Another warm welcome on a dreary night to The Journal on FWR, your top web site for up todate fishing news.
This will be a short report this evening.
I left home heading to the North side of the Fraser about 30 minutes before fishing time, the rain is pouring down most of the way.
As I begin to climb Mount Woodside I remember from the past that during heavy rain some rocks can tumble down on to the road from the cliff above. I am in the slow lane, a car speeds by me as I peer through the rain that is beating down on the windshield. Just then I see them, a few good size rocks. Luckily the vehicle has got by me allowing me to duck into the fast lane preventing some damage to the Leaf Mobile. Sorry to use the word duck Big Fisher.
I clear Mt. Woodside safely and about 50 minutes after leaving home I am parking by the Chehalis Bridge.
In the now daylight I see the river is higher than I saw it during the last rainstorm, it looks colored but fishable. Just as I am getting ready two familiar faces appear, coming up the roads, embankment, it is Merc and Big Steel. They wait as I get ready, Merc makes fun of me putting on a packback over my fishing vest. I tell him good to pack the camera in and I do not tell them lunch is there in case they may want to help me eat it later.
Good to walk through the Park with them, chatting as you walk always makes the trek more enjoyable. We are heading to the Easter Seal Run. The side stream at the end of the Park parking lot is running a little fast, we wade the top of it. I mention to Merc I do not want to trip and fall, I would never hear the end of it " we are here to rescue you", Merc says. Nice to have them along then.
It reminds me last year when a forum member saw me do a 9.9 headlong dive into the Vedder last year, when steelhead fishing. Just a little embarrassing and darn cold too.
We reach the run and it is fairly packed, as I walk down to wards the bottom of the run I meet funfisher very nice to meet him. That is the great part of this forum, meeting anglers you see on the forum most days makes them feel like family unless they are attacking my Leafs of course..
The three of us we take our spots at the bottom end of the run. We hear only one jack coho has been taken and I think maybe one wild was taken while we were there, I did not see it landed though. The clarity was maybe 18 inches, I and Merc who is fishing just below me are busy battling maple leaves
that are getting hung up on our hooks. Some logs are also drifting by, not a good sign as the river is still rising. We are fishing close in, as that is the coho's passing lane, that is if there is many going by. I take a break, snap a picture of Big Steel working the flow, also Merc who has lit up a large cigar, maybe Cuban. I snap a picture of this happy angler too.
The crowd thins, we nearly have our pick of the run but I donot like the conditions so I saw goodbyes to the boys who say they are going to stick it out a bit longer.
I try a couple of spots in the Park but quickly give up and head to the Leaf Mobile. I grab a sandwich, a spot of coffee from the thermos and walk to the bridge to watch the river's fury while I eat. Just as I reach the bridge two fellows in a red van stop, I see they are distressed, they have just told me they have been broken into, a car comes up behind them, so they move on , out of the way before I can ask much more. They also ask me if I had seen anything suspicious, I had not.
I head back to the truck and another angler stops for a chat, I tell him about the break in, he has just arrived so he can offer no helful tips either. A little while later Merc and Big Steel reappear again, I beckon them so I can tell them of the break - in too. Just then the van that has had the side window broken out comes by. They tell us they have lost some tools and a stereo. They add they had been parked down by the entrance way to the Park, since around 7. I have seen vehicles broken in that area before so shy away from that area. What a way to spoils these chap's fishing day, a darn shame that one can not fish without worrying about this happening to any of us.
I then head towards Harrison Bay and collect a few bottles and observe some chum spawning in water that is only a few inches deep, half their bodies are out of the water. I snap a few pictures of this scene, we may post later. I phone Rodney and give him a river report, to post.
I decide to head to look for some cutthroat around Aggasiz. As I mentioned before I am helping with brood capture this year. I find none only one Chum that somehow gets caught in the tail, how did that happen as I am fishing water that is hardly moving. Darn sweeper I am.
With this I decide to call it a day, as I drive along the Fraser it is very dirty as well from the rain and snow melt, not many areas to fish this weekend it looks like. I will have to wait another day for that coho but we are running out of time. One minute we are screaming for rain now we are screaming for it to stop. We fishers are never happy, always grumbling about something.
As the rain continues to fall, time to fall into bed may try... tomorrow no, I said I would not discuss that here, maybe time to write The Journal on that type of forum too.
A fishless day so to speak but good to see Big Steel and Merc again and meet funfisher, that makes the day all worthwhile.
Goodnight from the Journal.