The Magic Switch Trevor Bailey Steelheader Contributor   It’s Friday evening and you’re in the local tackle store. The usual crowd are in there and the word is out, the river is full of steelhead.   The way everybody is talking they're taking anything you can throw at them, so you buy all the gear you need -- extra wool, extra hooks, etc., etc.   Then you go home to convince the wife that you can't go shopping with her on Saturday, the usual excuses (got to work, help a friend with his car) or one of my favourites (I promised to take a buddy fishing months ago and this Saturday is his first day off since then).   Now it’s a phone call to your fishing partner first to tell him about the hundreds of steelhead in the river but he had already heard. His local store had told him of thousands of fish with everybody getting their limit in the first 2 hours of day light.   So the trip is on, you'll pick him up at 3:00am and you will be on the river by 4:30am. There is still 3 hours of darkness but that’s no problem you will be there first to get the best spot, the so-called honey hole.   Saturday morning arrives and you’re parked on the river bank at 4:30am with no sign of another person. You hear a fish splash then another and with the help of the moon you get a flash of a silver sided steelhead rolling close to the edge.    You both know this is going to be the day of all days, the fish are there and feeding. Then it happens in the distance you see light from another car and for the next 30 seconds all heck breaks loose.    You're out of your car grabbing your rod and fishing vest and running to the spot you’re going to fish, the other car arrives but no problem -- you've got the hot spot.   You also know the people in the other car. You relax. The four of you start exchanging fishing stories. They were there on Friday and landed 7 fish between them and 4 were hatchery. While you’re talking more cars arrive and by 5:00am 20 anglers are lined up along the bank. Some of them already fishing. They can’t see their float but who cares if a fish takes, you will feel it.   It’s now 10:30am. There are 30 anglers fishing the same hole and not a steelhead caught not even hooked and lost. Then your float dips and you strike and miss. Trying not to panic you reel in to check your gear. As you recast the float goes under and you strike again this time feeling resistance.    You yell, " fish on!" Only to discover a white fish has grabbed your shrimp! Oh well, a little bit of excitement, your first fish in 5 hours.   It’s midday, still no steelhead, some anglers have wandered off or gone. The rest of us are still trying stopping to chat to other anglers as they walk by. The stories are the same up and down the river. The fish are there just not feeding. Maybe the water’s too cold, too much sunlight on the water, a high or low pressure front moving in. No one knows and if you hear that same old line (you should have been here yesterday) one more time you’ll go crazy.   It’s now 3:00pm still no fish. Then it happens. An angler at the tailout hooks a fish and it’s a steelhead. Everyone watches as he plays the fish, then another one is hooked and another, then it’s your turn for the next ½ hour.    Everybody there is hooking fish.    Then as suddenly as it started it stops and for the next hour no more fish are caught. It’s time to go home, you’re tired but happy. Talking about the fishing, your buddy said it seemed as if someone flicked a magic switch to make the fish feed.    Well I think I have discovered the magic switch. We all know that fish have a small piece of wire injected in their nose so fisheries can check on their growth and anything else they need to know.   Well, each piece of wire is a radio receiver and someone keys in the number of each fish they want caught by sending signals to the fish. This makes the fish aggressive and it grabs your bait.    Ok. A little bit sci-fi but did you ever think that this could happen?

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The Steelheader is a Canadian sport fishing tabloid devoted to sport fishing here in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. Steelheader News has subscribers throughout Canada and the United States. Subscriptions to overseas areas are available upon request.
  In addition to subscriptions, the Steelheader's distribution points include over 400 sites in the Fraser Valley (B.C.) and tackle shops in Canadian provinces and the United States.

Terry Hanson
Editor-in-Chief Steelheader Salmon and Trout News
The Steelheader, P.O. BOX 434, Chilliwack,
B.C. Canada, V2P 6J7
Phone/Fax: 604.792.1952