I was out in the canal on Thursday (19th) evening and managed to find a place with few other fishers and a nice deep slot the fish were moving through. With the sun low in the sky to the west I was able to clearly see the fish as they schooled, held, and then slowly single-file moved upstream. I started out by drifting a 2" pink spoon. Pass after pass, by, above, and through these fish produced no results. I began to wonder if there was some scent from my hands left on the spoon, and quickly found a small bottle of shrimp scent that I had in my vest. I added a coating of the shrimp and immediately saw results.
The results were amazing. On the first pass through one of the Pinks took a short run at the spoon and opened it's mouth only to totally miss the lure by several inches. This happened with several fish over the next hour. I don't know it they lose sight of where they're going once their mouth is open, or if they're just really stupid. It can't be the latter or they wouldn't survive their ocean life.
Another really cool thing that happened far more often was a fish coming head-on upstream to the lure, opening it's mouth wider than I imagined they could, taking the lure totally into they mouth and then somehow ejecting it without so much as a tap to the rod. The first time I was sure I was going to be landing a fish as soon as I saw that lure go in there and was totally shocked to see the lure come back out. I was never able to determin if the fish somehow expelled the lure wish a mouthful of water, or if the fish backed down slightly. Watching for the 'inhale' and then attempting a hook-set only resulted in the spoon being withdrawn from their mouth even quicker. This happened a dozen or 15 times before I decided that the hook may be tickling their tonsils and causing the lack of "bite". With that theory in mind I decided to try a smaller presentation with a shorter hook. Went down to a 2-0 steelhead hook, with 1" Pink wool in the bait loop. No scent, with scent, 2" wool no scent, with scent, none would give me a repeat the of the reaction.
I tried several other pink 'baits' and NADA. The light was changing enough by now that I only had the opportunity to try the original spoon again for a few more passes. The inhale-exhale wasrepeated one more time.
Bottom line - we're all likely attracting more fish than we realize - keep trying guys & gals. Don't get disheartened if your present lure isn't landing fish.
Author
Topic: Chilliwack River, September 19th 2013: Pink fishing research (not so scientific) (Read 1055 times)