Combat fishing

[Okanagan]

The guy below was determined to get away from the crowd!



Up the river half a mile in poor water for sockeye fishing.

[FinsnFur]

  My GAHD it's like a frenzy!
How'd you do anyway?

[KySongDog]

That looks like a candy store for bears.  

Or the local pay lake right after stocking on Fridays.    

[pitw]

They're nuts, you are nuts, man I can't believe the amount of people.  I'd be terrified of going postal in that crowd .

[vvarmitr]

I'd be terrified of going postal in that crowd .

W/ your muzzleloader I presume. 
   

[Okanagan]

My GAHD it's like a frenzy!
How'd you do anyway?

I got skunked Wed. evening, when these photos were taken.   I saw three fish caught during the two hours I was there.  They had opened commercial gill netting just downriver at noon, to last 32 hours, and it cleaned out the wave of fish timed to go through while I was there after work.  I have seen such lines of people side by side when at least a third of them all had fish on at the same time.

On my way driving in at 5:30, people were streaming out of there walking up to a mile back to their cars, nearly all carrying a limit of two sockeye salmon, so it had been really good.  They are predicting 25 million sockeye in this run, the best numbers since 1913.  It has been excellent, but the fish come upriver in schools or waves, so at any spot on the river it can be fabulous or poor for awhile.  I have caught five in the last three evenings, with a two fish limit, and released one of those.  

On good years in the past, I have several times made two casts, caught two fish and gone home.  Firm red meat, fabulous eating.

[Roundman]

That's one of them fishin holes where you gotta take your own rock to stand on.

[JohnP]

I think I'd give up fishing.

[Silencer]

opening trout season brings all the city flatlanders out up here.  Elbow to elbow... till Silencer screams over the old railroad bridge ( you can see water through the railroad ties ) with his old chevy and clears em all out      Funny as all hell, them ties are sturdy but to look at it the way they're spaced out it'd scare ya lmao. 

[Okanagan]

Tomorrow is the last day of this sockeye season. Yesterday afternoon was the largest crowd and most jam packed fishing I've ever seen.  I didn't take any photos but people were fishing within touching distance of each other if they spread their arms, for hundreds of yards in stretches. Even the "open" places with fewer fishermen were way more crowded than I've ever seen, maybe 15-25 feet between people.

Yesterday I tried to go early and get out with fish before many people showed up and that has worked every day I've done it till yesterday.  I could not get a fish on the beach.  Lost count but it was at least 6 fish I'd hooked, played and lost, sometimes right at the beach, plus many more fish bumped etc.  Lots of fish, people catching them around me, getting VERY crowded when I bailed out and went to work about sun-up.

Last evening I had to work at it a bit in slow fishing but caught two after sundown, after losing three more.  One of mine tangled with the line of the guy next to me about 30 feet away, who gave me slack and waded out with me as I brought the fish to shore.  My leader broke when the fish's nose got to shore, and it took off.  Oh well.  He and I exchanged commiserating comments and then the fish suddenly started surging against his line.  It was still hooked on my leader which was tangled with his line, so he landed it and said, "The hook in it is yours.  He's your fish."  Nice guy.  Odd tangle and his line had sawed my leader.

This morning I killed two quickly,  large and extra large males, and headed home still using headlights.  Stopped to help a guy get unstuck.  He tried to drive a 4 wheel drive station wagon through a 2 foot deep channel with a loose gravel bottom.  50 feet upstream it was rippling two inches deep.  Shrug.   He was panicked, waving his arms at me and begging for help since nobody would quit fishing to help him and his floorboards were taking on water on the low side.  I told him I'd shut it off and go fishing and somebody with a big 4x4 would pull him out later.  He was polite enough not to say much in reply but what he thought was clear.

A guy with a big 4x4 came along (my little puddle jumper wouldn't come close to pulling it out) and we got it pulled out.  The engine had quit and it wouldn't start. People were getting stuck everywhere as it got lighter.  The tow truck will make a landslide profit today out there.

[pitw]

UNBELIEVABLE.  I couldn't imagine it without your help .  You are a dedicated fisherman to be out there.

[Okanagan]

You are a dedicated fisherman to be out there.

Maybe so!

I enjoy catching them and love to eat them fresh, motivation enough to negotiate the crowds.  Friday morning was the only packed crowd I got into all year, and then only because I stayed at an excellent spot longer than planned while really aggressive people crowded in.  Most mornings at that same spot I have either been done before anyone else showed up, or done by the time four or five guys would straggle in over a 150 yard stretch. 

Sat. morning I fished near five men I know a bit from fishing near them before, but left early enough that I still had no one for 150 yards upstream to my right.  The six of us were strung out over about 75 yards and if you keep track even minimally of what the guy next to you is doing you can avoid tangles unless a fish runs across a line before the next guy reels in to get out of the way.    It was cordial.  Some of the better fly fishing spots have no one fishing there, because it is not good for the bottom bouncing, mouth snagging kind of fishing done by the masses.