I had a sportfishing advisory committee meeting tonight in Chilliwack so I thought that it maybe a good idea to fish for a couple of hours before it to catch that last light bite.
I got there, bumped into Chris who was off to his nap at home (must be so nice to live by the river
). Chatted with Lew who was out for the first time this season. Chatted with Sassyboy too who was fishing where we were fishing yesterday. Chatted with lucky who couldn't believe that he didn't get anything today.
Chatted with gman who was trying to get some fishing in before rushing back to Richmond to do his father duties.
After all that chatting, I managed to do some casts.
I decided to leave the roe gear at home because I didn't want to smell at the meeting. I brought the Fenwick spinning rod (not the one that gman is always interested in
). It's rated 8 to 15lb test. I had a spinning reel with 8lb test on it. I wanted to cast spoons and spinners to see if some of those coho or jacks would follow after seeing roe all day.
Not a whole lot happening except lots of chums rolling around. At 6pm, I had a tap right after I casted out this tiny green spinner that I always use for pikeminnow and bull trout in the Tidal Fraser. I set the hook and I could feel the heavy head shake at the other end. It actually came toward me pretty fast so I thought it was a fish at a fairly manageable size. When it showed itself, I was slightly shocked by its size. It went straight back out to where it was hooked and stayed there for a long time, then it went downstream and held its ground. I did not have much expectation on landing this fish. The line already had a nick on it before I casted out, so I thought perhaps it would snap anytime. After awhile it actually started cooperating and came upstream again. I decided to play it safely and with Lew watching on I managed to guide it into the shallow. The whole time I thought that I was the one being towed, not the one towing, because this fish could have taken off madly if it wanted to.
At first I said to Lew, 20lb? When it got closer, I said, 25lb? By the time I landed it, I thought perhaps it was close to 30lb, if not over.
Lew took a few photos before we sent it back. I doubt that I would ever keep something this big, I wouldn't know what to do with it in the kitchen.
Now I gotta wash my jacket to get rid of that awful smell...