Started my day out ready to head to work, got outside at about 9 am to see that it was raining like crazy, so I gave one of my employees a call and let him know that he could have the day off, and that I was going fishing!! As I began heading out to Chilliwack with a nice cup of fresh brewed coffee and toast, the snow started to fall, and fall harder. I popped into Fred's to pick up a jig and some singles for more roe bags, talked to a couple of guys that said visibility was not the greatest and getting worse. Almost got into a low speed rear ender and finally got to the spot on the river that I wanted to fish. By now the snow was really coming down hard, and best of all I was alone, it felt like early January. I slowly crept up to the spot that I wanted to start, I was pretty sure that some fresh fish would have moved in with the lower visibility so I did not want to spook them. I tied on a small 3 egg bag and a little white yarn to a new #2 Owner hook. I made a few casts working my way out to the sweet spot, I could see that there was a fairly large boulder lurking somewhere under the flow, by the surface disturbance. wham!!!!little 11 gram Drennan goes down!!! I pull back hard and feel the head shakes. Fish on!! my heart is racing, I check my drag and let the fish do its thing, feeling pretty confident with my hook set I play this fish out for a about 5 to 6 minutes. I kept bringing it in to shore and then it would take off before I could see an adipose or lack thereof. Finally she was too tired and surrendered, I pulled her into a nice little alcove, took some pics, revived her and let her go. I am not sure how much this fish weighed but it was 88 cm in length and quite "gerthy", compared to my boot in one of the photos.
After a short break and trying to warm my hands up, I took a few more casts with no takers. Threw a prawn on there with no luck so I went back to the roe bag/wool combo. Three or four casts later, my float drifts through the sweet spot again and takes another dive!!! Slam!! I get a good hook set and am again very confident that this fish is coming to the beach. Some furious head shakes ensue and my fish is gone!! bummer, but they are biting so i rig up another roe bag, a big one this time. Toss out to some slack water and watch my drift, I see a flash in the shallows and this fish hammers my bag, I would say that it came a good 5 to 6 feet for my offering, and I saw it!! The fight is on and this is bigger than the two previous fish. I try to keep it out of the fast water and.... snap my leader is gone....sick I can't believe it, just put a little too much pressure on it. Few more casts and nothing so I move down river to some fast pocket water. Three casts later float goes down hard..."must be a snag" I think, pull back and head shakes!! another one!! This day cannot get any better!! The fight was brief and the end to my day. I walk back to my vehicle covered in snow and stoked as ever! I've been putting a lot of time in on the river and this was the first Steelhead that I've brought to the beach. It is unbelievably rewarding to put so much time in and finally beach one of these beautiful fish, not to mention having three others on. Don't know how long it's gonna be till I land another but hopefully soon.
To anyone else out there that's having trouble hooking up with the elusive Steelhead, I would say refine your technique and use everyday on the river to learn it better, with or without fish, i've learned a ton about presentation, reading water, and simply persisting even when you are not getting a sniff. Sooner or later you will nail them, I just hope to have my hook up days increase and my skunk days decrease as I continue to pursue these fish.
peace
Author
Topic: Chilliwack River, February 25 2009: Multiple Steelhead Day!!!!!! (Read 3804 times)