Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: Rodney on July 26, 2011, 11:40:10 PM
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So since everyone has had some success lately on the Capilano River, Nina and I decided to give it a go as well. Surprisingly, I haven't been to the Capilano River since 2004, even though I live so close to it. This is mostly due to the dreadful Lions Gate traffic at 7 or 8am on the way home from fishing that we've always had to endure.
This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed at 3:30am and were on the road at 4:15am. :o As we crossed the Arthur Laing Bridge, something popped up on my mind. I had forgotten to buy salmon conservation surcharges on our freshwater fishing licences! ::) It was too late to turn around to do it, so today turned into a mandatory catch and release fishery. :'( The dream of coho salmon dinner suddenly vanished. The lesson of the day is, don't cheap out like me when renewing your fishing licences. Buy all your surcharges at once if you know that you intend to fish for salmon or steelhead later on.
We arrived at the parking lot at 4:50am and there was one other car that had just arrived. I quickly glanced at the licence plate and realized that it was Fish Assassin, who was busy fetching stuff out of his front seat. I sneaked behind him in the darkness and whispered his name, gave him a good fright. ;D The second lesson of the day is, watch your back in the dark on the Capilano, the boogey man might sneak up on you and whisper your name. ;D
FA was going to a different spot, so we departed in the dark as we hit the trails. The hike in the dark was quite an experience without a flashlight, and bear spray (more items forgotten at home ::) ). Eventually we made it down to our spot, when we could start seeing our fingers.
The early start was definitely worth it. The river flow was just perfect, high enough for fish to move in. The sky was cloudy, and it drizzled occasionally. The air was as fresh as it could get, you cannot ask for more at a fish spot that is just outside of a densely populated city.
After preparing our rods and bait for about ten minutes, we were ready to fish. I immediately spotted a fish rolling at the tailout, which was a pretty good sign. After a few drift, Nina had her first take down but failed to hook up. On the following cast, it was my turn to see the float disappearing. I set the hook and the the kicks on the rod felt pretty good. It was a pretty small fish, around 1 to 1.5lb. It came in shortly after being hooked and of course it was released after we had a look at it.
The next little while was pretty uneventful, even though I thought the fishing was just picking up after hooking one so soon. We saw the odd risers and the float dipped a few times, but I was quite certain that they were small trout biting. The odd bigger coho salmon would show their fin in front of us, as they moved up from the riffles downstream from where we were fishing. Fish were definitely moving up occasionally, they were just not so interested in biting.
After patiently drifting through the run for an hour, Nina decided to take a break. I started playing with the float depth by fishing a bit deeper to see if that made a difference. It didn't, for me anyway. :P
Nina returned to fishing after awhile and I made her to change the float depth as well. She had a good take-down but managed to miss it again. With two pieces of roe to go in the bait box, I decided to lay the rod down and bait her rod while having the camera ready in case she hooked a fish. She continued fishing through where I thought the fish would be biting. Finally the float went down once again, but she missed it again after yanking the rod. I thought she was going to reel it in to check the bait, but she kept letting the float drifting further downstream. Right at the tailout, where I had hooked the fish, her float went down again. This time, the fish was not so lucky, it was solidly hooked and the bend in the rod suggested that it was a good sized fish.
Nina kept the tension on while slowly walking her way back to the bank. She had to watch the slippery round rocks, where she took a semi-dunking earlier. ;D The fish didn't show itself until it was guided to the shallows. It looked to be around 3 to 4lb. After fighting it for a couple of minutes, it gently slipped into Nina's hands. I took a few photos before painfully watching it (dinner) swimming away from her hands.
(http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc90/fishingwithrod/2011/110726-01.jpg)
Nevertheless, it was a fine morning, considering that I have been skunked more often than not in the past when fishing on the Capilano. :) Hungry, sleepy and slightly cold from standing in the water, we decided to call it a day at 8:00am. On our way back, as if we had planned it, Fish Assassin also returned to the parking lot at the same time. He greeted us with a hatchery marked coho salmon that was similar to Nina's fish in size. Of course, he had to give me a hard time for forgetting our salmon stamps. :-\
don't cheap out, buy your licence's conservation surcharges in advance! Or you'll turn into a conservationist like me.
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Guess what I had for dinner tonight ? ;D Yummy. I should have taken you and Nina for breakfast since I owe you one. Next time.....maybe :)
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Nice report. The tides this July have been great for fishing around the afternoon/evening (ie normal hours) and extend like that into the first bit of August ;)
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great report rod. one of these days i gotta get out and fish that flow.
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looks like dogleg area? i made the same mistake, thought i had gotten a deal on the licence. Upon looking at the end of steely season, realized my stupid error and put my surcharge on :-[ I guess we all make mistakes.
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Nice pic, right down to the sponsor product placement :)
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Nice photo Rod. Too bad about the (lack of) salmon tag. I always feel kind of "naked" without my license and tags, so I always get everything right at the start of the season. Anyway, those bluebacks are scrappy little guys and deserve a second chance (to get caught or get to the hatchery). :)