I am sure all readers are tired of seeing lineups of fishermen/women at Centennial Park. I am. And we are all tired of not seeing a picture of a fish that I have landed. Today I am showing my Stowaway Hitch Box and the contents therein. However, I have learned from others on and off the water and now can look like everybody else when actually fishing. Day 1 I learned to swipe my line in at the end of the drift. Day 2 I learned that pure monofilament line on a fly line works best. Day three I learned that I needed larger hooks. And Day 4 I had everything all set I thought, but I learned to “swipe” the line hard with the line is at the 10:00 position, and not downstream.
Tonight I fished two sessions, 2 hours for the first, and 1 hour for the second. This fishing is similar to steelhead fishing, as it has short bursts of activity with the rest mundane casting and retrieving. For example, after fishing without anything for an hour and a quarter, I hooked 4 fish in 15 minutes, then nothing for the last half hour. I had one fish hooked in the second hour, and lost it at the beach. So, 5 hookups in 3 hours, one was snagged, and the others were lip hooked and I lost them bringing them in.
I am fishing, hooking fish, and getting more time in the water day by day. So far, in 4 days of fishing, I’ve fished for 8:55 hours and have hooked 13 fish. If these were steelhead numbers this would be fantastic. Since this is a run of Red Salmon, I’m still psyched by the consistency. The number of fish coming up the river for my four days in the water have been: Saturday 79,950; Sunday 101,376; Monday 54,139; and Tuesday 41,166. Rumor has it that enough fish have gone through that netting is allowed downstream lowering the number. But that is only a rumor.
Here is my gear for this trip. From the left, a foam life vest / fishing vest that I use with my float tube. To the right of it are my boat tackle bag with lots of good stuff in it, and then my vest. The green pouch holds an Olympus TG4 waterproof camera, and then my waders, special ordered for my by Mike at the former Eureka Fly Shop. The waders fit great, and even better since I’ve lost 30 pounds from training for my bike ride across America (Transamerica Bicycle Trail). I have an inflatable vest, not shown, in the storage box.
I’m fishing every day now, increasing my time on the water each day. I’m sleeping in and then laying in my van/cocoon for a while reading or surfing the net. Finishing up the afternoon with brunch and then heading to Centennial Park to join the lineup. Not so bad, and much more enjoyable that the first 4 weeks of the trip trying to find fishable water. So, maybe tomorrow is the day that I finally get a picture of my first Red Salmon on the shore.
Tight Lines!