[Big Green Machine]

OK folks, went Springer fishing on Friday. See if you can guess where I was. I arrived at the boat launch at 5:15 am. It was a beautiful day. About 10 minutes into fishing, the centre transom rod dipped and then popped back up. My friend Jay looked at me and said, “That looked odd.” I looked at him and said, “That’s a fish!” He doubted me and then grabbed the rod to see if I was right and sure enough, it was a fish and must have taken the presentation and ran straight at the boat. Our other friend, Andrew, being new to salmon fishing, took the rod and 5 minutes later had a nice 8 pound Springer in the boat. About 5 minutes later, Jay was showing me some of the features on his new Daiwa Luna reel and as he was dropping the gear into the water, he casually muttered, “Fish on,” as he handed me the rod, laughed, and darted back to his kicker motor. I thought he was kidding and so did everyone else but I felt the head shakes and low and behold another Springer was hooked in about 18 feet of water. These fish certainly aren’t boat or leader shy. After a 10-minute battle a 10-12 pounder came into the net. 2 hours pass and we had nothing but a couple of missed hits. As I was nodding off, Grant's rod pumped and he played and landed an even bigger fish. He was a happy camper. An hour or so later, my rod slams down hard and quick as a wink I grab it from the rod holder. I feel some good headshakes and hand it off to Jon. He plays the fish for a minute or so and as quickly as it was hooked, it comes unbuttoned and I start swearing. Jon plays it cool and collected. For the next 3 hours again we have a slow period and Jon keeps saying he needs a fish to end the day. We look at him but are not too hopeful and then as hope is fading, Jay calls it a day. As we start the boat back to the launch Jay notices that Andrew’s line is almost under the boat. What the heck? Jon grabs it and bingo fish on. This one was a beautiful fish. The hardest fighting and biggest one of the day and the fish took the bait only when we threatened to head in! What a great way to end the day. 4 for 5 on a day that looked pretty slow for other anglers, we did pretty good.

 

[DMW]

That is one sweet report. :cheers: I have no idea where you are, but doesn't matter to me, nice to see some great looking Springers. Looking forward to getting out there if the river ever comes down. :happy:

 

[Fish Finder]

Good to see a few reports coming in. I was starting to wonder if anyone was doing any fishing lately. Nice job.

Finder

 

[Mike D.]

Nice Job! I reely want to say that you were fishing the mouth of the skeena....but I think I'm wrong.....

Mike <"))))))><

 

[Bent Rod]

Gotta be Warshington or Oreogon, and those be true "springers" , Fraser Valley used to have true Springers back in the good ole day as well.

Great report and nice feesh :thumbup:.

 

[reelangler]

true "springers"? what do you mean by that?

 

[Steely]

No adolpse fin, maybe that will help you guys figure it out....

 

[rln]

most likely a place like Scappoose bay north of Portland

 

[fishin30]

that last picture looks very local

 

[reelangler]

No adolpse fin, maybe that will help you guys figure it out....

that means they are hatchery right?

 

[Big Green Machine]

OK fellas, thanks for indulging me for a moment. The reason I posted these photos is because of the similarities in terrain between Portland Oregon and the Lower mainland and because I know everyone is itching to get into our own local "springers" in the Fraser. This trip happened in (credit to RLN for figuring it out) 30 minutes north of Portland Oregon on the Multnomah Channel, which is part of the Willamette/Columbia River system. They are wonderful fish, a little smaller than our springs but great table fare and you can keep two per day. That early run is starting to peter out now and it won't be long before the summer run enters - similar to our run here in the Fraser. I only hope they never allow fin fish (i.e. herring) on our Fraser like they do in Oregon. If they ever do, we are going to have to beef up our hatchery investments for sure. It was strange to troll a cut plug in 18 feet of water but it sure worked!

 

[Steely]

Thanks for the report and I learned something new.