Not a bad weekend stroll
Published on August 15th, 2009 by Rodney
The sunshine is back! For awhile it almost felt like fall had arrived, which wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing because it’d mean coho salmon are not far behind. We could use a few more weeks of nice weather, after months of extreme weather patterns.
Now that we are entering the third week of August, it is time to start anticipating for the arrival of Fraser River pink salmon. After lunch, I popped by one of my usual haunting spots to see if there were signs of humpies during the incoming tide. The water seemed to be clearer than a couple of days ago, perhaps the sunlight was just playing a trick on the eyes.
No signs of humpies could be seen, so I decided to walk around with my light spinning rod and make a few casts. I was surprised when a silvery fish chased the spinner to shore on the first cast but failed to commit. The following cast, another bump, most likely by the same fish. On the third cast, I reacted precisely as it bumped the lure lightly again. Who would think that it could find the lure three times in a row in a big body of murky water? The fish, no more than 12 inches long, leaped straight out of the water, suggesting that it was not a pikeminnow. It splashed a few times before I brought it to my feet. It was a cutthroat trout at its prime state. Catching cutthroat trout is not unusual in the Tidal Fraser River in late summer. I recall it was also around this time last year when I encountered one of these beautiful specimen. This fish flipped itself off the hook before I had a chance to grab my camera.
After spinning for a couple more hours with no success, I decided to head home for a brief break before heading to another spot for the evening session. I also picked some blackberries by the river too, convenience is definitely an advantage of living in Richmond.
Once the cats were fed and snacks were eaten, I headed back out to catch the outgoing tide. It can often be good to focus on the shallow bays where current is absent during this tide. This evening was not so productive as hoped. With a couple more bites, I managed to bring in a small pikeminnow. The big ones seem to be somewhere this year. I was hoping for them to arrive sooner, since pink salmon are expected to arrive anytime now.
