maybe find some floats.
As I work down to a run I see an insect hatch taking place, I do not know what they would be but does that mean Spring is not far away and we will be soon cutting lawns.
I noticed more robins the last while, a garter snake last week and some leaves are showing on some bushes, early in this mild winter we are experiencing.
As I work my way down river I see a lot of dimples on the water, like rain, where is it coming from, the sky is clear.
I look way up in the blue sky and there is a huge flocks of gulls soaring in the thermals, I quickly move further down river to avoid getting hit by, you know what.
I find some fishable water but either they are not there or do not like my microwaved roe.
I get buried once but the result is a nice beaver cut off limb. As the sun sets I snap a picture and decide to search one more log jam before starting my 15 minute walk back to the Leaf Mobile. I have found 11 floats, no drennans, one nice balsa wood one and a few bottles and tins.
As I reach the LM after the 15 minute walk I am the last guy off the river as it is shortly before 6, the moon is starting to shine brightly. As I start the 6 minute drive home I wonder if some fresh steelhead will be now be heading into the KE, "The Root Run", 'The Quarry", "The Steelieman Run", "the Diving Board", "The Above", "The Torpedo Run" or some other unnamed run, under the cover of darkness but now illuminated some by the approaching new moon.
The excitement will once again begin to brew in many steelhead fishers heart tonight, thinking of that silver ghost waiting to submerge his drifting float and start another tussle with one of the top gamefish anywhere.
I hope to be there tomorrow to start another adventure, another journal and yes, not with microwaved bait.
See you on the flow.
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Topic: A 16 Pound Doe, One On A Fly, The Journal For Febuary The 8th (Read 3320 times)