I don't even know where to start this today... it was one of those days I guess... quite the adventure...lol
Woke up at 4:30 this morning to a good rain, well either that or I was anxious to get out fishing. Hit mid river first light after the morning constitutional and a couple coffees. No one in sight... I like. So I head right up as far as I can walk to head of the run, as this high water has made this spot look good. I would never normally come up this far as it's to shallow and now rock cover to hide in. Rig up a roe sack and start working... third cast in, soft tap and the float stops dead, doesn't go under but I have already started hook set so doesn't matter... fish on... Nice strong head shakes and I am thinking nice... maybe a fish with some size as I have been into a bunch on the 6-8 lb range recently. After a really good tussle she comes in to my feet and it's a hatchery, about 12-13lbs... but I just got here... so... after a pic or 2 off she went.
So after that I throw on another sack and continue to work down the run. Nothing going for a while, nice morning tho.. and hey... where's my float, hook set right into a real nice series of head shakes and the battle is on again... after a spirited fight a nice long wild doe comes to hand... probably about 13 lbs or so....
After that I just decide to continue to work down the run as there wasn't a whole lot of the run left, throw a cast out to a riff about 10 feet out... You know the story.. float slams down and a hell of a fight was on... after what seemed like forever.. a pretty decent sized wild buck came to hand...
At this point the river had started to color up quick from something, a small slide or something. But I had finished the run... and you would think I would maybe go back up and work thru again, perhpas I would have if the vis hadn't taken a crap. Thing was, It wasn't even at my fav run, so down river I headed. Again back to the roe sacks, as the color looked like it had started to come back in my favor with a good green tint, and a couple casts in, float down... fight on... this was a good sized fish... after a good 10-15 min battle she comes in, seems done. Notice that she's a hatchery... my biggest hatch all year by far... so I start the pull to the shore line and I guess she didn't like the rocks cause she gave one more good series of head shakes... and the leader pops... so I dive in behind her... and try to pull a Schnieder but instead flop like Luongo and she slips thru the 5 hole and I can't scoop her up as she slowly glides back out to her home... must have been quite the spectacle...lol I notice a couple old timers up river chuckling at me..lol So undaunted I get back up, rig up again and continue working my way down river. 5 mins later... Holy hell I almost get my rod ripped out of my hand, my reel crackles and pops as it tries to engage, I though it may had broken my poor little reel there for a sec and crazy 15 -20 min fight ensues.... this one I win... nice 15-16lb give or take wild doe.... she got my heart rate up...lol After being nice and posing for some pics I send her on her way back to create more nasties just like her!!!
Alright, so now I only had 3 roe sacks left, I knew I should have made more. My stomach was growling pretty loudly... so I decided to head off for lunch and plan my next move. Still kinda sore about losing that big hatch after I had her... a fishing partner could really help sometimes...lol
Now stomach full and felt I wasn't done for the day i head back down to the river.. figured I would give this other run a try as I had hooked a wild buck out of there a week earlier... put on one of my last three sacks and started working down the run.. was drifting about maybe 18" of water and you guessed it... float hammers down. Fight On. This was an epic battle IMO... huge runs... many aerials, darn good size fish... so no doubt in my mind from the fight it must have been a wild fish..lol After we were both worn the hell out... she decided to give up... and posed nicely for me. Guessing weight around the 16lb mark as she was thick...
So after using my last roe sack, and no more hits...I headed off the river around 3pm... that was indeed a day... Think my best ever for steel....now back to work I go for the next 4 days before I can make it out again. Thanks for looking guys, get on out there and see what you can round up... I want some reports while I am at work. I wasn't going to post this one, but I hoped that maybe it would inspire more people to do the same.
Author
Topic: Chilliwack River, January 31st 2012 (Read 4849 times)