We went out for a few hours yesterday (20th) morning. While the first light bite was on, it was very brief. I managed to hook a rather big coho salmon, probably the biggest of the season, but it took my line downstream so far that I couldn't turn it around in the rapids. Another fish was briefly hooked and also came off. Beside a few other float take-downs, that was it. The rain made it rather miserable so we ended the outing before Noon.
I decided to return on the following day after seeing how the river level has been changing in the last 48 hours. Most have reported fishing was slower in the last week or so. Some may want to think there simply aren't as many fish around. I'd like to think there are, and fishing has been slower because of the lower river level. Since these fish have been holding in the clear, low water, most of course are pretty tight lipped except during first and last lights.
With a slight bump and drop in water level yesterday, and additional rain today, I thought perhaps the fishing would pick up. I decided to meet up with Shane in the afternoon instead of slaving for the first light start again. Usually by this time of the year, especially on a rainy day, starting at first light is no longer necessary. That being said, the first light start is always preferred. There's something about being the first at a fresh run at dawn, knowing fish that you are targeting have not been disturbed for 12 hours.
I arrived at 1:00pm and rain was even heavier than on previous day. We decided to try a new spot. Actually, Shane chose the spot after scouting out the river by himself in the morning. He came across one spot where fish seemed to be holding and jumping actively. We met up and at first I did not feel those fish were worth targeting in the middle of the day because they were probably tight lipped. The water was almost still and clear, they could easily see us. I decided to move a bit further downstream to the other side of the spot, where water was moving slowly so I could float fish with some roe. Fresh fish could be seen moving upstream into the spot. Silver backs were showing themselves on the surface once every few minutes. There was a lot of excitement in the air.
The float remained undisturbed for a long time. At times fish were actually bumping into it when they surfaced. After an hour or so, one of the forum members showed up behind us and was surprised to see people fishing at his hot spot.
They decided to move a bit further up to work the slower water with blades.
At around 3:30pm, there was finally a bit of action. At first there were a couple of take downs, which were all missed. Shane then briefly hooked a coho jack. Finally, while I had my float sitting in some still water at the edge of the moving water, it was pulled down and the fish went straight for the log jam after being hooked. It was a pretty large silver coho, which jumped a couple of times before successfully going into the jam. My leader was quickly scraped and snapped off.
Although I was a bit disappointed, this was a pretty encouraging sign. The bite didn't stop as we had more missed take-downs. At times the float dipped slightly, it almost seemed like a small trout biting. At one point, one of the light dip turned out to be a big fish at the end of the line. I also saw something rather interesting. While the float was slowly drifting, a big silver coho turned to its side and shook a few times underneath it. The float never sank and the bait was gone. It took awhile to click in, but obviously the leader was just a bit too long and the underwater current was bringing the bait upward. When these fish bit, they never pulled down the float because of the lack of tension. Instead, the float dipped at times, sometimes moved sideways, sometimes it never moved. I shortened up the leader to around 8 inches, which resulted in better hook-ups for the rest of the afternoon.
By 5:00pm, no one had landed a single fish. Others were able to hook 4 or 5 fish on the blade, but every single fish either came off or snapped the line. I managed to connect with five, but they also all came off. To add insult to injury, I somehow foul hooked two coho salmon, lost five spinners, two spoons, a bunch of hooks, weights and a Drennan float that was rescued twice before disappearing down the river.
With one hour of light left to fish, I knew the bite would come on as it always does. I was the first to find out. The float dipped lightly once again and I simply lifted up the rod. The silver flashes underneath it indicated a good sized coho salmon. After playing it for a couple of minutes, Shane lowered down to tail it without any hiccup. The first hatchery coho salmon of the day was finally on the beach. Seeing my success with roe, Shane switched from the blade that he had been trying for an hour, back to roe. He quickly hooked into the next fish, which turned out to be a hatchery coho salmon that was twice as big as mine.
Beside these two catches, we also caught a few jacks, another wild coho before it became too dark to see our floats.
It's pretty nice to bring at least one home today, otherwise I would have been pretty bitter after losing so many lately.
Good luck to those who are heading out this weekend.
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Topic: Chilliwack River, October 21st 2011 (Read 2688 times)