We found a nice little secluded place to camp, threw up the tent and made some smores over the camp fire. 4am came real early, we ate some oatmeal and packed up and were on the road. After arriving at the boat launch we assempled the cataraft that our landlord lent us for the summer. He bought a driftboat and just had his cataraft laying around so instead of it going unused he lent it to us.
So we were all ready to go and we hopped in and away we went. There were a ton of people that were fishing from the bank with some walking away with their three fish limits. As we drifted along, you could see the salmon scurry away as we past by.
The first place we tried produced nothing and it was windy, cold and just plain nasty out. So we pushed on down the river and found another spot where there was a back eddy and some slow water. The fish were kegged up here and were resting before they pushed up further. We tried for a while and just could get one hooked up, so we again pushed on.
The weather began to clear and started warming up, which was good for Rose. Keeping her warm is quite the endeavor! We found another spot that the fish were holding and I had to row and hold the raft in place beside the fish so Rose could cast for one of the many fish holding in the current.
As I've explained before, Sockeye Salmon are very difficult to catch. They will not go after a fly, they are plankton feeders and swim with their mouths open and catch tiny organisms as they swim. So the technique here is to weight your line so it ticks along the bottom and you want a drift in your line that is perpendicular to the fish. So the idea is to flip your line upstream and keep a good drift so that your fly is just to the opposite side of the fish from you. Then when it's right on their nose you set the hook and hopefully hook them right in the mouth. Or floss the line into their mouth and as the current takes your line downstream the hook sets in their mouth. Occasionally you'll get one to bite if you hit them square in the nose.
Rose was getting frustrated after about 200 casts and suddenly hooked into one and had it on for a good while as I tried to position the raft so I could help land the fish but it got off. We tried again to no avail and then moved a short ways down to the last spot that we'd be fishing for the day.
This spot is a great one and holds lots of fish and good access to them. You can beach the raft and easily reach the fish by wading or casting from shore. So we parked the boat and made some lunch and as I'm eating my sandwich I see a big black bear emerge from the brush on the far bank. He just sauntered down a log and disappeared back into the brush. He was only about 45 yards away.
So I keep eating my sandwich and suddenly see a massive school of salmon moving up and I grab my rod and on the second cast had a legally hooked salmon. I got him part way in and lost him. So I quickly caught up with the school and immediately hooked another fish on the first cast this time. This one wasn't so lucky and we landed our first fish of the day!
We finished eating and went to fishing. The fish started getting a little spotty and we found some on the far bank held up in the shade. I pulled one more fish out of there and had Rose fish the spot to get her first fish. I stood right next to her and helped guide her and tell her where her fly was and where the fish were. I'd say to her that she was behind or off to one side of the fish and help her to get her drift just right. Suddenly her rod slammed forward and bent over and I helped again to guide her through the motions and to keep her rod up. She did awesome and we started backing up towards the gravel bar behind us. We soon saw that the fish was foul hooked but gave up one heck of a battle. Rose landed that fish and she was happy as a clam! She was so excited but knew we had to let it go. We released it back to the river and went to get her another.
Again we were a team working together to get one fish at a time. I could see the fish and the water better than she could but together we worked out pretty good. It didn't take long and she again nailed a fish and when it came out of the water we could see that it was hooked right in the corner of the mouth, perfect!
She did everything herself on this one and did awesome. Rose was super excited and so was I that she finally got her first legal salmon on a fly rod. Finally after what must have been several thousands of casts between last year and this year. She finally got it all down and knew what to do and she did it. I was extremely proud of her.
The fish started to move up river and were tougher and tougher to find. We ended up with five fish for the day, one shy of our limit but it was an awesome and very successful day for us. We took pictures of our fish before we left for the boat launch and had several good comments as other boaters drifted by, seeing our catch.
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