In search of silver and gold
We were out prospecting today, not with a shovel and a pan but rather with a fishing rod and reel. Our bounty was beneath the surface of the emerald green water of the flowing currents. Just like gold miners that search for hours to find their reward, Todd and I also searched until we struck silver and one gold nugget. We launched the Zodiac at Policeman’s Flats and headed upriver to the golden hole in the river. Today this real-estate was empty of any precious silver or gold. We prospected for sometime but came up empty handed in what usually produces riches of trout. Among further investigation, we decided to move along and leave this stretch of river for another miner.
Downriver we headed to fill out our daily take of treasures. My first fish came just below Policeman’s in a corner where a feeder creek comes into the main channel of the river. A drop zone where trickling water flows over shallow ground from the creek and then into deeper water the main channel has carved out. The trout were hanging out in shallower water today! I battled this big bow and landed him in the mesh with no issues. We were only thirty minutes into our expedition and I was already catching. Got to love those days when you strike it rich early.
The first hour after that first silver slab the river became quiet. Then we rounded a popular bend in the river known to produce not only large fish, but plenty of them. This corner has a shallow entrance, or gravel bar which is only two feet deep that transitions into a ten foot deep abyss. Where the shallow joins the deep is where the trout sit and wait to ambush their prey. Todd and I were both chucking out minnow imitations. As my Rapala made the swing from thin to deep, I hooked a monster rainbow. For a moment I thought I snagged up on the tall weed beds that now line the entrance to the deep. When the silver bullet fought back and started peeling line off, I knew this was no bottom snag; it was the real deal! I had him all but for a few seconds and then he went airborne spitting the hook out as fast as I had hooked him. We finished floating that stretch of river and then fired the motor and drove back up river to make another pass.
Todd had tied up a different hook as we docked along the bank side for a few minutes. I chose to use the same lure, why mess with a good thing right. Back at the top of the hole we rifled our lures into the shallow water. The water was bouncing off the shoreline here. If our cast went in too far all we would have caught was weeds. Last time I checked miners were not looking for weeds! My lure was the first to hit the dancing pyramids that were created by the point of the island. With my rod tip held high in the air, I twitched the Rapala once, then twice then Ka Boom, the splash only the Brown trout makes. Finally a gold bar was in my hands. Lots of searching for that chunk of gold, we seldom leave the river until we strike it rich.
The propeller hit the water and we were off climbing upriver rapidly. Todd was going to a chute where an inch or two of water flows off the drop in the river. He killed the Yamaha and I grabbed my rod waiting to make a cast. Once in the correct position I heaved that sucker into the bank and it landed in two inches of water. With the Rod tip up high, I cranked it twice and fish on, another twenty two inch dandy. Todd came up empty handed so he drove back up for another kick at the cat. Again I landed that Rapala in the same area and BOOM, another pig rainbow was hooked in. We repeated this tactic four times and I landed three fish out of four passes. Not too bad for a rookie like me!
The two miners then decided to pack it in and leave the rest of the silver and gold for another day. Just like a good game of poker, you gotta know when to hold them and when to fold them! After the plethora of fish we caught, it was time to fold them!
