After two reasonably good outings last week, I finally had a typical Chilliwack River fall day... losing every single fish!
Trout Slayer and I arrived at the spot where I had some success last week in the dark, because we know the first light bite will most likely be fast but short. We stood in the dark for quite awhile before we could make a cast. The full moon lit up the river quite nicely with the sunlight slowly creeping up from the horizon. Plenty of coho salmon were rolling and splashing in front of us as expected. I was expecting a pretty good day. Both of us started with the hardware but Trout Slayer quickly switched to his favourite, good ol' roe under the float. I stuck with the spoon, testing out my other 8'6" Shimano Clarus spinning rod.
The first fish I hooked was most likely a spring, but also possibly a big coho, as it darted right across the river before popping off. At least the scream on my Sustain sounded pretty awesome. The second fish was hooked pretty close to shore, right in the shallow water, so it must have followed right in. This fish splashed around right away and showed itself. It was clearly a coho salmon, but it again spat the hook after ten seconds. Trout Slayer managed to get into a coho jack, while missing a couple of bites. The long drift on the far side of the river means more challenging hook-ups, especially with the strong upstream wind today. The wind was evil today, and I forgot my jacket at home. By 7am I was stiff and shivering but still fishing hard. The bite quickly tapered off, even though there were clearly lots of coho salmon jumping in front of us. It was a let down for sure.
Trout Slayer decided to make a move soon after while I chose to stay behind for a possible turn-on later in the morning. It never happened, I managed to lose one more fish on roe under the float. The float actually got buried, unlike all the other soft bites later on. I missed another float burial at 11am before ending the outing.
On my way out, DFO officers were on their way in. Derek and I chatted as I know him from past SFAC meetings, he seemed to be more interested in how my fishing was.
It seems like enforcement is out almost daily at the moment, which is fantastic to see so be sure to phone in your reports when you see violations. If they are close by, they can easily attend these calls. Water is low, but fish are still moving up. The problem isn't a lack of fish, but finding opportunities when fish will bite consistently. Good luck!
I will let Trout Slayer brag about his success after his move when he reads this.
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Topic: Chilliwack River, October 2nd 2012 (Read 1418 times)