Outlook

This is one of the most exciting times of the year! The sockeye madness has started! They showed up in around the north arm late this week and we are hearing reports of boats hooking five to forty fish in an outing! The amazing thing is that this is the tip of the iceberg. There are millions more coming! We recommend that everyone gets sockeye gear now! With such high numbers of fish, hot lures and terminal gear will run out and may not be available in the late season. The Fraser bottom bouncing fishery is also doing well and is just getting started. Check out the salt water and river reports for more details.

Besides the sockeye we have a number of other great fisheries to look at this week. Fly fishing on the Skagit is hot and the river is in good shape. Matt is heading up this weekend. Thompson is fishing great but we expect it to slow down when the sockeye hit the river. We recommend getting out early. The trout will turn off when the big numbers of salmon hit the river. Check out the river reports below for more details.

The Capilano is still low and beach fishing has been solid. More and more fish are stacking up off the mouth of the river and we should be in for a couple more weeks of good fishing. With sockeye opening, it might take some boat pressure off the waters around West Vancouver and this could make the Coho a little less skittish. Check out Andre’s beach report for more details.

The weather looks awesome for this weekend and well into next week.

 

 

Labour Day Chinook Classic

The 2014 Labour Day Chinook Classic is fast approaching. This is your chance to win $25,000 for the biggest chinook released right here in Vancouver!

The last 3 years have been amazing and we were proud to donate $5,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation recently.

To sign up visit this page or call 604-754-0242

For more information please visit us online at: http://www.labourdaychinookclassic.com

 

 

Freshwater Reports

RIVERS

 

Squamish River

There won’t be much to say about this river system until the fall. Resident trout can be targeted in the summer months once the water has dropped. These trout are best targeted with nymphs, and streamers, but they will also take dry flies.

Squamish Cheakamus system is a 100% catch and release, single barbless fishery so play by the rules and have fun!

 

Chilliwack River

This may be the last weekend of decent fishing for red springs in the Chilliwack. Most of the chinook this time of year will be quite coloured up, but the odd fresher fish is still about. First light and last light are your best chances to hook up to one of these brutes. We are already looking forward to the fall chinook and coho fishery which usually gets going in mid September.

Float fishing is the most effective method for the summer chinook. Medium-heavy casting or center pin outfits are suitable for this fishery. Don’t be afraid to go big, 30-35g floats with hollow core pencil lead, 20lb mainline, 15lb-20lb Seaguar Blue label fluorocarbon leader, and 1/0, 2/0 and 3/0 octopus hooks. This heavy gear will not only help you land the fish but it will allow you to fish the heavier water more effectively.  Productive baits are cured roe, prawns, wool combinations, blades, and spoons. Water clarity will affect the size of your presentation, typically it will hover around 1ft to 2.5ft of visibility most of July, however, the clarity is already greater than 3ft.

Please familiarize yourself with species identification as you may encounter Cultus Lake Sockeye which MUST BE RELEASED WITH CARE.

 

Skagit/Thompson River

The Skagit is in awesome shape and we have had great reports from most sections of the river. Matt is heading out this weekend so we should have a on-the-water report for next week. He is planning to fish nymphs and streamers through the mid day and hoping for a good hatch later in the afternoon. These are loose plans as things can quickly change! Go prepared with a good selection of dry flies as well as weighted nymphs, and streamers. Large weighted streamers fished down and across is the best way to target the bulls. Adding a few strips and twitches throughout the swing can really help to trigger these predatory fish.

The Thompson has been fishing quite well as of late. Lots of good reports in the last week, especially from Kamloops Lake to Juniper Beach. The dry fly fishing has really taken off recently. Be sure to have a good selection of dry flies, especially hoppers and stoneflies. Come by the shop and check out our awesome selection of trout nymphs and dry flies!

 

Chehalis River

The Chehalis is of course low and clear. It is late for the chinook salmon in this river, however, summer steelhead are present. First and last light are the best times when the water is this low. Don’t forget to sneak up to the pools!

Productive baits for steelhead include prawn tipped jigs, roe bags, dew worms, and krill. Productive baits for chinook include roe, wool ties, and colorado blades.

 

Capilano River

The Capilano is far too low to produce any decent fishing. Fly fisherman have been able to pick up the odd coho, but it is anything but consistent. Some of the tailouts are so thin that they are more than likely impassible to fish at this height. Now that the bait ban is in effect, fly fishing or casting spoons is your best bet. Better to head down to the mouth of the river at Ambleside until we get some rain.

Please note: ALL steelhead (adipose clipped and unclipped) must be released with the utmost care.

 Bait ban as of August 1st.

 

Interior Lakes

We have not heard anything from the interior for a couple weeks now besides the odd Tunkwa report. Not a surprise as it is August. The falls months can offer some great stillwater fishing so we look forward to hearing more reports then.

 

Local Lakes

The local lakes are now in their summer doldrums . Trout fishing won’t pick up again until the fall. Although trout fishing is now slow, lakes that hold carp and bass can be fantastic this time of year.

If you are looking to do some lake fishing for trout, the Whistler lakes are your best bet. Alta and especially Green Lake can actually fish better in the summer months. For Alta cutthroat try olive wooly buggers, and muddler minnows in various colours and flash combinations. Don’t be afraid to crack out the big streamers for Green. Large flashy rabbit strip streamers work quite well for the bull trout on the drop offs.

Please remember that Alta and Green Lake are catch and release/bait ban fisheries.

 

Beach: (West Van)

Lots of fish showed up at Ambelside this past few days as the tides were in our favour. I saw a fish landed on gear that was in the 8lb-10lb range. I ran into Michael Sabatino one of our customers that took the beach fishing course last year. Michael landed his first beach coho on Tuesday after hooking into three nice fish. Congratulations! He got it on a white and orange pattern. The tides are going to be very low, however it is a mid day low tide. You can still hook into fish, but the bright sun makes things more challenging. The full moon should also bring more schools of fish.

Michael’s hard earned Ambleside coho.

Now for some breaking news from Thursday’s low tide. A memorable day to go down in beach fishing history! This is the first coho Andre guided off the beach this season, and it is our client Chris Falk’s first coho off the beach on his first day out. It doesn’t get any better than this. He had three takes and finally landed this beauty standing beside gear guys that didn’t touch a fish. Lots of fish must have shown up last night just before the full moon.

Congratulations Chris!

Local Saltwater

As you have likely heard, sockeye are indeed open in our local waters and we are already enjoying some great sockeye fishing.  Check out these fish from Wednesday’s charter.  Eddie got his guests limits of chrome sockeye on a half day charter.

 

This is just the beginning of what is going to be a fantastic 6 weeks of fishing as more and more sockeye show up at the mouth of the Fraser not to mention the chinook that are also showing up.

For sockeye we are using 2-3 “dummy flashers” and then two flashers with Michael Bait  (small hootchies) above that.  The best color hootchies have been hot pink with a glow head or a glow strip.  Productive leader lengths have been from 24” up to 32” but most anglers fish about a 28” leader of 40 or 50 LB test.  If you haven’t sockeye fished before you will be amazed at how many flashers anglers use to catch these fish.  Sockeye love to follow the gear and will literally follow your boat as you troll.  Often a subtle change in speed will trigger a strike and some schools bite better than others.  If you put your time in you will be rewarded with chrome sockeye like these caught yesterday.

A great way to learn the ins and outs of sockeye fishing is to book a charter on one of our boats.  We also offer private charters where we will come out to your boat and teach you with your own gear.  This is becoming a very popular option the last couple of years.  Either way, we are booking up fast, so please give us a call right away if you are interested in experiencing this awesome fishery.  If this is not an option drop by the shop for a quick tutorial on how to setup your gear for these fish.

Let’s not forget about the chinook fishing this time of year. We are getting some chinook off the Bell Buoy and T-10 area and have heard of some down at Sandheads as well.  Oki Tackle Glow flashers or Double Glow flashers with a green or chartreuse blade, 6 foot leader, and an anchovy teaser head in glow with some green on it are getting the job done.  We just received a batch of some custom Oki teaser heads for anchovies.  Awesome finishes developed especially for these Fraser chinook with lots of glow and lots of bright colors

We have lots of herring and anchovies in stock as well as salt and brining coolers so if you are after some chinook stop by and get setup.

What about the Cap and W. Van you say?  Eddie, Mike, Dimitri and Todd have been getting coho up on the flats and a few nice chinook as well. Check out these chinook Dimitri got his guests into off W. Van this week!

So I think you are getting the overall picture.  Fishing is good! Coho and chinook off W. Van.  More chinook off the Bell Buoy and T-10. Sockeye from the N. Arm of the Fraser down to the S. Arm.

Give us a call on our charter phone at 778-788-8582 to book a charter or come by the shop for all the right gear and some friendly advice.  The shop number is 604-872-2204.

 

See you on the water or in the shop,

 

The P.A. Saltwater Guide Team:  Jason, Eddie, Dimitri, Todd, Mike

 

 

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, Max, Andre, Sam, Eddie, Kathryn