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[Rodney]

August 6th - The heat, the feast, the hopper catcher

The August heat usually means it is time to move the office to the Thompson River valley. After the long weekend crowd had dispersed, Mark and I decided to pay those aggressive rainbow trout a visit and meet up with Chris at the same time for some jack chinook salmon fishing this week. Stubborn trout and slippery boulders can make these excursions very frustrating at times, but past trips have always brought unexpected excitement and new findings that keep drawing us back.

We arrived in Spences Bridge at 12:30pm and were greeted by Roy and Sarah at Acacia Grove RV Park and Cabins. It took no time to find the Leaf site, because it looks like he moved the entire Chilliwack to it. How everything was packed into that truck was quite baffling to us. Acacia Grove makes camping luxurious. We took refuge from the heat in the air-conditioned leisure room.



Chris showed us the jack chinook salmon that he had caught that morning. After some fish talk, I was quite anxious and wanting to get out despite of the heat. Mark and I eventually geared up so we could head down to a stretch of river next to the campground to see if any trout was stupid enough to engulf a fly in this heat.


Silver twins, ready for action


Spences Bridge


Mark, casting and hoping for a tug


Resulted in a nasty wind knot

The afternoon scouting under the scorching sun was not rewarding as expected. A few tugs were felt, but they were from tinies that did not know any better. The only wiggly object that was unfortunately brought back with the stonefly nymph was this juvenile salmon.



We came back to camp at 5:00pm, slightly exhausted from the heat and hungry for both food and fish. The dinner menu included two jack chinook salmon that Dennis had caught, as well as vegetables that Chris had bought from a nearby market. This was just a bit better than the hot dogs that Mark and I had brought.


Can dinner get fresher than this?


Chris had full control of his stove


Waiting for our fish in the BBQ


Five star camp dinner

After dinner, it was time for some serious business. The evening hours usually bring out the biggest trout that are seeking for a surface feed. While Mark and I reorganized our fly tackle, Chris wandered off with his butterfly net. his first target species were hopping all over the place, but hard to get a hold of. We decided to leave Chris behind because by the time he had collected enough hoppers, most fish would have gone to bed. We followed Dennis to a spot nearby where it apparently had been productive.

Upon our arrival, I sent out a golden stonefly nymph to see if I could be tugged. Meanwhile, Mark immediately generated some splashes further downstream but none stayed on his hook. After three or four connections, I decided to find out what the secret was. It turned out that he had been teasing them with a dry fly. Just to make it more challenging, Chris arrived with his freshly caught hoppers, which he sent out with a spinning rod. I chose to walk downstream from both of them where I spotted some rises. A few drifts later, a tiny bob beneath the surface buried the fly. My dry fly experience is minimal, so even though I was staring at it intently, it took two more seconds to register that some fish had gotten it in its mouth. I set the hook, which was actually unnecessary because the trout was already swimming away with it. It took a few robust runs like what most rainbow trout from Interior BC would do before surrendering itself in the shallows. The scar at the edge of its jaw indicates that this fish was already caught before, a pretty typical sign in a fishery where catch and release is primarily practiced.



Meanwhile, Chris had also connected with one, which obviously couldn't resist his hopper. Once it surfaced, he called me over for a photo opportunity because it was apparently his biggest ever. I took a peek when I reached him and it surely was big, estimating in the 20 inches mark.



A quick photo snap and it was on its way back to grow bigger.



Mark finished the evening by practicing extreme catch and release. None of the eight bows that he connected with came anywhere close to shore. We called it a day as the moon rose in the dimly lit sky. The early start on the next day was going to be promising.

[fishnjim]

nice jacks.  and nice report.  i might have to go to the abbotsford hole tonite and or tommorow.

[Rodney]

August 7th - Summer salmon, unexpected visitors, evening success

The first night sleep was short and rough. It wasn't because Chris was listening to his radio at midnight. It wasn't because of the training that were roaming by a couple of hundred feet away from us. It wasn't the mosquitoes. It was just too hot and the wind wasn't able to cool things down.

At 4:00am, I heard cans rattling. I thought that perhaps they were raccoons having a good time, but it was Chris getting his truck ready. He came over and pointed the flash light at my face. "Hey! Ready to go fishing?" Mark and I quickly got ready and we were on our way to find some jack chinook salmon at 4:30am.

The method used is no different to how salmon are being fished on the coastal rivers. The bait of choice procured red roe, drifted under larger float in the 25g range because of the turbulent river current. Jack chinook salmon are males that return to the river a year earlier than others from the same brood year, therefore their size is obviously much smaller. All fish that anglers wish to take have to be under 50cm, so a measuring tape is needed if you wish to keep some fish. With a daily quota of four fish, it can make an outing quite rewarding.





Armed with my video camera, I began filming as Chris and Mark made their first casts. Mark was into the first fish on his second drift. The silver body splashed briefly under the dim light and the leader broke off. Mark thought it was a big adult chinook salmon, but I said he needs to tie up  better leaders because that fish did not look big at all. While Mark was getting ready on the side, Chris also found a fish on his second cast and a fresh silver jack was on the beach in no time.



Once Mark was back into the game, he immediately hooked up and brought in some fish. Seeing that the bite was on, I finally put down the camera to wet a line too. I managed to connect with two, before the bites died down slightly when the sun emerged. We ended the productive morning at 10:00am so we and our catches wouldn't get too hot.



On our way back, Chris spotted bottles so he took a detour. We then took refuge from the heat by spending a few hours in the coffee house nearby. By 1:00pm, Mark and I were getting itchy feet again. Mark wanted to land a bow since all of his fish had freed themselves. I was determined to catch one in front of the campground after not being able to find a good tug on the nymph from the day before. After flogging the water for a couple of hours, the result once again did not reflect the effort. Defeated, we made our way back to camp. I then realized that I had lost my landing net! A walk back along the same path did not recover it. The disappointment was quickly forgotten when a herd of bighorn sheep visited our camp just before dinner.




Freshly picked apricot for dessert


Another group of flyfishers, making their way to the big T


Indicators of a healthy stream

Seeing that we had some intense surface action from the evening before, we ventured back to the same spot at 6:30pm. As expected, the risers were having a feeding frenzy again. Mark connected with one in no time but it somehow fell off the hook once again. His frustration was further built by hooking the trees on his back casts several times. In the meantime, I missed a light take, but another one soon followed. This bow was not going to get away easily because of its greed.



By dusk, I managed to tempt a few big risers and brought two to shore. Perhaps the timing of the hookset needs to be improved, since the only fish being brought in were the ones that had swallowed the big dry fly.

Mark's curse was finally lifted when this beauty surrendered itself just before dark. What might be even more accomplishing is the fact that he landed a northern pikeminnow on the dry fly a few casts later.





The catch numbers maybe low, but the experience was very rewarding, which will be put to good use when we fish in the same situation again.

[fishersak]

Another excellent trip:  exceptional company, unforgetable fishing, and stunning surroundings.  As residents of the costal rain forest, the Thompson valley seems like a million miles away, a must see for any BC resident.  We arrived early at our chosen spot for jack fishing, however, a CRAZY electrical storm was working it's way through.   Dry lightening was striking the tops of the hills all around us, and there we NO way I was going to go out and start waving a lightening rod around.  We waited in our cars for about an hour, before the storm moved on to reveal blue sky!   As Rod mentioned earlier, the early morning chinook jack fishing was fast and furious, and the fish were soon packed on ice, and prepared for the trip back home.  We returned back to camp from our early morning salmon fishing.  Despite being tired and hungry we ventured out again to tempt the trout.  My lack of success with the trout did not dampen my enthusiasm at all, and instead intensified my determination (which is good given the excruciating heat).  Till now I had mainly been fishing nymphs.  The shoreline was loaded with stonefly shucks, although no emerging stones were observed.


I flipped over a bunch of rocks in search of the live versions of these stoneflies, and found several (sorry no pics...those buggers are very fast).  Never the less, nymphs were not producing for me....so I decided to give hopper patterns a try.  Although the fish seemed more interested in the hoppers.... again however, success was limited.

Rod hard at work:




Maybe the evening will be better (ever hopeful). 

Returning to camp, I found Rod emptying his car looking for his net.  Some excitement in camp turned out to be a group of bighorn sheep had moved into our camp.  Like every self respecting Japanese amature photographer, I moved in close to get the perfect picture.  As I got in close, the big buck turned and looked right at me as if to say....."OK Buddy, that is far enough".

 "Right....your are the boss....I get it...your big...I'm small....your looking out for your family....I'll be backing up now...."     





A short rest, and a quick early dinner, and we were ready to go again.



Yup, FINALLY on the second evening I was able to bring a half decent fish to hand.  Before that fish, the only fish I was able to get to hand were the little guys...like this one:



Small, but OOHH so beautiful



Prior to this I had been having some spectacular takes on hopper patterns, but most of the fish seemed to gain their freedom after about 2-5 seconds.   I had one large fish in particular that I was sure I would land on the first night.  After about a 15 second give and take tug of war, the fish turned and made a long run out towards the heavy water.  Not wanting to allow the fish to use the mighty Thompson against me, I applied some heavy side pressure to turn the fish.  Well I turned the fish alright, it turned and streaked directly towards me.  I could see the bright yellow line zipping through the water towards me, making a very narrow U shape in the water.  I immediately began to reel up line, attempting to catch up the trout, but I simply could not reel fast enough to keep up with this trout in his own element... I have no idea what I was doing wrong...but everything finally came into place (I mean I finally got lucky).    (aside:  those dry fly takes just NEVER get boring ... every single time I felt the excitement and thrill ... I think it is this very half second that every flyfisher out there will identify as the source of their addiction)  In any case, I did finally manage a decent one....mission accomplished! 

[Snapperhead]

Another excellent trip:       I think it is this very half second that every flyfisher out there will identify as the source of their addiction) 

Yup   worth every half second

[Rodney]

August 8th - Morning storm, slippery rocks, hungry fish

Our third and last day started at 4:00am once again. Chris decided to stay back and take his time to pack up while we did a head start on the jack chinook salmon fishing. As soon as we left camp in the dark, we saw lightning bolts striking repeatedly in the direction where we were heading. Knowing how fast interior storms can arrive and leave, we continued and were quite confident that it would not disrupt the fishing plan. We arrived at our spot, only to find the small lightning storm directly above where we wanted to fish. Thankfully the wind blew it away in no time and we were on our way down to the rocks.

The rain made the trek a bit more interesting. It became quite dangerous to climb down what was already a pretty challenging landscape. The rocks were greasy. One wrong step may end the trip early.

The bite was on immediately once again. Within a few casts I was able to connect with several jack chinook salmon as well as a couple of sneaky rainbow trout. One noticeable difference on the bites between these jack salmon and trout is that the jacks seem to take the bait very lightly while trout commit with no hesitation. At times, the float would dip down slowly, which almost seemed like a underwater current or snag, but was in fact a fish. Most of the time I simply lifted the rod up and found a fish at the end of my line. These fish put up an excellent fight on our coho salmon gear. I used a Stryker baitcasting rod that is rated for 8 to 12lb, while Mark used a Sage 2106 coupled with an Islander Steelheader centerpin reel. The only problem that may need to be checked regularly is the cuts on the leader made by their sharp teeth.


Freshly caught jack chinook salmon

By 7:30am, I had caught and cleaned my limit of four fish. Chris arrived as I carried them back to the car so they could stay fresh in the cooler. Once everything was organized, the video camera was pulled out again while I waited the other two to catch their fish. Somehow they decided to play long-lined catch and release again. It was pretty exciting to watch but the audience was getting tired after watching it for an hour. Eventually both were able to land some fish and we were ready to head back to the coast.

Along the way, we stopped by to watch a native fisherman dipnetting for sockeye salmon. His companions informed us that he had caught one so far. He held the net motionlessly in the deep slot where salmon would travel through, which seems like a method that requires even more persistence and patience than angling with a rod and reel.




Tens of thousands of pacific salmon will be making their way through here in the next several weeks


The highway meanders with the Thompson River, making it a very scenic drive on a sunny day

This year's venture to the Thompson River brought some new exciting findings. Thanks to Chris, we are able to enjoy eating some very fine quality red chinook salmon. Although the number of trout we encountered was no where near previous years', it was made up by the quality of the dry fly takes in the evenings. It can be an intimidating river, which brings frustration at times, but success will come eventually with some persistence.

[Fish Assassin]

What's the average weight of those jack springs ?

[Rodney]

My biggest fish was measured at 46cm long, while the smaller ones were around 40cm. Their girth was quite large. I would say the largest ones were between 3 and 4lb each.

[lucky]

Excellent report guys, and some great pictures as well. Sounds like a couple days in paradise. Awesome shot of the guy using the dipnet, reminds me of a newspaper clipping I have from 1890 depicting the same thing. Nice to see some heritage is still being kept.

[Pat AV]

Great reports, man does next weekend ever seem like a long time away now!

Might have to bring the old 3106 this time those jacks look very tasty!

[Morty]

Great report Rod - I appreciate you taking care to capture such great quality photos, and your patience to take time when you coulda been fihing to make the images to share with all.  Your a true asset to our provincial fishing tourism.  The government should be paying you.

[river-rod dyl]

great report rodney your amazing
when it comes to fishing your my hero

good job

[kingpin]

chris didnt drag anymore trout up the beach did he?   

[fishnjim]

caught and retained 2(jacks).  others before me caught i believe their limit....we were i guess on th afternoon shift!!

also caught released 2 bout 15-20lbs...and long lined at least 4..probably 100lbs!!!!   or maybe 20lbs....my word against ??

also 1 whitefish bout 18 inches, 2 trout undersize bout 12 and 13 inches...only one pike minnow.

all in bout 3-4 hours.

[dennisK]

that water looks wild, wow.

did you guys try using just wool or corkies?