First time spey fishing

A mixed bag of inconsistencies, triumphs and failures; that's what my day looked like.

I fished the Stave river this morning from first light until around lunch time. I arrived at the river to find parking at a premium and ended up having to walk a long way up stream to find my first spot to fish. I began with a muddler minnow on my single hand fly rod. The target species was coho, of which I had no luck. I did manage to hook a big chum but it broke off my lighter leader I was using to attempt to fool the coho. Other than the chum, nothing else was interested in my fly so I moved on to the method of fishing I  come to the river to try. I was going to attempt spey fishing for the first time.

I rigged up my two hander and tied on a pink and purple chum fly. This trip was more about learning to spey fish than actually catching fish. It took me a while to get used to it but eventually I was able to cast half decently, fairly regularly and inconsistently had a good cast I could be fully proud of. I managed to hook into one chum but it spat the hook. I was concentrating so much on the propper cast and drift, analyzing the last cast in my head, that I was slow on the hook set. Oh well. By the end of the trip I was pleased with my progress and I feel more confident for next time I spey fish.

At around lunch time I put away the salmon gear and went off to try for sturgeon. I had some lamprey and some pink salmon belly to try for bait. When I arrived at my location on the Fraser River I was disheartened to see someone in the spot I wanted to fish. Not wanting to crowd them I went up stream. Unfortunately it was a bit of a snag fest and I kept snagging bottom. A few casts and some lost gear later my rod started to dance.. I set the hook and did manage a 6 footer to hand... however the species was not sturgeon. .. it was a stick fish... *sigh* The afternoon continued as it started with more snags and more lost gear. Taking the hint I decided to pack it in and head home. No sturgeon for me today.

Can't wait until next weekend. I may take the spey rod out for round two.