Aeroknow
Well-Known Member
I’ll keep some hens for the roe. The red bucks have better meat.
I don’t like eating anything up this far from the ocean though.
The fishing thread ( not about fish fertilizer)
- Thread starter Wizzlebiz
- Start date
I don’t like eating anything up this far from the ocean though.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
If you don't release a foul-hooked fish then you're a poacher and a scoundrel. Run into snaggers all the time up on the Chilliwack. Deep pools and fast water in the upper reaches. They have kayak competitions up there all the time which pisses off us fishers. Lots of just people running the river for fun too. Crystal clear unless it's been raining hard then clears up in a couple days.
Lots of nice runs like this with deep holes through the canyon I like to bottom bounce thru.
God I miss that river and the coho are starting their run right now dammit! Steelhead around Xmas. I gotta plug in my scanner and do a bunch of pics. Got lots.
Wizzlebiz
Well-Known Member
Largest is around 20 inches or so.
Wizzlebiz
Well-Known Member
I don't fly fish. Just not my thing.All this talk of using bait, jigs and float fishing for trout is raising my bile. Save that for salmon and coarse fish thank you very much.
A fly rod with a floating line and dry fly is the way a true fisher catches trout or salmon and the way my grandfather taught me in the classic manner. I resort to spinners when they won't rise to the fly but would never stoop to slinging bait at them. Bottom bouncing or float fishing with spin-n-glows on a 4/0 barbless hook for the larger salmonids works great for me. Single barbless for all fish is more sporting and a better test of skill.
I'm off to the trout lake and want to be in the water by 5 as it's dark by 7:30 now. Going to try out the new rod on a fish or 5 hopefully and get one or more to add to my dugout.
I have the rod all ready to go for trials with nothing glued or epoxied in place so changes will be easy. I'm thinking the smaller but thicker Martin Mountain Brook 56 looks better on the rod than one of my two older Berkley reels so have a bid on Ebay for another just like it. $20US and has a fly line on it without backing so likely no good and no mention of weight. Should be $60 with exchange and shipping so the same as that one I got a couple months ago from the reel repair shop in BC.
I need to use some U-40 Cork Seal on the little fighting butt to match the grip as well.
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I got the headset magnifier and it works great with the finer size A threads without swinging the little glass in place to get 10X. I can remove the LED light to lower the weight and the whole thing is pretty comfortable to use with reading glasses on.
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OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Forgot to mention that I went down to the trout lake tonight and brought a friend home to make 6 in the dugout now. Lost a smaller one to the knot coming loose. Same thing that cost me my other 40yo Royal Coachman so now I have none. That damn copolymer leader crap. Tied it with an improved cinch knot and went one step further putting the tag end through the loop created when you come back thru the little loop above the hook eye. I'm gonna take the flexible UV head cement with me and put a tiny drop on the knot and zap it. Never have knots come loose with good old mono and have 3 more of those damn leaders so should tie a mono tippet with a drop of that goo on each one to seal the blood knot.
I have all the parts to tie up some more coachmen so need to get on that. My fave fly in all sorts of styles.
Took the drone with me and flew it over the other lake to find they do have an aerator working over there too. I was told years ago that they didn't do that one but obviously they do. Water sure has cooled off and is rather chilly now. Also flew around the lake then hovered the drone about 30ft up and 75ft away to follow me while I cast the rod with the 5wt on it. Did a couple casts with it the same distance but only 6' off the water. Had the pontoons on it just in case but landed it in my hand out in the boat twice no problem. Worked better once it picked up a little weight getting wet so hopefully once I redo the guides it will work perfect. Now I can examine the video and see how much of this is my lack of practise. I'll clean and condition the line before I go out again as well. Feels a bit sticky on the final cast when shooting line.
Those ripples are from the fountain style aerator and go all across the lake. I took video on my phone but not any pics dammit. At least I got a couple of pics from the drone's film position before switching to video.
I have all the parts to tie up some more coachmen so need to get on that. My fave fly in all sorts of styles.
Took the drone with me and flew it over the other lake to find they do have an aerator working over there too. I was told years ago that they didn't do that one but obviously they do. Water sure has cooled off and is rather chilly now. Also flew around the lake then hovered the drone about 30ft up and 75ft away to follow me while I cast the rod with the 5wt on it. Did a couple casts with it the same distance but only 6' off the water. Had the pontoons on it just in case but landed it in my hand out in the boat twice no problem. Worked better once it picked up a little weight getting wet so hopefully once I redo the guides it will work perfect. Now I can examine the video and see how much of this is my lack of practise. I'll clean and condition the line before I go out again as well. Feels a bit sticky on the final cast when shooting line.
Those ripples are from the fountain style aerator and go all across the lake. I took video on my phone but not any pics dammit. At least I got a couple of pics from the drone's film position before switching to video.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Would be if I took you out and showed you how great a method it is. I've hooked a few friends in the past. Big salmon or steelies on the fly is a whole different dimension.
I've caught way more fish on spinners, spoons and such but there's just something about nailing one on a fly. Especially if it's a fly you tied on a rod you built. It's a Zen thing I guess. Smoke a bowl and get into the zone.
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
Ok ya small guys then
Lighter line lighter tackle
I'll grab a pic of my stream stuff when I get a min
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
I only eat spring caught salmon, out in the lake, and only every once in a while. They're the young class only about 2 years old. 8-12 lbs. Anything else gets put back in. The old ones are gross
Jjgrow420
Well-Known Member
There's only a few rivers like that (which I still consider small rivers) that we fish salmon on, and we only fish the part from the lake to the dam. Once they move up I won't go there. Seasons closed now anyways in streams. Rainbows totally different ball game. Spring time, the rivers running high and it's alot different. Pre/post spawn bows chew so game onIf you don't release a foul-hooked fish then you're a poacher and a scoundrel. Run into snaggers all the time up on the Chilliwack. Deep pools and fast water in the upper reaches. They have kayak competitions up there all the time which pisses off us fishers. Lots of just people running the river for fun too. Crystal clear unless it's been raining hard then clears up in a couple days.
Lots of nice runs like this with deep holes through the canyon I like to bottom bounce thru.
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God I miss that river and the coho are starting their run right now dammit! Steelhead around Xmas. I gotta plug in my scanner and do a bunch of pics. Got lots.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
That Chilliwack river empties into the Mighty Fraser about 50 miles upstream of the salt and at the lower region beyond the rail bridge is tidal water so you need a salt water fishing license to go past the bridge like we used to in our belly boats. We'd check out the tide in the newspaper for Vancouver and try to get in the water about 2 hours before the high tide there. Then we could float almost 3 miles down to the mouth at the Fraser and the high tide would push us back to the parking area, most times. A few times we had to pack the boats thru the bush a mile or more if there had been lots of rain up in the mountains but most often got a free ride back. Lot of fun catching coho or larger salmon on the fly rod or light spin rods and trout spinners.
The fish we get out of there are all bright silver yet and some even still have sea lice attached that fall off in fresh water within a couple days so can't get much fresher than that. The Kings/Chinook in the fall have bright red flesh but there a summer run of what are called White Springs that have very white flesh. Illegal to keep but I caught one once fishing for trout and the hook got it in the gills inside the mouth so by the time I landed the 27 pounder it had bled out so much there was no way it would have survived so I took it home to feed my young family. 6lb line and a small hook so I'm pretty sure that mortal wound was the only reason I managed to land that fish.
The whole run of the upper river is all big boulders and rocks the fish like to sit behind as they work their way up to the spawning grounds beyond the hatchery which is the limit for fish-able water and about half way to the lake. The fly fishing club I belonged to worked hard to get the regs changed so the upper reach could be fly only catch and release with the main purpose being that there would be responsible eyes out there to report the many poachers snagging fish off the redds. Lots of areas not suitable for spawning where fish could be caught and released with little mortality. A couple of guys snagging can pull 100 fish a day out of there easy.
I just found the pics of my fave hole way up the river. 15 - 20ft deep and the water near the bottom runs across the bottom as I've seen when there's lots of fish down there and they are all facing the side of the cliff I'd be standing on just to the left of the big rock which is my spot!. That cliff is dangerous for us older folks.
Upstream of the hole.
The top end.
The deeps.
Downstream into the Campsite Run which is very popular and always crowded when the fish are in.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Only two barbed treble hooks on a lure instead of one with three?
How sporting of you.
How sporting of you.
Wizzlebiz
Well-Known Member
Nah they both have 3. Sorry if treble hooks with barbs bother you. It's common when fishing for Bass.
The buzzbait is a single hook.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
It's common here for the common fisherman too but I prefer giving the fish a sporting chance so replace all trebles, even for pike, with a single barbless hook and have done since I was about 13. I'm pretty sure it works for bass as well.
Play it wrong and they're gone so I hone my skills so they stay on.
Hopefully sticking one in a walleye later today as a b-day prezzy from the gods.
Wizzlebiz
Well-Known Member
I appreciate your point of view. I don't appreciate your condescension.
Much like why I stopped posting in general Weed forum is people acting as elitists.
You don't want to use barbs that's great. But don't try to make me feel like less of a fisherman because I do.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I guess I should keep my nose out of other peoples style and I do apologize for butting in. I release almost all the fish I catch and want them to have the best chance for survival. I was right pissed off when they went back to legal barbed hooks here after only a couple years of barbless tho they still allowed multiple trebles without barbs.
One big bonus to single hooks is a lot less snags or dragging weeds in. I have a couple of those weedless hooks left and they're great for getting in the weeds to drag the big pike out without hanging up. I'll be rigging up a new Mepps Syclops with one today once I manage to get the treble off of it hopefully without injury.
Tight Lines!
Wizzlebiz
Well-Known Member
As you can see through most all of my pics I rarely use trebles. This was a BFS setup on a zero power rod. Setting the hook is not a thing with it.
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
I gotta dress warmer next time I head out fishing. By the time I got to the pike lake lat night it was getting chilly with a stiff breeze coming out of the east which around here means cooler and stormy type weather. All our big winter storms come from the east when our prevailing winds are from the west the rest of the time.
Was jigging for walleye for a while then just started throwing a Syclops with the spin rod for whatever wanted to bite. Spent more time trying to keep my little tinny on track in the wind than paying attention to the fishing part but managed to land 3 smaller pike around 20". Sure is a lot easier with a net so my new one got christened last night.
Somehow I got a cut on my right thumb digging around in my tackle bag not long after setting out and it would not stop bleeding. Of course this was the first time I didn't take my first aid kit with me so didn't even have a band-aid to staunch the flow and got blood all over everything including my near new 9.5' spin rod with all cork grips. Luckily I recently coated them with U-40 Cork Seal that I had bought for the new fly rod grip I made. Washed right off so my $200 rod still looks new. Get that shit if you have rods that you want to keep nice forever. Even old grips can be cleaned and prepped then dried before applying U-40 to stay great looking for decades. It slightly darkens the cork but in a nice way.
This is my new fly rod grip all finished sanded before the U-40 then after.
The cork on the little fighting butt hasn't been treated yet and can see the difference better there as the lighting is the same.
Took one pic of one of the pike for posterity but need a bigger net I think for the meter long ones that lurk in there. He doesn't look happy but maybe just smells my blood on the oar in front of him and wants some of that shit.
All in all not a bad birthday outing.
Was jigging for walleye for a while then just started throwing a Syclops with the spin rod for whatever wanted to bite. Spent more time trying to keep my little tinny on track in the wind than paying attention to the fishing part but managed to land 3 smaller pike around 20". Sure is a lot easier with a net so my new one got christened last night.
Somehow I got a cut on my right thumb digging around in my tackle bag not long after setting out and it would not stop bleeding. Of course this was the first time I didn't take my first aid kit with me so didn't even have a band-aid to staunch the flow and got blood all over everything including my near new 9.5' spin rod with all cork grips. Luckily I recently coated them with U-40 Cork Seal that I had bought for the new fly rod grip I made. Washed right off so my $200 rod still looks new. Get that shit if you have rods that you want to keep nice forever. Even old grips can be cleaned and prepped then dried before applying U-40 to stay great looking for decades. It slightly darkens the cork but in a nice way.
This is my new fly rod grip all finished sanded before the U-40 then after.
The cork on the little fighting butt hasn't been treated yet and can see the difference better there as the lighting is the same.
Took one pic of one of the pike for posterity but need a bigger net I think for the meter long ones that lurk in there. He doesn't look happy but maybe just smells my blood on the oar in front of him and wants some of that shit.
All in all not a bad birthday outing.