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[chris gadsden]

A very pleasant sunny afternoon welcome to The Journal on FWR, you top fishing web page in Canada for fishing information, tips, tall tails, environmental news, videos and much more.

With a number of meeting and other activities this week I thought I better get out on the river at first light today and try to make the most of it. Besides it was forcast to be a sunny day warm day, most likely the warmest so far, for 2008. I have always been told by The Master sunny conditions and clear water do not mix too well.

The wind was not too bad as I readied things for the trip and was please to see the river fairly vacant of anglers, not like yesterday when they were crawling around like ants on an ant hill. I only fished the last 30 minutes of the day as the fishers had returned home and I had the whole river to myself but I found nothing.  While I am getting things from the Leaf Mobile I phone good friend Lew and say, "still in bed"/ "Yes. listening to the radio" . "Are you coming" I say, "in an hour is the sleepy reply". I know it first will first be tea, a muffin or porridge to get his day going.

I slip into my starting run and once again in a unlikely part of it my newly attached Maple Leaf Drennan (broke the old one on some rocks the other day, it had helped bring 6 out of 11 fish hooked to the shore in its short life span) was gone, a boil maybe, better strike and sure enough the strike was rewarded with a head shake and line is on the way out from the old center pin. This reel is the one my dad had bought me close to 30 years ago in England. It sure is nice to have this reel that he travelled around England to find for me, "right from the factory son" he said as he presented it to me in those day long past. Using it now makes me feel I still have his hand in my hand now that he has gone from this world to his heavenly one.

Once again I have to cross part of the river as the fish is leaving from whence she came. I grab my wading staff from the ground, one that I had brought with me. I gave the fish free rein as I splish splash across the current saying to myself, "careful now, its only a fish don't fall, the water cold".

I make shore without falling and there is slack in the line, too much, is it gone? No its still there, it has tucked in at the drop off right where I had hooked it. Please don't make me wade back up stream. I gently apply pressure and back it comes, feels heavy too. I am hoping for a wild for the tube but it is not and surrenders fairly quickly for a fish that is pushing 14 pounds, a hatchery doe. As she lays in the water at my feet, another fish of sheer beauty, I was tempted to retain her but no, I still have time to fish and besides I have a fish in the smoker right now. One only needs so much fish and besides it may give another angler a chance at experiencing the thrill I have just had. Out comes the hook  and she quickly disappears, back into the flow.

Talk about disappearing back to the flow thats where I am going now as the sun is going down, a little over a hour to fish. One never knows maybe this story will change to be a Triple Header Monday, now thats boasting a little too much CG, never get to cocky at this fishing game. Back with the rest of the story, in a couple of hours.

[THE_ROE_SLINGER]

excellent read chris!..hopefully you can match the leafs longest winning streak by hooking into another one tomorrow! 

[chris gadsden]

Part two of The Journal as just got back from 45 minutes of going for another fish after the sun went off the water but found nothing but an enjoyable outing with a member of this forum.

After landing and releasing the fish I see all the runs below had not been fished yet so I got a little greedy and decided to get first crack at them before the late arrivals began to filter in. By the way the fish that I had just released was nearly as nice as the 15.3 that I caught last week, maybe Rodney will post a picture of it as it was a very beautiful fish that should be shared for all to enjoy.

I work my way quickly through the runs looking for a quick biting fish. In most cases I find if a fish is there you will get it on the first few casts, not always but quite often. After fishing about 4 runs I arrive at one that I have heard some fish have been taken although I have not found any there. It was behind a submerged log that created a nice ripple behind it. The Maple Leaf Drennan was carrying a roe bag payload that was from the 15.3 fish mentioned above.( I had taken the first fish today on pro cured steelhead roe) The MLD had just touched down, goes maybe 15 feet and then is gone from view. For once I set the hook better than I have a few times this season, actually too many times and right away a fish breaks water, does not feel too big but a steelhead is a steelhead that is what matters, in my book anyway.

I have lots of room to play the fish out and I quickly see, much to my disappointment another hatchery, no fish for the tube once again ( I keep getting asked how many taken so far for the brood stock program and I heard today it was at 52 as Toothpick picked one up and got another donated to his tube)

I remove the hook easily and push the 6 or 7 pound doe to deeper water, it goes a few feet then turns 180 degrees swims between my feet and beaches itself upright in a few inches of water. Thats an odd move as how many times do you lose a fish at the beach and it sure finds the correct direction to flee.

I turn it back 180 degrees and once again it heads to the deeper water and gone from view. Just as the steelhead swims away Lew calls and asks where I am, I tell him and he arrives over the bank and its quickly standing beside me. I tell him in detail about my success feeling pretty good about my second two fish day of the season."Early bird gets the worm" Lew says, in this case he was correct. We have talked and fished for a couple of minutes when Lew says "whats that fish there in the shallows", I look and sure enough the steelhead has come back to the shallows once again, never seen that before. I rush over to it, concerned about the well being of the fish, I know it was not badly hooked, no sign of blood. I hold it upright in deeper water, prepared to take it if needed but it easily escapes my grasp and scoots away quickly appearing non the worse for wear. " Must have just been in shock and got disoriented" Lew says. I hope he was right as I would not want to waste a fish, I feel it will be OK but of course one never knows for sure.

Lew and I fish for a bit more, more anglers appear as does the wind so we decide to go for a coffee and talk about the morning. After the coffee break Lew heads up river a bit I take a tour of the Vedder Canal area, lots of anglers there maybe the fish are holding there again but I hear only a few taken first thing. I head home for a break and get a call from the Master and I update him.

I then meet up with the 3 of them and fish a bit with Steve and he fools me big time as he says while I am putting my camera away after taking some pictures of him fishing " theres one" I look in his direction and see his rod bent and bouncing. "Way to go Steve' I say as I rush towards him.

"Only a snag Gasdy" he laughs as I have been well tricked. "What a beak you are" I reply.

By this time the sun is beating down pretty good, time to move on as the 3 of them join with a fourth friend and head to the next hotspot. I tour the river a bit before heading home to type part one of The Journal, more than content with my 8th steelhead to the beach this season, not a lot compared to may others but I have enjoyed catching everyone of them as I have enjoyed fishing with Lew, Steve today and others.

Tomorrow is another day, another Journal and maybe if I am lucky another steelhead that at times can do strange things but of course they are that mystical fish that keeps us coming back to the river, time after time.

[Rodney]

Here's Chris' 15.3lb hatchery steelhead from last week.

[younggun]

i got one on the weekend too.  She's a little bigger than last weeks   

[BigFisher]

Low, Clear and Sunny and still pulls off a double header. Chris you are a great rod, Good report.

[THE_ROE_SLINGER]

Chris! That is one hell of a steelhead! Beautiful pic!