After yesterday's dismal performance, it was time to regroup for a fresh start this morning. I had intended to get up early to be on the rocks making my first cast at 7:30am. When I opened my eyes and looked at the clock, it said 8:00am.
I immediately phoned Fishersak, who was already down by the river since 6:30am. Lots of fish rising he reported, but nothing at the end of everyone's line apparently. It was nice to get another hour of sleep and find out that I hadn't missed much.
I quickly packed the car and arrived at the spot at 8:30am. Gotta love pink salmon season when one doesn't have to travel far to find fish.
A few dozen people were already trying their luck, but overall it seemed to be pretty quiet. A few risers could be seen in the far horizon at times.
My chosen lure for the morning was a spinner that I have made. After catching one a couple of days ago with it, I decided to stick with it and see if it would produce more. I've always used
"the spoon" in the past and had great success. This year, since water clarity is poor, a spinner may just do the trick.
We cast and retrieved for another hour without much success. Meanwhile, a few fish were being caught further away from us. Slightly frustrated, I decided that there had to be a change. I decided to move to a different spot, just 50ft from where I was, because I thought the pylons in the water nearby are making a difference on how fish were travelling. I also decided to switch back to my spoon. By this point, at 9:30am, fish were rolling on the surface consistently. There was definitely a good push of fish in the system now.
I made a few cast and adjusted the retrieve speed during every cast. Finally there was a good take, and the sight of that bent rod was a big relief. It felt like a fairly heavy fish, which stayed pretty deep down during the entire fight. Based on the way it was fighting, I thought it was another male at first. It then proved me wrong by making a giant leap in front of me, it was clearly a female fish, a rather big one. Fishersak ran over and assisted me with the netting. It took a few attempts due to the steep and slippery terrain that we were standing on, but the job was done at the end.
When I unhooked the fish, I was shocked to find this.
It's hard to believe how this hook was staying in the fish during the entire fight.
As if it was orchestrated, the phone rang. It was Nina asking how the fishing was and of course she was not pleased about staying home and missing the action. When she hung up the phone, I made another cast and I felt another soft take instantly. I set the hook hard and the rod was bent to the cork once again. Once again, Fishersak ran over to be the netter. It was another good sized female fish that fought even harder than the first one. It took several long runs that almost made me question if it was actually a sockeye salmon. After tiring it out for a few minutes, Fishersak was able to scoop it up successfully again.
After the second fish went into the cooler, the school seemed to have gone by. I decided to pack it up by 10:30am and save more better fishing for later on. It was not a bad morning excursion after all.
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Topic: Tidal Fraser River, September 3rd 2011 (Read 3959 times)