OUTLOOK
We are heading into the long weekend with sunshine and great fishing in the forecast. Local river fisherman were hoping for a little rain to bring up the Capilano and some cooler temperatures to extend the season a few days on the Chilliwack and the Squamish, but that doesn’t look to be the case. It’s time to start thinking about some lake fishing or some saltwater fishing.
Consistent reports continue to come in for the interior lakes. Read on below for the full report including Max’s report from his trip up to Roche Lake.
Fishing over in the Gabriola and Nanaimo area heated up this past week. Over the last week we have been hitting 5 to 10 fish on most trips and one recent trip we were into 16 fish! Don’t miss Jason’s update at the end of the report.
LONG WEEKEND STORE HOURS
We’re open today (Friday) until 7PM so drop by to stock up for your long weekend fishing trip!
Friday May 15 – 10AM to 7PM
Saturday May 16 – 10AM to 6PM
Sunday May 17 – 11AM to 5PM
Monday May 18 – Closed! Gone Fishing!
COURSES
We’ve got a great line up courses for the month of June, including a new date for our Mastering Local Saltwater Salmon course. Call the shop to get your spot today!
Tying Beach Fly Patterns
Join Pacific Angler for a 3hr evening seminar of tying flies specific to catching salmon on our coastal beaches. Without a doubt, fly selection is critical while beach fishing. These flies are often not commercially available, so successful beach anglers learn to tie their own patterns. Your instructor will walk you through each fly pattern step-by-step. This course is suitable for fly tiers with a basic knowledge. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.
Cost: $40.00
Dates: June 1 or June 23
Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Introduction to Fly Tying – last introduction to tying course until September!
There is no greater satisfaction than catching a fish with a fly you tied yourself. This course was specifically designed to give you the fundamental skills needed to tie proven fly patterns used here in BC for trout, salmon, and steelhead. This course consists of 3 sessions; each session is 3hrs. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.
Cost: $75.00
Dates: June 10, 17 and 24
Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Introduction to Fly Fishing
This course was specifically designed to give the new fly fisher the basic knowledge, casting skills and fly fishing strategies to effectively fish our local BC waters. This course is comprised of two sessions; 3hr evening seminar and a 3hr casting session. The dates below show the seminar date first and casting date second.
Cost: $125.00
Seminar: June 16, 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Casting Date: June 20, 2pm to 5pm
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Capilano
The Cap will be low for quite some time as there looks to be little to no rain in the upcoming forecast. Any fish that are in the system will be very easily spooked so it is a wise choice to downsize your presentation whether you are fly fishing or gear fishing. Fluorocarbon leaders and tippets are a must. It’s still fairly early but it’s definitely time to go check out your spots and maybe find a couple fish.
Chilliwack
With the hot weather in the forecast the river will be rising and get to the point where most of the runs in the lower river that are suitable for fly fishing will be a bit too swift. There were some nice steelhead caught the past few weeks but at this point, best to hang up the Spey or single hand and think about some lake fishing or some saltwater fishing. This river is currently closed above the Vedder Crossing Bridge and the portion below the bridge, which is currently open to fly fishing only, will close at the end of the month. The river will re-open July 1st and there are usually a few chinook around but it is often too high to fish effectively. Perhaps that will not be the case this year with the low snow pack. Our next report will be in July to let you know!
Lower Fraser
Sturgeon fishing has picked up over the last couple weeks. Baits such as eulachon and lamprey have been the go to as of late but don’t rule out the old tried and true dew worms. Currently we have all these baits in stock with a wide selection of wedge and triangle weights.
Sam with a Lower Fraser sturgeon caught on a Lamprey on a recent trip out.
STILLWATER REPORTS
Interior Lakes
I had some solid reports from Roche Lake; it looks like the lake is recovering from last years winter kill. You might get the odd big one for now until they grow to their usual 25 inch and up that you get at Roche but for now there is plenty of 3lb-4lb fish to keep you entertained. Check out Max’s detailed report on Roche Lake below.
Reports were also good from Courtney and Glimpse lakes. I heard from a couple of customers that caught up to 40 fish a day on chironomids. The lake temperatures around the 3600ft are around 50 degrees and this is my favourite time to start lake fishing as you can hit some crazy hatches and with the right chironomid your strike indicator with get quite a workout. Make sure you have the chironomid called “Chromie” in various sizes and rib colours as this is the most abundant hatch in the early season. If you wish to fish early in the morning fish leeches and scuds before the chironomid hatch starts. From the Cariboo region lakes are still cold and some just turning over so I haven’t had any good reports yet.
Happy fishing.
Andre
Roche Lake Report
Roche Lake fished well this past weekend. Boatman, leech, and scud patterns proved effective in the morning hours in relatively shallow water. Andre’s Mini Leech fished under a strike indicator was absolutely killer in the morning before the chironomid hatches. By about 10:30am, the chironomid hatches were quite prolific. The larger hatches were occurring in 5ft-15ft of water, with a wide variety of colours and sizes coming off. Most of the pupa were size 14 and 16, however, there were also quite a few size 18 and smaller pumped from fish. Having a mix of brown, green, black, and chrome chironomids in sizes 14-18 is a good idea. Bright green chironomids also caught fish at times when the hatch was really thick. A similar story can be told for most lakes in the Kamloops area at this time. Fishing with strike indicators in shallow water is a ton of fun!
Max Stickel
SALTWATER REPORT
As we were talking about in last weeks report, we figured the Gabriola and Nanaimo area would heat up this week and indeed it did. We have had a number of trips over there in the last 7 days and we have been hitting 5 to 10 fish on most trips and one recent trip we were into 16 fish! The water has been very, very clear and that usually means the bait is deep and so are the fish. Hot depths have been from 150 to 200 feet on the downriggers and we are often using 18lb cannonballs to keep the gear deep while still trolling at a good speed to cover as much water as possible.
Eddie’s guest with a beauty chinook from Thrasher this week.
Productive flashers have been the Green Onion Glow, Purple Onion Glow, Kinetic Glow, and Chartreuse Glow and Green Glow. As usual, hootchies and spoons have been working well. The spatter back hootchies in green, mint, chartreuse, and blue have been producing a lot of fish and for leader length try 32 to 40 inches. Productive Kingfisher spoons on 6-foot leaders have been the Irish Cream, Homeland Security, and Pink Sink, in 3.5 to 4.0 size. Productive Pesca spoons have been the Clupea, and Gut Bomb in 4.0, and 5.0. We fished the new 5.0 size this past week with great results. This spoon has some amazing action and matches the size of the bait this time of year.
Some nice fish landed by Dimitri’s guests this week.
Yes, the Gulf Islands are hot this time of year, but don’t forget about the Hump! This area is still consistently producing and should do so for a few more weeks. We actually saw a bait ball on the surface there the other day with birds attacking it, and without a doubt, chinook attacking it from below. Hot depths on the Hump have been from 90-140 on the riggers for this area.
A five fish day on the water last week!
If you are interested in booking a charter give us a call at 778-788-8582. From now until July 1st is some of the hottest chinook fishing of the year!
Jason