A warm welcome to all from The Journal on FWR your top fishing web site in the North West.
With the forcast for a nice afternoon in my mind I delayed the trip a bit by making a visit first to Cookies for the best breakfast in the Valley.
With the late breakfast completed and the paper read, time now to head to the flow. I start where I connected last Friday with my first of the season. No one home there but ran into Joe who had also got a late start but had seen two taken up towards Lickman, he was blanked so far.
Joe heads for a coffee and I work the run he had fished but nothing. I start downstream along the Rotary Trail and see Ken and Gerry coming towards me. When they reach me Ken says something about being able to buy the Leaf Mobile cheap in the Buy and Sell. I donot understand until Gerry produces my keys from his pocket, keys that I had left in the door lock. This is not the first time I have done this.
They tell me they had been into 2 earlier in the day so it sounded like there was a few fish around, the good water condition warranted that.
The 3 of us split up trying different spots but the floats stay above water. I see Tooth Pick Tom checking the area out and he says he was into 2 or 3 earlier, I believe he said he had broke a couple off.
I decide to go and change some of the garbage bags I have along the river, one by Ian, another at Giesbrecht, a third at Browne and the final one at Bergman. The one at Ian's has seen someone take it away for some reason, the other 3 are fairly full so change them, glad to see the anglers using them. I run into Joe once again, he still was fishless for the day.
I have a little over an hour to fish so I head to the area around Peach, an area that I have not fished in a while. The weather forecaster had been correct for a change, it was certainly a lovely late Winter afternoon. The mountains are draped in white from the latest snow fall, with the snow level down low.They certainly looked beautiful with the setting sun shinning on them.
I first try the side stream but it is most likely too low for fish to come into it, by the look of the entrance below.
I head to the main channel and spot a couple of good looking spots, no anglers around. The first spot yields nothing but a lovely looking slick beside a cedar tree that is grounded in the middle of the river looked inviting. It was a fairly long cast for the Avon but I make the 50 foot or so cast without getting a birds nest. The Maple Leaf Drennan and the procured shrimp, threaded on the #1 gammy splashes down a couple of feet from the log, a log that has drifted down during the last high water. I hold the rod high, to keep the line out of the water, to get the best natural drift possible.
I concentrate on the red topped drennan, ignoring the stream of walkers, walking along the Rotary Trail, the drift is good, drifting at the same speed as the current, natural.
As it near the end of the slick the red top is suddenly gone from my sight, I strike, the head shake of a fish telegraphs up the 75 feet of line, to my hands. In a split second of time a fish boils to the top then clears the water twice. From this distance it looks like a steelhead in the 10 pound range. It appears to be heading downstream, into some rapids below so I tighten up a bit, not much as I just want the steelhead to come towards me a bit and go downstream, on my side of the river.
A couple of walkers see the fish on, stop to view the action, just then on maybe the third jump, that dreaded feeling, slack line. As I reel in I discover my leader had broken halfway between the weight and the hook, darn. My record now 1 for 8, not one of my better seasons especially breaking 3 of them off.
I tie up a new leader, make a few more casts into the hot spot but find nothing so I head up to another run. While fishing there, biffchan and his brother appear on the other side of the river. I tell them I had just broken one off at the log below. After a brief conversation they head downstream and in short order I see biffchan's pole with a nice arc. It looks like he has connected with his fish very close to where I had mine one, was there a pair there, who knows. I see him work the fish down a bit and the flash of the camera signals success. I am sure he will tell more of the story later.
I fish for another 30 minutes without further success but was glad I hooked my second fish in as many trips over the last 6 days. Maybe the next fish will find the beach, however just being able to get out on the Vedder River, on a beautiful day here in the Valley made the day a complete success.
Author
Topic: Action Once Again, The Journal For Feb. 22 (Read 1452 times)