Derek Jakubec with a truly amazing trout. This fish was caught on a sedge pupa.

Mid July, 2010

The Pacific Angler Outlook

What a dramatic change for mid July. We had a cool and extended spring season as temperatures for May and June made it feel more like April, but now summer is here with a vengeance. To start off, let's take a look at some rivers. As this hot weather settles in the snow melt is in full effect on rivers like the Fraser and the Thompson. Both rivers are high right now but expect them to start dropping rapidly as we get closer to the end of the month. Once the Fraser gets a little lower and cleaner, expect there to be great bar fishing for chinook. Get your gear ready now in anticipation of this late July and August fishery because the numbers of chinook in the test sets on the lower Fraser have been excellent. Don't forget about the sturgeon. We have been getting some big fish lately and the sturgeon season is now in full force and fishing will be good from now until November. As for the Thompson, it is pretty high with average to slow fishing this time of year for trout, but expect things to pick up as we get lower water in late July and the beginning of August. Don't forget the chinook as well. There should be good numbers starting to enter the river by the end of the month. If you want to do some canyon crawling you can check out the Chehalis for some summer steelhead or summer chinook. Not the best fly water but excellent water for float fishing with jigs. The Vedder/Chilliwack has a few springs but the water is a touch high and there are still more fish to show up. This river is a good bet for springs in the last week of July and the first week of August as there are more fish in the system and the river is at a good fishable height.

The lakes in the interior have been fishing well with this heat. This time of year expect to see sedge hatches and the dragonflies will start moving as well. Many people are having fantastic lake fishing by taking the time to do some research and head out to the lakes in higher elevations. You can have great chironomid fishing in July on these higher elevations lakes, not to mentions may fly and damsel fly hatches. Lake fishing is not over in July ladies and gentlemen, simply head higher and catch lots of fish.

This is prime time for saltwater fishing. The reports coast wide has been positive. Lots of coho and chinook heading down the coast. A few highlights so far this year; the Columbia had excellent returns of chinook, some of the highest numbers in 10 years, and they are even seeing decent returns of sockeye on runs that were near extinction. The sockeye fishing in Pt. Alberni has been great. The local coho fishing has been excellent for about a month now and I even released a Sockeye on July 8th, not to mention the 20lb spring we landed and the 8 or so coho we got into, all in 3 hours after work. Not bad for local fishing in the harbour, 5 minutes from Vancouver. There are lots of chinook in the Fraser as we speak, so the early component that was thought to be on tough times this year, seems to be doing okay, and the early sockeye seem to be showing up in better numbers than anticipated as well. All in all things are looking pretty awesome for the rest of the summer. In the next few weeks I would be focusing on W. Van for coho and if the weather allows it, fishing off the N or S arm of the Fraser looking for chinook. If you want to try an overnight trip, we are still getting good reports of chinook being caught off Gabriola so that would be a good bet in the next few weeks as well. We are getting lots of people asking about sockeye. We donÕt know if they are going to open it this year. We simply have to wait and see if the fish show up. Early indications are good, that's all we can say for now.

Local Saltwater Fishing Report

The local saltwater fishing has been fairly consistent for coho off W. Van. The best depths have been from 60 feet up to the surface. There have been schools of fish from Pt. Atkinson to the Cap Mouth and the trick is simply finding them. The best bite has been in the morning but we have had some good bites in the evening as well. White hootchies, UV white hootchies, and UV hootchies have all been good producers.

To read the rest of our BC saltwater fishing report please use this link BC Saltwater Fishing Report

BC River Fishing Report

The Fraser is still pretty high but sturgeon fishing has been consistent from Chilliwack to Ft. Langley. Our guides have been doing well on a variety of baits; dew worms, lamprey, and eulachon, to name a few. There are lots of chinook in the river so the bar fishing should be good once the river drops and clears later this month.

To read the rest of the fishing report please use this link BC River Fishing Report

Local Lake Fishing Report

Things have picked up with the warmer weather, particularly in the high elevation lakes, but it has been a double edge sword. The lower elevations have slowed down as the summer doldrums kick in and the fish head for the deeper and cooler water.

To read the rest of the fishing report please use this link BC Lake Fishing Report