Was debating last night whether or not to head out today. I had heard some poor water reports from a buddy of mine but it looked like the rain had held off nicely over night. So off I went along with my father and brother.
After a 30 minute hike up into our spot we found the river to be in perfect shape. Around 5 feet vis with a nice green tinge. We also noticed something a little different on our way down the canyon walls.....chums....
Turns out with all the high water a huge number of chums and springs had found their way up into the canyon. In the 6 years I've been fishing this area I've only ever caught one chum and only ever seen a handful so this came as quite a shock. I don't really mind them up here though, good to see the nutrients they deliver being better spread out.
We started at our first run and pounded it with colorados and roe sacs. Only one hit for me and I didn't get a solid hook up.
On to the next run, we began to fish it again with roe and colorados. My brother was into the first fish of the day on a silver blade. He got it in close to find a 11lb hatchery at his feet. It had a slight pink tinge to it but he felt it was deserving of the rock shampoo.
Shortly later he was into another fish, turns out it was dark chum so off it went.
I decided to go explore another run without any success. I return to be informed that my brother had just caught and released the chromest chums he had ever seen in fresh water. Unfortunatly I had the camera with me so your going to have to go on his word.
A few casts later he was into another fish this time a coho. We get it close to shore to find a slightly smaller wild fish. A few quick photos and we sent it back on its way.
Seeing as I've been snake bitten up to this point my brother kindly offered me 'his rock' and told me to cast to the slick on the far side of the river. Float goes down. I feel excited then dissapointed to see that my quarry has a big toothy grin. Oh well I guess it still counts for a consolation pirze.
It was getting late by this point so we decided to call it a day. Besides, we had a long hike back up to the truck. Of course I somehow got stuck lugging the fish back up in my vest. I always thought the guy who caught the fish was supposed to be the on carrying the fish
After we unloaded our gear into the truck we begin our drive home. The clouds have opened up a little and I can see the hill tops are still snow covered. I wonder what wicked storms tonight will bring. I hope that the snow line will stay down tonight giving me one last shot on the river tomorrow. If not today was still a memorable day and was worth the trip down.
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Topic: Chehalis Nov 14th (Read 5608 times)