Outlook:

The temperatures are rising a bit now as we are closer to full spring weather.  Vancouver is expecting rain on the weekend with periods of heavy rain on Sat and Sun.  In the Squamish valley they are expecting some snowfall on Saturday but then it turns to a mix of sun/cloud as the temperatures here will begin to rise after Sunday as well getting into the 9-10deg range.

In the Georgia Strait the winds to kick off the weekend are a mix of SE and SW in the 10-20knot range so by picking your spots you should be able to find some pockets of calmer waters and hopefully land a winter chinook, some crabs and prawns!  The fishing at “The Hump” off the south tip of Bowen Island is coming up quickly!

Our good customer Calvin stopped in the shop for advice and some gear before heading on his trip to Christmas Island!  Calvin sent us a couple pics of him about to release a huge GT and another pic of a 60lb wahoo that he caught on the fly which ended up as dinner!  GREAT looking fish!!

There are still a couple spots open in Andre’s second “Fly Fishing for Sea-run Cutthroat Trout” course starting on Mar 18th!  Do not miss out on this course that includes a fully guided day on the water with Andre pursuing this voracious trout as they start slashing away at the salmon fry starting to show up in our local estuaries and rivers.

FLY FISHING FOR SEARUN CUTTHROAT TROUT IN RIVERS – Andre Stepanian

This spring make sure to get out and take advantage of the world-class cutthroat fishing in the Lower Mainland. This cutthroat course is designed to educate you on the life cycle, location, seasonal feeding habits, and successful techniques and flies used to catch these elusive yet aggressive fish. This course consists of a 3hr evening seminar and a fully guided day on the water

Class Size: 8
Cost: $225.00
Dates: Seminar Mar 12 Guided Mar 15 or 16 (SOLD OUT)
Seminar Mar 18 Guided Mar 22 or 23 (3spots left)
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

TYING EPOXY FRY PATTERNS – Andre S.

Epoxy fly patterns were developed here on the west coast to capitalize on the large fry emergence every spring. Pacific Angler will help you unlock the secrets to applying epoxy, which can be a very tricky material to work with. During the course your instructor will teach you how to imitate the different salmon fry species, the different methods to shaping bodies, adding eyes, and other important techniques. Course is suitable for intermediate/advanced tiers. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.

Class Size: 7
Cost: $40.00
Dates: Mar 4 (SOLD OUT) or Mar 26 (3spots left)
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

NOTE:  If your course is SOLD OUT.  CALL TO BE PUT ON RESERVE LIST FOR NEXT CLASS – customers on reserve list get contacted first for new courses.

To review the rest of the current courses that are upcoming please view them by downloading the Pacific Angler 2014 Course Schedule PDF.

Freshwater Reports

2014 Ice-Off Reports:  We are continually checking the reports from Flyguys.net blog on postings about lakes that are showing signs of becoming ice-free.  There is some new information posted so check it out!

Harrison river:

I went out on Last Tuesday to the Harrison river to hunt for cutthroat and could not find fish anywhere in the system. On a positive note the river level and colour was perfect and saw enough fry to get me and them excited. In the past I have had results of my scouting change in a day so just because I didn’t see anything on Tuesday the next day someone can have an awesome day. The cutthroat will sit in a spot which they are comfortable due to river level and speed, food abundance and safety from predators. Do not give up on the hunt and go as many time as you can as this is a shortest fishery of all the fisheries.

Vedder river:

The river level is dropping and the visibility is getting better every day. This is a great time to fish as the temps go up and the fish are more prone to move to your fly. As the fry hatch in the system you might encounter fish slashing the surface and roll which makes them easy to spot so have some fry or streamer patterns in you box. Do not over look the white water specially on a sunny or low/ clear water days as the fish will use this as protection. Check your levels as it might change due to rain or snow melt.

Squamish / Cheakamus Rivers:

The Squamish is dropping beautifully. We fished it all  last week, over the weekend and into the early part of the week and we got to see the river rise, blow out and then come back into shape. Saturday to Monday the Cheakamus was still very dirty in the lower river but upper river was in decent shape on Monday. The upper Squamish  was low and clear Thursday had about 4 feet of visibility.  Saturday the river was rising hard and but still had good visibility. It blew out on Sunday but on Monday it was running high with perfect visibility. Use this to look at the river levels and correlate future levels.

As you all saw last week we hooked a respectably clean coho last Thursday that set a record for the latest coho we have hooked on the Squamish. We also saw good bull trout fishing last weekend but funnily enough when the river was in amazing shape on Monday we had a tough day finding fish. This time of year the resident trout move around because there is not much food and they are jockeying for position awaiting the fry hatch.  The high water might have prompted this move. We searched for salmon fry but have not seen any as of last Monday and we have not heard of any updated reports. With the warmth over the last week we might start seeing them this weekend so make sure you have fry patterns ready. Olive sculpin were the ticket last week and we expect the trend to continue until fry hatch in numbers.

The Squamish and Cheakamus systems are a 100% catch and release – no bait/scent – barbless fishery, so play by the rules, give other anglers space and have fun!

Saltwater Reports:

This winter chinook season can definitely be described as “lack luster” with a few good reports here and there, but definitely not as good as last year or the year before.  As usual there have been a few fish caught in Vancouver Harbor and a few fish up in Howe Sound.  The usual depths and methods have been working, please read the 4 previous weeks and you will know what depths, what flashers and what spoons to use.

Today I am going to talk more about up and coming fisheries, opposed to the old same winter chinook report.  Last year I had excellent fishing on the S end of Bowen, known as “The Hump” on the weekend of April 13/14. That was one of the first days we were able to get out to this area as I recall it was blowing NW 25 for the week previous and it was too rough to fish effectively or safely.  We have had good fishing in this area as early as April 10th, so we are only 3 weeks away from what is often some of the best chinook fishing of the year.  As things progress we will post some pictures and reports.

In the meantime we have taken the last few weeks to work on the boats, fixing all the little gremlins that develop over a long summer of guiding.  The boats are better than ever with new power on the Salty Dawg and a new kicker on the Chasin’ Tales.  Bryce and I were out last Sunday on a run up Howe Sound to break in the new engines.  The Dawg is lighter and and faster with the new 2014 F200 Yamahas and we can’t wait to run out to the Hump and Thrasher on the new engines.

We are looking forward to the coming chinook fishery in April, May and June.  As many of you know, this awesome chinook fishing can be the best of the year and we book up fast, so check your calendars and call us to book a trip now so you aren’t disappointed.  Call 788-788-8582 to book your trip.

See you on the water or in the shop,

Jason Tonelli

On behalf of the Pacific Angler staff we wish you the best in your fishing endeavors and we hope to see you either at the shop or on the water. To check out the latest Pacific Angler news view the Pacific Angler Facebook page.

Jason, Matt, Andre, Max, Eddie, Jordan and Bryce