I poked around the river to this afternoon to see how my favourite coho hidey-holes fared after the prolong period of high water. A lot of changes. Some have disappeared but the high water and woody debris have created new hidey-holes so it's all about hunting and adapting.
At one new hidey-hole I had a large silver fish take a swipe at my jig. I thought it to be a coho or a dolly, but then a spring swam past me, downstream then up. I expect it was the same fish that chased the jig. Very bright fish. Would have been a very interesting tussle with the 10-12 feet of water that were available between the bank and the woody debris. I doubt I would have landed it!
But the exciting, and nearly tragic, part of the afternoon was the raft of 4 people that got caught in sweeper/bush that was in full leaf. I saw them coming downstream, turned my attention away for a bit, and when I looked up they were hidden by the tree and all I could see was a lifejacket floating downstream. Then they started calling; sometimes for help, but mostly it sounded liked they were calling a person's names. I was concerned that a person was caught up and called 9-1-1. After 5-10 minutes they were able to get to a sandbar, but they collapsed on the ground. No doubt overcome by the stress and the cold. I thought for sure there was going to be a fatality. A couple of the guys looked to be in their 50-60's. Pretty scary for a few minutes.