Headed out to the Vedder at around 9AM this morning. Late start because I had to wait for Grandma to come over to watch the kids for me. I picked up Dean on the way, hit Tim Hortons for some java and we were off.
On the way, we discussed where to fish, and I suggested the backside of the Limit hole in order to fish some water that may not have had to much pressure on it. The downfall is that the water would be quite clear.
We decided to give that a try. I think we arrived there at around 10:30 or so? When we got down to the river Dean fished at the Limit hole for awhile and I headed to the backside of the concrete slab. The water looked perfect at the concrete slab. The pockets behind the boulders were definitely fishy looking. I covered the first few pockets very well with no success. I was throwing roe sacks, steelhead roe, shrimp, and scented wool combos. (not all at the same time
) When I got to one particular pocket, I could feel a hookup comming on.
I chucked in a juicy roe sack right behind a large boulder. There was a beautiful slick behind it which ran for about 60 feet or so with white rage on both sides of it. It was about 3.5-4 Ft deep. My float went about 10 feet then buried. I set the hook immediately. My float came flying out of the water with no hookup. The single eggs in the sack were all popped but one. I was short floating about 1 foot off the bottom, so I know that was no rock.
I re baited this time with a natural shrimp. Same drift. Nothing. I brought the shrimp in, and added some sent to it. I threw it in again in the same spot. The float went about 15 feet, the buries again. I nail the fish hard, and it is there for only a couple of seconds. I am thinking "man what the heck is going on. My hook was deadly sharp and I was rite on the button with the hook set. I think I was too fast on it, and it was only at the end of the fish's lip. Oh well, I pounded some more pocket water, then I went back to that spot to try it again. Nothing this time.
I could not see Dean from where I was so I didn't know how he was making out. I headed down the river around the corner from the concrete slab. I fished every break point I could along the way. The water was moving pretty hard through there. I worked my way down to the backside of the Ranger Run. There was nobody on the backside but 6 guys on the road side. The tailout looked beautiful, but it was discuraging to see so many guys on the other side. Oh well, that's normal for the Ranger I guess. I didn't fish right away, instead I sat and watched the guys fish for a bit to see if maybe they were fishing the run in a way that would spook the fish if any were there. The two guys on the end were "dredging" the whole tailout. (fishing much deeper that needed) Their lead was constantly hanging up and dragging across the run.
I was so looking forward to fishing that tailout. It is a major resting spot between two whitewater stretches. I decided to just fish the top and the middle of the run because the other guys were fishing it nicely. I fished there for about .5 hr with no success.
I was wondering how Dean was making out, so I started to head up river. Below the Ranger looked pretty white, and fast, so I decided against going down further.
When I went around the corner and headed up toward the little island split I saw Dean up at the head of the island. It looked like he was beaching a fish.
I headed up to him quickly, but I got there just after he released the wild buck back into the river. It was about 13-14lbs, chrome body, with a little pink cheeks.
I tried to get to him fast so we could have a picture, but my belly bogged me down.
I asked Dean if he had any other luck. He said he had a hit near where I rolled my fish. But nothing else up river.
Since we covered all that area, and the water was so clear, we decided to move on. We hiked back up to the truck, and discussed where to fish next. It was about 1:45 when we got back to the truck.
We drove down the parking area of Tamahi, and down toward the Boulder Run, and opposite Osbourn Rd. It was a bit quick for our liking, so we headed out, and down to the Long Run at the Beaver Dam. There was only one truck there.
The run looked perfect. A slight gray tinge to the water, with a very nice inside drift. We talked with the fella that was fishing there, and he told us that he lost a couple earlier on a chrome spoon. We pounded that run hard for a couple of hours with no takes.
I was getting tired, and there was only 20 minutes left to fish, so I packed up and headed back to the truck. Dean said he was going to try one more spot up river for the last 20 minutes.
Dean hooked and lost a nice size fish in that spot. It was on for only a little bit. Just not our day for keeping fish on I guess. We could have had three to the beach if it was meant to be.
A nice day on the river non the less, and thank God the rain held off!
Tight Lines.
ATS
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Topic: Vedder River Jan 19.05 (Read 2087 times)