Nothing but a whitefish for me today.
Had the biggest piss off... floated through a spot about 15 times or so. Buddy walks in, and so I move down to keep fishing the run. Levelwind Larry here throws on a prawn... first cast.... WAM! 8-10 lb hatch. He's doing the happy dance as i'm swearing under my breath...
This happens all the time. Steelhead can be a stubborn fish and selective sometimes. It can refuse the offerings of many people and then one guy comes in with a new thing and 'Wam!', LOL. I have seen so many times and here are just a few:
1) I walked into the famous & popular Train Bridge run about 3PM, with the run already 'scorched' all day by so many fishermen with many different types of offerings. So I changed to metal with a colour different from others and proceeded to hook a fish to the amazement of all around me.
2) I was with 3 other friends who are good rods. They walked to a small run first while I was delayed in the car, trying to tie up my tackle. By the time I got to the small run, they had already combed the run well and had left for the run below. The water was gin clear. So I switched to a single egg on 8lb leader and work the riffle portion of the run meticulously, and 'Wam', a 10lb hatchery to their amazement.
3) During my early days of steelheading, I was fishing with another greenie in a run below the train bridge for about an hour, covering it top to bottom, again & again, roe, spinner, worm. After that I told my greenie friend there must be no fish in the run and we should head out soon. But an old timer came and taught us a humbling steelhead lesson we never forget. He went on to hook 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 fish in front of us, with our jaws dropped. All wild fish. What did he used? Nothing exotic, just wool of a certain colour combination. LOL. Steelhead can be so picky sometimes.
4) This one is the same as story 3, but it is from another old timer friend doing it to all around him. He & I were looking for a run called the 'Butterfly' (many years ago) to fish above the old prison camp. There were already 4 cars parked in that run, a small run to handle that many cars. I said moved on. He insisted to go in. The water was so low below the run that guys actually waded across to fish the run from the other side. We asked them if they had any. Nope was the answer. My old timer friend looked at their offerings and took out his stuff. He proceeded to hook 4 fish to the amazement of all. We all tried to parallel his offering after fish no. 2, but to no avail and he hooked 2 more. LOL.
5) This one happened last year in an upper river run. I found a nice spot there with another fishermen who arrived at the same time . It is a small spot but very tempting. We combed it for an hour, me with roe bag, and he with his trusted lure. He said his stuff hooked him many fish before. And what steelhead will refuse roe? So we thought that hole must be void of fish. He moved down. I decided to try a different offering with metal but different from his lure. In 5 casts, 'Wam!', a nice 14 lb hatch. Never give up a fishy spot so easily until you try different offerings.
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Topic: 2015/16 Chilliwack River steelhead fishery information & water condition updates (Read 344314 times)