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[chris gadsden]

As Rod and Mark only took part in one day of this excursion and were home one day before me I thought they would have given a report before me. Maybe they ended up with sunstroke like me.

I will only give a very brief report as having to catch up on home duties before heading out on another trip shortly so I can offer up The Journal.

I decided to camp out two nights and get camp set up for Rod and Mark who would arrive early Thursday morning. I was running up river near dark Wednesday and I had just hit the water with nature offering up a lightning and thunder storm, what I won't do for the boys.

I looked easy picking being in a metal boat with the bar rods sticking up like lightning rods ready to attract enough voltage to run all the lights in BC for a day but I was not really concerned as the thunder claps followed the lighting flash by a few seconds meaning the lightning was some distance away.

I made the bar untoasted and quickly set up a lean to and slipped into the sleeping bag. As I was tired getting ready for the trip and playing four sessions of badminton in 3 days I had no trouble falling asleep even though I was not being serenaded by the most soothing of music one would ask for.

I awoke early the next day and the storm continued but it had diminished some.

I ready the Leaf Craft for the journey to pick up Rod and Mark as the meeting time was to be 5:15 but for some reason they were running late,something about  bathroom breaks  but I would wait as Rodney had offered me a Tim Horton's coffee. They finally arrive and we load up tje Leaf Craft with their gear and head back to camp. The day is hot but the fishing is not and we only have two chances both on Rodney's rod, a bright sockeye, one of a  very few a person will catch on bar gear during one life time. He also has another good hit that I am sure would have been a chinook of some size. Rodney takes a few breaks from bar fishing, pulls in his line and catches a few pike minnows. We do some filming for a clip he is putting together later.

A party of about 6 are BB above us and beach two sockeye.

The day is hot but a large tarp we had put up provides some relief and it is cooler than in the Valley. We see a plume of smoke across the river and we hear later it is a mushroom or chicken farm farm that was burning.

Rodney and Mark have enough by 5 and I take them back to the car. I have no success on my return to camp right up to 9 when I turn in but not before a dinner of venison caps off the day

Thunder and lightning again threatens and a brisk wind does not hinder falling asleep quickly. The night seems to pass in a flash and next thing I know it is 5 o'clock. Eight hours of sleep is the most for me in some time.

I quickly get the rod in the water hoping for another chance at a chinook with the last coming over a week ago.

I am joined by Dereke and Tanner who set up in Rodney's hot spot. I get a call from the Master who is in a party of 8 up river some. They had taken one onp Maple Leaf Bar, on Wednesday.

I am under the tarp when Dereke says "you have one, no he says it just a branch", he quickly adds. When I look the rod starts to jump more violently, that no branch as I race for the now lively Fraser King, I know it is a fish.
When I pick up the pole it is slack, has it slacked lined me? No, I feel no weight and as I reel in I see the weight has gone. It appears the bar weight has got hung up on a rock or a snag and with no give the hook had pulled out  of the fish's mouth just when the 20 pound leader of the weight line had broken. I feel a bit dejected to say the least.

A little later Dereke gets his chance but like me it is gone when he reaches the rod. That is all the action we get except for young Tanner who lands a few pike minnows.

I gather up some lost sleep from the previous week and I am joined by Pistol Pete and another Dereke, its near 4. We trade stories over the next 4 hours or so and PP phones into 89. 5 The Hawk and gives a fishing report. Dereke's highlight was to discover what he thinks is some bear foot prints. He now keeps close to the tarp.  I now decide to head to the launch where Gord will pick me and The Leaf Craft up at 8:30. I am feeling poorly because of all the sun, certainly not the action of playing a fish.

I am feeling a bit dizzy and forgetful and as Dereke readies to push me off, he "says "are you not bringing in your bar rod"? I feel real foolish as I reel it in, the end of a different sort of trip. While I  wait for Gord to pick us up I am interviewed by the FOC enumerator, I say "nothing today for 15 hours of fishing time". I ask "how many has she has counted in her shift"? She says "1 chinook from Grassy, 3 from Peg," "BB" I say, "yep" she answers I feel dizzy once again.

[Steelhead King]

I was fishing off island 22 ways on both thursday and friday...   thursday, i got to the spot around 6:30  with 2 of my buddies, and we in and out by 9 ish, with 3 chinook in the boat the biggest being close to 30 followed by a mid twenties and a high teen.   Friday- July 31st was a different story, the boat was on the water by 6:15 , first fish did not hit the boat by 8 then its a fish or two each 1/2 hours.  We boated the second fish by like 10 and only 3 more hours to go becasue my friend Chris had to get to Kelowna later that evening for a BBQ.  the next 2.5 hours we hit like 7 fish but non of them landed. The time is running out only 1/2 hour more then we have to head in.. At that point, i only hooked soceye and busted off a sping. Few cast later, i hooked into one and start peeling line.  As i yelled out "fish-on" my buddy Matt hooked one at the same time... Now we double up and start heading down river. After a couple run,  i finally lead the fish to the net first and shortly after Matt get his to the net as well. Now we got our limit and start heading back to the launch as planned. All fish on friday still got sea lice on in.

Back to the fish counting lady.. don;t think she is really doing her job or its too hot that day... Saw her with a clip board walking around but she didn't bother to come and ask us how we did.

[Rodney]

"We won't get hit."

Famous last words... Mark and I were rather terrified when lightnings were coming down left and right with three bar rods sticking up from the water. I was ready to run into the bush and dig a hole.

Another good barfishing day indeed. I brought Mark along to have a relaxing day because we never get one when he's there. I told Mark to run for the rods regardless whose it was since I already had my fun last week. The few times when the rods went off, I ended up shouting and running for them while both Chris and Mark were either sleeping or sitting in their chairs motionlessly.

Here's a photo of the sockeye that I caught. A rather small fish like the others that were caught further upstream from us.



Muscle man at work.



Another patient fisher nearby.



Our bouncing neighbours further upstream. Chris went up to ensure the hooked sockeye were kept in the water prior to being released.



The pikeminnow fishing was fast and furious. I brought along a pole (without a reel) and simply lifted it and dipped the line in the water. Almost every dip had a fish on right away. Mark thought it was too easy and refused to try it. Finally he wanted to catch one, but he failed to realize that there is in fact skills involved in this game. For quite awhile, he was unable to trigger a bite. The problem was that he allowed the rig to bounce down the river (ahem... perhaps he learned that from somewhere else... ) instead of letting it anchored on the bottom. Pikeminnows are lazy buggers and require time to find the bait by following the scent in that murky water. After fine tuning the technique a bit, he finally got into some fish. The video that Chris shot... I have to do some serious editing in that to see if it will make it on YouTube. My head is missing in most of the footages!

Finally got a nice tan for this summer.

I also found out today why I must turn my neoprene socks inside out to dry them after wet wading in the Fraser River.

[chris gadsden]

I was fishing off island 22 ways on both thursday and friday...   thursday, i got to the spot around 6:30  with 2 of my buddies, and we in and out by 9 ish, with 3 chinook in the boat the biggest being close to 30 followed by a mid twenties and a high teen.   Friday- July 31st was a different story, the boat was on the water by 6:15 , first fish did not hit the boat by 8 then its a fish or two each 1/2 hours.  We boated the second fish by like 10 and only 3 more hours to go becasue my friend Chris had to get to Kelowna later that evening for a BBQ.  the next 2.5 hours we hit like 7 fish but non of them landed. The time is running out only 1/2 hour more then we have to head in.. At that point, i only hooked soceye and busted off a sping. Few cast later, i hooked into one and start peeling line.  As i yelled out "fish-on" my buddy Matt hooked one at the same time... Now we double up and start heading down river. After a couple run,  i finally lead the fish to the net first and shortly after Matt get his to the net as well. Now we got our limit and start heading back to the launch as planned. All fish on friday still got sea lice on in.

Back to the fish counting lady.. don;t think she is really doing her job or its too hot that day... Saw her with a clip board walking around but she didn't bother to come and ask us how we did.

You  need to start bar fishing for your chinook and you will not have to work so hard.

[Steelhead King]

Yea Chris, i should start bar fishing but i can't give up the action... Just can't sit around doing nothing 

[PistolPete]

Chris wanted to kick that lovely lady off the bar because she was a Canuck fan and not a leaf fan..