Yep I thought that topic would get you going.
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What I am saying is I was slugging it out for a few hours on the Vedder as I was battling a bad cold but after seeing the success of the Weekend Warriors yesterday I had to get out there. Today I would be looking for my second to the beach for the season (1 for3) and as I said on my Vedder River conditions report the conditions could not be better.
A light dusting of snow just at daybreak also helped make it look like a good steelhead day as snow and steelheading go hand in hand. I arrive at the river at 8 after a trip to Tims, hoping the java would sooth my sore throat some. As I park the Leaf Mobile The Master and Mel are hard at it already, one on each side of their starting run. Right away the Master signals to me to come across to where he is fishing. Gosh darn he must be into them already so I quickly gather up my gear and head to the crossing spot. When I reach the other side I think better try an unoccupied run first before I go and hear about the fish The Master must have beached already.
I see a familiar looking forum member across from me but I am not sure it is him but later he identifies himself, I will let him tell his story later as after a few minutes he has beached a nice wild fish. I stay there for a bit but nothing so I head down to hear the story from The Master but I am surprised he has hit nothing, I guess he just wanted my company.
I say if there is no fish here I am going down river to where I got the hatchery the other day. On my way downstream I see there is a fair amount of anglers around, not as bad as the weekend but most runs have fisherman in them. Doesn't anyone work these days, weekdays should be for us senior citizens.
I notice an angler a little below where I caught my fish on Thursday. I stop at an equally good looking spot and after a few casts my float is down but before I can strike it comes back up. I am not sure if the steelhead saw my newly affixed Maple Leaf logo on my Drennan and got scared by it and let the roe bag go or not.
It would not come back either, as hard as I tried to coax another take from it.
Shortly after the angler I saw earlier down below me is into a fish, I see it boil briefly to the surface on the hook set. Later on I see him and he says it was a wild and asks me if we are taking brood yet, I say we start in a week's time.
Beads from this forum comes along and we have a nice visit. I move up river again and see Lew who has just arrived, good, he brings me good luck most times. We fish a run together before I move up to the next run. Suddenly Lew shouts " Chris a fellow is into a fish where you had the take". Darn, I thought Lew brought me good luck. I hear later it was a wild fish, not sure of the size. I then get a call from The Master on the Cell phone, 'lunch time, see you at Cookies in 10"? Yep I answer. He also said he had lost a fish a short time ago, another darn as I had fished the same run before he hit it. My luck looks bad for today.
A enjoyable late breakfast with The Master makes one forget about the earlier events of the day. He decides to try another area while I do a couple of things in town before heading back to where we had fished in the morning, they have to be more there somewhere.
I check a log jam first and find 1 perfect condition Drennan, 3 DNE's, including a balsa wood 30gm one and a few foam floats, maybe my luck will change.
I go to where I saw the first fish of the day taken and after about 6 casts the Maple Leaf Drennan disappears completely, I strike but nothing there. I am sure it will give me another chance but no, scared by the logo?
Shortly after the miss cell phone rings, The Master, he informs me "lost one and landed another one that was wild, are you coming down"? I say "well I have just missed one and I have all the runs to myself so I will stay here".
Maybe it was a bad decisions as I fish to dark and my float stays above water the rest of the trip even though the water and runs still look so good, just like they did 9 hours earlier.
As I typed this The Master phoned and he tells me he got another, a hatchery buck 12 pounds that he let go.
Good a hatchery left for someone else to catch.
Well tomorrow is another day and besides we can not get them every trip, like The Master does.
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Topic: Slugging It Out On The Vedder,The Journal For January 7, 2008 (Read 3015 times)