Decided to brave the elements and go out to the river today. Little bit sketchy driving in my light rear-wheel drive car, but made it the the river ok. Started walking the dike and wanted to go down. Snow drifts along the bacnk made the snow around thigh deep in places and you could not see the dike rocks underneath it at all. About 3 steps down the bank I ate it pretty bad, thankfully I was holding onto a branch and didnt rip my waders. Sheer ice under all the snow.
Made it down to the water and within around 30 mins all of my bait was frozen except for the lone roe sac I had put on my hook. Pretty much everything froze in that time. All the guides on my rod tip were frozen solid, I could harldey walk because my waders were covered in ice and felt like cardboard. This is what my float looked like after around 20 mins of fishing
While out there I almost fell 4 or 5 times on the sheer ice all along the edges. Have never seen anything like it before. There is snow everywhere and under it is very smooth, very slippery clear ice. The ice extends probably about 4 feet out from the edge where the water line use to be. The worst part in the last 2 feet of the ice "shelf" is only 2, maybe 3 inches thick at most and it breaks, so be careful if you are stepping on it.
Overall conditions were : very cold, too windy for my liking, super clear, and super super low. Going to be very hard to get anything out of there right now, but it is still worth pounding it if you are determined (and want frost bite). Some nice scenery to be had right now. And don't forget the gloves and toque.
Main point of this post is -
BE CAREFUL out there right now. Conditions are not very safe. Take it slow and easy, and make sure you watch you step. Ill leave you with this picture of the "ice shelf"
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Topic: 2009 Chilliwack River steelhead fishery information & water condition updates (Read 186269 times)