birdhunter
02-06-2001, 04:47 PM
Fished the Clack on Saturday (2/3). River was finally up a little and off colored. Did the Barton to Carver drift. Lots of other drift-boats. Saw Terry Mulkey. What's he doing over here? Is the coast that bad? Just one big boat race. Took my buddy and his little brother along to try and get him his first steelhead. My friend had one job: Set the hook if we get a hit. Guess what was he unable to do 4 times. I don't know if he was falling asleep or what. I had to jump up from the oars 4 times to try and catch the fish. Twice I got them and they ended up being decent trout (which were released). Somewhere around 15-16 inches. Twice they were bigger fish.
Had one takedown below Deep Creek on sandshrimp. Jumped up, set the hook and had the fish on for a second or two. Felt the head shake and POP, that was it. The second fish was something else. I don't wanna jump the gun on this one, but it didn't hit or fight much like a steelhead. I'm not saying it was a chinook, because this is really early for salmon to be up that far. It could have been a huge steelhead. I have been hearing about quite a few early chinook though. I wouldn't know because I didn't get to see it. Here's what happened.
We just started our second drift through this hole (I'll tell you about the first one later). This is around 2 or so and I have been rowing since 7 so I'm pretty tired. We couldn't have been going for more than 30 seconds when I hear a noise and look up. My rod is doubled over and line is peeling off of it. Now I'm using a pretty heavy set up for steelhead, 20lb mainline and 14lb leader, so the drag is not set real loose, but this thing is just peeling line. I yell to my buddy to set the damn hook (as if it needed it) but he's looking at an eagle or something. So I grab the rod and wrench back. Well my rod is still doubled over and line is coming off. I tighten the drag a little and it slows down. Right now the fish is in the middle of the river and we must have both gotten the same idea at the same time. There is a large rip-rap wall on one side of the hole with plenty of sharp, abrasive rocks. "Please don't go into the wall.", I keep chanting. Guess what the fish does! Straight to the wall and down to the bottom. Now I've had 8lb steelhead at Cascade Locks break 20lb test on the concrete edges there so I knew I was screwed. Sure enough a few seconds later POP! The line goes slack and I reel in my line sans fish. Needless to say I was dissapointed, but glad that I could hook into something like that. I sure would have loved to have landed it though.
Anyways here is a bit of a complaint I have. Tell me if I'm being too easily offended or if I am justifiably angry. So the first time we're back-trolling down this hole really slow and really hard. We get about half-way down and up comes this sled. He comes barreling past and almost throws us into the wall. Okay, okay, I've come to expect that kind of treatment. He then stops about 20 feet above us and another 20 feet to our left. He and his buddy float down past us while I'm wondering what the hell they are doing. They get about even with our lures and they both pitch out some eggs! Right on top of our lure practically!! Okay that ****** me off, but what came next ****** me off even more. He drifts down another 5 feet and BAMN hooks up with a chrome steelhead. Nice fish, probably 10-12 lbs and right in line with our lures. I'm sure we were pushing it down the hole. So they land it and proceed to do this whole little thing again. Hook and lose another fish. Now I'm starting to get angry. I don't say anything to them (really wish I would have), but I do try to get in the middle of the hole and hold there so they won't keep picking off the fish I'm working on. Well they get all ***** about that and run up and down the hole really close to our drift boat. I guess they were trying to push us out of "their" hole by intimidating us or something. Rocking all of us all over the place and just generally being a-holes. They finally left, but it put a real sour note on our whole trip. It seems to me that it should be fishing ettiquite that if someone else is fishing a hole you can start up at the top and work your way down behind them. Maybe I'm just an idealist.
If that wasn't bad enough we get down, just above Carver, to this bad boil where there's the big cliff and such. You know what I'm talking about. Anyways, not a fun place for a drift boat. Really tough to row and get out. There is some other guy with his driftboat pulled up on the bar just below the hole. So I'm trying to row out and here comes another sled from Carver. He barrels past me as I'm trying to row out and almost knocks us into the wall. Sent a real nice spray up behind him and got us all wet too. Knocked the other guys boat off the bar and sent it floating down river. He had to chase after it and we're all standing there cursing and swearing at this a-hole. He must not have gone up real far becase about a minute later here he comes down again. This time I'm out of the boil, but near the wall and the other guy is holding onto his boat. I kid you not , there couldn't have been more than 25 feet between the two of us. So here comes the sled, knock us into the wall really good this time and spays the other guy. So I'm just sitting there all wet and wondering where these a-holes come from. I mean this kind of stuff is absurd. I wish I just heard about these horror stories, but more and more I am experiencing them.
I guess I just needed to vent. I know that not all sledders are a-holes, but it would appear that many of them on the Clack are. I know plenty of people with jet boats who are great guys and are always nice and courteous. Still, I have to wonder if boats that big should be on a river like that. Again this isn't a condemnation of all jet-boats and sleds, I sometimes fish from them, but they seem to cause a lot of problems on a smaller river. People need to realize that they create a huge wake (I know, I know. Not if they get up on plane but belive me they don't get up on plane in the Clack) and that casues a lot of problems for bankies, drift boats and other river users. If they could just be more courteous we wouldn't have that many problems. I sometimes wish everyone who owns a sled would take a float down a river like the Clack during springer season. I think they might have a better appreciation for the situation. I don't know, maybe. I just needed to vent. I do feel better now. What do you all think?
Had one takedown below Deep Creek on sandshrimp. Jumped up, set the hook and had the fish on for a second or two. Felt the head shake and POP, that was it. The second fish was something else. I don't wanna jump the gun on this one, but it didn't hit or fight much like a steelhead. I'm not saying it was a chinook, because this is really early for salmon to be up that far. It could have been a huge steelhead. I have been hearing about quite a few early chinook though. I wouldn't know because I didn't get to see it. Here's what happened.
We just started our second drift through this hole (I'll tell you about the first one later). This is around 2 or so and I have been rowing since 7 so I'm pretty tired. We couldn't have been going for more than 30 seconds when I hear a noise and look up. My rod is doubled over and line is peeling off of it. Now I'm using a pretty heavy set up for steelhead, 20lb mainline and 14lb leader, so the drag is not set real loose, but this thing is just peeling line. I yell to my buddy to set the damn hook (as if it needed it) but he's looking at an eagle or something. So I grab the rod and wrench back. Well my rod is still doubled over and line is coming off. I tighten the drag a little and it slows down. Right now the fish is in the middle of the river and we must have both gotten the same idea at the same time. There is a large rip-rap wall on one side of the hole with plenty of sharp, abrasive rocks. "Please don't go into the wall.", I keep chanting. Guess what the fish does! Straight to the wall and down to the bottom. Now I've had 8lb steelhead at Cascade Locks break 20lb test on the concrete edges there so I knew I was screwed. Sure enough a few seconds later POP! The line goes slack and I reel in my line sans fish. Needless to say I was dissapointed, but glad that I could hook into something like that. I sure would have loved to have landed it though.
Anyways here is a bit of a complaint I have. Tell me if I'm being too easily offended or if I am justifiably angry. So the first time we're back-trolling down this hole really slow and really hard. We get about half-way down and up comes this sled. He comes barreling past and almost throws us into the wall. Okay, okay, I've come to expect that kind of treatment. He then stops about 20 feet above us and another 20 feet to our left. He and his buddy float down past us while I'm wondering what the hell they are doing. They get about even with our lures and they both pitch out some eggs! Right on top of our lure practically!! Okay that ****** me off, but what came next ****** me off even more. He drifts down another 5 feet and BAMN hooks up with a chrome steelhead. Nice fish, probably 10-12 lbs and right in line with our lures. I'm sure we were pushing it down the hole. So they land it and proceed to do this whole little thing again. Hook and lose another fish. Now I'm starting to get angry. I don't say anything to them (really wish I would have), but I do try to get in the middle of the hole and hold there so they won't keep picking off the fish I'm working on. Well they get all ***** about that and run up and down the hole really close to our drift boat. I guess they were trying to push us out of "their" hole by intimidating us or something. Rocking all of us all over the place and just generally being a-holes. They finally left, but it put a real sour note on our whole trip. It seems to me that it should be fishing ettiquite that if someone else is fishing a hole you can start up at the top and work your way down behind them. Maybe I'm just an idealist.
If that wasn't bad enough we get down, just above Carver, to this bad boil where there's the big cliff and such. You know what I'm talking about. Anyways, not a fun place for a drift boat. Really tough to row and get out. There is some other guy with his driftboat pulled up on the bar just below the hole. So I'm trying to row out and here comes another sled from Carver. He barrels past me as I'm trying to row out and almost knocks us into the wall. Sent a real nice spray up behind him and got us all wet too. Knocked the other guys boat off the bar and sent it floating down river. He had to chase after it and we're all standing there cursing and swearing at this a-hole. He must not have gone up real far becase about a minute later here he comes down again. This time I'm out of the boil, but near the wall and the other guy is holding onto his boat. I kid you not , there couldn't have been more than 25 feet between the two of us. So here comes the sled, knock us into the wall really good this time and spays the other guy. So I'm just sitting there all wet and wondering where these a-holes come from. I mean this kind of stuff is absurd. I wish I just heard about these horror stories, but more and more I am experiencing them.
I guess I just needed to vent. I know that not all sledders are a-holes, but it would appear that many of them on the Clack are. I know plenty of people with jet boats who are great guys and are always nice and courteous. Still, I have to wonder if boats that big should be on a river like that. Again this isn't a condemnation of all jet-boats and sleds, I sometimes fish from them, but they seem to cause a lot of problems on a smaller river. People need to realize that they create a huge wake (I know, I know. Not if they get up on plane but belive me they don't get up on plane in the Clack) and that casues a lot of problems for bankies, drift boats and other river users. If they could just be more courteous we wouldn't have that many problems. I sometimes wish everyone who owns a sled would take a float down a river like the Clack during springer season. I think they might have a better appreciation for the situation. I don't know, maybe. I just needed to vent. I do feel better now. What do you all think?