I had decided to head up to the Vedder at 11 a.m. and hike but possibly not fish the section of river I usually never fish due to the crowds; the Lickman Rd to Peach Rd. general area. I spent 3 hours hiking, observing, talking. I saw no coho action and heard of none as well. I only saw white chinook being hooked/ caught.
I then went to an area up near Tamihi that I fish a fair amount. I was surprised, it was 2:30 and this perfect little side pocket that hold coho was completely un-occupied, guys were fishing the deeper, middle part of the river with consistent hook-ups with white chinook. About 15 minutes into my fishing here, I landed a pink which was of course released. Another 15 minutes or so and this one was a nice chrome coho, get it near the shore and

wild; gently released. About 30 minutes go by and this time, it was a bigger fish, I thought it was a chinook until I saw the reddish stripes - yep a chum. Brought in, pliers out (man they have vicious teeth) and released. Fished another 5 minutes or so and bam, another coho on, played it until I could see if it was wild or not and it was a hatchery, I brought it in and

, lost it right near the shore

My spot started to get crowded at that point as guys around me realized this spot held some fish. I packed up and went downstream a few km to another favorite spot of mine that is not well known. It was about 4:30 when I arrived and started fishing. No one was in this spot except for the home owners across the river. This is one of my favorite steelhead spots and I had it all to my self on a long weekend. I couldn't believe it. I fished this section with roe as it is slacker moving water. 3 cast, big chinook. About a 10 minute fight and brought to the shore and released. Another short while and another chinook on, this one was a monster and took a while to get in; released. Next one was a coho, played for about 5 minutes and brought to the shore to see if it was a hatchery and it was. In it came; bonk, slice, you get the idea....
Fished until 6:00 and got into one more coho that spat the hook very quickly. Got into 2 more chinook; played and released.
Not bad, I fished from 2:30 to 6 and got a pink, a chum, some coho and too many white chinook. Pretty fun evening.
I will try and set up a gallery to post the coho picture. No camera at the river, so the cooler shot will have to do. I need to buy a cheap camera to take to the river. Any suggestions on a decent but cheap digital for the river?