Fraser Sockeye

Up early and out the door, with no one hearing me leave. It was a typical fishing day with me heading out early.
I drove out to the Fraser Valley looking for Sockeye which had just opened in the non-tidal portion of the Fraser River yesterday. First place I stopped was in Chilliwack at the infamous Peg Leg Bar. It was 6:30am when I got there and the bar was predictably packed with combat fisherman everywhere. I snapped a few pictures and watched the show for a bit before I moved on and explored the Chilliwack area.

Eventually I found a nice bar to fish from and walked to the far end of it to cast a line. The far end had a soft current and bottom bouncing for sockeye but did look good for bar fishing (note to self: return with bar rod). I did fish the end of the bar for a while before I moved back up stream. Upon heading back up stream I saw a sockeye break the surface. Here is a tip for all you sockeye fishermen out there. If you see fish rising, it is likely that they are rising in a traveling lane so that is the approximate distance you want to cast. It's not set i  stone but it is a good indicator. As I had now seen a fish rise i decided to cast out to what i figured was the traveling lane. It took about 5 casts and I had my first sockeye of the season on the end of my line.
Ten minutes later I had a second one and thus ended my sockeye harvest for the day as the limit is set at two sockeye per day.

After cleaning the fish and getting them on ice in the cooler out came my bar rod and a spin-n-glow. I went back down stream to some nice looking water on a gradually sloped bar and sent out my rig. While waiting for the bell to ring I walked the bar a bit cleaning up loose line and rusty hooks. Unfortunately even the good karma of cleaning up the bar couldn't entice a spring to hit my bar rig.

The day ended with me taking home two beauty doe sockeye. The drive home was long but it was worth it for a great day out.