Water clarity continues to drop, most likely due to the rain that the north is having. Today we were at around 1 foot of visibility, making spoon fishing slightly more difficult, but not impossible.
I started at around 1pm, with some flycasting as the low tide provides more casting space on shore.
I was shortly joined by Chrome Mykiss' dad. Both of us started spinfishing around 2pm or so, and fished quite hard too. We saw the odd rises, mostly sockeyes, not many pinks surfacing like what we were seeing earlier this week.
At around 4:30pm, the cel phone rang. My friend Alberta asked, "So, how many fish are you getting there?" I asked, "Where are you?!" as I felt he was watching me. "Over here!", a parked car honked down the river. While talking, I was still retrieving the spoon, and a fish hit it but I was slow on the strike with the cel phone squeezed between my head and shoulder.
Good indication though, at least the fish were there.
A few casts later, I finally hooked up. The drag was slightly loose, I tightened it quickly and the fish was kicking more like a coho.
This one went for half a dozen leaps and as it approaches my net, the hook popped out again and the lure went flying over my head.
Next time, I'll wait for CM's dad who was walking over to net the fish instead of trying to be a hero by self netting.
30 more minutes went by, the tide was rising fast, but the action was absent. The odd pinks were surfacing further out from casting distance.
CM's dad left, Trout Slayer arrived, and brought me some pink salmon flies that I'll need for next week.
He did not have any luck when I left him around 7pm. He'll report later I guess.
Most likely staying in tomorrow, as the river will be empty.
Few things to remember
- You need a tidal sportfishing licence when fishing in the tidal Fraser River.
- You need to purchase a salmon conservation stamp if you intend to keep your pink salmon.
- Daily quota for pink salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River.
- Daily quota for chinook salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River, but only one maybe over 50cm.
- Daily quota for sockeye salmon is four fish in tidal Fraser River until further notice.
- You may only keep four salmon (mixed species) in total per day.
- Only a single barbless hook is allowed on the lure.
- Bait ban is in effect between September 6th and October 7th
- You must release any wild coho carefully.
- Pink salmon have large oval spots on their back and tail. Sockeye salmon do not have spots. Chinook salmon have tiny black spots on its back and tail.
- Complete tidal Fraser River salmon regulations can be found on this page.
- Report all fishing violations to DFO Steveston 604-664-9250.
- Make sure you have a good fillet knife to clean your catch and a cooler with ice to keep your it fresh.
[/size]