Hit up some upper river water today at first light, fresh batch of prawns in the bait box and some 50/50 frenchies rigged and ready to go. Hiked in and fished some water me and blueback fished on derby day. Not a soul in sight.... everything was frosty and slippery..... just a wee bit nipply this mornin on the upper. Days like today i'm glad i built my rod with zirconia guides.... ice just doesn't like to stick to zirconia I've found.
I positioned myself at the head of the run which holds the deepest water and began close to shore, gradually moving my casts farther out. With an uneventful first hour slipping by, I switch from prawn to blade. My first cast with the blade got all screwed up and landed 1/4 of the way across the run, and i ended up with a minor backlash on my reel. I'm looking down at my reel, working the small tangle with my icy fingers....when i suddenly feel something pulling at my line. My float, which was resting in the shallows maybe 30 feet below me, is gone... then it pops up... in very shallow water close to shore. I can't do anything yet as my line is still slightly tangled on the spool. I'm figuring this pulling is just the current on my float..... but then all hell breaks loose. A larger steelhead is now violently rolling in the shallows, impaled on my blades siwash hook
. I have no choice but to fight this fish, while still having a few loops of the tangle to work out of reel. After reeling up and feeling the full fight of the fish, it swims towards me, I reel as fast as i can. The steelhead, a nice 12plus pound buck... is now directly in front of me in the gin clear water. OMFG it's a hatchery I realize.... and then.... like Karma on speed.... the fish bolts out and down river, taking line. I give chase, adjusting my drag and keeping control.... and then SNAP........ the line comes to a dead stop as the fish hits the first of the still tangled loops in my reel...... fish gone
Well, I sit.... on my defeated butt, light up a happy smoke and dive into fixing my tangled reel and re rigging as i lost it all, a 3.00 spinner and a 7.00 drennan..... sacrificed to the steelhead gods hehehe
I take my time, have a coffee and then, all the re rigging is done, I loop a fresh prawn to the hook and back at it. I fished the run up and down from head to tailout, switching from prawn to blade to jensen egg in the tailout and then it happens..... float down, hook set, i feel the weight of a thrashing steelhead and the battle is on. This fish zipped around in the run for a few minutes, jumping once...... but something wasn't right.... there was something else on this fish... but more of that later as the fish heads down river I give chase through one set of rapids and into a smaller run where i manage after probably 10 to 15 minutes to bring the fish to the shallows. I see instantly that this big steelhead is a hatchery buck...... about 12 maybe 14 pounds..... Then i see something else..... a 50/50 french blade.... hanging from his lip...... right beside the jensen egg and wool, which was also stuck in his lip. On further inspection...... my whole rig..... blade, leader, split shot and drennan as well as about 50 feet of mainline is all still attached to this fish....... I have not knowingly hooked the same steelhead in the same run in my years of steelheading.... but there was no doubt about this one.
so..... out came the bonker , marked my liscence and headed for home. I think i'll head up again tomorrow and see what i can sink a hook into.
Conditions in the upper are about 4 to 6 inches lower than derby day and gin clear and cold where i was fishing. Talked to two anglers on the way out.... they saw one smaller hatchery doe whacked at first light and 2 wild fish released in the run above and around the corner from my lil secret spot.
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Topic: chilliwack JAN24, I'm home early for one reason only (Read 5141 times)