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Post by cfused on Oct 16, 2018 8:57:11 GMT -6
Just got back from 10 days on Vancouver Island. What a great trip. It started slow but finished with bone weary arms.The Sooke was the prime target with the Little Q on the list as well.The biggest thrill for me was taking some friends fly fishing on the Sooke...all newbies. Keith and his son Keaghan playing a chum. The smile says it all. Now my favourite. Here is 10 year old Keaghan playing a fish with a 10 1/2 foot switch rod. And here are father and son with Keaghan's first ever fish on a fly rod The next day I took two close friends (father and son) out on the Sooke. Manitoba boys...the son is a veternarian who just moved to the Island. Didn't take long for them to get their first Chum salmon on the fly ever. Again the grins speak volumes.I had a great time on the river with these folks. Not only his first fish but he is just learning fly casting in general. As for me...5 days of fishing produced some personal bests. After years of hoping for one, I finally landed a big ,mean, fully coloured male coho. Also landed my biggest chum ever. This boy was a beast...36 1/2 inches long and a huge girth to him. He was an armful to hold. The last few days there were lots of fish in the system They certainly beat up my flash flies Beautiful location that produces some outstanding action She can get pretty busy at times on these rivers , but picking your times, watching the tide table and some luck will produce some great outings. This trip was highlighted by some personal bests but just as importantly spending some time with friends and seeing some firsts ever ....especially 10 year old Keaghan's joy and enthusiasm. Can't wait to get back there.
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Robert Burton
Fly Fishing Zombie
Eventually all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.
Posts: 4,744
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Post by Robert Burton on Oct 17, 2018 10:07:20 GMT -6
Awe Some Work Man!
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Post by cfused on Oct 18, 2018 12:52:04 GMT -6
Thanks Robert. It was a bit tougher finding fish initially this go around. Low river levels and the runs just being later for whatever reason. Of course being lucky helped as well. Perfect example of this was on the Little Q. I poked around below the hatchery and then the lower river above the trailer park....not much activity. Walking back along the lower river pools some 45 minutes later and I saw a lot of fish activity were earlier there was none. A bunch of coho had come into the lower river and were doing their thing, jumping about. Worked the lower pool for a bit and managed to land a few very fresh coho. Again a case of just happening to be there at the right time. Towards the end of the week there were all sorts of fish in the Sooke and it was easy to get into fish. All the salmon species are great...but those chum, they will test you and your gear big time. I dropped into Robinsons in Victoria just before we left. Visited with Matt King and one comment he made was you know it's chum season when the broken fly rods start to show up. He had 8 broken rods brought to the store over a 3 day period. Of course most of the broken rods are a combination of big powerful fish combined with some brain cramps on the part of the fisherman.
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