Ok, I had the pleasure of visiting Chilliwack again this past week. As usual, the trip was full of several memorable times. I'm not really in the mood to write a novel, so instead, I'll puke out a bunch of random thoughts and short stories.
1)Tuesday morning...Water looks like diaper water. Really bummed. Fished hard, picked up a couple chum and a couple coho, but it was work. I'm impressed with berkley big game 10 and 12 # leader. I bent two hooks on a snag and the line did not break.
2)Wednesday morning...water dropped and was in great condition, however, I couldn't believe all those people. It seems like they're a little more bold than in the past years. On several occasions, they would litterally stand within 5 feet of me. You would think that if there's a small drift with 4 people in it, you'd keep on moving until you find somewhere a little less crowded.
3)Again, fishing seemed to be a little more difficult than the past years. We did pick up a couple quality coho, but no springs. Throughout the day, I kept thinking something was different than the previous 8 years then it hit me. There were practically no carcasses in the river and the whole area did not smell like rotting fish.
When I asked the guys at Freds how the fishing was, I was given the typical shop answer... fish are everywhere and everyone is slaying them. When I mentioned the general lack of carcasses, they had no answer for me and almost ignored that statement.
4)Wednesday evening.. After scouting around, we found a nice little flow and were all alone. After hooking a few chum and a coho, we were immediately surrounded by people. Where the H3!! did they come from. We all noticed several people attempting to snag fish. Their leaders were short, but they ended every short drift with a rip. I asked one of the guys if he was actually getting bites on every cast. He just looked at me and pretended not to understand me. After bonking his chum, he left.
5)Thursday. Water looked even better, but I think there's even more people if that is possible. We did quite well on chum and coho, but still no springs. It was very weird not seeing anyone even snag a spring.
6) It's amazing that anyone can afford gear in Canada. IMO, the shops there are very proud of their merchandise.
7) Thursday night. We went back to the flow we were at on Wednesday night. This time it was dead. We did enjoy tormenting some people trying to snag fish. We also witnessed a couple people bonking 3 chum. We laid into them and called DFO. Needless to say no one showed up, but at least we gave them a verbal beating they won't soon forget. At least we shamed them off the river. We soon got discuraged and left the hole also and went back to a drift below the campground. Landed a couple more coho.
Friday morning. Fished a half hour or so and knew it was time to go back to our families.
We chose to fish the water below vedder crossing. The people I fished with did not like small pool fishing and hate donating gear every other fish. I would also rather hook a fish where I could play it and have a reasonable chance of landing it without horsing it out with 50 lb. braid. Did not see a single spring below vedder crossing all week.
All in all, it was a great trip. A little bummed no springs in hand, but a cooler with lots of coho is also nice. Hanging with good friends, crushing some beer, eating great food, catching a few fish and returning home healthy and safe with stories to tell.
Author
Topic: Notes from my trip (Read 3073 times)