Monday, August 30, 2010

Where I Live: Fishing Central!


This year Sockeye Salmon have returned to the Fraser River, in B.C., in the largest numbers since 1913 - the biggest run in nearly 100 years. Estimates are that 25 to 30 million Sockeye are making their way up the Fraser this year! Good news for the environment and our local fishery.

So yesterday I joined hundreds of people at a few fishing spots out near Chilliwack and Hope. We left Vancouver Saturday night and camped out to be on the river with lines in the river early - 6am early. All with hopes of catching a part of the excitement, and our 2 fish limit.

Here's Christopher's first cast in at Laidlaw. Pretty peaceful, but too many snags on the rocks, no fish getting snagged.


We stayed for an hour. But since no one around was catching anything we left. The only excitement was watching a beaver swim past. He was motoring! Nice wake buddy!



We had more luck further down the river near Chilliwack. It took time, but both Christopher (carrying his catch) and Eugene (cleaning his in a cooler) reeled in beautiful Sockeyes.


Then we headed back to a spot that we had checked out earlier, but was really crowded. I had heard about the "shoulder to shoulder" possibilities, but it was pretty incredible to see. "Gong Show" was Christopher's description. There were hundreds of people lining the river!


We blazed the Jeep through a few shallow creeks and made our way over to join them. Fortunately everyone was in a good mood, and the inevitable tangled lines were just a brief break from the constant casting. I saw more than a dozen fish pulled in in an hour.


We returned home around 9:00pm and fell straight into bed. A perfect way to spend a Sunday. Salmon for dinner tonight.

I love where I live!

4 comments:

Smoking Lily said...

love how everyone is so evenly spaced in the river. So how are you going to prepare your salmon for dinner tonight?
Cheers
Trish
ps my word verification to leave a comment is REAKSTAN, too funny

glenda said...

The salmon was served 3 ways tonight - sashimi, oven smoked, and salt-cured broiled belly. All awesome! The dinner was rounded out with corn on the cob and fried green tomatoes. A superb end-of-summer dinner. There was lots of fillets and steaks left so barbeque and pan-fried fish tomorrow!

VCMBC said...

Glad to see you enjoying the bounty in Chilliwack! We're getting a phenomenal response this year over at Fish Chilliwack with people planning fishing trips to take advantage of the extraordinary sockeye run.

glenda said...

Thanks "VCMBC". I have some out of town guests here that love to fish in the Shuswap area. I know they're interested in finding the best sockeye spots on the Fraser. I'll pass on a link to your site.