Got a bit of a late start but when I looked at the river shortly before 10 and saw the visibility was approaching 2 feet I thought today would be the day I would break my current dry spell.
Before I head to Tims for coffee I post the conditions for anyone that may be planning coming up if they hear the conditions were favorable. A leisurely coffee while I read the Vancouver Sun, the Province and one of the local papers takes an hour or so out of the fishing trip but I feel the visibility will only improve by each passing hour.
I finally reach the river a bit after 12:30 and when I reach it the visibility seems close to 2 and a half feet, no other anglers in sight for the first 30 minutes or so. Boy the water looks fishy, nice color, river up about a foot from the recent low. I think the fish should have moved up from the Canal area and I expect the Maple Leaf Drennan to disappear at any time.
I even check in with Rodney telling him I believe today will be the day I will finally feel the thrill once again of a big package of chrome on my line.
I work four more runs after talking to Rodney but I find no one home or if they were they were no taking a liking to the pro cured shrimp I decide to be using today.
I run into an angler I know and he tells me he knows of 3 fish including one he lost. He heard one of the others was a kelt.
I decide to take a break and go for a late lunch and another coffee.
After lunch I am going to try some new territory for a change as the areas I have been fishing lately have not been kind to me.
The water looks better than when I left and I start working some more nice looking runs. I see Ian on the other side of the river he has found nothing and seen nothing either. I continue working up river. A young family is enjoying the Spring like day also, the children are playing in the sand, the river gives so much pleasure to so many. We exchange pleasantries.
The cell phone rings, its Buckeye, we catch up on each other’s news before we say goodbye and I slip the phone back into my shirt pocket and continue working the run before I cross the river, a bit of a long difficult crossing, I should have used a wading staff but there looks like some good runs on the other side of the flow. Something like the grass is always greener somewhere else.
As I make my way upstream I see a few fry scrambling for cover amongst the rocks, another generation of fish starting their life, wonderful. They most likely are chum salmon fry. A few diving ducks around me are waiting for them to appear in good numbers. So many species of birds and animals, more than we think of sometime are so dependent on salmon, for their survival. Some government people do not realize that fact.
When I reach the other side of the river, the left bank, Joe is working a nice looking run, on the side I was on. He hand signals nothing, I do the same. What’s going on here, if Joe can not get them there must not be many around in this area, but once again the conditions look so good today. Maybe I am in the wrong area, again.
I then run into another angler I know, he says he has nothing himself but he said another angler landed one not long ago. He says “right up there” as he points to the spot, a nice one too" he adds “I lost one of my own a couple of day’s right at the beach, just down there”, he points out that spot too. My hopes are now riding high again.
I tell him I had a bit of a difficult crossing below and he offers to give me a ride back to my truck as he is going home. I think about taking him up on his kind offer but decline as I have some fishing time left. Besides it is such a nice day and I am enjoying myself, not a care in the world, I always have that feeling when fishing, that’s what is so good about fishing isn’t it?
I fish the mentioned spots and stop briefly to get a photo of the setting sun, lovely. I work the water now with a roe bag to see if that will change my fortune. Only a fly fisher is in the area as the sun sinks further into the horizon.
Better check the time as I know I have a bit of a walk back to the Leaf Mobile. I told my wife I would be back at dark for supper
I reach for my phone, in my shirt pocket, not there; I frantically check my other pockets not there either. Darn must have fell out of the pocket after the call from Buckeye.
My fishing trip is now over as I start the long hike back to where I think I may have lost the phone I have to climb over a bit of a rock outcropping and along some rip rap to the highway and to the trail, darkness is now falling quickly, too much so.
As I reach the trail a number of walkers are enjoying their leisurely walk in the dimming daylight. As I stride quickly down the trail I look at the ground wondering if I will be able to spot the black case in the dark.
As I reach the spot where I will leave the trail and head back over to the river I wonder if I should just head home and phone the missing phone and if it does not ring does that mean it is swimming with the fishes.
I decide to take a chance I can see it, but I do not hold out much hope. I leave the trail and a 5 minute walk puts me at the spot. I bend a couple of time but come up with a dark rock or a piece of wood, it looks hopeless. Suddenly another dark object, yes it’s the case, I pick it up, no phone in it. I drop to the ground on my hands and knees, my eyes scanning, my hands scraping the ground, like a child looking for Easter eggs. Where is that phone? I briefly wonder if someone found the phone and left the case, no they would not do that.
Then I hear a humming sound, is someone phoning it, maybe my wife wondering where I am. No it is not a call, the wrong sound. My ears are trying to pin point the location of the sound, above the roar of the water. Finally I see it, face up in a small pool of water. That’s why its humming the water has short circuited it. I am happy to have found it and quickly make my way back to the Leaf Mobile and home. I pull the battery to stop the humming and are now attempting to dry it out.
I did not find a steelhead or get even a bite today but was pleased to have at least found the phone after my carelessness.
Tomorrow is another day, another journal and maybe there will be a fish waiting for me tomorrow, in the “Cell Phone Run”
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Topic: Chilliwack River, March 3rd 2009: A Lucky And Unlucky Day (Read 2652 times)