A fishing report? By Rodney? The poles have reversed.
It has been awhile since I filed a fishing report, not because I have not been fishing, but mostly due to the lack of typing time. With over 200 posts per day to scan through each day, mental fatigue usually sets in after all the reading, which makes me turn that switch off immediately.
Anyways, Rod is still fishing, some are still fishing with Rod, just not reporting about fishing with Rod.
We've been doing quite a bit of filming, trying to come up with some good videos for subscribers to view in the near future. It amazes me how many tapes we go through each month, to come up with a 30 minute segment. The amount of editing work really makes me appreciate the folks who create fishing TV shows.
This morning, three alarm clocks sounded off simultaneously for about ten minutes before I threw two cats off my blankets and pulled myself out of bed at 5:30am. The clear starry sky indicated that we would have a cold fishing morning ahead of us. I slowly made my way to Shane's house, before heading to the Squamish River.
As many of you already know, the Squamish River offers good chum salmon fishing in October and November, and it is one of the few rivers that would consistently produce clean chum salmon. People tend to have the perception that all chum salmon caught in the Squamish River would be chrome, but in reality, only one out of every five to twenty fish would be considered ocean chrome. If your timing, technique and location are correct, your chance of tangling with a silver dog is much bigger.
Along the way, we stopped by Tim Horton's for our packed lunch. Shane decided to get a breakfast sandwich, which smelled rather good in the car on the way to the river, even though it took almost twenty minutes to make.
We arrived at our spot with a couple other anglers who were already stationing at the river bank. Not to worry, as there was plenty of room for others to join. Our choice of weapon included the baitcasting setup with spoons and spinners, and a centerpin setup for float fishing. Although the 10.5' Stryker 2106 and 9' Fenwick HMX are more suitable for coho salmon, they can easily handle a medium sized chum salmon. These baitcasting rods were fitted with our chosen low profile baitcasting reels - Shimano Scorpion and Daiwa Advantage. I always think having a light setup is absolutely important when it comes to spoon casting, unless you have big guns like some of the well known forum members.
After I briefly connected with a fish, Shane was into a good fish not long after we arrived. The fish surfaced directly in front of me. I saw a silver back, and cautioned him to take it easy. A few minutes later, a chrome female chum salmon was slipped into the shallow where Shane was able to tail. A quick photo of the fish and it went back into the run. This fish was definitely keepable, but there are already a couple other chum salmon in the process of being smoked so we decided not to keep it. This fish was taken on a blue striped spoon that I made.
After spincasting for 30 more minutes with no result, I decided to pull the Islander Steelheader/Stryker 3106 setup out. Fitted with a 20g Drennan Zeppler and a small piece of pink wool, I was ready for some pin action. I had the leader length reduced to about 12 inches, after noticing a fair amount of foul hooked fish from previous trips with a longer leader. It worked out brilliantly, with this bigger doe after a dozen drifts.
This fish also went back to the run. With two chrome does landed, I began to question if I should have kept a fish or two in case future trips go sour.
Not a big deal, a few good photos were captured, the gear were tested flawlessly, so the trip was very satisfying so far.
By 10:00am, we noticed schools of fresh chum salmon had started to move in. Shane decided to put my Fenwick (yes, my...
) rod to the test...
I sat back and snapped photos as he fought this fish to shore.
When the fish was landed, his expression says it all.
"Dude, that is nasty, put it back!"
Shane eventually became bored, so he decided to give the pin a go. Being a fly and baitcasting guy, he had never casted and caught a fish on a centerpin setup before. After a few pointers, he had no problem flinging that Drennan out. On the fifth or sixth cast, the float took the infamous dive.
I grabbed the video camera after snapping that photograph, and began capturing the fighting sequence and the loud clicking sound of the Islander Steelheader.
The fight was smooth, unlike the landing.
Not knowing where the rod should go, the pin started having its own mind and fed line out as he tried to tail the fish.
After a brief delay, the fish made its debut to the video camera before swimming back again.
After landing a fish on the pin rod, he was satisfied and gave it back to me. I spent the next hour hooking and losing fish.
I blame the delay of the hookset on the weight of the setup.
I was able to see two of the lost fish when they surfaced, they were just as clean as the first two fish that we connected with.
Float fishing for any species is so addicting. I was happy to just drift that float mindlessly with one Drennan dive every few drifts. One advantage of chum salmon is that they take that float with no hesitation. It is the perfect species for anyone who wants to finetune his or her float fishing technique without getting bored. Speaking of boredom, Shane's mind started to wander after all that chum action, so we decided to move on and find something more stimulating.
We spent the last couple of hours spoon fishing again, but this time the target species was bull trout. It's unusually early to find them in good numbers. Normally, bull trout would stage in tailouts and await for chum salmon eggs to flow down. I regard them as wolves of the river, travelling in packs and feeding whenever opportunities arise. After some exploring, we were able to find and connect with a few fish, on either blue and pink spoons. Notice the size of the spoon compared to the size of the fish in the third photo. Bull trout never hold back when it comes to hunting down preys. I had a couple of fish that smack the spoon or spinner just as it approached the river bank.
Overall, today's outing can be considered a good day. A few salmon here, a few char there, one cannot really complain. On the more negative note, here is today's casualty.
This incident took place near the end of our outing. I decided to drown my misery by getting a large Ice Cap on the way home.
Clarity on the Squamish today was reasonable. Another week of cold weather should result in optimal river condition. If you decide to go up, daily quota of chum salmon is two per day, daily quota of hatchery coho is one per day, at certain locations so make sure you check
the regulations. All trout and char are required to be released. There is a bait ban, but that doesn't seem to matter.
If you are float fishing with wool, shorten the depth so you give about two feet between the hook and river bed. There are many older, staler chum salmon that sit just above the river bed, you certainly do not want to waste your energy and time hooking those. By having that hook suspended just above all the fish, your chance of having a aggressive, fresh fish striking it is much larger.
Good luck.
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Topic: Squamish River October 21st (Read 3728 times)