Fraser Report - Jul 17

756 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Thrasher, Jul 19, 2007

Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · Jul 19, 2007

We set out yesterday afternoon about 3:30 from the Mission launch and headed directly to the mouth of the Sumas. We anchored in the Fraser, just upstream from the mouth.

Since I'd been reading a lot lately about plugs (K13 Kwikfish) and scents I decided to give them a shot...having never done so before. I wrapped some foam along the under-side of the plug and added a bit of gel scent to the foam. We were initially in about 40' of water and used a setup that had a 3oz weight on an 18" leader from the 3-way swivel, then about a 2' leader to the plug. We fished the first spot for an hour with no luck.

We moved to shallower water, again a bit more upstream, and anchored in about 22' of water. Same setup, same luck.

We did see several fish, at least 4, jumping around us, but no bites.

We then took a cruise up the Sumas to the mouth of the Vedder - it was really nice up there. Never done that before, but now I'll take the family up there next time.

But I digress....finally, we gave up on the salmon and moved to the CN bridge to try our luck at some strugeon. After about an hour, we gave up. Dejected and forlorn, we pulled anchor and headed back across to the launch.

I seem to be telling people a lot lately that I went fishing and emphasize, "fishing", as opposed to "catching".

In general, I'd appreciate any feedback and suggestions as to my methods or location. It's the first time pulling a plug, and am waiting for the water to drop to start barfing.

tia.

LL.

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young gun

· #2 · Jul 19, 2007

U said u anchored, u could try back trolling next time.

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Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 19, 2007

young gun said:
U said u anchored, u could try back trolling next time.

Yep, we were: http://www.coastangler.com/fishing/backbouncing_backtrolling_chinook.shtml

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young gun

· #4 · Jul 19, 2007

I've got a video i recorded of sport fishing BC where mark back trolls the kitimat. They used herring strips wrapped around the kwickfish.

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Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 19, 2007

young gun said:
I've got a video i recorded of sport fishing BC where mark back trolls the kitimat. They used herring strips wrapped around the kwickfish.

I read that was illegal here, so I went with the sponge method.

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Bent Rod

· #6 · Jul 19, 2007

Keep at it with the plugs LL you'll get the hang of it.
I suggest going to Luhr Jensens website and downloading their tech tips for Kwikfish fishing.
The river is not to generous to anglers looking for biting Chinook right now and many are coming up empty with most techniques.
When I use Kwikfish I look for water slightly slower than I would fish if I was using spin n glos and anywhere from 5 - 20 feet deep, shallower water when it's dirtier is the rule. Also try and find places like top ends of bars on the inside bend where the river has some structure, imagine where a Chinook may hold up for just a bit to have a rest, small troughs along a bar are also good.

As for the sturgeon fishing, it has been pretty moody lately, they are probably getting ready to start hunting for salmon parts, goat any??, be a good thing to get yer hands on

.

Good luck and thanks for fishing selectively :thumbup:.

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Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 19, 2007

Rod,

Thanks for the tips. Greatly appreciated.

For the sturgeon, we tried roe yesterday and a couple days ago I tried some salmon bits from last year's catches - some belly fat with skin on. No luck.

There seems to be a debate between rotten vs. fresh bait for sturgeon. Any thoughts?

LL

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Bent Rod

· #8 · Jul 19, 2007

As for rotten VS fresh, sometimes the fish want fresh sometimes they want rotten, there is a timing scenario here and experience will tell you which one to use.

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skagit3

· #9 · Jul 19, 2007

Lund-lubber said:
young gun said:

I've got a video i recorded of sport fishing BC where mark back trolls the kitimat. They used herring strips wrapped around the kwickfish.

Click to expand...

I read that was illegal here, so I went with the sponge method.

Instead of the sponge, you can also use adhesive backed velcro (the soft side) and stick it to the underside of the quickfish. It holds the scent and is easier to hide. There is a couple different methods you can use with quickfish. You have Backtrolling and Hover Fishing. We usually drop our quickfish and use our kicker to swing us into the hole and backtroll through the hole. With Hover fishing you use your kicker and stay in the same spot not moving down stream.

Were you using a 3 way swivel or a slider for your weight?

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Steelie Trav

· #10 · Jul 19, 2007

Rib and I did a little bit of back-trolling during the fishout. I used a large hot-spot with a shaker inside and rib was using a bright pink kwikfish. We used 4oz banana weights tied to a 24" leader and bounced it through a channel while anchored. The channel was about 25ft deep and only 15ft wide, seemed like a nice spot to find a spring but no luck.

I'll be trying this method probably every trip out. Good way to keep yourself busy after 7 hours of barfishing with no bites!

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Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 19, 2007

skagit3 said:
Were you using a 3 way swivel or a slider for your weight?

The 3-way swivel with fixed leader lengths. I'm going to try the slider next, as pictured in Luhr Jensen's techsheet: http://www.luhrjensen.com/techreports/561KwikfishforChinook.pdf.

I cut the sponge quite thin, so I don't see much, if any, of an advantage to switch to velco. I did read about it, but had sponge on-hand at the time and no velcro.

I might add, I also used two, single barbless hooks, not a single, single barbless hook

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Lund-lubber

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 19, 2007

Steelie Trav said:
Rib and I did a little bit of back-trolling during the fishout. I used a large hot-spot with a shaker inside and rib was using a bright pink kwikfish. We used 4oz banana weights tied to a 24" leader and bounced it through a channel while anchored. The channel was about 25ft deep and only 15ft wide, seemed like a nice spot to find a spring but no luck.

I'll be trying this method probably every trip out. Good way to keep yourself busy after 7 hours of barfishing with no bites!

Yeah, like coralling them almost. It's funny how we always try to think where the fish will be, but in my case, they never are.

I can't wait until a big spring hammers that lure and bends my rod tip to the water. I guess the key is to NOT hit it hard, right off the bat. We have to be patient, I'm told.

I don't see much difference in back trolling vs. barf'ing. Seems to be a pretty passive way to "fish". Mind you, I did get caught up on some sleep the other day, so it's not all bad.

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Thrasher

· #13 · Jul 19, 2007

there is nothing quite like having a fresh spring hammer your Kwikfish as you are back trolling!!

As soon as the vis improves a little bit more, the Kwikfish will be more effective

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