I woke up late this morning (more like noon
) after a very filling dinner at a Chinese restaurant last night (thanks to Steelhead King's parents, quite a treat
). I looked out of the window, and tried to make up my mind whether I should head out for a few hours or not.
The water clarity is fair to good right now in the Fraser. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours fishing it. Lucky, his girlfriend, Pierboy and Double Underhook were all fishing already yesterday when I arrived, but none had any luck. On my first cast, a hookup brought in a bull trout between 1 and 2lb. I should have left right there and leave them wondering what was going on.
Nothing else was hooked beside Lucky and Pierboy's bull trout yesterday.
I asked around today who wanted to go. Fishersak wanted to stay dry. Lucky had his gear ready and was just waiting to get the go ahead from gf.
Then there was Chrome Mykiss, who kept sending me links to these awesome fishing photos for two hours.
At 2pm, I told him, "Come on! Let's go!" and he finally agreed to come out with me.
The rain was actually quite light around my house when I left, but it sure was pouring hard when I arrived at my spot. The easterly wind made it more unpleasant, it was becoming to look nicer in front of this screen with a warm cup of coffee.
Anyways, we were alreayd there, might as well give it a go. I ventured down to the rocks and began my spinning. Chrome Mykiss decided to fish with roe for awhile. Today I had two rods set up so I didn't have to tie up a different lure if I chose to do so. The 8lb setup is tied up with a spinner that I've made for coho, while the 12lb setup had a 3/8oz Gibbs green scale Croc spoon that has been good for me when it comes to chum salmon.
There were quite a few chum salmon rolling during the first hour or so. One managed to slam on my spoon within feet from shore. Immediately after the hookup, the fish swam along the shoreline towards where Chrome Mykiss had anchored his roe. I said, "Your rod! Your rod!"
Chrome Mykiss quickly reeled his line in, the fish had turned towards me at this point. I walked towards it as I cranked up the reeling. The large female chum surfaced right beside a rock. My eyes lit up.
It was clean and I intended to keep it. Chrome Mykiss proceeded to walk down so he could give me a hand with the netting, at this point the spoon flew up in the air as it popped out of the fish's mouth.
Bye bye chummy.
The next hour or so was pretty dry... Well, fishing that is. The chums were not rising anymore, and my lures did not produce. Chrome Mykiss' rod sat in the holder without any big tugs. We were awfully wet.
At 4:30pm or so, I decided to move up to another spot as some chums started to rise around there. My first cast produced three tugs that were followed by my quick hookset. The rapid kicks suggested that it wasn't too big, a bull trout around 1lb was brought in soon after.
Chrome Mykiss packed up his gear and walked over for a chat as both of us almost had enough of the rain. We commented on the tug boat traffic right in front of us as one long log boom was just about to hit the shoreline downstream from us. We could see about 7 tug boats working with four different towings at the same time.
At one point, I had another pull on my spoon, but my hands were so numb that the hookset was too late. It was a miss.
On the following cast, another hard hit came soon after the beginning of my retrieve. This time there was no hesitation, the hookset was right on target and the spinning rod bent straight down and produced a few hard kicks. This was followed by the fastest run I've had so far this season.
The fish ran hard towards the log boom right in front of us. Good thing I just lubed my reels last night, so everything was running very smoothly. I turned the rod to the side, hoping the run would soon end so I could start turning it before it reached the log boom. Luckily the run did stop, and I began to gain some line. The fish basically followed in. At one point it surfaced and I could see the silver body. This was no chum at all.
Once it reached the shallows, it began to run again, and again, and again. My hands were shaking by this point, from the cold rain and the excitement. Chrome Mykiss had to remind me, "Take your time..." After several netting attempts, a beautiful wild coho around 6lb was guided into the net. I howled like a little school girl again, possibly deafened Chrome Mykiss for a minute.
This shot made 3 hours of water saturation well worth it.
Thanks to Chrome Mykiss for his company today. Good thing he did not leave just before my coho hookup.
I just checked the diary, last year I managed to land a hatchery coho at the same location on October 16th as well.
Connecting with these coho in the tidal Fraser River is a rush, as these fish are freshly arriving from the ocean. Barfishing with roe does produce fish, but I think the weight used to anchor the roe on the bottom is bit of a drag when playing the fish. Chucking hardware doesn't produce as many bites, but the takes are usually without hesitation.
Few things to remember
- You need a tidal sportfishing licence when fishing in the tidal Fraser River.
- You need to purchase a salmon conservation stamp if you intend to keep your salmon.
- Daily quota for pink salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River.
- Daily quota for hatchery coho salmon is two fish in tidal Fraser River (until December 31st).
- Daily quota for chinook salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River, but only one maybe over 50cm (until December 31st).
- Daily quota for chum salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River.
- You may only keep four salmon (mixed species) in total per day.
- Only a single barbless hook is allowed.
- Bait can be used as of October 8th.
- You must release any sockeye and wild coho carefully.
- Do you know the difference between a hatchery and wild coho salmon? Click here to find out.
- Complete tidal Fraser River salmon regulations can be found on this page.
- Report all fishing violations to DFO Steveston 604-664-9250.
- Make sure you have a good fillet knife to clean your catch and a cooler with ice to keep your it fresh.
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Author
Topic: Lower Fraser, Richmond October 16th (Read 3733 times)