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[chris gadsden]

With some reports of the catching of coho in Rodney's area and Nick's area   I decided to take the Leaf Craft out for some bar fishing off Island 22 on Friday and Saturday.

It was good to be able to relax after 7 days on the road with The Paddle from Wild Salmon. It was exciting being part of another chapter of trying to rid our Coast of sea based fish farms but it exhausting at times. I think I moved the signs over a dozen times but I was so glad I did as it gave me a clear vision of the work Aleandra Morton is doing.  I found driving in the Vancouver traffic very deployable. I am glad I do not have to be in that every day. I feel bad for those of you that do everyone is in such a rush, no wonder there is traffic mishaps every day.

One Friday after getting the Leaf Craft ready I did not get out on the water as early as I would have liked to but it was great sitting on Maple Leaf Bar all by myself, next to a roaring fire and enjoying a late breakfast of hotcakes cooked on the campstove.j
I even squeezed in a nap next to the fire, so refreshing.

A good number of fish are splashing about mostly chum, some moving up river and others I imagine are spawning. The shore line is starting to have it share of chum that have completed their spawning and life's journey.

As I wait for a bite I pick up some discarded line, not a lot thank goodness.

My rod does not move one bit and pack up around 6 noting the days are getting shorter. First Nations are setting their nets as I head down river and also I take a picture of a lovely sunset

At the launch I have trouble getting the Leaf Craft onto the trailer and Dean Werk of Great River Fishing who is just coming in with his clients from a day of sturgeon fishing is just coming in too, they give me the needed push. A nice group of chaps from England that have bee coming to the Fraser for a number of years.

Dean told me a bar that has been productive for bar fishing of late, I make note.

Day 2 of The Journal follows.

[chris gadsden]

Once again I donot get out on the water as early as I should have but just getting out to the solitude of the river for a few hours is better than none.

I take Dean's advice and head to the bar he mentioned on Friday. Once again as I settle in I notice lots of surface activity, some must be coho salmon.

The water has some colour so I stick to a #0 green top. I know I should have some roe on as an added attractor but I am a bit lazy to do so. The rod is in the water for only a short period of time and I have a brief hit, could have been a fish running into the line but I donot think so.

The hours slip by quickly and I pass the time by picking up more fishing line, gather some fire wood for the now roaring fire and looking for lost bar weights. These activities are the rituals of bar fishing and of course having a nap has to be fitted in as well.

While walking the bar I find a dead chum with a green tag in it, it will be part of the stock assessment program and of course should not be removed as it may get counted later.

Its time for the nap and sleep comes quickly listening to the splashing chum and the sound of rhe river rushing past, on the way to the ocean 75 odd miles away. As I doze off I think of the paddlers that went by a few days ago, from Hope to Vanier Park, going in the opposite way of the fish they are working to protect from the fish farms that we feel should be on land, not on the migration routes of salmon smolts. Fish farmers never seem to talk about the damage farms have done in other countries, is that not enough proof they should be on land?

I sleep for about an hour and when I wake the fire needs to be fueled with more wood which I do. I lay back to enjoy its warmth in the cool but not cold Autumn air. A wonderful time to be in the outdoors isn't it.

Gosh I see daylight is coming, a quick trip to the Vedder before church, back with the rest of the story in a bit.

[chris gadsden]

The warmth of the fire makes me start to nod off again but I am jarred from this as the bell is ringing louder than on Santa's raindeer, As I stumble to lift the rod from the rod holder in the Leaf Mobile a fish is rocketing into the air, it silver as a newly minted dollar, its a coho too.

The fish rushes towards me and I reel frantically to catch up to the slack. The fish as it nears the shore just stops a foot or two from where I stand, I can see it eyes. These eyes must have seen this strange looking character too, maybe the first time it has seen a human. The 8 pound bit of chrome only pauses for a second or two and then rushes outward, cartwheeling as it goes. These manovers pays the coho in dividends as it throws the barbless hook on the second or third leap.

I may have been a bit sleepy a few seconds before but now I am fully awake as I hold the now slack pole.
I wonder if it would have been my first hatchery coho adult for the season but I will never know.

I recast the rod in the hope of another chance before I leave for home to catch the Leaf game but the pole remains still. Before I leave I brew up some coffee and along with some bacon and eggs it makes one quickly forget about the loss. The aroma of coffee and bacon in the Fall air is too hard to describe but I am sure the few guides boats sturgeon fishing just out from where I was fishing were envious.

It makes one want to get back out on the bar this week to see if I can have another change at one of these beauties, I think I will just do that.