We hit the Fraser this morning at around 9:30. We launched at Gill road and headed downstream. Lots of people out and many camps on the bars. We beached the boat a little upsteam from where we have been earlier in the week. A familiar face was fishing just above us and they were already close to being done. Started fishing and within 10 minutes our 13 year old son is into a sockeye . score one for the kid. I landed another soon after and the boy started giving his mom the gears for not being able to land a fish. Then she is into a fish. She says it seems heavy but it starts to come in and then boom off it goes. Quickly we are into the boat and floating downstream, but this fish does not take us into the middle of the river, preferring to fight within 100 feet of shore. I was hesitant to fire up the engine and pull it out into the center as i didn't want to be responsible for losing the wife's first fish in a while.This was a mistake as the fish held close to some of the anchored boats and I had to try and paddle us away. That didn't work very well and the fish got very close to one anchor line.
Then it headed back in towards the next boat and we were very lucky to be able to power up and slide over the anchor chain with the boat and get the motor up before it got tangled up. Now we were in the shallow water between the boats and shore and the wife was getting really worried. So I manged to get a hand on the leader and pull the fish in close enough to miss it with the net a couple of times. Finally I managed to get it in the net. A 24 lb red spring.
By this time we are in just over a foot of water. By the time we got back in the main flow, we had slightly roughed the prop
but nothing a little filing won't fix.
Back to the bar to find a boat has pulled in 10 feet below where we were tied up. Oh well, such is sockeye fishing. Soon after the boy is into another fish, and this one is peeling line. I run for the boat but just as I get there the line hits a tangle deep in his spool and pop the leader is broken.
He is quite disappointed as it was the first time he has hooked a spring. He is soon into another sockeye and is done for the day. I landed another sockeye and it was time for the Mrs. to catch a couple of sockeye. This took another half hour or so and we were all done by noon.
Back home by 1 and the canning has now started. It was a great day on the river and it was nice to be going home before it really got hot again.
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Topic: Non-tidal Fraser River, August 15th 2010 (Read 885 times)