Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Zackattack]

So I'm new to salmon fishing this year, had lots of luck at Furry Creek and now I'm trying to work into the fall season.

Today I was super excited to go to the Vedder. I've been watching all Rods' videos, doing tons of reading, and I caught a couple pinks by jigging the Vedder mouth earlier this month. I bought some wool and scent recommended by Sea-Run and had a bucket of Firecured pink roe and I was rearing to hook a Chinook!

Started near the Vedder bridge at 6:30am, found a deep pool moving at a quick walking pace and starting casting roe. Spent an hour working through depth, different spots in the run, and a bunch of different presentations. Got nothing! I mis-cast once onto another angler's line and got yelled at, threatened, and invited to fight. Around this time I realized that the other 6 people fishing the run had 12' of line below their floats and were ripping on the rod at the end of every drift. Flossing! And one of them was flossing with roe! Most of them caught big springs within an hour but no fish were biting my presentations so I moved on to other runs in the area. Looked for walking pace, deep areas.

Worked another 3 runs trying different depths and presentations and got nothing. Literally everyone else I saw before noon, except for 3 people + 4 fly fishers were 'float fishing' with more than 10 feet of line below their float, ripping on the rod at the end of a drift, occasionally hooking something. One guy approached me and told me that my float depth was too short and I needed the weight to drag through the school of fish to catch anything...

So I drove to the end of Lickman road, it looked all blown out with no good runs so I didn't fish there. But I met a guy who said he landed a jack in the lower river that morning and sympathized with my distaste for the flossers. He offered to show me his spot so we went there and lo and behold there was 20 people float fishing with 12 feet below the float (in 8 foot water), occasionally hooking something. We worked the run with roe and wool for an hour and got nothing despite many jumping and rolling fish. Many of the flossers hooked fish.

So then I went to a hole near the mouth of the river that I found earlier this month and I cast a Koho spoon. After a half hour I hooked a small Coho but it shook the hook close to shore. Nothing for the next hour, tried a few spinners and spoons. I saw a couple guys leave with big chinooks, said they caught them on Kitimats and Orange buzz bombs a few hours prior.

So I decided that on the way home I'd check out a couple potential bar fishing spots I'd found on google earth. There were 4 spots on Dyke road and Nicomen Trunk Road near Deroche, but once I got there I found they were all full of riprap or gated off! So I still can't any bars to fish between Mission and Harrison river, accessible by car/foot.

So after a 13 hour day of fishing and driving, applying all the things I've been learning and studying for the last month, I got 1 hookup and saw 3 fish legitimately caught, and about 50 other fish flossed. It was nice to get out on the river but it kinda seems like a waste of effort, time, and money to study fish habits, tides, rain, river dynamics, techniques and presentation types and have nothing to show for it. And the bulk of the community I met on the river today were jerks or confused flossers.

I think today was the most discouraging day I've had in years. Is this a typical day of fishing for someone just starting out? Am I just terrible at this? Maybe I should hire a guide and try to make some more friends who fish. Any input you guys have would be appreciated, I'm at a loss here.


TL;DR: Studied everything about fishing available online, tried it all on the Vedder today, got nothing except yelled at by flossers. Is this normal?

Sounds like a normal day out fishing. Had lots of those, including today: skunked. Will just make the good days that much better!

[milo]

Keep at it. There will be days when things just come together for you.

[TimL]

This is my 2nd season salmon fishing (and I have yet to fish rivers aside from the Tidal Fraser) and I gotta say that getting skunked frequently is the norm in this fishery. This summer was a good example for me with the beach fishery. Just like what others have said, patience, perseverance and the willingness to learn will eventually pay off.

[Fish or cut bait.]

A lot of folks are spoiled with the pink runs.
If fishing were as easy as reading a few articles and watching some videos everyone would do it.

Keep at it and whether you catch anything or not,  you'll learn something every time you go out if you're paying attention and not just casting blindly.

Good luck.

[96XJ]

Discouraging?  I shore fished for coho about 20 times in row this year and caught nothing .... , the coho are real late in my area or not coming back to my beach  , so I went to my local river today for the first time this year , river was packed of course so I found a new spot and started drifting roe , quiet spot and i was going to move and the a couple of soft bites then BANG fish on ! , about a 7 pound doe , got it to the beach and discovered it was wild - no retention , my first coho of the year sadly had to say goodbye to it , but I was rewarded just after that picked up a 10 pound hatch , so keep on trying  you'll get yours

PS , this is my first post and I would like to thank everyone who posts here , I have been reading on this site for a couple years and appreciate all the advice and news

[Burbot]

Too many 'A  holes' at the Vedder this time of year. 

personally they should just restore Sumas lake and hell with that river...

[Noahs Arc]

Too many 'A  holes' at the Vedder this time of year. 

personally they should just restore Sumas lake and hell with that river...

Or....  YOU could just stay away. I've met a ton of great people on this river. There is a ton of top rods who fish this river daily and I enjoy running into them. If you go to the river with the idea that we're all a$$holes, and have that mentality, maybe you're the a$$hole. Some of my best coho and steelhead days have come off this river.

[Flytech]

Many days out without fish, many many many. But I still love it.

[Nicolas The Fisherman]

Or....  YOU could just stay away. I've met a ton of great people on this river. There is a ton of top rods who fish this river daily and I enjoy running into them. If you go to the river with the idea that we're all a$$holes, and have that mentality, maybe you're the my friend. Some of my best coho and steelhead days have come off this river.

Was thinking the same thing. Very well put! I've met some great, friendly top rods on the river who have helped me out considerably over the years and are an absolute joy to fish with. There are more friendly anglers then A holes on this river unless of course you're fishing the typical snagging areas and even still, most of these guys are inexperienced, not A holes.

[Floater]

Keep trying and right now is not a good time to judge the vedder for "good fishing" i know some guys are slaying springs but its still kinda quite overall. Coho seem late but that could change any day now.

[swimmingwiththefishes]

I wouldn't assume that the Coho run is going to show up...from those in the chuck seems like it's pretty slow out there.

[canso]

I wouldn't assume that the Coho run is going to show up...from those in the chuck seems like it's pretty slow out there.

Lots of coho reported from coal ports and sandheads today.
Coho are on there way.

Ocean boat put away, and out comes the sled. I love this time of year.

[fishseeker]

Enjoyed reading this because it reminds me of all my experiences doing this over the last 8 years.   One thing I know is no matter how long you keep at this there are going to be bum days and good days.   I still get skunked 50% of the time and I still get intimidates by big crowds.

Half the fun is the challenge of it and constantly learning.   As one guy mentioned some techniques work for you and some don't.  I tried roe many times and was never very successful even though I know it is a very effective technique - always done best keeping things as simple as possible and looking for those runs where fish are likely to hold rather than simply moving through as others have mentioned (A single spoon has always been the most versatile and effective way for me but, over time, I have applied what I learned from that simple technique to fishing jigs and, more recently, fly fishing)

[Byronnn]

Wow so many fantastic responses here, thank you everyone for all the suggestions and information. I keep a detailed fishing log and I have copied some of the specific suggestions into it!

I think some common themes here that I will take away can be summarized as:
-Getting skunked is normal!
-Keep fishing! Experience on the water is invaluable
-Walk around and find quieter spots, away from the flossers, where the fish are less spooked
-Move around less. Fish come in schools, up the whole river, so they will eventually come to me
-Try more things! Spoons! Jigs! Spinnes! Wool!

I think the biggest thing I continue to be confused about is identifying good spots. I have a hard time picturing "that slot that looks fishy. The one that has lots of room below it for the fish to move up". I will keep looking.

I definitely believe that it is possible to get into fish more often than not. I think of the huge amount of knowledge and skill in guys like Justin from Sea-Run and Rod from bent rods and it makes me excited for all the things I'll learn over the next few years!

I'm going to the river again tomorrow morning! Everyone here has got me excited again 

[Flytech]

Great attitude now!