Winter solo sessions

[ActiveAngler]

Beaver Sunset.jpg



With the electric ticking over in the gin (not the drinking type Dids ) clear water, i i snuck the poly into where Pete allegedly got a bend in his rod (so i heard) , up a drain, with the glassed out conditions making it hard to see through the mirror sheen. As the motor started running out of water, i spotted a school of grunter, around 100 fish, but they were super spooky, taking off when the little lure landed. I was tossing my 4lb outfit, with 12 lb leader, hoping it would be enough. On the trip back out of the drain, i spotted some of the target species, the blue salmon, but they were even more flighty.


Eventually i managed a bite, from a grunter, going back to a really small plastic, the Crusteaz, on a little light jighead. It screamed around, in around a foot of water, but was soon dispatched on ice. The salmon had fled, with the grunter being hooked, so i went to sus out some other drains, finding fish, but not managing a hookup.


After the tide had turned to run out, i figured id best grab some dinner, checking a few drains for flatties, i found a few at an old haunt. Picking up a dozen or so, i iced a couple, and decided to go look for these pesky salmon on the dropping tide. Sneaking up another drain, i found a few straight away, but again they were flighty, taking a few swipes at a shrimpz, but no hookup. They really didnt seem hungry, just swatting at the lure, so i changed tack, going for a light 1/8th 3/0 TT Headlockz, with a 3" zman minnowz in Space guppy.


Whether it was the change in tide, or lure i don't know, but i lobbed it onto the first school i saw, and immediately it was engulfed by the runt of the pack. The first run of the blue salmon is blistering, in my opinion, its by far the hardest fighting estuary fish. Its scything run arced across the flat, i tried to chase, as the bottom of the spool was getting near, but i was out of water, and with the tide dropping this was not the place to do a Dids in the mud bank.


Stuck between a rock and a hard place, i palmed the spool, figuring i may as well be rubbed off as be spooled. Thankfully as it turned out, the fish was hooked on the outside of the mouth, otherwise im sure the leader would have rubbed through. Its by for the shallowest salmon fight i have had, with the fishes back out the water half the time. Its nuts the purchase they get when they cant swim to any depth. Slowly i gained ground, and eventually swam a nice salmon into the net(probably easier alone Pete), happy days...time for home, icing the fish down to clean the next day and have a beer by the fire. I mightn't be rich possession wise, but most of the time i feel pretty lucky with the life i lead.

Blue salmon good.jpg

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Grunter.jpg

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Links to a couple of clips from the day.