Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: hue-nut on August 12, 2011, 02:24:49 PM

Title: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: hue-nut on August 12, 2011, 02:24:49 PM
So I was fishing upper river this morning, and missed a fish about 6 times in a row, pretty soft "cohoish" bites. I really did not think they were trout but I decided to put on some prawn thinking that if it was a trout, it would slam it. Next cast, hard drain but a miss again! I rebait with prawn again and float into the zone, float dives and fish on with some immediate jumps and flips, sock for sure I think, beauty chromer. Guide it into the shallows and she goes apesh*t with a blistering run out to the middle of the river, this has me thinking small spring or jack, after one more good run I land a this beauty square tail! So obviously a pretty rare fish to hook in August on the Vedder but my question is, has this happened to anyone on the board? I am thinking summer run for sure but would be interested to know others thoughts on it? pretty nice surprise for my morning, combined with the fact that there was not another angler in sight....mint ;D

(http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/hue-nut/a9584a42.jpg)


(http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/hue-nut/11a94f6f.jpg)

(http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/hue-nut/dcc30908.jpg)
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: rhino on August 12, 2011, 02:38:53 PM
Great story!! Buy a lotto ticket hue!! I cant believe you still hit it after missing so many times! ;D ;D ;D

Your a winer in my books ;)
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: BCfisherman97 on August 12, 2011, 02:56:33 PM
Guy beside me hooked one on the 22nd of July. I got a good look at it but as he was trying to tail it the hook popped out.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Fisherama on August 12, 2011, 03:06:36 PM
HOLY SMOKES! Great catch!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Every Day on August 12, 2011, 04:30:08 PM
Got a #6 or #7 pound bullet chrome hatchery doe on my 4 wt 3 years ago fishing dry flies at peach in mid August.
Right at last light hitting little trout all day then that head came up and took off.
Was new to fishing so I fought it and landed it, probably not a good idea on a 4 wt but it took off just fine when I released it.

Seen one other one caught on a spin caster in the lower by someone fishing for trout with a pink worm also 2 years ago.
They are around... believe they are either Coquihalla or Chehalis strays.. mine was probs chehalis as it was hatchery.
Also a guy on my facebook got a nice wild doe earlier this year upper river about 1 1/2 weeks ago.

Cheers,
Dan
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: kingpin on August 12, 2011, 04:40:17 PM
mended kelt crushing fry.....not the first one ive seen or heard of this year..
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: DionJL on August 12, 2011, 05:00:35 PM
I've heard of 4 this year. They look like mended kelts to me (as Kingpin said).
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Every Day on August 12, 2011, 06:04:00 PM
His last pic looks like tail rays?
Never seen a kelt with those before, but I guess it's had a long time to recover.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: NiceFish on August 12, 2011, 06:11:03 PM
nice fish...i need to get out fishing!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: buckjr on August 12, 2011, 09:53:32 PM
I would say mended kelt as well. But definatley can't rule out a chehalis/coq/silverhope summer also without seeing it in person. Nice fish either way!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: hue-nut on August 12, 2011, 10:37:54 PM
hmmm interesting, thanks for the replies guys.  I've never caught a kelt before or a summer run for that matter so don't have a lot to compare it too other than some kelts i've seen. Regardless it was a very bright fish with a hell of a fight to her.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: nickredway on August 12, 2011, 11:09:51 PM
Whichever that's a beauty, well done!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: younggun on August 13, 2011, 12:26:10 AM
kelts will get their rays back on the tail. I agree with kingpin x3
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: FlyFishin Magician on August 13, 2011, 07:28:43 AM
Nice fish bud!!!   :)
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: steelie-slayer on August 13, 2011, 12:42:37 PM
i caught a bullet chrome doe last year mid july and a couple years ago my dad caught one also bullet chrome. I think the vedder gets a small run of summers or just really late or early fish.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: joshhowat on August 13, 2011, 01:18:47 PM
nice fish!!!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Robert_G on August 13, 2011, 05:06:17 PM
I would say mended kelt as well. But definatley can't rule out a chehalis/coq/silverhope summer also without seeing it in person. Nice fish either way!

Agree with this.  That is no kelt. Also there is no summer run on Vedder. They are stragglers from the 3 systems mentioned.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: greyghost on August 14, 2011, 05:46:39 AM
I say kelt. I have caught a bunch of summers in the past two months and none of them were long and skinny like that. Also talked to someone who works for fisheries today and they said its highly unlikley that its a stray and most likely a very late fish
So have I caught my fair share of summers this year. Long and skinny is their trade mark my friend. Makes it all the better to leap falls in the journey to the head waters! Development stage has not fully begun yet. Not spawning until next year! That pic is no kelt. As for the person from fisheries, chances are they have  no clue. Talk to the guys who fish. They have the answers! Seems to me there have been more summers every year, for the last few years on the Vedder. Me thinks they are making a slow come back. Oh wait a minute, me knows they are!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: younggun on August 14, 2011, 07:14:26 AM
Summers are hardy bodied, thick with lots of fat content, no where near sexual maturity, because they have to hold over till the spring to spawn. They are definitely not long and skinny. There is plenty of photo evidence to prove that.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: greyghost on August 14, 2011, 06:45:37 PM
Well yg what are we comparing summer runs too. Are summers thicker and fatter than winters, or are they a little more slender? I am not saying they are bone racks. But then again summers do not feed in fresh water during the summer all the way to the following spring! They must just drink water to survive. ::) Be honest with me and the rest of the angling community and tell us how many summer runs you have caught in the Lower mainland and Vancouver Island over 10lbs and compare this with the winter runs over 10lbs caught in the same geo. Do not count the big T or Skeena! I will tell you that my total is less then 10 summers over 10lbs. As for winters over 10lbs well would you pass me the calculator!     
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: joshhowat on August 14, 2011, 06:48:04 PM
So today up at around prison hole plugging roe for springs at around 6 am switch to a prawn set up. Bang I hook up to a fish starts flying threw the air I'm thinking no way.  I land it and holy crap it's a summer run around 4 to 5 lbs. Best way to describe it was  like a super clean male pink thick and chunky. I have fished the vedder since around 16 and I'm 29 now and have never seen a summer run before in the chilliwack make me wonder.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Gooey on August 14, 2011, 08:45:54 PM
4-5 lbs...are you sure?  I have had a number of 3-3.5 lb coho on the scale in the last month and your fish was no where the same size (girth inparticular).

"thick and chunky", that fish's head was bigger than its body, it was skinny as a rail!  I wont pretend to know more than the next person (and this site is full of experts) so I'll just say that fish is not like any summer I have ever hooked so like I said, my best guess is that fish was possibly a residualized steelhead smolt/resident rainbow? 
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: hue-nut on August 14, 2011, 08:48:02 PM
Sh*t dude that is sweet!
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: kingpin on August 14, 2011, 09:59:54 PM
ive caught lots of summers and never one that skinny....that fish is fairly small( looks around 5-6lbs?) and look at its head in comparison to its body..its far too skinny
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: younggun on August 14, 2011, 10:05:11 PM
Atleast there a people on here that know what they look like. I have no further say...
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: Dennis.t on August 15, 2011, 12:17:23 AM
Never was and never will be. The odd straggler from other systems and late mended kelts. Used to catch the odd hatch steelhead on the Gold when i fished there yrs ago.Never been a hacthery program on the Gold so the odd straggler from another system. It does happen on occasion.
Title: Re: Vedder River Summer Run Square Tail????
Post by: awurban@msn.com on August 16, 2011, 04:42:48 PM
Never was and never will be. The odd straggler from other systems and late mended kelts. Used to catch the odd hatch steelhead on the Gold when i fished there yrs ago.Never been a hacthery program on the Gold so the odd straggler from another system. It does happen on occasion.

I agree with this and what everyday is saying. Every year the fisheries down on the deschutes get tagged fish from Idaho in their hatchery, They will get clear water fish that decided for some reason to run up a different rivers. I was reading about fisheries noticing tagged fish being caught in other rivers and also moving up to other hatcheries. They did a study on it and decided that some fish will move up into other systems to smell the water and perhaps the water condition is better, colder, less silt. They also hypothesised that some fish decide the conditions of the river they pass are good and they are less discriminative about where they go. They noted that most of the fish that do this are hatchery.