A warm New Years Eve welcome to The Journal on Fishing With Rod, your top fishing web site in the North West. Another year is now in its dying hours on the West Coast with the New Year now on the horizon, one always wonders at this time of year what lies ahead for our world.
With what I saw yesterday fishing with Lew seeing him losing one, missing another and me finding a $5 dollar bill I just had to get out for a short time before church.
I got a bit of a late start and halfway to the river I discovered while in a rush putting my church clothes in the Leaf Mobile I had left my rod at home so back I have to go.
I had kidded Lew last night I would rush to the river this morning to beat him to the Lew 2 run, the scene of yesterday's action. Well even though it was close to 8 no sign of Lew in the parking area.
As I start to put on a new Maple Leaf Drennan after cracking the one yesterday who pulls in but Lew. I say you go ahead as I have less than a hour to fish and I wanted to check out the Fin Run.
Finally I am ready to head to the river after tying up a couple of roe bags etc., why I do not get better prepared the night before I will never know, maybe spending too much time on FWR.
As I clamber over the bank I see anglers everywhere but that does not matter as there is so many spots to fish, spots that some anglers have yet to realize will hold fish especially with the colored water conditions we have. This morning the visibility was good 3 feet or so but I did not look real close as I knew it was very fishable.
As I move by other anglers good morning greetings exchanged and the customary "any fish", all replies are in the negative. I stride quickly to the Fin Run after first fishing another nice piece of water and see Pistol Pete racing me to it.
We laugh as we met up there last night near the end of the day. It was there I told him of finding the $5 bill and telling him Lew had missed a fish of some sort there. I said we would call it the $5 Run but he said the Fin sounded better, the Fin Run it is.
PP tells me The Master is just across from us, I see him and try to call him on his cell for an update, darn cell phones, should be banned from the river
He does not answer too busy concentrating on his Maple Leaf Drennan I presume.
Anyway we work the Fin Run a bit and then PP moves to Red Toque Rock where some other anglers are fishing. I find nothing home at The Fin and try another small slot besides some roots and bushes. Second cast I am hung up and after some pulling, back comes the MLD sans the terminal gear. I have lately gone up to 15 pound main with 8 pound test leader. I believe I have never gone to 15 main but to cut down on the loss of MLD I thought I would try it. Anyway when drifting you should be keeping direct contact with your float so not to create a bow in your line that speeds up your presentation making it drift unnatural through the run.
I decide to walk up to Red Toque and see PP,Tooth and Ed before heading out, none of them had seen a fish so far and it was approaching 9:30, 2 hours into the fishing day so it looks like I was not going to miss much by leaving.
After church I deliver a couple of Mallards from last night's shoot to Gary and visit new grandson Max to make sure he was not too depressed after last nights Maple Leafs tough loss. He seemed ok as he knows he will see the boys win many Stanley Cups in the years ahead.
I stop into see Pete at Fred's and take him an Extra Large, I pick one up as well to enjoy before heading to the river. Pete tells me a 15 pound plus and another has been weighted in today. The 15 pounder by a vistor to this forum, he may not like me posting this info but as it is the Christmas and New Year season he may be in a forgiving mood. Anyway I am sure he will be checking the forum if the secret is out yet.
I have a good feeling now hearing about these two fish, so with 2 hours to go I decide to try a new spot. Some of you made have read how I wrote about a lot of old runs gone with the recent highwater but some very old spots have risen once again from the dead.
One of them is The Friday Hole, a run where I had much success many moons ago, maybe 20, not sure if it was that long ago but was welcome sight to see it once again. This was to be my first trip to it this season but I had spotted it a while back.
As I arrive at the water proper I though maybe the water was colored a bit more than this morning but I think there was two feet visibility at least, fishable.
I try a run before the Friday Hole proper but find nothing, I move to the Friday Hole smaller than it once was but it looked good. On the second cast, using a freshly tied roe bag that falls inches from a fallen log that I find steelhead like to lay next to for protection. Down goes the MLD, for once I am on the ball as a flick of the wrist creates a boil, two or three flashes of chrome before my line goes slack. "Darn" I say out loud, I would have liked to say something more colorful but it is Sunday.
The bag is still intact so I try a few more casts hoping maybe it would be like the fish I caught twice last year in a space of 15 minutes but no, the hook prick had done its deed, taught the steelhead a valuable lesson.
I decide to let it sit a few minutes and see if that would help, thinking maybe the Iron will have a short memory.
I phone Lew, that darn Cell phone again, I want to tell him he is not the only one that can lose them as he is at 0 for 2 while I am at 0 for 3 however not positive the first two were steelhead but the second showed silver just like this one had. He tells me hopefully I will get a second chance.
I am anxious to get back to the run but just then I see a Maple Leaf Stealth hung up in some bush I decide to go for it. First however I must go past the Friday Hole. Temptation is just too great I must cast. I decide to put on a pro cured shrimp for a change of menu for that steelhead that I think may still be lurking beside that log.
The cast once again plunks down, inches from the fallen or washed down log, heart beating a little faster now although truefully I thought I would not have that second chance. The MLD bobs past the point of the previous splash down, it nears the tailout, just before I am ready to retrieve down it goes. Am I ever ready, I firmly set the hook, the fish surfaces, it begin to do the
Chubby Checker Twist, I see its silver, a nice fish maybe 10. I just start to think I got you this time and all of a sudden the second disappointment of the afternoon, bye bye. This time I say nothing at all, remembering it is Sunday, I stare in disbelief once again, how could this happen again, I check the Gammy, razor sharp.
I tell Lew the bad news again,he rightly calls me a beek getting back at me for yesterday remarks I directed his way.
I donot get another chance so I plow through the bushes back to the LM, head hung a little low but remembering what I said a couple of days on this forum just getting out is the important part.
As I load my gear into the Leaf Mobile a flock of geese flying in their lovely V formation are heading to their night roost at Cultus Lake. Their chatter to each other is such a lovely sound as the cloak of dusk falls around me .
I think the V did not signify Victory for me but it shows you can hook a fish in the Friday Hole on a Sunday, I have an idea one might hook one there on a Monday also, guess where I will be at first light.
Happy New Year from The Journal.
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Topic: Ending The Year With Losses, Dec.31 The Journal (Read 3126 times)