[Steelie Trav]

Woke up a little late today, 6:45, as it was late night last night. My cousin pulled through and joined me for the first trip to Stave this fall. I had the canoe already loaded on the truck and was at the river by 7:30. It was nice to see the early fall fog, it was pretty thick in some areas.

We geared up, got the canoe in the water and headed down from the toilet bowl. We checked out a couple of spots that I had been interested in for a while now, the water is a little low in those areas and there was no fish to be seen so we moved on. We ended up at a nice hole I have been to on the west side of the river and decided to give it a try.

Across from us were two BBers sad to see on the Stave. Fished roe, wool, spinners and spoons with no takers. From the ledge we were standing on I couldn't spot anything and the fog started to lift so we decided to go for a scouting trip.

We headed downstream, then to the east side, back upstream, around another island and all the way down to the trailer park. The water down there was pretty calm so I tried trolling a leech pattern on the fly rod for any takers.

Finally we ended up below the dam and man my arms shure got tired, even though we walked the canoe up the heavier rapids. We fished below the first island under the dam for the rest of the day working our way upstream. When we arrived at our final destination I finally saw what I was looking for, signs of life. There were a few dogs jumping around in the current, looked pretty big too. Managed to get one bit on a 45 Koho but shook off instantly. Fished for another hour or so with no bites. We finally left the river at 1:15 because I had a Hockey game at 4:00. I did have fun riding the rapids back down into the toilet bowl in the canoe.

Its not long now...there is fish in there and more will show up everyday

 

[coho_killer]

nice pic's and sounds like you had a good day none the less! a few weeks and the stave will be booming! look out chums lol!!!!!

C.K.

 

[Legacys Live On]

yeha i was up near the damn from 4 till 530 waste jus chillin in the sun no takers on my new rod seen one roll nothin else be a few weeeks gonna be good tho i can feel it when my new reel comes this week

 

[thatguy03]

hey i think i saw you stelie although i dont know who u are i showed up there about 10 mins before you guys got in the canoe for your tour there was an older guy fly fishing.... anyways i only saw little ones jumping around and chatted with another old guy about alot of nuttin haha was a good mornin i guess..... but i was up by the dam saturday evening on the way home from the vedder and herd a guy got a chum earlier that day but still i have to wait

 

[Steelie Trav]

Thatguy, ya that was me. From the ledge we were fishing from we could see right into the pool and saw no action so we decided to leave there. Right now up by the dam seems to be the best place for action...for now. Next time I see you I will swing by and say Hi.

 

[South Texas Salt]

Great pictures, when will the Chum be there in your opinion please ? Salt.

 

[Brad]

Across from us were two BBers sad to see on the Stave.


What else would you expect Travis? Another scenario where Fraser snagging wrecks another system, the Stave is finished, especially in the next 2 weeks when charlie goes to town.

 

[Steelie Trav]

Texas, there are a few chum in there right now. In one to two weeks the Stave will be filled with them, along with some coho and the odd spring.

 

[thatguy03]

steelie yah next time come say hi would be nice to put some faces to the names from peeps on here

yha i sooooooo cant wait for the fish to really be here...

also im pretty new at salmon fishin an old guy said chum werent to tasty so other than the fight they put up what are they good for?
:roll:

 

[canadian]

also im pretty new at salmon fishin an old guy said chum werent to tasty so other than the fight they put up what are they good for?

I know the ones I catch in salt water are really good smoked. There is no other way to eat chum in my opinion. I am not sure about ones from the stave as the only things I keep out of their are whitefish which I smoke as well.

 

[Bonanza]

As well as being explosive fighters when you hook them , chum are excellent smoked and very tasty baked if you do it right.
Bleed and clean them right when caught then get them on ice. If you want to hone your fly skills take an 8wt fly rod and a muddler minnow and you will have one of your best days ever!

 

[Chris]

The fish are later this year than they were last year. Last year I was catching chum in mid september in decent numbers. Maybe last year was just a freak thing though. :?: Oh well, I saw a good number of fish jumping around in there today 8)

 

[coho_killer]

the chum must be in there by now! i'm heading there for the night bite tomorrow and want to know if the fish have arrived?

 

[Wookie]

man, I had one of my best days on the fly on Monday...caught 3 chum, hooked a bunch. All on little flash minnow patterns made for coho (small hooks) ... the one I kept was about 18 pounds! (no lie, weighed it as soon as I got it on shore)...took about 25 minutes to get in on my 8wt.

 

[Chris]

Yes there are quite a few chum, with a few coho and springs mixed in. Good luck let us know how you do.

 

[Wookie]

oh yeah, in a certain spot I also saw a number of SILVER fish swimming and jumping, but couldn't intice them with all the chum thrashing about

 

[coho_killer]

going to the stave today after work is the water still super low? gonna throw spoons and spinners just wanna play a fish and looking for a chrome chum doe!

C.K.

 

[professori]

Was there yesterday for about 1 1/2 hours. The water was really low (low tide combined with low water flow from the dam). There were chum in evidence, but not a lot being caught. I hiked and waded a lot of river looking for coho, but didn't see any, although with the low conditions I was able to find plenty of great coho water. I was trying out a 7 wt I built this past week. I landed 2 chum 12 -15 lbs. Great way to test a stick. It took a bend right down to the cork and worked those dogs like an eskimo musher . Caught the chums on a rainbow pearl Christmas tree (thought I might attract a coho if there were any around).

 

[BorderlessGuy]

was at the stave on Saturday for a few hours... lots of chum being caught

 

[Rib]

were those fishermen that were catching those chum fishing their floats straight up and down, or were those floats lying on their side as they bounced along the run????