Post by ShadowCaster on Nov 12, 2014 19:49:36 GMT 8
Autumn Chum Salmon : Squamish River, B.C. Canada.
Autumn comes gradually to the Pacific Coast of Canada, so gradually that one scarcely knows when or whether it has arrived. Sometimes a rain storm blows up from the South early in September, with a cold wet rain that brings a subtle change. Yet it is certain that the sun and hot days are weaning. In their place, there will be frosts to turn the leaves and insist that Autumn is here.
Fogs will force in from the ocean and the morning dew will be everywhere. With or without frost the leaves will turn and begin to fall.
Autumn on the Canadian Pacific Coast is also in the return of the salmon to their rivers. Not quite in the early Chinook Salmon spring runs that come to a few rivers in May or the early running of the Sockeye Salmon in Jun and July, but in the typical Pink Salmon runs that come in towards Auguast. With their coming the great Autumn movement to the coastal rivers begins.
The big Chinook follow quickly in September. A few sea run Cutthroat Trout may have begun their movement even a little before the Pink Salmon. The Coho Salmon come in the rain of October, and the Chum Salmon are close behind them, and often with the Coho, in October and November.
I had travelled across the Pacific Ocean to experience the Chum Salmon run on Canada's Squamish river. Not just to catch them on a fly rod, but also to soak in the environment where they spawn and die.
The Chum salmon is perhaps the most under rated among the 5 Pacific Salmon species. Pound for pound, they are arguably the hardest fighting among all the Pacific Salmon. While the Chum lacks the size and bulk of the Chinook, the sleek chrome body of the Coho or Sockeye, the sheer numbers of the Pink, Chum Salmon more than make up for these deficiencies through their willingness to bite a well presented fly and their fighting qualities on fly tackle.
While it is possible to catch the Chum on single handed fly rod, double handed Spey rods are more effective tackle for these hard fighting fish. Spey rods are more efficient and easier on the arm for the repeated casting of heavy sink-tips fly lines over longer distances. They are also more effective fish fighting tools against strong fish in heavy currents. A typical Squamish Chum when hooked will run down river, aided by heavy current. They would typically peel off 100-200 meters of backing or more at a time, forcing the angler to run downstream after the fish or face the consequences of being spooled.
Certainly, anglers don't succeed in landing every Chum Salmon they hook. Typically, an experienced angler would land about 50% of the fishes he or she hooked. Fishes can be lost due to angler being spooled despite using 15-17lb tippets and heavy drag settings. Using heavier tippets of up to 20lb would most often result in a straighten or broken hook. That success percentage reduces significantly when the river current get stronger with the autumn rain.
Chums are generally not picky on fly patterns. But I found that the Chum on the Squamish did favored flies in black and blue on that gloomy November week I was fishing for them.
Besides Chum Salmon, the Coho usually runs in the same time frame on same rivers as Chum. Coho are also aggressive in biting well presented flies. Although Coho do not fight as hard and generally lacks the dogged endurance of Chum Salmon, they are beautiful fish with their signature chrome slick body and are lots of fun to catch on a fly rod. Coho response well to the same fly patterns and similar fly presentation for Chum salmon.
But there is no substitute for a big strong Squamish river Chum Salmon if you relish a good battle on a fly rod. A good Chum will test your tackle, skill and endurance to the limit, and sometimes beyond. They are smart enough to take advantage of the strong current and make blistering 200 meters run downstream. If several long runs do not get them off the hook, expect them to start their bull-dogging head shakes, which is often more effective to dislodge or break the barb-less hook.
To some people, the thought that the Salmon, all Pacific Salmon of all species, die very soon after spawning is a depressing one. They see in it only decay and waste, a sort of pathetic frustration of life. This is a natural view, but it does not question deeply enough : the end of the Salmon is not death and corruption, but only the autumn of their cycle. They come to the spawning gravels in all their brilliant colors – reds, browns, greens, gray and black and golden. I made it a point to travel and hike into the upper tributaries and lake where the Chum Salmon gathered to spawn. I was mesmerized by the sight of hundreds of spawning salmon in gin clear water and spent a full afternoon in their company. Naturally, fishing of any form is strictly prohibited by Canadian law at the Salmon spawning grounds.
While the salmon runs are not the whole story of autumn on the Pacific Coast rivers, but no one can fish there and not be aware of them and no fisherman can fail to be curious about them and be concerned for them. Thousands of anglers go out each year to catch them and every angler who fishes a migratory stream sees them and finds his sport, directly or indirectly, through them, for the power of the salmon runs persist through the year and affects all other fish.
Like the autumn leaves above them, they have their time of fierce glory. Then the frosts and the rains and the winds come. The leaves become torn and sodden and dulled in their time they fall, covering the ground, drifting with the river currents, piling against the rocks and shallows. But within the trees life is still strong and self-renewing.
In spring, life will burst from the gravel as it burst again from the trees, into the massive yield of the new cycle. Death is seldom more fleeting than this.
But the salmon runs are more than this. They are a last true example of the immense abundances of nature. They have been damaged and reduced in many places, and it is true that in some rivers the damage is great and permanent. But they remail a massive abundance, complex and wonderful, throughout most of their range, and throughout much of it their potential of natural abundance is as great as ever.
Well before the Salmon had spawned and die, it is December and unquestionably winter.
[/font]Autumn comes gradually to the Pacific Coast of Canada, so gradually that one scarcely knows when or whether it has arrived. Sometimes a rain storm blows up from the South early in September, with a cold wet rain that brings a subtle change. Yet it is certain that the sun and hot days are weaning. In their place, there will be frosts to turn the leaves and insist that Autumn is here.
Fogs will force in from the ocean and the morning dew will be everywhere. With or without frost the leaves will turn and begin to fall.
Autumn on the Canadian Pacific Coast is also in the return of the salmon to their rivers. Not quite in the early Chinook Salmon spring runs that come to a few rivers in May or the early running of the Sockeye Salmon in Jun and July, but in the typical Pink Salmon runs that come in towards Auguast. With their coming the great Autumn movement to the coastal rivers begins.
The big Chinook follow quickly in September. A few sea run Cutthroat Trout may have begun their movement even a little before the Pink Salmon. The Coho Salmon come in the rain of October, and the Chum Salmon are close behind them, and often with the Coho, in October and November.
I had travelled across the Pacific Ocean to experience the Chum Salmon run on Canada's Squamish river. Not just to catch them on a fly rod, but also to soak in the environment where they spawn and die.
The Chum salmon is perhaps the most under rated among the 5 Pacific Salmon species. Pound for pound, they are arguably the hardest fighting among all the Pacific Salmon. While the Chum lacks the size and bulk of the Chinook, the sleek chrome body of the Coho or Sockeye, the sheer numbers of the Pink, Chum Salmon more than make up for these deficiencies through their willingness to bite a well presented fly and their fighting qualities on fly tackle.
While it is possible to catch the Chum on single handed fly rod, double handed Spey rods are more effective tackle for these hard fighting fish. Spey rods are more efficient and easier on the arm for the repeated casting of heavy sink-tips fly lines over longer distances. They are also more effective fish fighting tools against strong fish in heavy currents. A typical Squamish Chum when hooked will run down river, aided by heavy current. They would typically peel off 100-200 meters of backing or more at a time, forcing the angler to run downstream after the fish or face the consequences of being spooled.
Certainly, anglers don't succeed in landing every Chum Salmon they hook. Typically, an experienced angler would land about 50% of the fishes he or she hooked. Fishes can be lost due to angler being spooled despite using 15-17lb tippets and heavy drag settings. Using heavier tippets of up to 20lb would most often result in a straighten or broken hook. That success percentage reduces significantly when the river current get stronger with the autumn rain.
Chums are generally not picky on fly patterns. But I found that the Chum on the Squamish did favored flies in black and blue on that gloomy November week I was fishing for them.
Besides Chum Salmon, the Coho usually runs in the same time frame on same rivers as Chum. Coho are also aggressive in biting well presented flies. Although Coho do not fight as hard and generally lacks the dogged endurance of Chum Salmon, they are beautiful fish with their signature chrome slick body and are lots of fun to catch on a fly rod. Coho response well to the same fly patterns and similar fly presentation for Chum salmon.
But there is no substitute for a big strong Squamish river Chum Salmon if you relish a good battle on a fly rod. A good Chum will test your tackle, skill and endurance to the limit, and sometimes beyond. They are smart enough to take advantage of the strong current and make blistering 200 meters run downstream. If several long runs do not get them off the hook, expect them to start their bull-dogging head shakes, which is often more effective to dislodge or break the barb-less hook.
To some people, the thought that the Salmon, all Pacific Salmon of all species, die very soon after spawning is a depressing one. They see in it only decay and waste, a sort of pathetic frustration of life. This is a natural view, but it does not question deeply enough : the end of the Salmon is not death and corruption, but only the autumn of their cycle. They come to the spawning gravels in all their brilliant colors – reds, browns, greens, gray and black and golden. I made it a point to travel and hike into the upper tributaries and lake where the Chum Salmon gathered to spawn. I was mesmerized by the sight of hundreds of spawning salmon in gin clear water and spent a full afternoon in their company. Naturally, fishing of any form is strictly prohibited by Canadian law at the Salmon spawning grounds.
While the salmon runs are not the whole story of autumn on the Pacific Coast rivers, but no one can fish there and not be aware of them and no fisherman can fail to be curious about them and be concerned for them. Thousands of anglers go out each year to catch them and every angler who fishes a migratory stream sees them and finds his sport, directly or indirectly, through them, for the power of the salmon runs persist through the year and affects all other fish.
Like the autumn leaves above them, they have their time of fierce glory. Then the frosts and the rains and the winds come. The leaves become torn and sodden and dulled in their time they fall, covering the ground, drifting with the river currents, piling against the rocks and shallows. But within the trees life is still strong and self-renewing.
In spring, life will burst from the gravel as it burst again from the trees, into the massive yield of the new cycle. Death is seldom more fleeting than this.
But the salmon runs are more than this. They are a last true example of the immense abundances of nature. They have been damaged and reduced in many places, and it is true that in some rivers the damage is great and permanent. But they remail a massive abundance, complex and wonderful, throughout most of their range, and throughout much of it their potential of natural abundance is as great as ever.
Well before the Salmon had spawned and die, it is December and unquestionably winter.
