River Journal November 14, 2018

River Journal November 14, 2018.We had a fantastic day with Nick from West Coast River Charters drifting the upper Stamp River In Port Alberni. I wasn’t sure what size of beads to use so I brought an assortment all rigged up with Rigrap allowing quick changes.What the steelhead loved was the 10 mm Steelybeads pegged ¼-1/2 inch above the hook . Using #1 hooks with 18 inch leaders on 10 pound leaders. Our floats were able to adjust for quick depth changes using slip knots on the main line. There was times we could see the steelheads or cutthroat trouts laying behind the spawning salmon just gulping the roe that passes by. Often we missed them but we had numerous times were they saw the bead and went after it. You see the hook up often before you see the float react. How amazing is that. The Amundson Kudos casting rod was able to handle the lightest split shot weight to 2 inch sliding pencil lead. We caught summer steelhead, winter steelheads and huge cutthroat trout up to 5 pounds. These cutthroats drop down to the Stamp River from the deep Central Lake when the eggs of salmon are readily available for snacking. With the winter steelhead we placed them in special bags that allowed the river flow to guarantee its survival for the Robertson hatchery broodstock. We only saw two Black bears during our drift both being juveniles on our outing. With the heavy storm the previous night we shared the river with only two other boats.