Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Preliator on October 18, 2009, 01:52:45 PM
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This was my first attempt at BC salmon fishing. Got there early, and manage to bring in 4 Chum, while losing another 6 or so, all in 3 hours. All released. I was warned that I may lose a lot of gear being as it was my first time, and there was so many fish that I was told I'd likely foul hook a number of them - I lost nothing, and none of the 4 were foul hooked. Two were caught about 3/4 up the river, and another 2 down lower when I had to sacrafise my spot to meet a friend who showed up late >:(
When me and buddy were leaving to get some breakfast, I walked up the bank past a couple of guys with Spey Rods. They were scouting the area, and I said to them "There's some room now!" He then said to me, "good, get you baitcasters out of here!" I'm not sure what he meant, but I know it was a dig. :-\
All in all, very good outing for myself, and I look forward to conquoring more of BCs beautiful rivers.
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Some people think that how they fish is the only proper way to fish and can be a jack a$$ but that guy may have just been trying to make a joke.
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Is Stave busy?
Judging by your "sacrifice" it must be?
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I suppose he was, but I was just caught off-guard by it so I wasn't sure how to react.
Very busy, adriaticum. Shoulder to shoulder in the main drags. (I love having people cast over my line time and time again.) Obviously the further down the more the spots open up, so it's not impossible to find a spot if you were willing to work for it. I'm not sure how busy it was down around the mouth though, I was only around the damn.
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I killed it today on purple and pink jigs ;D
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Caught a few floating a purple jig but didn't keep any....all males.
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Caught a few floating a purple jig but didn't keep any....all males.
That's the way it's been for me this year too. Last year, it was probably a 10 to 1 ratio of females to males, this year it seems to be the other way around (on the jigs anyway)
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Just want make sure I'm understanding this correctly...your drifting a wieghted jig head under a float into stacked up fish and you "killed it". And they're just swallowing that jig?
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Just want make sure I'm understanding this correctly...your drifting a wieghted jig head under a float into stacked up fish and you "killed it". And they're just swallowing that jig?
yes, short floated a bent rod jig and everyone I caught was in the mouth, unlike 95% of the fishermen there bringing in fish sideways ::)
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CohoOn you short float the jig ABOVE the fishes heads so they must move upwards to attack it. this is why the majority will be in the mouth. If you fish at the same level or below the fish you will just snag fins most of the time especially with Chum because they are big and not hook shy at all
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There was a fishing show with some guide ( can't remember his name) using that technique with a float, pencil lead and pink jig. He was on the Fraser somewhere and they were hauling them in, and not by snagging. Going to give that a try sometime.
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Jigs have just been dynamite for me this year. I started using those with pinks on the Campbell river this year and I haven't been able to give up on them since.
After losing some good jigs on chum and snags, I have found the cheap 1/8 ounce jig heads from Army and Navy work great - the ones they sell in packs of about 8 with no feathers, just the jig head and hook. Tying on a bit of pink or purple wool to those with a bit of spider threat works just as well as the expensive steelhead jigs that come in at about $2.50 each. They have been hammering them short floated no more than 3 feet down in some of the deeper sections.
...just a head up for those of you who have been losing lots of fancy jigs on those big chums that are not particularly picky :).
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I had my first encounter with chums there today. ;D in california ive only really caught springs and steelhead before it was a pleasant suprise to feel how strong those chum were.i kept one that to the best of my knowledge was rather clean.Now im actually curious what you guys would call a "clean" chum.From what i understand they lose the silver quickly so what is the point when they are best left alone? For what its worth im smoking it LOL .Thanks
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I wouldnt keep darker than the second one down. Their meat is not the best to start with. Great scrappers though.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/chum/graphics/chum_colors.jpg
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I had my first encounter with chums there today. ;D in california ive only really caught springs and steelhead before it was a pleasant suprise to feel how strong those chum were.i kept one that to the best of my knowledge was rather clean.Now im actually curious what you guys would call a "clean" chum.From what i understand they lose the silver quickly so what is the point when they are best left alone? For what its worth im smoking it LOL .Thanks
This discussion in the fish kitchen section might be helpful too. [Milo has some good thoughts on this I think]
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=22377.0 (http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=22377.0)
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most of us fisherman go by the fact if the belly is white they should still be good. also take a look at the fish to see if it still has its scales or have they vanished into the flash already because that isnt a fresh one either even if its belly is white. some turn right away when they hit freshwater, some take awhile longer.
me personally i dont keep many chum, i will be keeping a few this year though because my father in law wants to smoke some ;D ;D yum yum. My rule of thumb is if the belly is nice and white and they still have some scale shine to them they will be okay especially for the smoker.
I have to say one thing about chum meat though. their meat gets quite soft very quickly so make sure you dont let them sit without ice to long. this is the main reason i dont take many cause i always forget to bring a cooler. and you cant let them sitin the fridge a couple days either or the will start to get mushy. :-\
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Thanks for the response judging by the input my fish was borderline keeper the scales were intact and had a silverish shine should be fine.
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you could also give it a bit of a squeeze along its spine to check for firmness however this isnt a perfect science because chum & springs are very thick along the spine ::) i just go by colour so im not squeezing everything i catch LOL
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most of us fisherman go by the fact if the belly is white they should still be good. also take a look at the fish to see if it still has its scales or have they vanished into the flash already because that isnt a fresh one either even if its belly is white. some turn right away when they hit freshwater, some take awhile longer.
me personally i dont keep many chum, i will be keeping a few this year though because my father in law wants to smoke some ;D ;D yum yum. My rule of thumb is if the belly is nice and white and they still have some scale shine to them they will be okay especially for the smoker.
I have to say one thing about chum meat though. their meat gets quite soft very quickly so make sure you dont let them sit without ice to long. this is the main reason i dont take many cause i always forget to bring a cooler. and you cant let them sitin the fridge a couple days either or the will start to get mushy. :-\
Oh yes, good point. The one I got last week went into ice within one hour of catching and it was excellent. In my opinion chum are underrated as table fair but they have to be in good condition as stated in this post.
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How about this one? My buddy wanted one for smoking (for the first time) but we didn't keep this one.
(http://gallery.flybc.ca/albums/album575/buck_sm.jpg)
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typhoon without seeing the entire belly its hard to say because it appears to have scales intact still below the lateral line. that fish probably would have been perfectly fine for the smoker ;D lets face it you arent going to catch many chrome chum (especially in the Stave) because they begin to colour as soon as they hit freshwater for the most part however i have seen bullet chrome ones in the Vedder, Harrison, Chehalis and Norrish rivers even into December
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How about this one? My buddy wanted one for smoking (for the first time) but we didn't keep this one.
(http://gallery.flybc.ca/albums/album575/buck_sm.jpg)
I don't think I would've kept it, but it probably would've been ok-ish. It's hard to tell without handling the fish myself. Only way to tell for sure is to try it! :)
:D
Tex
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How about this one? My buddy wanted one for smoking (for the first time) but we didn't keep this one.
(http://gallery.flybc.ca/albums/album575/buck_sm.jpg)
white belly usually means keep it ..dark belly means bye - bye...in between belly (gray) colours is your discretion :)