Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: milo on October 31, 2008, 09:51:59 PM
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Hit my chosen spot at 7:00 AM this morning. There were already two guys there getting ready to flyfish.
The gentlemen were very open to the idea of sharing the spot with me, so as soon as we got a glimpse of light, we started working our flies.
It was a beautiful morning, with a light drizzle and mist, but as time went by, the rain picked up and didn't let up till the end of the day.
I had two coho on very early into fishing, but managed none to the beach. Oh, well...that's fishing.
Around noon the bite was completely off, and except for a booty spring that somehow managed to get my fly in its mouth, that was it for that part of the river.
After lunch at Pointa Vista, I went to the bottom end of the river, near the canal, and fished one of the gravel holes where the river becomes the canal. There were occasional chum and coho surfacing, but none wanted my fly.
The rain kept pounding and pounding, and the cold associated with dampness started making its way to my bones, so I decided to call it quits around 4:30. I made one last long cast and started quickly retrieving the line onto the reel.
Much to my surprise, a beautiful resident cutthroat hit my fly and the fight was on. The poor thing didn't stand a chance against an 8-weight rod and a 10-pound leader.
Soon it came to hand:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/milivoj/Purdytrout.jpg)
After admiring it for a moment and taking a picture, I gently released it. There are not too many of these in the Vedder, so they should be treated with utmost respect.
It sure made my day, as I had never caught a cutty in the Vedder. Rainbows and bulls, yes, but never a cutthroat.
The river was essentially a ghost town. There were very, very few people out there. The river held up despite the heavy rain, but I did notice it came up a couple inches. With some more of the wet stuff, a fresh push of fish might just make it into the system.
It could be a good day tomorrow for those who want to brave the elements.
Good luck out there, and Happy Halloween.
Cheers,
Milo
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Hit my chosen spot at 7:00 AM this morning. There were already two guys there getting ready to flyfish.
The gentlemen were very open to the idea of sharing the spot with me, so as soon as we got a glimpse of light, we started working our flies.
It was a beautiful morning, with a light drizzle and mist, but as time went by, the rain picked up and didn't let up till the end of the day.
I had two coho on very early into fishing, but managed none to the beach. Oh, well...that's fishing.
Around noon the bite was completely off, and except for a booty spring that somehow managed to get my fly in its mouth, that was it for that part of the river.
After lunch at Pointa Vista, I went to the bottom end of the river, near the canal, and fished one of the gravel holes where the river becomes the canal. There were occasional chum and coho surfacing, but none wanted my fly.
The rain kept pounding and pounding, and the cold associated with dampness started making its way to my bones, so I decided to call it quits around 4:30. I made one last long cast and started quickly retrieving the line onto the reel.
Much to my surprise, a beautiful resident cutthroat hit my fly and the fight was on. The poor thing didn't stand a chance against an 8-weight rod and a 10-pound leader.
Soon it came to hand:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v131/milivoj/Purdytrout.jpg)
After admiring it for a moment and taking a picture, I gently released it. There are not too many of these in the Vedder, so they should be treated with utmost respect.
It sure made my day, as I had never caught a cutty in the Vedder. Rainbows and bulls, yes, but never a cutthroat.
The river was essentially a ghost town. There were very, very few people out there. The river held up despite the heavy rain, but I did notice it came up a couple inches. With some more of the wet stuff, a fresh push of fish might just make it into the system.
It could be a good day tomorrow for those who want to brave the elements.
Good luck out there, and Happy Halloween.
Cheers,
Milo
Looks more like a resident rainbow to me but I could be wrong nice fish must have been a big surprise :)
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Yes... I was gonna say it almost looks like a Steelhead... Was there a red slash under the chin ??? If not it was probably a resident rainbow, I have hooked 3 larger ones out of the Vedder in August. One was 18 inches that I landed, one was 16 inches (really fat) and one was around 5 pnds which snapped me off. I also know that the resident bows have been sitting in the ponds for a while now. All in all a beautiful fish, good job on the rare find :D
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cant argue bout this one. definate cutty
btw, beauty cutt 8)
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quite the rare catch, if i caught one of those from vedder, it would make my year. beautiful catch, nice
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cant argue bout this one. definate cutty
btw, beauty cutt 8)
How so? Look at the lack of spots below the lateral line and how the tips of the fins are white. Its a rainbow.
Its a beauty
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no question that is a cutthroat - look at the length of the maxillary & the rose gill plates. You need to do a little studying bb.
Milo did the water stay clear? thursday was good but I went to the Harrison Friday. Quiet as a halloween grave up there. Dead at Dewedney slough as well.
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typical sea-run cutt colours and spots. you can also see the faint orangey/red belly. a common characteristic of a cutty
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Looks like a cut-bow to me.
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typical sea-run cutt colours and spots. you can also see the faint orangey/red belly. a common characteristic of a cutty
Thats not what seperates a cutty from a rainbow but Ralph is right about the length of the maxillary. It extends way past the eyes. I never looked at that at first now that Ralph brings that up its a cutty,
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You think this is a rare catch... today someone I was fishing with got a sea run bull trout around 8 pounds :o We also saw a Steelhead surface right in front of us :o.. weird how these fish are starting to come in sooo early ::)
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you probably saw a coho or a chum roll. Oh yeah, I have caught many large sea run bulls in the vedder and know of others who have done the same.
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How about this for a rare catch.... A friend fished the upper river many years ago and caught a pink during an even (non-pink) year. ??? It was really a pink since I saw the fish before he released it. I also saw a mature male sockeye in the Capilano hatchery...green head, hooked jaws & red body... probably a stray from the Fraser.
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Searun I haved caught FOUR pinks on off years now in the Vedder (and yes they were pink, 3 were humpies and 1 female that I thought was a jack spring and killed it :'( ).... not sure but I think the run is starting to rebuild a little which is nice, however I did not see any this year yet.
The fish we saw roll was probably around 12 pounds and was 6 feet away and jumped FULLY out of the water, it wasnt a coho or a chum. A few mins later is when the guy I was with caught the bull (yes there are bulls in the Vedder yearly, but normal run time is mid Dec-Jan). Kinda seems odd that 2 winter fish were seen/caught today in just 4 hours of fishing, along with 9 chum landed and many more hooked, most of which were clean.
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Interesting that you caught 4 pinks during the off years EveryDay. Have not heard anything about rebuilding an even year pink run on Lower Mainland rivers although they have been doing this recently on some of the east coast Isalnd streams.
I have caught & released a dolly/bull about 3 lbs. in Oct., not sure if it is searun or a fish that moved down from the lake (dollies/bulls are also found in Chilliwack Lk.). Glad to hear you were out fishing.
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I agree with Froodogga, Cuttbow.
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That fish is definitely a male anadromous cutthroat that is preparing to spawn this spring. He's snuck into the lower Vedder to chow on eggs. Beautiful fish Milo, those males can be very hard to find...
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Did you say you were flyfishing for the coho Milo or floating?
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I was flyfishing for coho.
The cutthroat was an unexpected and pleasantly surprising incidental catch. :)
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Just a bit suprised that they would go for a fly while being in the river that long. Good job.
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Just so you guys can see, I also got a cutty on the cheddar October 22nd... Similar markings, they do change colour in the fall in preparation for spawning...
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3164/2981064956_b9cdd7f7a6.jpg)
Nice cutty milo! There seem to be a few more around these days...
Cheers,
Nicole
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How about this for a rare catch.... A friend fished the upper river many years ago and caught a pink during an even (non-pink) year. ??? It was really a pink since I saw the fish before he released it.
My father used to work for DFO in the 60's and 70's and he told me a story about Pinks.
He said that they attempted to start an even year run of Pinks in Jones Creek.
The Pinks didn't take very well but 2 years later while running a fish wheel above Hope, they caught several Pinks in the wheel.
So maybe the Pinks in the Vedder are strays from Jones Creek.
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You should get a lotto ticket if you caught 4 pinks in the vedder this year because you will probaly win! I I have been out there a lot this year and I haven,t even seen a dead one on shore! Where you drinking at the time?
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Interesting info Easywater...I also did some work for DFO but in the 80's.
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The Thompson has a small run of pinks that show up during the off years as well. I understand there may be a few still kicking about.
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You should get a lotto ticket if you caught 4 pinks in the vedder this year because you will probaly win! I I have been out there a lot this year and I haven,t even seen a dead one on shore! Where you drinking at the time?
I already said it was NOT this year..... 2006 was the year I caught 1 (a female) and 2004 I caught 3, all in the same day, all humpies, all within 15 or so mins of each other, so I may have hit a rare school of them. Keep in mind I live right on the river and am out EVERYDAY that the river isnt either blown or closed. I am probably out a good 250 days a year, I have to get lucky sometimes ;)
PS I dont drink ;)
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typical sea-run cutt colours and spots. you can also see the faint orangey/red belly. a common characteristic of a cutty
How do you know that it's sea-run?
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typical sea-run cutt colours and spots. you can also see the faint orangey/red belly. a common characteristic of a cutty
How do you know that it's sea-run?
One look and it is easily identified as an anadromous cutthroat ???
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Clarki - Is that your name or are you just a major cutthroat fan? :)
I'd call that fish anadromous only because of its size and the fact that it's caught this time of year. I'd dare say that there are not many "resident" cutts in the Vedder itself. The chances of that fish actually having been to the ocean may not be very high. Many "sea-run" Fraser cutthroat may just rear in the mainstem and move around through many of the tribs. These fish are very nomadic and very little is really known about them. There are so many questions about these fish but one thing's for sure, they have got to be one of the best looking fish around...
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What about the possibility of freshwater cutthroat trouts dropping down from nearby lake systems to feast on salmon eggs/flesh?
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maybe they live in any river where there is good, just a river roaming cutty ;D
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typical sea-run cutt colours and spots. you can also see the faint orangey/red belly. a common characteristic of a cutty
How do you know that it's sea-run?
One look and it is easily identified as an anadromous cutthroat ???
Not all coastal cutthroat are anadromous, or sea run. Biologists cannot say for certain that Fraser River basin cutthroat are anadromous, but some may be. However some may also be lacustrine (large lake dwelling; think Harrison or Pitt) and some may be potandromous (migratory within fresh water only).
Hatchery cutthroat stocked into tributary locations from Maple Ridge to Agassiz, and originating from broodstock taken generally above Mission are virtually absent from the very lower Fraser. This suggests that we are mostly dealing with fish that are migratory but do not leave the confines of the big river for downstream marine areas.
These fish don't organize themselves into neat little categories. Undoubtedly there are lots of situations where fish with different
lifestyles are together at the same time and place.
So, I was just curious how you could emphaticially state that it was sea run?
Clarki - Is that your name or are you just a major cutthroat fan? :)
I'd call that fish anadromous only because of its size and the fact that it's caught this time of year. I'd dare say that there are not many "resident" cutts in the Vedder itself. The chances of that fish actually having been to the ocean may not be very high. Many "sea-run" Fraser cutthroat may just rear in the mainstem and move around through many of the tribs... These fish are very nomadic and very little is really known about them. There are so many questions about these fish but one thing's for sure, they have got to be one of the best looking fish around...
Major fan. Have targetted them specifically for alotta years...
Not sure that size and date of capture are the only indicators of andromy.
Isn't this statement contradictory "Many "sea-run" Fraser cutthroat may just rear in the mainstem and move around through many of the tribs..." If they rear in the mainstem and move around through the tribs and don't venture downsteam to the ocean, then can they accurately be called "sea run". Coastal Cutthroat does not necessarily equal sea run cutthroat.
PS my favourite discussion about my favourite fish