Steelhead on the Vedder River

With most west side rivers now closed for steelhead fishing, I decided to head north for a long weekend and fish the Vedder River in Chilliwack.  I've been fishing the Vedder for 12 years but really only for salmon in the fall.  There is a great run of white kings (some over 60 lbs), coho, chum and pinks in the odd year.  This isn't a river I would kayak (at least the upper portion); though there were several white water kayakers making a run at it while I was there.  I put in three solid days of fishing from the bank using the float/jig method.  I hooked a 10-12lb fish on Friday only to see two jumps and a a snapped line. On Saturday I hooked a 14lb hatchery buck.  Got a couple photos before tossing him back in the river. 

 BB, how far above Tamahi bridge was the 2nd pic taken at? The local white water yakkers have a course set up just above the Tamahi bridge. They are a pain in the butt when they come through the rapids when you have a big white spring on.

This was well above Alyson Pool.  Not sure the name of the park but there's a park with picnic tables and camping spots.  The pic was not the main river but a tributary coming in from the side. The water was up when I was there.  Fish was caught just above the main pool on Ranger Run.

Borden creek

The boundary is above that at slesse

The last pic was of thirston meadows by the campground. I have always found the whitewater kayakers on the vedder/ Chilliwack very curtious and respectful, usually more so than the local anglers. I do both so I enjoy listening to both sides. If I'm out whitewatering and someone has a fish on if I can't stay far enough away I will pull out and wait. Fishermen throwing rocks and blaming paddlers for not catching anything always brings a smile to my face. I have paddled all over north America and never encountered hostility like I do on the Chilliwack.

Nice fish, I spent several days last year trying for steelhead as got skunked.

Also Laura and Sandra that work here at WCK took the Jackson Coosa through Tamihi last year and were blown away with the river running abilities of those boats. We're going to do vedder bridge down today after work, just going for trouties though.

Chilliwack is fast river, paddling from a sit on top is really only safe at low flows, even then some good whitewater skills are needed.

Ryan

My mistake the river looks so different at those levels.
We really need to get together soon as I would love to improve my paddling skills.
I will be by the shop tomorrow in the am to check out some boats and help out if needed

Rod