Were we too late? No fish were jumping and the only ones we saw were Chum that looked like zombies. We were also having trouble finding the mouth of the Chehalis. It empties into the Harrison through several channels in a large tidally influenced (freshwater) estuary. We had already motored up one channel as far as we could go and were forced back by shallow water. In the distance we saw two fish biologists that were counting salmon carcases and we motored over to ask for direction. Half way there the signs improved: we saw our first Coho jump and two seals in the water. The mouth of the main channel was just up ahead around the corner, and so off we went. It wasn't exactly as easy to find as they made it out to be, and we ended up parking the boat and walking for about half a mile, but at last we came to the crystal clear water of the Chehalis. The Coho were thick in the deep slow moving water. As we walked along the bank to scout out a good place to fish, they spooked easily and moved off shore even further. I rigged up quickly and cast a pink colored weighted fly over a small school of fish... they all spooked. We tried drifting flies, setting them on the bottom, and Dad put on several different patterns, but nothing would entice them. They were onto us and all we could do was watch and delight at the splendid display of life (and death) around us.
Wild food experiments and personal foraging accounts from the Pacific Northwest centering on Northwest Washington and Southern Vancouver Island
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Chehalis River Coho Fishing
Were we too late? No fish were jumping and the only ones we saw were Chum that looked like zombies. We were also having trouble finding the mouth of the Chehalis. It empties into the Harrison through several channels in a large tidally influenced (freshwater) estuary. We had already motored up one channel as far as we could go and were forced back by shallow water. In the distance we saw two fish biologists that were counting salmon carcases and we motored over to ask for direction. Half way there the signs improved: we saw our first Coho jump and two seals in the water. The mouth of the main channel was just up ahead around the corner, and so off we went. It wasn't exactly as easy to find as they made it out to be, and we ended up parking the boat and walking for about half a mile, but at last we came to the crystal clear water of the Chehalis. The Coho were thick in the deep slow moving water. As we walked along the bank to scout out a good place to fish, they spooked easily and moved off shore even further. I rigged up quickly and cast a pink colored weighted fly over a small school of fish... they all spooked. We tried drifting flies, setting them on the bottom, and Dad put on several different patterns, but nothing would entice them. They were onto us and all we could do was watch and delight at the splendid display of life (and death) around us.