Back from badminton and the report on the rest of the day.
To start, boy am I glad you read my reports so carefully that Pin_Head finds a
s on the end of hook that shows my typing skills could be improved and I need to spend more time editing my typing errors.
Cammer, you took the description of Don preventing the fish from getting away a little too literary and maybe I should have described it more clearly. All he did was to drop quickly to his knees and corralled the steelhead to prevent it from escaping. At no time do we grab the fish with our hands around the middle. If we are by ourselves we work them into the shallows and they usually turn on their sides and we then simply put one hand around the wrist of the tail. We then with the other hand under the body lift into the tube as quickly as possible. Of course we would never squeeze the fish as the upmost care of these fish is always paramount in the angler's mind that do the brood capture.
As steelieman noted the anglers chosen to do this important volunteer brood capture service so we can all have hatchery fish to take home if one wishs are all veteran anglers who realize the saftey of these fish comes first. If we ever had a fish die on us after we tube it we would feel just terrible. Of the 80 or so brood taken each year there is maybe a loss or two at the most and that happens in the hatchery when the odd fish will die due to a fungus that sets in before they are spawned.
Hope that clears up the concerns noted above.
Now back to fishing.
It takes me 10 minutes or so to get back to the river as I head to the run where I had lost two fish last week. I am pleased to see no on else around but I am sure it had been fished earlier in the day but that does not concern me as fish are on the move and besides I have those tantalizing ghost shrimp that no steelhead in their right mind could resist.
I work back and forth throught the run and as I near the top for the second time two other anglers appear but go to the bottom of the run where I had just fished. They throw a few casts and then leave me to the solitude once again of the run. Out of the corner of my eye a lost foam float appears within reach so I chase it down a few yards and pounce on it like a cat on a mouse going into a mouse hole, sorry Cammer I could not resist.
With it firmly clutched in my hand I walk back to the top of the run and stuff it in my vest with the other 2 I had found earlier.
On my next cast the float goes diving and I am on this one, maybe I am getting more alert as I am fortunate now to be hooking a few more fish the last week. This fish heads to the same snag I broke a fish off last week, this time I do not try to hold it and luckly it slides over it heading downstream. A five minute or so battle sees another wild fish twisting and turning to shed the hook. I slide it close to shore and it is well hooked and I put in the tube before I remove the hook. I find a good spot to tie up the tube and enough water to have the 11 pound buck completly submerged in water with the head of course facing upstream.
The call is made to the hatchery and Ron will be doing the pickup this time. The two anglers that went downstream come back up and ask if we also take hatchery fish also and I told them we only take wild to stock the Chilliwack/Vedder. I believe some hatchery may be taken to stock some other rivers but not sure.
Ron arrives and the fish is slipped into the tank and is full of energy after being in the dark environment of the tube for 20 minutes or so. I catch a ride with Ron to the Leaf Mobile and go to town to look at getting a large sign made for the Chilliwack/Vedder River Cleanup Coalition's display at the Sportsman show in March.
With this task complete back to explore some more river for the last hour or so of daylight. Fish a couple of excellent runs but find nothing but I capture a lovely sunset on film. As the sun sinks into the horizon I can see almost a mile of river and it is only me, no one else in sight except several species of ducks settling in after a day of hunting foer food, a flock of geese circling for a suitable resting place for the night, a lone eagle flying among the cottonwood trees and the only sound of civilization is the distant roar of traffic on the freeway as commuters return from a day of work in the big city.
Here I am, a solitary figure standing knee deep in the cool current of the Vedder River making that last few casts of a very rewarding day, how lucky I feel. I continue to soak up the sights of the diminishing light and marvel at the fresh snow on the surrounding mountains, beautiful.
As darkness closes in I find a little slot above a tree swept down from the last highwater and I miss something three times that I think is a white fish but on the other hand I have been fooled before and maybe it was Mr Iron. This was enought to get me enthused for another trip tomorrow but after today success I was looking towards tomorrow before these bites.
I donot think I will be sleeping in tomorrow but hey today did not prove the saying the early bird gets the worm is right as all fish came well past sunrise. With my personal record improving today to 6 for 20, is a .500 average in sight, I hope so.
Rodney has some pictures of today events and may post when time permits.
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Topic: Feb. 7, Vedder, A Day Of Brood Capture And Improving The Average. (Read 5030 times)