As always a very pleasant welcome to The Journal on FWR, your top fishing forum for fishing news and information on the net.
I hope this to be a fairly short report as the hour is late as I have just got back from seeing the Chilliwack Bruins fall to the Swift Current Broncos 3-0. Even though they lost, they certainly played well for an expansion hockey team.
I still had not landed an adult coho this season even though we are already into the first weekend of October. However I had that good feeling as I drove to the Vedder this morning, with a fresh, hot double double in my hand hoping maybe today I might be able to complete that task of a nice fresh coho. I know the hatchery has probably close to 3,000 in by now so they are passing through the system. To me I seem to have more success catching steelhead than that elusive coho, the last couple of seasons anyway.
I decide to change locations this morning, my first trip to the river since last Monday when I did not even get a pull down.
I arrive at my chosen spot, daylight has already broken and a few other anglers are already working the water. As I stride with high hopes towards the run I find two drennans and some regular floats on the way out, a good way to start the day but I am of course using Maple Leaf Stealth floats these days.
With my fishing vest pocket bulging with the newly found booty I put the pole together and slip a newly tied roe bag on one of the #4 DNE hook Daniel gave me a while back. I take a spot below the top angler, who is short floating with red and white wool.
As I start casting I observe lots of fish showing themselves with some others shooting over a riffle above us. Many of the fish that look like chum and springs when hitting the shallows panic and turn back, heading back into the run, scare of what may lie ahead.
The fellow above me is hitting and losing some fish, I miss a couple before on too long a drift the Maple Leaf Stealth goes for a splash down. I set the hook and we have action. Right away I know it is a good size fish, one of the hundred's of chum or springs in the run. I fight it for a few minutes before the strength of the fish gets the better of my 10 pound main line and it breaks above the Stealth Float.
Of course I give chase and rescue it before it drifts out into deeper water, beyond wading distance. As well I donot want to disturb the fish in front of the anglers that are working this part of the run.
As I work my way back upstream A fellow introduces himself as a reader of FWR and The Journal, Steve is out from Taiwan for a few days of fishing with some friends. Of course he recognized the Maple Leaf hat and says he enjoys The Journal which is always good to hear. Have a nice chat before I find a log to sit down on and retie up. The angler I was fishing below who I find out is from the USA is into a fish and lands a spring that he retains, turns a bit dark after it has been dispatched. They sure seemed to like his wool combo, he was short floating so no sweeping to take his fish.
Tied up again and I am back at it with a few more chances before I connect, its a spring that I fight for 5 minutes or so before I finally get it to the shore. As I inspect to where it is hooked I see I have swept it too,
right in the hinge. Unless one looks closely you would not realize it had not bite my offering. They are so thick in this run one can not help but foul hook them at times, even though I am 2 feet off the bottom.
There is such a large number of fish in the run, when they are are spooked by something they move all at once, creating a small tidal wave on the shore where we are standing. No wonder if there is any coho around they are not biting because of all this commotion.
With my swept fish now released I am shortly after into a chum or another spring that breaks off at the hook before I can identify it.
I retie up and fish a bit more before I decide to go for a walk and pick up a few more floats that are coming downstream every so often. Hunger then gets the better of me so I head for Cookies and on the way I phone The Master who is also on the Vedder today, fishing above me by a few miles.
He says he will join me in 30 minutes or so at Cookies on Yale Road West. We meet up there shortly before 11 and we settle in for a good breakfast, fishing tales and some good fellowship as well. He was having the same type of fishing luck like me, only chum and a couple of springs, no coho. In a way I am glad as if he can not catch these darn coho they must not be biting very well if at all, in the areas we were in anyway.
With breakfast devoured I decide to head back to the Vedder. Just as I arrive and start fishing a horde of sweepers descend on the run as well a fly chucker who seems to be sweeping a fish every few minutes. He brings a fish down by me that I release for him as it is hooked right in the check. I politely tell one of the sweepers if they use the lenght of float line they had they will be foul hooking a lot of fish in short order.
The newly arrived sweepers with float lines 3 times what they needed in the run are now taking their toll on the multitude of fish. A fellow across from me with no float is into fish after fish as well. Of course the way they were stacked up this sweeping method going through the schools could not help but hook them in all parts of the body. I could not stand it any more anyway as they were sweeping fish after fish. I turned my back in disgust and as I hot footed it away from the scene of mass distruction there was 4 on at once.
What a shame to see the fish being abused this way. I wondered if some of this people even knew what they were doing or did they just not care as they just wanted fish by any means. Anyway it looked to me they seemed to be enjoying every minute of this slaughter.
I decided to walk up river a bit and in a couple of runs the same thing was going on, why is it such a high percentage of people want to fish this way now. About 6 people are fishing a real narrow spot of the river and they are into fish after fish also. I save one chum's life as I tell a fellow that with the hook in the top of the head is not a legal hooked fish, he releases it but I donot think he really wanted to. I head out of this area also and snap a couple of pictures of fish shooting through the shallows.
I pick up some more bottles, more floats giving me about 2 dozen for the day, knowing I will never ever use them all but it is always fun finding them I guess and it seemed to be one positive for the day. In among the floats I find a toymodel of a dinosaur, a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
It made me wonder if this find was an omen of some sort because if what I saw today was any indication the direction sports angling is now going it is quickly going the way of the dinosaur, it is becoming extinct.
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Topic: Vedder Full Of Fish And Full Of Sweepers, The Journal For Oct.6 (Read 4542 times)