Early Winter Steelhead Day with Friends
The Winter Steelhead season has arrived, between now and April Steelhead will be moving into the rivers in the Fraser Valley. This trip was my first outing on the Chilliwack River in late December, 2016. My buddies Neal and Zach came on this trip. We put on a lot of river mileage but came up empty with the Steelhead. We fished the mid river area very hard and I did a little in the upper at the end. The river was very low but had a great green color (averaging 1 ft – 2 ft of visibility).
I brought a bunch of lures/bait to throw: Ghost Shrimp, Roe Bags, Pink Worms, Spin N Glos, Colorado Blade and a variety of corkie colors. I fished everything under a float fishing setup. Nothing worked for us today, but it is still early in the season as the majority of the fish typically don’t show up until Early February. However, we did see 2 Steelhead; 1 wild doe approximately 6 lbs landed and 1 larger Steelhead lost by a guy across the river from us. It was encouraging to see something even though we didn’t ourselves catch it.
All in all, it was a great day with my good buddies. And that’s a big part of the reason why I love fishing. I can’t wait to get out again soon and catch my first Winter Steelhead of 2017! Check back soon!
Video
Photo Gallery
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Fishing Location
We fished all over the place (as you do when Steelheadin’), these two markers on the map provide an area we fishing between (walking and driving).
Mid river area
Upper river area
Tackle Used
Shimano Convergence Casting Rod (10’6 ft)
C3 6500 Abu Garcia level-wind Reel
Maxima Ultragreen – Mainline (15 lb)
Seaguar Blue Label – Leader (10 lb)
Gamakatsu Octopus hooks – Size 2
Additional Lures & Baits used
- Ghost Shrimp
- Roe Bags
- Jensen Eggs
- Spin N Glos
- Colorado Blades
- Pink Worms
- Cheater Bait Weights
- Corkies
- 8 mm blood dot cerise bead.
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