Hey guys!
Hope everyone is having a safe holiday with the road conditions being the way they are. Anyways, I decided to explore a new river for some bulls and toss some beads and jigs to see what might bite. So here is my year end wrap up, hope you enjoy.
First trip out last week was interesting because I actually got to see snow and a completely new river that I haven't touched since I was really little. First two runs didn't look the best and didn't produce anything so I decided to leave around 8:30 and look for some deeper spots. I moved up river a ways and found this gorgeous run with three guys working it, no ones touched a fish yet but they didn't seem to look like they where presenting their bait right. I walked into the head of the run and proceeded to cast between these two logs in about 3 feet of water. I was looking down to see if there was a decent rock to stand on and when I looked up my float was gone. Nice little fight and I was able to get him out from the log he stuck himself in. Cast after I got a little jack coho and then nothing for the rest of the run.
I moved down river a little bit and found this gorgeous pool. As I was getting my rod together, I kept thinking about how perfect it would be for twitching coho if it were October/November. It was really deep and there was a lot of water to cover, so I decided to twitch a jig to see if I could pull a few aggressive bulls that were holding down deep. First cast didn't get down deep enough so I cast a little farther on the second cast. I let my blue jig hit the bottom and about half way through the run I feel some weight on the apex of my lift, I lift back up and set the hook. This fish felt big, and by the silver flashes it looked really big. I ended up pulling out my biggest coho of the year (at the time) and she was probably the thickest fish thus far too.
I sent her on her way and continued to work the pool. Somehow I ended up hooking 11 nice looking coho in the next hour and a half. Really made for a crazy cool day. Here's a few that I snapped a picture of.
I decided to come back the next day with a friend to see what else we could find. First run, he kicked my butt. He landed a bull that was around 7 pounds (snapped the leader and slipped out of my hand while he was grabbing his phone so no picture). He proceeded to get 3 more fish before we left the run and I only touched one. We moved down to the same pool from yesterday and we each hooked a little over half a dozen coho before moving to an area of the river he's fished that Ive never been to. We approached the tail out and I managed to hooked 8 fish and he managed to double up with me twice. He ended up losing a bull that we estimated to be 10 pounds, too bad, would have loved to get a picture of him. A mix of different conditioned coho and a few bulls. Lots and lots of jacks around that day. It was cool hooking coho in the middle of the run and the bulls directly behind them in the tail out waiting for eggs.
We returned the other day to explore a different area of the river and it didn't disappoint. We found one run where I hooked 11 and he hooked 5 in just over an hour. Every run we fished that day held fish but we were on a time restriction so we didn't have enough time to explore. We didn't take many picture that day as it was really cold but we each hooked 2 fish that were pushing 15 pounds, some of the biggest coho I've ever landed.
I ended the day with one big chrome fish snapping me off mid jump which made me come back on boxing day and skip the derby. Yesterday was tougher and we managed to pick up 4 fish in the first run, 5 in the next and 3 in the third. Nothing for 2 hours and we covered a lot of water. Finally got to the tail end of a run and stuck 4 pretty quick before we moved off. Ended the day finding a pod of fish sitting along a tree. Managed to get some videos of us hooking fish behind the log for those of you that follow my Instagram. Finished the day hooking 8 fish behind the log before they spooked and we decided to call it a year since the snow really stared coming down. Not many pictures at all yesterday since it was snowing for the majority of the day. I got one picture of a nice bull I got in the morning before it started to snow.
A few nice coho over the last few days made the snowy days worth it. A mix of fish in different conditions as expected for being this late in the year but the fishing was spectacular overall. Looks like this cold snap might make it a little tougher out there but I'm looking forward to the snowy steelhead days. The roads were really slippery so be careful driving and enjoy the rest of the year. Looking forward to what the New Year is going to bring.
Cheers guys!
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Topic: Year in Review (Read 11062 times)