Fraser River Adventure

Earlier in October we went on holiday with a few friends to Vancouver and tried our hand at salmon fishing in Fraser River. We had heard about the estimated 72 million salmon that would be travelling through the river and wanted to see it with our own eyes, but we missed most of the action by the time we got out there. We’d been planning the trip since August but all the fishing tours were booked until October.

Having had no prior experience with angling, we spent most of the morning learning how to cast a fishing rod. Quite frankly, we were all rubbish. But it was fun learning a new skill and Monkey even had a go! I have so much respect for true outdoorsmen. It seems not only do you need skill but also a lot of patience and perseverance, especially when it comes to fishing.

Suddenly, just as we were about to give up, one of our mates caught a chum salmon. We had been out on the river for 9 hours, feeling cold and slightly dejected (I could tell the boys were a bit bummed) and it had started to rain. We had the intention of letting the fish go, but unfortunately KS didn’t have a strong enough hold on the fish and the poor fellow slipped out and fell splat against some rocks and started to bleed out. I’ll spare you the photos (actually, I couldn’t bring myself to take any of the dying fish).

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. We had cheerful weather for most of the day and none of us got washed away by the heavy currents. Not that we’ve given up on angling, but perhaps when travelling that far, skip the fishing and just go for the nature!