The fishing has definitely slowed down as it usually does during this time of the year, but personally I enjoy fishing the Chilliwack River in the end of October as well. It's a different kind of enjoyment compared to early in the season. During the peak of coho salmon season, it's always a rush to be at the river before dawn so one can have the best chance of catching the most fish. In late October and early November, the crowd thins out rapidly, and it becomes pretty relaxing to drift a float through a run, catches are not as frequent as during peak season, but they are not rare either.
We gave it another go at first light today. Last night, we had a lengthy discussion on whether we should do another trip this week, after Tuesday's camera disaster. We knew the fishing is still somewhat good and will not last much longer, so it's best to do more now and slave in front of the screen all the time in a few weeks from now.
It was a pretty foggy start. Unlike the previous few trips, when we focused on fishing the mid section of the river, I decided that it was best to return to the lower section after hearing some positive reports. I picked a spot that was productive for us a couple of weeks ago. The area was deserted. We arrived to an almost empty parking lot and had two or three runs all to ourselves. While the runs were void of fishermen, they were not exactly full of fish. The run that I had picked seemed to be shallower now as some gravel may have filled in, therefore the float never sank after first light. We decided to try a nearby deeper run where the current is slow. We found it to be a bit too slow for drifting roe, but I managed to land and release two hatchery marked coho jacks. A few nice adult coho salmon showed themselves while we were there, but they were not so interested in whatever we threw at them.
At 9:00am, a phone call to Chris, who was hunting for ducks nearby, compared our harvest result. With three ducks to hand, his was not that much better. During the phone call, "Hold on." <bang!> <bang!> "Missed it again!"
We decided to meet up at a spot nearby, where he had seen another forum member hauling them in.
The spot indeed looked promising and within the first five casts my float took a dive. Nina actually saw the float going under before me as my head was wandering around as usual. By the time I saw it, it was still under so the hook-up was pretty solid, just not solid enough for it to stay on for more than five seconds.
We spent a bit more time at that spot before leaving, not because the spot didn't seem productive, but because my leaky waders and Nina's cold feet could not stand against the knee-deep water anymore.
By the time we were back at the car, it was already 11:00am. With the sun beaming down on the river, we were pretty discouraged and not expecting anymore stellar catches. We decided to check out another spot in the lower section of the river, where I had some luck with Shane last Friday. When we arrived at the spot, I was not surprised to see quite a few guys already working for those fish. We wasted no time to go further upstream as that much fishing pressure in a tight spot never produces much good result. After walking for another 15 minutes, we finally came across one run that seemed promising.
The run was fairly long, with a fast shallow section, follow by a mid section with moderate current and good depth. The tailout was pretty long and the depth change seemed gradual. At first, there appeared to be no fish in it. After observing it for some time, I could see numerous fish holding throughout the run. They were most likely chum salmon. We fished it for a period of time without a single bite. At times, fish were finally finning and occasionally a beasty chum salmon made a few leaps.
It always takes awhile to get familiar with a run. After getting the depth right and figuring out where fish were most likely holding, there were finally some movements on the float. The first take brought the float under for a long time. I set the hook and the slow kicks suggested that it was a chum salmon. It surfaced after a few seconds and it was indeed one, a fairly fresh looking female. After tugging for a couple of minutes, the hook popped out of her mouth.
The second fish was also a chum, this time a big male. It has been quite awhile since I played with a chum salmon so I almost forgot how hard they pull. This one gave the light centerpin rod and me a good workout. It eventually cooperated and turned to its side in the shallow water so I could release it without much struggle.
It almost seems like confidence is the best bait because once the float went under a couple of times, I was sure that it would keep going. Another fish grabbed the freshly baited hook soon after but it popped off right away. Could it possibly be a coho salmon?
With the bright sun above us, I was expecting nothing but chum salmon biting my bait, even though the run looked very coho worthy. When the float dipped the fourth time, I was expecting another chum salmon at the end of the line. I was pretty surprised when I saw a silver body wiggling below the float instead when I set the hook. A coho salmon it was! I carefully played the fish, making sure it wouldn't wiggle the hook out. The fish appeared to be around 4 or 5lb, so it came into the shallow without much effort. Just after I turned it to its side and saw the absence of the adipose fin, the hook flew right back at me. The fish was still motionlessly laying in 2 or 3 inches of water. Panicked, I dove straight forward, hoping to grab the fish. It was one in a million, but I could always hope. The fish of course shot straight back to the run after being startled by my dive. Only seeing the part when the fish swam away, she asked, "Did you fall again?"
After losing the prized catch of the day, we did not have anymore bites. Perhaps it was the same fish, but a silver coho salmon kept doing dolphin jumps in front of us before we called it a day. I guess any animal that outsmarts a human would be just as happy.
Although the cooler came home without anything but ice again, it was still a pretty enjoyable day. The weather was fantastic for late October and we found some new spots for future references. What wasn't so good was the lack of bites on Nina's rods. It sucks when the wife catches more fish, but it sucks even more when she doesn't catch any. It's never a winning situation.
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Topic: Chilliwack River, October 27th 2011 (Read 2452 times)