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[chris gadsden]

Today I woke up to a bit of snow on the ground and more falling from the darkened sky, it is always amazing to me how snow changes the look of our world. It almost gives it a fresh, new and clean look. I know it makes the commute for many a headache, especially when it comes during the morning rush hour. To me as I get ready for a morning of fishing I think of those from this forum caught up in the traffic jam and hope they are all driving safely.

I feel guilty that I live so close to the river and can almost fish every day I wish however that day will come for many and I hope there will still be fish for them. That is why my mission today was to get to the river at first light in the hope of getting one for the tube for the Chilliwack River Steelhead Hatchery program. It is because of this highly successful program and the dedicated hatchery staff we on the Chilliwack Vedder River have a good run of steelhead for many British Columbia anglers and others from throughout the world to fish for. Some people condemn hatcheries but in this changing world if it was not for them I believe we would not have the angling opportunities on the Chilliwack Vedder River. What is better, no hatcheries, no fish or hatcheries with a strong run that we have most years on this system and the opportunity to fish for them? Personally I choose that latter.

I am running a bit late this morning so I donot stop at Tims and instead enjoy a cup of home brew as the Leaf Mobile carefully delivers me through the snow covered roads to the starting spot for the day. As I arrive two anglers are already hard at it. I pull into an area where I can watch them and sip on the last of my coffee and chew on a bit of toast I have wrapped in some tin foil to keep it warm, I hate cold toast. I also hate the cold temperatures that I know will freeze my guides and my hands today but the snow falling silently around me indicates it is indeed steelhead weather. I have a further excuse to stay in the warm confines of the Leaf Mobile as an angler stops by for a chat and tells me about the 21 pound plus hatchery steelhead he caught on the first of January, what a way to start 2009. He shows me a picture of it too.

While he heads up river I listen to the radio traffic reporters and hear all about all the traffic accidents everywhere in the Lower Mainland and out to the Valley, why don't people drive to the conditions?

I finally get brave, gear up and head to the flow picking my way carefully down the snow covered rocks. I am just getting ready to make my first cast and I hear a whistle from one of the two anglers working in front of me, I see his pole arched nicely.

“Let me know if it is a wild I say”, I put my rod and back pack down in case I need to sprint to the fish, I am hoping at the same time that it is a wild as I had not been able to tube one since the 2009 program started on January 15.  I then hear what I wanted to hear,“wild”, off I go.

I meet up with another forum member; sorry I cannot match his face to his handle.  :-[He offers to help tube it which I was very grateful as the place we would have to slip it in the holding tube was not too friendly. We quickly make our way down to Chris, the fortunate angler. I slip the tube off my shoulder and we zip it open, we have some trouble getting it into its temporary home but after a few tries and 4 very cold hands we have it safely in. Chris slips the hook out, we close the 7- 8 pound buck in, good one for the program as most years bucks are harder to get than the does. The 3 of us feel good we have all done our part in getting a fish that will be part of ensuring there will be more steelhead for you all to enjoy in a few years, be you strictly catch and release or like to take one home. That choice is freely yours, which the good part of fishing.

We move the fish from where we tubed it and I move it a bit off the main part of the river, making sure there is a bit of a current and the fish's head is facing into the current. I find a convenient snag which I can tie the tube and its occupant to. Once tubed we are also very concerned for the well being of this precious steelhead.
I phone the hatchery and give them the location to Bob, the hatchery manager who answers my cell phone call, Bob tells me they will be down as quickly as they can, it is the first tubed fish of the day.

While I wait for the hatchery staff I do a bit of fishing but I have no success over the next 45 minutes, fishers come and go, there is more on the river than I thought there would be for a snowy day. I check the fish a couple of times that it is doing OK, its fine. The Hatchery staff, Ron and Kelly appears on the dyke and in no time they have transferred the steelhead from my tube into the blue carrying case. A short trip is quickly made to their truck and the steelhead is deposited in the oxygen fed tank and is on its way to the Chilliwack River Hatchery. Before they leave I tell them I hope I can call them again today.

I sit in the Leaf Mobile for a while watching the different anglers working the run, to see if anyone else connects but they donot so I decide to go to my “hot spot” where I have taken two hatchery over the last 2 weeks.

I am warmed up some now after the drive to the new location and I am back on the river at 10:20, very few anglers at this spot. I see no tracks in the snow on the side stream I have been fishing but I wonder if the entrance far downriver is now too low with the dropping river.

I lose confidence in the side stream and head over to the main river and as I reach it I see Gwyn a few hundred yards below me. I fish a likely looking run but even though it looks fishy I find no takers. I head to another run and I see Gwyn working to it too. He gets there first. Just as I reach it I see Gwyn's pole nicely bent. "That's the third one and I just started at 10, should have been hear a few minutes ago as I released a nice wild” he relates as he plays the fish. As he gets it too the beach it is a nice fresh hatchery doe that he decides to retain. As he fills in his license I wonder if there might be a fourth there, I am hoping.

I throw a few casts where we standing and then move to the top of the run. The Maple Leaf Drennan that I had put on last night along with some new main line was  bouncing along happily in the ripple at the head of the run, it was about 2 to 3 feet deep. I could even see the Maple Leaf logo through the snow still falling. Suddenly its journey downstream is interrupted, its swimming below the surface but not for long as my strike brings it to the top for a brief second before the fish on the end has pulled it back under. "There another Gwyn" I say happily. I see it is a good sized one maybe close to 12. I prepare for a good fight but it does not happen as the fish surrenders quickly. I say to Gwyn “does it look like the one you released”, "no I donot think so he replies”. "Maybe it is a moving fish I say” as Gwyn easily slides the very docile doe into the tube and then ties the rope up to a large rock, once again I am pleased that we have another for the hatchery.
Another phone call to the hatchery and Lynne says they are on there way to pick up another fish and will get them to call me which they do a few minutes later. They say they have two to pick up now and will be get to me in about 30 minutes or so. That gives me more time to fish as I wait once again but even though I am confident of hitting another I donot.

Kelly and Ron once again are the pick up crew and the process from earlier in the morning is repeated. As I am cold I follow them out to the truck. As they transfer the fish to the tank a young family that are out for a walk stop and have a look at the 3 steelhead swimming freely in the tank. The children and their mother ask a number of questions what we are doing. Of course we are pleased to answer their inquires. Maybe one day they will be doing what I was doing today.

As the trucks pulls away with it precious cargo of three and I head back to the Leaf Mobile I feel good that I had done my small part today of helping make sure there will be steelhead in the future for you and me to enjoy.

Tomorrow, actually it is now today is another day to be out on the river for another adventure of seeking out that steelhead, hoping I can be fortunate to encounter once again this magnificant game fish. Around 7 hours to spash down, I hope.

[hue-nut]

Chris, I want to find your "hot spot"  , I was out all day yesterday, fishing some very nice water to no avail. Anyways, great report, its like a small novel with suspense and all.

[firstlight]

Another great read Chris.
Thanks again for your thrilling reports.

[chris gadsden]

Thanks for the kind remarks.

Fueled by the excitement of yesterday fishing trip it did not take much urging to get back out there again today.

I wanted to get to the river right at daylight but when I got in the Leaf Mobile I saw the gas gauge needle at empty, darn forgot to fuel it up yesterday. So that meant a detour for some petrol that made me 10 minutes late arriving at the river. Was this a sign of what lay ahead for this forgetful angler.

As the"hot spot" comes into view as I clamber down the river's bank with daylight now 10 minutes old, horrors of all horrors, there is someone in my run.   I could not believe my eyes.

Anyway thats OK, I got my tube, if the angler hooks one that I feel he will the tube will be ready. Actually I am so cocky I have 2 tubes today, just waiting to have a wild steelhead put in them.
I decide to work a secondary run and leave the run to the lucky one but I keep an eagle eye on him to see if his pole will indeed bend.

I am just getting started at the head of the run when all of a sudden the angler in the "hot spot" is on the move. I am excited to move down to the now vacant run but with no one in sight I might as well finish fishing the run I am at before I move to it. After about 5 minutes I can wait no longer, I am on the move.

I tremble with excitement as I make my first cast thinking are they here again today.
I donot have long to have my question answered as near the tailout the Maple Leaf Drennan dips, I am ready, I strike, there he is, one head shake, two head shakes, darn gone, my first loss of the year after landing the other three I have hooked to start the season. Little did I know things were going to get worse.

 About 50 feet above the initial hookup the float dips again, I strike nothing there, was it bottom as the run is fairly shallow, no I estimate I am at least a foot above bottom. The next cast same spot down again, I strike, one head shake a bit of a boil then slack, double darn. Whats going on, I check my hook, its sharp.

Nothing more for a while so I move up to the top of the run. On the first cast down goes the MLD, the strike sees the Drennan fly out of the water onto the rocks luckily it does not shatter. On goes another bait, I am ready now, as the MLD drifts into the zone down it goes again, the hook set yields a solid feeling, as before a single head shake, a boil, then the sicking feeling of slack line, triple damn.

 Whats going on here, a long time since this has happened to me, what a beak I think to myself. Maybe the two tubes are the problem, way too confident in myself. Another 10 minutes of nothing so I move down a tad to another run with a nice spill over. I put on a egg sack for a change of pace. On the second cast and for the 5th time of the morning the MLD is swimming below the surface, once again I strike only to come up empty, the egg sac is torn up some but good enough for another drift. Same spot down again, head shake once again but this time the steelhead is taking line, hooked.

It puts up a good fight certainly better than the one yesterday, I am hoping for a wild of course. It takes around 5 minutes before I see the pleasant shape of an adipose, a steelhead on the upside or downside of 9 pounds, a very chrome doe.
It takes another couple of minutes of back and forth action before I have her on her side and she easily slides into the holding tube. Well its about time after so may chances. I phone the hatchery to arrange the pickup.

I also check in with "The Master" and tell him of my good and bad luck, he has been blanked so far. "The fish that were in the location I am at must have moved into your area" he adds.

I have tied the tubed fish up to part of a limb, I check it a couple of times to make sure she is resting comfortably. Shortly after it is like bees being attracted to honey as anglers start to appear from all sides of me. Two have moved into the run where I had all the action. I stay near the tube. It does not take long until one of the anglers is into one. The angler is packing a tube too so I move up to watch the action and help tube it if it is another wild, its a good sized buck, near 14. As it nears the shore we see there is no adipose and one less steelhead is not in the river.

It is not long until George and Ron arrive for the pickup, they tell me they picked up another on the way down. It appears after a slow start the wilds are now being caught.

As they are getting ready to leave they get word another wild is in a tube a few hundred yards above us, a worth while trip for them this morning.

Shortly after they leave the cell phone rings its The Master, I guess all the fish have not left his area as he tells me he has landed a good sized hatchery buck but he is not sure of the weight. I know it must be a good one as he would not have kept one that early in the day.

I join up with Lew who has just come out, we try some other runs but come up empty.
I decide to leave Lew at it while I go for lunch. Just as I get to leave Nick calls again and said his fish is bigger than he thought, 18.91 pounds, good for first place in the Wally Hall, Memorial Derby. I look forward to see the photo of that monster.

After lunch I return to the river and try for another hour but I have run out of chances and head for home with memories of 3 fish lost but pleased with another for the hatchery which is the most important thing. Besides maybe those lost today will be there tomorrow for you or me, time will tell.

[NFM]

Sounds like a great day out on the river  Last year I had a similar story, I personally think of last year as a different year, there was fish through out the system but not to many fishy spots had fish in them, Me and a few of my fellow fisherman were out on our second trip of the season and came across a run  were they were quite stacked . We usually only like to fish a run for 15-20 minutes then move along, maybe 25-30 if really think its fishy. But last year we couldn't find many fish in other parts of the system so we home stayed this run for the day and had great results. On returning days to fish we always hit our hotspot in the early morning and then moved along to allow other fisherman to take there chances. Every Day that we did fish that one run we never once had another fellow fisherman walk in on us, quite nice actually  .I just thought I would post a little story of similar fishing as you had today Chris !