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Sorry for the delay posting. Had a great day fishing the Skookumchuck on Monday, 4/16 with my buddy Kyle. We arrived at the river about 9 am. The river was in great shape and the weather was perfect for fishing, a little overcast with an occasional drizzle of rain and a slight breeze.

Fishing started a little slow. We saw one nice chrome hen caught and we each had a couple of bites but hadn't landed anything. We moved a couple of times and tried different holes. Finally, it was getting close to time for us to leave so we started working our way back towards the parking area. We came across a guy who was slamming fish every other cast!

I was really puzzled so I stopped and asked him about his setup and technique. He was pretty much using the same gear I was, the main difference besides his incredible fish sense was he was using a much lighter weight approx 1/4 ounce. I had been using 3/4 ounce. I switched to the lightest weight I had, 3/8 ounce and tried a few casts.

On about my seventh cast I hooked a small chrome hen, about 4-5 lbs. She had a pretty nasty head wound so I released her. Three casts later I hooked a 5-6 lbs buck (see fish in the water). He was pretty dark so I released him too. About five casts later I hook a 6-7 lbs buck who was also pretty dark so he goes back too after a quick picture.

All in all it was an awesome day! I met an amazing fisherman who taught me a great lesson about the importance of the weight you use and saw immediate results as I slammed three fish in about 25 minutes after changing my weight. Tight Lines!!

schu7498

4/18/2012 10:58:00 PM

Im jealous! Nice report!

pendletonjohn

4/18/2012 11:15:00 PM

Dude if you released the fish holding you shouldnt have had your fingers under the gill plate. Would you like some to put thier finger in you lungs.

tele_maniac

4/19/2012 6:50:00 AM

@pendletonjohn - I understand your concern, but rest assured I was really careful not to touch the fishes gills and I held him in the flowing water and made sure he was fully resucitated before I released him.

Gringo Pescador

4/19/2012 7:42:00 AM

Nice job tele_maniac, always be open to a little tweeking, it is amazing how a little change up like that will make all the difference. Pendletonjohn is right though, if you are releasing, try to not take the fish out of the water at all, and definately do not pick up/hang em by the gills. They can find the strength to swim off and still be too wiped out or damaged to not survive. They've had a tough fight - give em the best chance of recovering you can (me personally I rarely take pictures of fish I am releasing unless somebody is right there to take it immediately just so I can get the fish recovered and on thier way as soon as possible). Besides, it is a cooler looking picture to be kneeled down in the water and holding the fish horizontally anyway.

Fish-Freak23

4/19/2012 12:53:00 PM

Nice fish but come on, man.... You should never put your fingers under the gill plate, unless you're keeping it.

KRH

11/24/2012 8:56:00 PM

Great way to end the day! But I was wondering, since I'm kinda new to the river, when a lot of steelies start showing up? And also what kind of rigs and colors work best for them?

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