Oldhammer:
Went out on Siltcoos for likely the last time this winter. I was primarily magnet fishing for my lost rods and reels from my October flip. (Thanks to the pb who held onto my coho while I righted the ship!)
I didn’t find the rods or reels so I took it as a sign to buy the Okuma 350 low profile I’ve been eyeing. I marched into Bi-Mart ready to pay the full price and at checkout the total was 83.50! I am now thanking the Siltcoos lake god for swallowing my old reel!
bogueYaker:
--- Quote from: Oldhammer on November 28, 2021, 02:25:21 PM ---...I was primarily magnet fishing for my lost rods and reels from my October flip....
--- End quote ---
You just casually mention a spill and don't go into any detail? C'mon, don't be a monster! Deets!
rogerdodger:
the BiMart ad that I got has Okuma and Cascade Pro rods and reels 30% off through Nov.30.
Crabman:
Trolled around Siltcoos for about four hours in search of my tag out coho and my lack of success means that I get to fish another day. May have to try and stay away until a big rain pops the dam. Nice meeting Oldhammer out there. If you see him tell him I snagged both his rods and will sell them back to him for $100. ( Just kidding)
Oldhammer:
--- Quote from: bogueYaker on November 28, 2021, 03:10:14 PM --- --- Quote from: Oldhammer on November 28, 2021, 02:25:21 PM ---...I was primarily magnet fishing for my lost rods and reels from my October flip....
--- End quote ---
You just casually mention a spill and don't go into any detail? C'mon, don't be a monster! Deets!
--- End quote ---
Oh the shame....November 6 I hit Siltcoos at 6:45 am. I don't really know what I'm doing but with last winter's "scouting" missions and rogerdodger's encouragement in my head I am hopeful. I approach Booth Island and work my way South along the east facing shoreline with a Black on Black spinner. Cast, Retrieve, Remove weeds x 32. Approach the south tip facing the pointy stump near the reeds. Cast, Partial Retrieve, Pedal 10 yds and the rod dips. Confident that it is another clump of Siltcoos Salad I retrieve with some level of irritation and all hell breaks loose. Drag peels off and with the image of an underwater snag breaking off my line, I tighten and reel.
After 3 to 5 minutes the chrome beauty is at my Yak. I net him flawlessly without issue. Once in the boat he is pissed. I quickly learn that a 27 in Coho is very different than the lmb and rt I regularly catch. Still, I bonk him and then grab my scissors to bleed him...at this point I begin to feel like I should be on the pro staff of some sponsor. I lean to the side to bleed him as I've done 100s of times. However, I quickly realize that this is a different task than bleeding an 18in rainbow and so I manuever quickly to make sure I don't drop him back in the lake.
And just like I've seen on youtube a hundred times when some idiot leans his head to far off the side, physics takes over and I reach the point of no return and I am now the idiot in the water with an upside down kayak. I have a drysuit on but due to inertia I never practiced self-rescue during the dog days of summer. I start to right my kayak then realize...MY COHO! I see him floating away and swim to him. Once re-united my hunter-gatherer brain takes over and he has become an extension of my arm which I refuse to part with. I swim back to my kayak and try to right the ship while holding onto the fish....that really doesn't work too well. I lean back into the water, survey the horizon and see a powerboat in the distance. I wave my arm (the one not holding the fish) and it approaches me. I let them know in no uncertain terms that I need some help. Realizing I am whiteknuckling a coho, I offer him up and ask that they take good care of him while we figure this out. With their assistance, I am back in my kayak in minutes. They hand me back my fish and he goes in my kill bag. With much effusive gratitude from me, we part and I begin to pedal back feeling simultaneously elated and pissed. I realize I am having a hard time seeing in the distance and realize I no longer have glasses. I look around the deck and see that everything except my two rods and reels and a small Daves tangle free box of rings, snaps, and swivels is still where it belongs.
I return to camp, dry everything out and fillet the coho. It is only 10am! I return to the lake the next day with a brand new steelhead spinning rod and reel I have been dreaming of. I join a buddy on his sled and show him the ropes and after 3 hours of pounding the banks with spinners he pulls out a nearly identical coho.
I love this fishery. Thank you to rogerdodger for all his tips and advice.