It was a gamble this morning. I sat here at 4:30am looking over the hydrograph, comparing the height with the previous dates and finally convinced myself to give it a shot. I didn't want to be here and then read Chris' message, "You should have been there, the water was perfect." afterward.
The drive out in the downpour almost made me turn around, but I was convinced that I could get at least couple of hours in before the river completely coloured. I was right.
The first two hours after first light was very good in mid river. Visibility hovered around 2 to 3 feet most of the time before it finally coloured up completely at 10:00am. Once it got light enough, coho salmon began rolling around me. It was only a matter of time before the float went for a dive. The first hook-up was around 1 hour after first light. A very fresh hatchery doe around 8lb came in and I made sure it stayed in by diving on top of it on the bank.
After that, I proceeded to miss numerous bites. It seems that the fish are taking it very lightly this year. With two more hook-ups and losses (one on roe and one on spoon), the clarity finally degraded to the point that I didn't feel like fishing it anymore. I packed it in and settled with one fish. It was a short yet sweet outing.
Too bad the river will not be fishable for awhile, because there seemed to be a new bump of fish in the river. Perhaps some of the northern tributaries in the Fraser will produce for all the weekend warriors. Good luck.
Author
Topic: Chilliwack River October 19th, 2007 (Read 2192 times)