Now for the final chapter of The Journal. Late getting to it as the Leaf Mobile was acting up, fuel filter and thermostat problems. She is good to go now and will climb any mountain, she is itching to tackle Jackass Mountain again in search of a Thompson River steelhead but thats another journal down the road. Thanks to her mechanic Chad for dropping everything to cure her ills. Chad and Ernie got to be the best mechanics you can ever find and they are fishermen also.
With the turkey dinner complete, out of the church clothes and into the fishing dudes although I have often thought of fishing with a tie on as some English gentlemen did or still do in an outfit of tweed, fishing some English stream. Does Ross fish that way Rod?
Doing that I would get more strange glances than I do with my Leaf bonnet on, I guess.
As we prepare to leave we are treated to the first snow flakes of the season as well a heavy wind blows in with her fury too, but that does not prevent us for heading Chehalis way.
In no time we are unloading at the Chehalis Bridge, Gwyn heads upstream I head down and settle into a sweet spot.
The water is down from Friday but still prime, the weather is now prime as well, the sun is shinning brightly on the golden maple leaves.
I snap a photo or two of Nature's Fall brilliance. I see chum passing just in front of me heading maybe to the Canyon to stage for a bit. The Master tells me coho do this a lot and then drop back later, to spawn or head into the hatchery when they are nearly ripe.
I hope some coho are in this passing lane as well. It is not long until I am into some of the more abundant chum, all bucks. Just then it is The Master on the cell wanting a update. I tell him things are prime but only chum so far. He says even though he will have only 90 minutes of fishing time he is on his way. One can do that when you are only 30 minutes away.
On the first cast after I had hung up the cell phone the Maple Leaf Stealth disappears and for a minute it feels a bit like a coho but it frees itself from the hook, I will never know if it could have been my first coho of the season.
In no time The Master arrives, Gwyn is now with him.
Gwyn decides to head to the Easter Seal to see what is happening there, Nick slips in beside me. Nothing is better than fishing and talking with The Master, one can always learn from him.
We miss the odd fish and I land another chum. Nick moves down below me a little. It was on a long drift, right in front of him that the Stealth is down, hook is set, a fish flashes, "It a coho" says the Master. He has just uttered these magic words and the line goes slack.
Gone. "A nice one, small but silver, about 4 to 5 pounds" The Master tells me. Close but no cigar I think.
Nick then moves up beside me again, into the now hot spot.
Suddenly his float is down too but what ever it was comes free of the hook with the terminal gear flying back towards us. "Look out" I hear as I duck but The Master's hook, line, sinker and float find my rod and wrap us up good, protecting me from a piece of lead finding the mark, my face.
Just a little later just as dark begins to close in around us I am into another chum as it fights to free itself from the irritation of the hook my precious Maple Leaf Stealth comes free, as the surgical tubing comes off the Stealth's stems leaving the float to float away. Unhappily it did not get to land its first coho but it had come close on its final day of life but I am sure someone will rescue it. Was nice to know you I think as it bobs away in the now coming darkness.
Shortly after Gwyn appears, "nothing below" he says. That statement is enough to make us pack up and head down the gravel road once again. It was certainly a pleasure to fish next to Nick again, I hope there will be many more opportunities to do so. Out of all the events of the day fishing with Gwyn and The Master may have been the most rewarding, one event certainly was not.
As we part I decide to return the next day once again to the Chehalis, the river of the hound dogs it seems, however there must be a coho lurking there somewhere, with my name on it.
That it another adventure, another journal on one of our beautiful riversin British Columbia that we must always remember to work at, to serve and protect it along with the fish that live there, not everyone does or will sad as it is.
Monday's journal later, thanks for reading this Journal.
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Topic: The Journal For Sunday, Again (Read 4553 times)