One Rain at a Time & Trask Salmon Photos

From around October to December just about any rain event we have can pull salmon into the coastal rivers, but only for a short time. They come and go with each dump of rain. This year saw dry conditions well into late October and when the rain came, so did the fish! On the coast they keep coming through December with each rain or flood event. Mike has shown me around the Trask River for about 20 years now and he knows what spots he wants to fish for what the water level is and how long it has been there. A favorite river for him that he spends much time on. A classic example of how reading the graphs correctly can improve your odds. I always prefer to see the graphs falling for the day I am going, like in this post [Coastal Fly Rod Fall Chinook...Fly Line Lost & Found!] from last year about this same topic and the same coastal salmon runs. When the graph is falling IM thinking its going to be a good day. Mike is the impatient one whom must go on the weekends when work is not calling and if the graph is on the rise, that simply can not discourage him. This is likely why he has learned so much about certain rivers, from being there when its not right or perfect, but still reading the water, in hope.



Even in high water the fish still must rest somewhere. In the high water photo above, can you spot where the chinook salmon are holding? Lets take a closer look right off that point, in that eddy!







These graphs are both caps from 2 of my better salmon fishing days. I fished the drop period where the red line shows the date. One of these is from inland coho fishing and the other is from coastal chinook last Fall from the post linked above. On both of these days I just hammered the fish! This shows you that reading water flow is universal to most rivers with a little bit of observation.

During the Fall there will be many of these rains that cause a small or large rise in the water level and when you factor in other things like peak time for early or late runs and tidal influence you can narrow down the best days to be on the water, if your not at work!





Wild coho salmon turns on it's side to navigate this small whitewater side channel. Evolution and adaptation have created a sleak and hydrodynamic creature. Instinctual homing skills guide the way.

We hit one decent day in early December this year just after the last pushes of inland coho began to peter out. I would have called the day perfect but the flow held steady with more oncoming rain that prevented the graph from reading a solid drop. Teatering on the edge of fishable. It was Mike's day off and he was gonna go either way so off we go!





Last year I had a super day and released several chunker hens but this year Mike had the mojo going for him right off the bat. While the rain held off for a time I was able to snap a few photos, some real beautiful fish! Way to go dude!







This last fish had a huge healed up hole in his head. Looked as if he had been shot with a gun.

I managed a few silvery wild coho, a king jack and some older bronzed tule/old springer looking thing with a huge adipose that Mike had actually caught a few hours earlyer... Then just before dark as more fish started to move I finaly got the screws into a couple of decent nookers. The first turned out to be about a 45lb darker buck that was mean as heck! I had my 11 weight and on the last rig I tied on I jumped up to 25lb Maxima so I was ready for that battle. As soon as I got that huge buck released I hooked right up again with a nice hen while drifting orange yarn and skein over the "break" at the end of the same pocket. Head shaking, backing down through the whitewater, yank, yank..screen.........................I chased the hen as far as I had just chased that huge buck, about 65 yards, almost to the end of the narrows! A very good scrap and landing that finished up my day right close to dark.







With high water the question is not are the fish moving or are they there, the question is if you can get to them or not. Each river reacts different to high water and not all rivers will fish during these periods. Confusing? Yes....Infact some smaller river such as those in the Astoria area can actually be much better while the graph is showing a rise in water levels. If you take the time to learn just 1 or 2 rivers well and how the fish react to the changing water conditions you will start to see workable patterns and then start to score like we did when everyone else may have stayed at home