™

By KEN DAVIDSON

It takes a very special
breed of person to get out of
bed at 3:00 in the morning,
drive two hundred miles
through rain -and mist,
wander up and down a river
bank for twelve hours, drive
back in the dark through
more rain and mist, fall into
‘bed at around 1:00 in the
morning ‘so tired you can
hardly stand up, and then get
-up in. the morning and start

-_ making plans to do it allover _

that's’: an excellent place to
fish for several reasons. One,

the fish lie near the mouth of |

the stream to gobble up the
bugs and. things ‘that are
washed down. This is always
a favorite spot for fish, at the
junction of any rivers or
where rivers enter lakes.
Two, there's a bit of a back
eddy there and the fish can

get-out of the main current

‘again. Its what's commonly
referred .to as a_ sports
fisherman. There are other

from nut to
masochist to
stupid.

used Anping

just plain

" Frankly, I woulda’t have if;

any other way. I've been:
doing just such things for

many years now and hope
orf .

I'm able to _ contique
many niore. Llike to think of
it as “taking time to smell the
_ flowers”.

q

idiot to |

T can certainly understand #

how the person who tries it
for the first time and DOES
NOT catch fish can easily be
turned off but once you DO

catch fish’ then brother, .

you're hooked. At that point

_ you will have joined the.

“ swelling ranks of the idiot
brigade and you'll never be
quite the same again. From
the moment of that first

strike, through your rod, up .

your arm and into your heart
with a 300 volt whamo, a
strange little tickle has been
planted in one of the far
recesses of your mindy You
can’t understand it, you can’t

, explain it and it won't go

away. You've become a
sports fisherman.

Getting back down to
earth, last Fathers Day
weekend, two fishing friends
and myself drove up to
Spences Bridge for the day.

¢ planned to generally
scout the area and to try our
lines in the Thompson and
the Nicola. The Nicola joins
the Thompson at Spences
Bridge.

My friend Walt was the
instigator and sort of the
trail boss: Walt is up from
below the border and
working for a Vancouver
based company. His fishing

The entire trip was a
continuous learning process
for me. Walt. delivered a
running lecture well laced
with educated observations,
tips, anecdotes and
demonstrations. He = said,
“You've got to learn to read
the water”. At this point we
were into the = canyon.
“Unless you learn to read the
water you might os well stay
home. It’s one thing to throw
your line in the water but
unless you throw it where
there's fish, forget it”. He
pointed out many = spots
where streams tumble down
through the mountains and
empty intg the Fraser. “Sée,

sanedomnd is extensive and ;

photo of the big one.

and relax a bit. You wouldn't |

want to fight that current all
day long yourself would
you... gotta think like a fish.
Three, they like to get out of

‘the silt and muck of the
Fraser every now and thento —
clean the guck from their

gills.

‘Walt made that whole
canyon come to life for us.
He said, “It’s the same with
any river, you've just gotta
learn to read it. Always look
for those back eddies. Don't
cast into the main stream
where the water is rushing...
just cast to the edge of it.
And another. thing, unless
you're dry fly fishing of
course, you've got to get
your bait or lure down near
the bottom. You're gonna
lose lures but if you're not
losing the odd lure, you're
not fishing. In real hot

Af ty ae
erage ey

Speedway
NORTH VANCOUVER
Open 7 days a week

Noon ™ Dark

ASK ‘ABOUT OUR GROUP pr FOR

INTREPID FISHERMAN prepares to take a

those - little riffles and
‘bubbles oxygenate the water
in ‘that ‘area and fish are
attracted to it.”

At " Spences Bridge we

turned off towards Merritt.

~ Just about half a miile past

the bridge we put our lines in
the Thompson and fished
right near the shore. (worms

' and spinning tackle) Bingo,

Walt tied into and_landed-a

pound rainbow. In the
matter of about an hour we
landed three more rainbows
and four whitefish, all
between one and two
pounds.

About this time it started
to drizzle. I don’t know if it
was just the right time or if
the rain created just the right
chemistry but suddenly we
were observing a tremen-
dous stone fly hatch and the
fish went surface crazy. We
stood and watched rainbows
rising all along the shoreline
to the little grey winged
stone flies.

Eventually we drove up
the Nicola several miles and

RENTALS

weather you might try: ‘a few
- casts near riffles.:
weather doesn’t hold oxygen -
.as well as colder, water and -

Warm :

high - yet
_ productive. We caught and

switched to flies. | Actually,
the rivers are too high with
spring’ runoff to be_at their
peak. June through fall. is
probably the best time for
river fishing. Anyhow, we

- followed the Nicola -into

some “mighty fascinating
country. The river itself is
dotted with Pools and back
eddies but jsut a little too
to be very

returned a few small ones.

A couple of things I
learned on our trip. One, it’s

. buy on spoo
‘threeMay | vel

lead - rather than random

weights:. ore the lead you © a;
Ejther use the © x
with | /

surgical tubing or tie the lead

on so that it hangs vertically:.

This way you can. usually

_ feel it bumping before it gets.
.. snagged and then just raise it

up a little. Anothef thing
would be to try a float to
keep it just off the bottom: -
QUESTION:

Store bought worms are

*” too. far for an easy day trip.
». In future, I’m going to make
.. it at least two days, Two, I'm -

- really sold on‘that area. and

am determined to return
later in the season. There are
all kinds of ideal spots all

. along-the Thompson-and you -

could spend a week wading
up the Nicola
Merritt.

F don’t hesitate - to
recommend that area to

fellow fishermen. There are |

dozens of rivers and streams
and little lakes all around

Py i De SUuTre ang reag

your fishing regulations
before you go and when you —

get there, take a few minutes
to read the water.
Luck.
QUESTION:

I try and fish rivers ‘near

the bottom and I use a.

selection of weights to get
my lures down there.
Trouble is, I lose a lot of
‘hardware and frankly, it’s
getting expensive... any
suggestions?

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‘container with a thin in layer of ©

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AND

right down there. Look how BIRTHDAY PARTIES, ETC. '

; Georgia and Burgard Street just down f
clear the stream is and how nirom
1775 Main Street OPEN TILL 9 P.M. FRI
muddy the Fraser is. You -M. FRI. the Georgia Hotel
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where the two meet. Well,