River Journal 09/12/2018

[Charter Tofino]

Not sure why it’s an argument. As said, it’s a hatchery run of finicky fish that will hit guts and hardware in good conditions. Otherwise it’s become an accepted legal floss fest. Everyone knows that. Similar to fly flossing Chinook in low water on the little q.

 

[cammer]

I think at stamp regs are a little less stringent and less frowned upon when broken similar to other “harvest fisheries “ I seen a guy bonk a tail hooked coho. Normally I’m all over that sheet but I just said” I can’t believe that “. Didnt really get overly fired up , just kept flossing away. “. I guess I felt I’m trying to catch non biting fish whey should I freak and get all fired up when I’m doing same in a way

 

[cammer]

I’d like to get some of those 65000 blades tho stormy

 

[cammer]

Nice collection trooper. But to your point about the law etc. Believe me it never sat well , 2 more fisherman there said same thing , like wtf?? But like I was saying in that situation I didn’t feel like getting all fired up and rag dolling the chump ! I guess it’s like When a politician sees another politician lie blatantly , he says “he who casts a stone when living in glass houses” should be aware

 

[Whitebuck]

Tremblig cam is right....toss some guts or hardware...they will bite. When u are hammering them on beads do me a favour...take the bead off and see if there is any difference..lol. No offence but you sound like the Fraser anglers thinking their sockeye are biting!

 

[treblig]

River journal October 14, 2018
We went to the Big Q as the river opened a week ealier than norm for chinooks and coho. No photos as the ones hooked on spoons never got landed.

 

[treblig]

River Journal November 2, 2018
Today we decided to venture to the Puntledge River. With the heavy rains I guessed it would be to high for the spey so we brought our level winds for the river and the spinning reels for the beaches if the river turned out bad. I also discoverdd I left my wind breaker that had the camera at home . As we arived we can see anglers fly and gear casting away. We decided to go up river . We both set our rods up with float,beads, pencil lead and a little yarn . Using #2 hooks to avoid as much as we can foul hooking. We had lots of fun and ended up hooking into three silver chums and landing two. They showed up as the tide was rising. The river is full of old chums and you just have to work through them as you don't know when the fresh batch comes in from the ocean. I noticed everybody casting far . With the high water we short drifted the float withig 30 feet from shore.
The chum salmon we caught and kept were as silver as this photo ( another adventure shot ) and the meat was very orange.

 

[treblig]

River journal November 07, 2018
We went to the Puntledge River for maybe the last time. The season is nearing the end and there is limited numbers of fresh chum entering the system. Low tide was 10 am ant high tide was 5 pm. why are we concerned about tides. We fish the lower section of the Puntledge river so salmon moving through to their spawning beds are full of fighting energy. We are targeting the fresh salmon as they enter the river system during high tide. So there no need to be first on the river. We were on the river by 11:30. Lots of spawned out salmon. What we did not see was a lot of fresh salmon moving up the river. Lots of old spent out salmon breaking the river surface . The first fresh chum I saw break the surface was around 2 pm. We were working through the old chums and didn’t hook up to a fresh chum till 3 pm.

Using a 8mm Steelybead bead with some chartreuse wool with a 18 inch leader drifting though the seam but more on the slow side. We use a #2 sickle hook , pencil lead and float . So ends the Puntledge river excursions. The only river left is the Cowichan that is still show strong for coho salmon and chum salmon. Not to familiar with the accesses (little) to the river but that what exploring is.

 

[Whitebuck]

Bead w chartreuse wool...lol

 

[treblig]

River Journal November 14, 2018

We had a fantastic day with Nick from West Coast River Charters drifting the upper Stamp River In Port Alberni. I wasn’t sure what size of beads to use so I brought an assortment all rigged up with Rigrap allowing quick changes.

What the steelhead loved was the 10 mm Steelybeads pegged ¼-1/2 inch above the hook . Using #1 hooks with 18 inch leaders on 10 pound leaders. Our floats were able to adjust for quick depth changes using slip knots on the main line.

The Amundson Kudos casting rod was able to handle the lightest split shot weight to 2 inch sliding pencil lead.

We caught summer steelhead, winter steelheads and huge cutthroat trout up to 5 pounds. These cutthroats drop down to the Stamp River from the deep Great Central Lake when the eggs of salmon are readily available for snacking. With the winter steelhead we placed them in special bags that allowed the river flow to guarantee its survival for the Robertson hatchery.

We only saw two Black bears during our drift both being juveniles on our outing. With the heavy storm the previous night we shared the river with only two other boats.

 

[IronNoggin]

Looks like you had a rather FUN Day Buddy!
And helped collect some broodstock so that others down the road can enjoy the same!

WIN-WIN!

Cheers!
Nog

 

[treblig]

Looks like you had a rather FUN Day Buddy!
And helped collect some broodstock so that others down the road can enjoy the same!

WIN-WIN!

Cheers!
Nog

It was great to be able to site fish . Often we could see them and target them often not successfully but when they turn and start going after the bead you had to be patient not to strike early.

 

[Whitebuck]

Were they tubing the fall fish for brood? Pretty early for winter fish...especially that high up.
But Stamp does get some super early fish.

 

[treblig]

Were they tubing the fall fish for brood? Pretty early for winter fish...especially that high up.
But Stamp does get some super early fish.

We actually took (boated) them down to the hatchery and they did a quick analyses at the hatchery holding building. I ask how and they said all summer runs have a particular parasite in their mouths. If it doesn't according the the hatchery techs its a winter run. Yes they are collecting for the brood as the counts in past have been very low . This fish was so silver if it was sunny we would be blinded hahahaha

 

[treblig]

Searching for steel

 

[Stizzla]

River Journal November 14, 2018

We had a fantastic day with Nick from West Coast River Charters drifting the upper Stamp River In Port Alberni. I wasn’t sure what size of beads to use so I brought an assortment all rigged up with Rigrap allowing quick changes.

What the steelhead loved was the 10 mm Steelybeads pegged ¼-1/2 inch above the hook . Using #1 hooks with 18 inch leaders on 10 pound leaders. Our floats were able to adjust for quick depth changes using slip knots on the main line.

The Amundson Kudos casting rod was able to handle the lightest split shot weight to 2 inch sliding pencil lead.

We caught summer steelhead, winter steelheads and huge cutthroat trout up to 5 pounds. These cutthroats drop down to the Stamp River from the deep Great Central Lake when the eggs of salmon are readily available for snacking. With the winter steelhead we placed them in special bags that allowed the river flow to guarantee its survival for the Robertson hatchery.

We only saw two Black bears during our drift both being juveniles on our outing. With the heavy storm the previous night we shared the river with only two other boats.

Some of the best looking fish I’ve seen! Congratulations
Edit: 18 hookups! That’s unheard of

 

[Big Green Machine]

Some of the best looking fish I’ve seen! Congratulations
Edit: 18 hookups! That’s unheard of

That many hookups was quite common for the Stamp years ago. Seems November is one of the best months for fishing nowadays.

 

[Dave H]

Some of the best looking fish I’ve seen! Congratulations
Edit: 18 hookups! That’s unheard of

He said 18 inch leaders. Where did he say 18 hook-ups?

And not unheard of at all back in the day.

Not often accomplished but not unheard of.




Take care.

 

[Stizzla]

He said 18 inch leaders. Where did he say 18 hook-ups?

And not unheard of at all back in the day.

Not often accomplished but not unheard of.




Take care.

In the video.

 

[treblig]

It was 18 amazing hooks ups not including the huge and little cutthroats. Fishing in a boat we were able to cover allot of water. You find the spawning salmon there was usually more than one steelhead or trout behind the reds. There is allot at this time of year in this upper location accessible by boat. The water was extremely clear. The steelheads were often on the move