Well it's been a long while since I've written up a report so here we go....
I figured after this recent amount of rainfall I would try to hit a river about a half an hour from my new home. I had been there 3 times before this outing (the 17th). It is an absolutley beautiful river, with alot of fish in it. I had always fished this one hole, you could easily see 80 or so coho milling about in it, some almost up to at least 20 pounds (some of the biggest hos I had ever seen). Anyways I get to the first hole and see the river has come up about a foot, perfect! On previous outing I had watched coho follow my fly a good 30 feet only to turn away, so i was hoping that since it was raining and deeper water with fresh unspooked fish some of them would commit. I start fly fishing and have a good strike right away, I miss it but figure there will be alot more to come that day. 2 mins later a guy throws a ball for his dog into the water...
guess my coho spot is done (water is still very clear and fish are still spooky)
.
I decide to walk downriver and get to a great looking run. I fish it for about 30 mins and keep seeing alot of fish jumping in the 2 runs below me but none where I am. I decide to walk down. Just as I am nearing the run I see the fish in, another fly guy steps out of the bushes and proceeds to hook 3 fish (2 coho and 1 spring) in 5 casts well I am left dumbfounded. I fish my little strech for 2 more hours with only one more hit and the guy below me does not connect with another one. I start walking back to my car and notice a guy leaving the run that I was in earlier. I get back to my car and he is parked just ahead of me. We have a quick chat and he landed 3 coho and 3 cutties in the run I had fished for 40 mins!
He lets me know what he is doing and even shows me a fly I would replicate that night (Love the people out here, very freindly and always willing to help, and NO SNAGGING!!!)
Anyways, I get out there today with my new flies expecting to do much better. I fish the one run that the 3 coho were caught yesterday. Right away I see fish jumping all the way through the run, I think to myself, man will this be a good day. First cast out with my sparsley tied Mickey Finn I hook a nice sized cutty about 8 inches long. I proceeded to hook and land 3 more. A few casts later I have a fish about 4 pound follow up and slam my fly breaking it off on the hit, not sure if it was a coho or a large cutty (this river is infamous for its larger cutts). I work the run for another 2 hours only to get 4 or so more cutties and only 1 coho hit! So I'm still here, a little dumbfounded by what I'm doing wrong. I guess I can't expect to learn a river in 5 trips but it's getting on my nerves with fish everywhere. At least the Cutties saved my day from a skunking, and they were beautiful specimens so I won't complain too much, at least I had a little bit of fun. Guess I have alot of learning to do on these small clear flows of Vancouver Island
Cutty with my "new" Mickey Finn in its mouth
Decent sized cutt
This guy was missing half his gill plate
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Topic: A Vancouver Island Flow, October 17th 2009 (Read 1971 times)