Ray and I got back from a quick trip to the " picnic grounds" at
10:00. Ray picked me up at my place at 5:00 and we were on the river shortly after
6:00. We walked down the hill to where the concrete pump pad has fallen into
the river, then went right through the bush to the normal "first hole". A
couple of new cedar trees have slid down the undercut bank and fallen across
the river providing new shelter for trout. We could see at least 20 good fish
holding in this pool. I hooked into the first fish after about 10-15 casts.
The sky was overcast and there were a few sprinkles of rain. The fish were
not spooky but they were not attacking the Mepps #3 until you got them a
little annoyed. It took 10-15 min to land a 24" 4.5 lb hen rainbow, she tried
to run downstream under the fallen cedar tree twice but failed to tangle the
line in the branches. Ray caught the next fish from the bend of the river
just up stream from the 1st pool, with a little coaching to move the fish out
of the fast water and into a calmer backwater, Ray landed the very energetic
20" rainbow. Ray said that was the first "good sized" fish he has landed. A
few min later I hooked into another larger than the first, I took my time and
kept constant pressure on the fish to keep it in the pool and not let it run
down under the trees. As I was bringing it to the shore my rod broke just
above the ferrule. the fish was already played out and had her snout on the
sand and didn't move, so I was able to pick it up and throw it up onto the
bank. I worked on the rod for a few min. while Ray started to work up river.
He hooked into another very aggressive fish but it through the hook with some
very impressive jumps. I gave up trying to repair the rod. I picked up our 3
fish and moved up river to meet Ray who was now at the next big hole. The big
tree that was across the bottom of the hole is now gone and there are no
obstructions at all. We could see 30-50 fish resting in this pool. After a
few minutes Ray managed to annoy one enough and hooked a nice rainbow that ran
and jumped all over the pool making 3-4 runs up stream to the top of the pool
then circling and running back. Ray kept constant pressure and was patient,
after about 15-20 minutes landed a very pretty 26" 6lb hen. It was now about
7:45 and we had all the fish we wanted. We decided to call it a morning as we
both has other things to do at home. After cleaning the fish I picked up Rays
rod and said I would fish for a few minutes for one more to give to the kind
folks at the farmhouse. I took about 5 minutes and I hooked into another good
fish and another 15 minutes to land 28" 6.5 lb. We cleaned this fish also
and headed up the hill. There was no answer at the house but we found the
lady of the house( forgotten her name) at the barn. We expressed our
gratitude for allowing us access through their property and gave her the
largest fish and had a nice chat for a few minutes. Hopefully with a few
similar gestures we will maintain our access for years to come.
