Lots of fish - no water. Fish are mostly snagged or flossed. It should be shut down until the fish get enough water to hide in.

You have to find the deep faster moving sections to fish and concentrate on the soft seems,,,I fished it Thursday and had only fould hooked a few which are accidental hook-ups...There is quite a problem with snagging in the meat holes on the river but if you hike just a bit you will get away from that and catch more fish!!!

I fished the upper river (above Vedder Crossing) on Friday and Saturday. Hooked well in excess of 60 fish, probably closer to 80. Unfortunately even dropping down to size 1 hooks, and later adding corkies to help float the hooks up to keep it from under their bellies (and always gently lifting and not jerking at the end of a cast) I still foul hooked probably just over the majority of those I got a look at including a 35 and a 50 that we eventually landed (after a long battle) on Saturday. Actually the 35 was initially fair hooked but while running down the rapids I felt it come loose and "reset" in the side. Lots of fun but as mentioned you need to find the few deep runs to find anything other than chums, or at least that's what I saw. I may head back up tomorrow night (Thursday) and hit it again. Anyone know if they've gotten any worthwhile amount of rain up there??? Much thanks.

Where to start...

"Unfortunately even dropping down to size 1 hooks, and later adding corkies to help float the hooks up to keep it from under their bellies"

Hmm, I got an idea...MOVE. If you are constantly fouling fish and are incapable of fishing for them without fouling them, move to a different spot.

Wait, here comes another one...put a freakin float on and fish off the bottom. Chinook will take guts and wool fished off the bottom.

So you snagged between 60 and 80 fish and your comming back? Accidentaly snagging the ODD fish is okay, snagging numerous fish in low water is just plain snagging.

"Lots of fun...I may head back up tomorrow "

Don't bother, we got enough snaggers in this country already, why don't you do your snagging locally.

"Actually the 35 was initially fair hooked but while running down the rapids I felt it come loose and "reset" in the side. "

Wow, "The_Beek", real classy reply, did you come up with that yourself?

Gee, where do I start?

For your information beeker, I was using a float the whole time. Not one cast was made without one. Then again, this was only the first of your apparently intentional twisting of the facts and/or jumping to the farthest possible conclusion to make this into something it wasn't and to portray me as a snagger. And frankly anyway, what makes you the authority to say who can and cannot fish any river? If I was a snagger beeker, I wouldn't have attempted to avoid it by running corkies even with a float, running only 2 1/2 to 3-foot leaders, going down to size 1 hooks, and eventually even rebending the hooks inward now would I? And I did move repeatedly along a 2-mile stretch of river as well as picking up and going down river. Sounds like you are just eager to make yourself out to be more noble than the rest of us. They must not teach math in your country. I never said I snagged 60 to 80 fish, just under half were fair hooked (another obvious misrepresentation on your part.) By the way, the LOCALS from what I saw were VERY experienced snaggers, jerking hard at the end of every cast (while I was jently lifting), and they were mostly running big hooks, almost no yarn and snagging far more fish than I was on average. So why don't you take your attitude elsewhere. And yes, I am coming back up today, so I hope you don't mind.

The purpose of a float is to suspend your bait off the bottom. If you had been doing this you wouldn't have foul hooked so many fish. Fishing 10 feet of float in 8 feet of water isn't float fishing. The snaggers up here all use floats. Short floating would have hooked far less fish, but 99% would be buttoned in the mouth.

If you foul hooked 1/2 of 60-80 fish then you managed to foul hook more fish in one day then I have in the past 50 days on the Vedder.

After 10 or so foul hooked fish I would pack it in and either move or leave the water. If you can't hook the MAJORITY of the fish you are after in the mouth and you continue to snag fish, then you are a snagger. Seems pretty simple to me.

It has nothing to do with me being more noble. I'm surprised other people don't find it odd that you fouled 30-40 fish. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that the Vedder isn't a WA stream.

Foul hooking fish should be an occasional occurance, not the norm. When it becomes the norm, and you come on a forum talking about it, don't ***** if you get labeled.

"By the way, the LOCALS from what I saw were VERY experienced snaggers"

Unfortunatley the snaggers have taken over the Vedder and the guys that are lip hooking them, from the inside out, are few and far between. It is a LOCAL problem. And it sounds like you fit in just perfect.

Happy snagging!

While I may have approached it a little differently, I have to agree that if you are snagging that many fishing, something has to change - either technique or new location. I see the same attitude by many guys (some on this board) who don't think of themselves as snaggers, but if you are foul hooking more than mouth hooking - you should re-evaluate the situation...

Just so you understand, the trip last week to the Vedder was my first real experience using floats ever. If I'd had more helpful advice such as some of the info Beeks second post (thanks Beek) about shortening up on the float I'll bet I could have snagged a lot less fish. Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to do that next time. My snagging was and non-intentional!!! I just didn't know that about float-fishing. I am sure I have lots more to learn about fishing with floats too.

It does both me though was the approach (and I am new to the board so this may not be a general thing) to go directly to insulting before getting more info or attempting to educate. That's unlikely to change anyone's behavior. Just so you understand, I have no problems at all re-evaluating my approach, that's why I joined this board for gosh sakes! I am getting back into fishing after almost 10 years and know I have a lot to learn. But it's education and not insults that are going to help folks like me. The tip on shortening the float depth was exactly what I needed.

Trip report: went back up yesterday and the fishing on the upper Vedder seems to have slowed way down from last week although the water seems to be up about 3-6 inches (clarity still high though.) A lot fewer fish rolling, ones that were seemed darker. Only luck I had on the fish was by going down to light leaders, float, flourocarbon and egg clusters. I think I hooked 9 fish in 6 hours. I would tend to believe that fewer were foul hooked as I was mostly burying the smaller hooks in large clusters of eggs to avoid snagging, and several times after a short hookup they came back with every egg in the cluster crushed. My hope was that it was due to a true strike but can't be sure.

Talked to some other fisherman and the one said he'd only seen 1 fair hooked fish all day. I won't be going back up this year, wasn't interested in a snag fest in the first place and the fish seemed to be operating in that mode now from what I saw/heard.

Thanks for the tips on the float fishing, I'll be sure to keep it in my mental toolbox for next time I use floats.

Don't feel bad beartrak. We are all learning as we go. I applaude you for taking some proactive steps to reduce the chances of snagging fish.

Most rivers in the NW are in the same boat right now -water too low and the fish are very prone to snagging and not very willing to bite. In fact, I think many more rivers should just be shut down until we do get more rain.

Wait for some good rain then go after them again

Next time you are using a float for salmon, start out by setting your jig less than 2 feet from the float - even in deep water. If the fish are actively biting, they'll have no problem coming up and nailing it. If you're not haveing any luck, lower it about 6 to 12 inches and try again. Keep this up until you are ticking bottom, then bring it to about 6 to 10 inches off the bottom. If you find that you are foul hooking fish, move your jig up until you are sure your jig is not going to brush across their backs. Try different colors, sizes, bait, etc. But if they just don't want to bite, move on. In fact, if you found biting fish, you'll often know pretty quick. Fishing over lock jawed fish is often only going to frustrate you and harass the fish... But I have seen lock jawed fish suddenly just turn on for no apparent reason...

For winter steelies that aren't stacked like salmon, it's better to start the jig ticking the bottom and then working it up a little.

Well, good luck - pray for rain!!

Don't know how I stumbled on this board/web page, but I was confronted by a violent diatribe on centrepin versus baitcasters, lost the page, discovered I had to register, did so, and found the Vedder Report, which also reflected a potentially unpleasant rivalry: localvforeign, snaggervangler. While these wars of words are probably harmless, they reflect an undercurrent of violence that ebbs and floods in the fishing world of the lower mainland riversystems of BC.
Thirty years ago, walking across the Vedder crossing bridge, in super spirits, looking forward to a great morning of steelheading, I said Good Morning to a fellow approaching. His retort was,"****ing Vancouver *******s! Why don't you stay home and leave our river alone!" A couple of years later saw a Vedder angler reportedlystabbed in the leg by another, and that season, incredible rivalry on the old Schoolhouse Run, with one angler at least carrying on the practice of hacking off other anglers' lies with his knife, if he felt crowded. Just ten years ago, I witnessed a young "angler" attack a rather senior angler from behind, and fling him into the meat slot at the Tamahi , because he felt his place had been taken. I love the Vedder, but I detest what is happening there , and I saw the snaggers in action under the Wilson Bridge recently. Such attitudes exhibited by this behaviour, and the actual violence I have mentioned, and the undercurrent of aggression in the posts I read do not bode well for our river systems, our fish, and our sport. I fish both centrepin and baitcaster, and see the skills in both, the strengths of both, and the limitations; both have a place on the Vedder. Neither one is better than the other; however, one thing that the user of the centrepin tells me is that he is almost certainly NOT a member of what I term the Monday Night Football crowd. These are the people who mviolently meat fish the Vedder before the first snows, beer in bib, rod in hand, wrenching Coho out of the river and bashing the life out of them, regardless of size or condition. They mercifully disappear when the cold sets in, I assume to their TV sets and couches. And of course, the baitcaster user is NOTa guarantee, it is simply a warning that he might be aember of this violent fraternity. My rant.

Welcome Silex
For the reasons you mentioned i dont fish the white springs in the Vedder any more, I can go to any terminal fishery in washington and be surounded by moron carcker as*****s

PhishPhreak, thanks for the information, will try! One question, any recommendations on leader poundage and length for these types of situations? What you said about shutting it down makes some sense... doubt I will be trying again before more rain. I live only 2 miles from the Skykomish. Last year on the silvers we had a good return and much better water conditions than this year; I landed 40 silvers in 2 1/2 weeks (2 were foul hooked, all fishing Dick Nites along the bottom or mid-current), most were fresh and were released. This year, 7 trips and not one silver hooked. Fishing conditions are definitely tough this year. I only know of 3 fisherman down here that have caught even a single silver down here this year in the Sky or Snohomish, including the members of my local Trout Unlimited chapter

Sorry guys, showing my lack of experience here, especially in fishing in B.C., but what is a "centerpin" setup?

Thanks, just curious,
Scott