Since the forecast has called for heavy rainfall in the next several days, we decided to make a trip out on Thursday as well. Typically we have done rather well on the Chilliwack River just prior or during the first heavy rainfall around late September/early October. Unlike last year, there wasn't much expectation on what we wanted to catch. The coho salmon return is not expected to be significant just as what we had experienced in 2005. Nevertheless, catches of a few chinook and chum salmon would still be considered a good trip.
We Had a later start, arrived at our spot at 7:30am. Gwyn and Chris were already working the run. They reported no catches except one adult chinook salmon that Gwyn had beached. Water clarity looked ideal, one couldn't have asked for better condition than this during this time of the year. Fish were rolling left and right in front of us, but most appeared to be chum salmon.
After drifting through the run several times, one fish couldn't resist a big chunk of roe at the end of Nina's line. A silvery roll after the hookset showed that it was a jack coho salmon, but a brief slack on the line allowed it to swim away quickly.
Bites were absent for the next couple of hours except a stubborn chinook salmon that Gwyn had connected with. This fish refused to come in for around 15 minutes. In the end, persistence by the angler won the battle as the fish was towed into the shallows. The fish was slightly coloured. Gwyn sent the fish back into the run after a quick photo session.
By this point Chris had moved to a different run and reported some missed bites when we talked on the phone. He suspected that they were smolts or trout, but I was skeptical as smolts or trout usually go off the bites by this time of the year. Nina and I decided to make our way down to his run and found out ourselves. Upon our arrival, Chris reported that they were salmon after all, as he had just hooked several and broke them off. I began drifting through while Chris took a break. I rebaited, looped a big chunk of roe on. Chris disapproved the size of the bait. "Bait is too big.", he said. The float took a dive just as he finished the remark.
It was a small adult chinook, which took me downstream for a bit but popped off the hook as it entered the shallow.
As I rigged up again, Chris was back on his feet with big bait on his hook too.
It only took a couple of casts before his float also took a dip. A bigger chinook emerged and shot for the rapids downstream. He beached it quite easily after just several minutes of fight. The fish, estimated to be around 15lb, was released quickly as no one was willing to carry it back to the car.
After some more misses and a couple more hook-ups, the bites died off at 11:00am. 9:00am to 10:00am seems to be the biting period lately, while first light has not produced well. We packed it up and headed to Cookies Grill to end another Vedder venture.
No coho salmon were harrassed.
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Topic: Chilliwack River, October 2nd 2008 (Read 6267 times)