Since I landed my last steelhead from the Chilliwack River on January 28th, I have returned to the river 6 times with 1 hook up and 0 landed. The long losing streak was becoming an everyday event and even my wife started to make fun of my steelheading. Every time I get back home from Vedder, she would ask "Where's the fish?" in a tone reminding me of the old burger commercial "Where's the beef?" She never was a fan of me bring home fish, but now she was enjoying the pleasure of poking fun on my dry spell. Even a family friend who lives a few blocks away joined in the fun by sending my wife a steelhead she bought from a super market. I am pretty sure she meant it as a private joke on me.
So, when I left home at 6 am this morning, I was kind of determined to change all that before the season ends. I arrirved at the Vedder Crossing at 7:15 and looked down at water and it was not pretty. Looked like upper river will be the only area fishable for me today. Fished some spots and as usual nothing.
Next I arrive at a nice rapids and decided to perch myself on top of a large boulder to get a better view on likely holding spots.
I remember reading in one of the steelhead books that the author carried a step ladder around to spot good holding spots.
As I had no ladder, I was going to stand on top of a large slippery boulder. It's never a good idea.
I used my standard clear water artificial bait set up: #2 red gammie hook with large cerise jensen egg on top with tuff of white and peach yarn on top.
Must have drifted the thing a dozen times and as expected nothing. So I decided to check for cell phone reception and took out my cell phone and startrd to wave it in the air to check for possible reception. While I was doing this on top of a slippery boulder, the float disappears and its FISH ON. I am holding the rod with my right hand and my left hand is up in the air holding my cell phone when this happens. LOL.... I decide to put away my cell phone in my jacket pocket and realise that I had zipped it shut because I had other stuff in it. I tell myself not to panic and then realised that I had forgot to set the hook as the fish is zipping down river in the rapids. I put my tumb on the spool and set the hook.
Something must have pissed of the steelhead as it makes a screeching U turn and starts to head up stream. Thats when all hell breaks loose as I am frantically turning the crank with my cell phone still in my hand. I did not want to drop the cell phone into the water so cranking was slow and jerky, and as expected, the steelhead passed right in front of me, maybe 5 yards away, and flashed it side to show how chrome it was, almost laughing at me. And, it was GONE! LOL... It was a pretty discouraging sight. I made a few dozen more cast there but no more action.
So I decided to forget the rapids and go to a nice pool for a change. I went to a well known pool and one guy was already fishing there. The water was clear and slow giving steelhead plenty to time to inspect any bait flowing their way. The other guy was fishing roe and also had a styrofoam container for dew worms and he had no action. I looked down at my plain jenson eggs and wasn't sure I could fool any steelhead with it. I gave it a try and no action. Tried jigs, shrimp tail and pink worm, and no action. So, it was time to move on. Next I went to another pool and it also had another guy fishing there already, and he was rigging up live sand shrimp. No way my jenson eggs can compete with that. So after going through all my stuff, I decided to leave.
It's almost three o'clock, I am wet, hungry and totally exhausted. Sitting in my car, I am wondering whether to go back to the rapids where I lost the fish in the morning or just call it quits and go home. I decided to give it a last shot and tied up three more jensen eggs before heading out again.
I am back at the rapids again and cast into likely spots. Within half a dozen casts, float disappears and its FISH ON. Right away, I could tell this is no average 7 lb steelie. It is heavy and moving slowly. This time I was ready and carefully fought the fish. Interesting thing about this steelhead was that it did not jump even once, but just hunkered down and dived for the bottom. It was a strong fish in prime condition, but somehow did not like to jump. Because of the current, I played the fish carefully and it took more time than usual to get a peek at this one. It was a beautiful wild buck of 33" long and a perfect torpedo shaped body. I would guess it would weigh around 12 pounds. I took some pictures and gently released the fish. As I was fishing alone and there was no one around, unfortunately no picture of me was taken with the steelhead. However, I am happy that my long dry spell at the Vedder is finally over.
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Topic: Chilliwack River, March 21st 2011 (Read 1097 times)