Wilson 3/27 (2 Parts)

[n8r1]

Part 1: Fish or Log?

Early in my day I was drifting eggs and yarn, got my bait into the deep pool in front of me, and just as it hit the reverse current I felt a little tap...tap...then a big grab. I set the hook, fish on!...or not? My line started peeling out like crazy. I let it go, slowly tightened the drag little by little, and whatever I had kept going straight downstream. I couldn't turn it or slow down at all. Kept tightening my drag but I was running out of line. With only about 30 yards of line left on my reel, finally was able to stop it, but still couldn't turn it at all. After a minute or so of holding it at a stalemate, my line snapped, luckily it was the leader so I didn't have to switch reels. I estimate that whatever it was broke off near the bridge below. So what do you guys think? Fish or log (or other heavy debris)? I keep trying to convince myself it was a fish but the skeptic in me keeps telling me it was a log. However, for what it's worth I didn't see anything floating in the river. But I've never had a fish just take off downriver like that. Upriver, yes, but not downriver, at least not that far.

Part 2 Some People are Disgusting

Fishing was slow so I decided to spend the afternoon exploring some new spots. Right around MM 17 I climbed down a steep path to see what was below, and came across this. It ruined my day. I've gotten used to (sadly) beer cans and bottles, cigarette butts, fishing line, lure boxes, and other garbage, but a piece of furniture? Unreal. Some lazy bum was too cheap to take this to Goodwill or the dump, so instead they throw it off a cliff and ruin what was otherwise a beautiful area. Plus the thing is now waterlogged and probably weighs a couple hundred pounds more than it used to, and it would be nearly impossible to get it back up that steep hill unless you pulled it up with a winch.

Along with the 10% percent of the fishermen catching 90% of the fish, I also have a theory that 10% of the people out there are responsible for 90% of the garbage laying around.

 

[Green_Tackle]

Thanks for the report. I've caught a log or two in the Wilson and it typically feels much like that... but... you never know right?

That chair is sad. I pick up lots of trash when I go, but the couches are a bit too much for me to handle.

 

[Cohosanders]

WTF???!!!! The Wilson is usually one of the cleaner systems too A corner piece of a sectional couch:think:???? As for the log/fish....I had a similar experience on the Clackamas, but the fight/snag did not last as long. My bait loop I tied was not strong enough for the fish/log. It seemed like a fish, but sticks and logs can mimick a fish fighting if the current is right. It leaves something for the imagination and I am sure a hole to return to

 

[steelheadstalker31]

Was there any movement during the minute or so after you stopped it?

 

[n8r1]

Not really, but from the amount of line that it peeled off and how far down stream it was, even if I moved the rod way over to the right or left only moved the line a few inches down there. Plust it was in a narrow channel near the bridge when the leader finally snapped. I was fishing off a short ledge without a lot of room to move around, so I couldn't walk downstream either. It's been bugging me for the past 6 days now. One day I'll convince myself it was a fish, the next day I start thinking it was a log.

The thing is, I drifted my eggs into the reverse current spot that I was shooting for when I felt the tap tap. Then it went into the swift current. I thought that maybe my mainline got tangled with a log in the current, but since it broke off the leader I don't think so. ARRGHH! I'll never know for sure and it's driving me crazy. I guess when the weather clears up and the river isn't so blown out I'll have to go back and catch a fish just to exorcise these demons

On a side note, I don't have a vehicle with a winch, but if anybody is fishing the Wilson this month and does have a rig with a winch, I would like to get that piece of furniture out of there. We could meet and maybe you could do the pulling and I could guide it between the trees and we can get it out of there. It's just so disgusting and it is going to sit down there for the next 50 years unless someone pulls it out.

Do you think that if we pulled it out and left it on the side of the road and gave the Tillamook Forestry Center a call, they could dispose of it properly? There's a big gravel parking area that it could sit until they picked it up.

 

[Green_Tackle]

If somebody has a way to get that couch up out of there and Tillamook Forest Service can't get rid of it, I'll pay for taking it to the dump.

 

[steelheadstalker31]

My best guess would be it was a fish. I've never had a log go flying out the back of a whole. You may have hooked a fin or the fish may have rolled and wrapped the line around itself, which would make it next to impossible to stop in heavy current.