Outlook

Where is the rain? This past week has been a dry one! We are hoping that this will come to an end very soon.

The Capilano River has remained very low with the lack of rain, making fishing difficult. Interior lakes have been the place to be lately. We have had some great reports coming in from the Caribou region, typical for this time of year.

Saltwater fishing has been very hot and cold in recent days. Thrasher is still your best bet right now. We should start to see coho from Point Atkinson to the mouth of the Capilano very soon. The fish may already be there in strong enough numbers, so crack out the white hoochies and get out there!

 

Upcoming Courses

 

FLY FISHING ON BEACHES

Class Size: 20

This single evening 3hr seminar will cover the basic principles needed to be an effective beach fly fishermen in BC from Howe Sound to the east coast of Vancouver Island. Topics covered will include rods, reels, fly lines, flies, tides, and techniques. Andre Stepanian, the instructor for this course, has been chasing salmon on our local beaches for over two decades. Remember, east coast Vancouver Island has a pink salmon run every year and last year the Capilano had 12,000 coho!

Book this course early as we sold out all 3courses in 2013!!

Cost: $40.00

Dates : July 9, July 15 and July 23

Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

INTRODUCTION TO FLY FISHING TROUT STREAMS

Class Size: 20

There is still time to register for next week’s Introduction to Fly Fishing Trout Streams. Join Matt as he teaches you the fundamental techniques for fly fishing trout streams; dry fly fishing, nymphing, and streamer fishing.  This course will get you as close to being Brad Pitt (River Runs Through It) as you will ever be! This course is comprised of one 3hr evening seminar.

Date:  June 18

Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Cost:  $45.00

MASTERING LOCAL SALTWATER SALMON FISHING

 Class Size: 8

We have 2 spots left in our Mastering Local Saltwater Salmon Fishing Course.  If you are planning on getting out on the water to try your hand at catching some of the over 50 million salmon that migrate past Vancouver every year this is the course for you.

This course offers an in-depth look at the local saltwater scene. We cover the local saltwater salmon fishing for the entire year, showing you the how, when, and where. This course includes a 3hr evening seminar and a fully guided day on the water in one of our Grady Whites with guide Jason Tonelli.

Seminar Dates:July 2, 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Guided Fishing:  July 5, All Day

Cost: $250.00 

 

Upcoming Events

BC’s FAMILY FISHING WEEKEND

The 15th Annual BC’s Family Fishing Weekend is taking place June 13th-15th province wide. Be sure the check out their website for a list of events and activities in your area.

 

Product Feature

 Smith ChromaPop Sunglasses

We have a great selection of Smith’s new ChromaPop Sunglasses.These glasses are perfect for your next trip fishing trip! ChromaPop polarized lenses are engineered to optimize color and increase visual clarity by blocking light wave intersections that create color confusion for the brain, ultimately enabling you to recognizing true color, faster.

The result: increased depth and detail of objects, while reducing eye fatigue. Constructed of Trivex material (a common lens offering in the optical market), providing the durability, impact resistance and lightweight properties of polycarbonate and the optical clarity of glass.ChromaPop is available in 6 propriety lens tints and is fully RX-able.

Smith Mastermind glasses with tortoise frames and the brown ChromaPop lens!

Freshwater Reports

RIVERS

 

Squamish

There won’t be much to say about this river system until september. Resident trout can be targeted in the summer months once the water has dropped. These trout are best targeted with nymphs, streamers, and dry flies. We have a feeling that the river is past the point of return for the spring season, however, it is possible that it could come into shape for a small window.

Squamish Cheakamus system is a100% catch and release, single barbless fishery so play by the rules and have fun!

 

Chilliwack River

The next fishery on the Chilliwack system will be red springs starting July 1st.

Note: The Chilliwack river is closed to fishing for the month of June.

Chehalis River

The Chehalis River is now open to fishing. We have not heard anything from this system yet. We suspect that the water is still too high. If you are in this area, we would love to see a picture of the water or get a first hand report.

Harrison River

The Harrison is now in freshet.

Capilano River

The Capilano is still running very low. There are a decent number of coho in the river, but they are getting a little stale. Low water makes for low numbers of fresh fish entering the river. Fresh fish are the most willing bitters, so when the river bumps up, the fishing will improve. The fly fisherman seem to be having the most success, which is a product of the low water.

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

The most popular method for this fishery is short-floating with light/medium power casting and center-pin rods. Productive baits include cured roe, roe bags, krill, dew worms, and Colorado blades. Fly fishing is also quite effective for these early run coho. 7-8wt single hand fly rods equipped with full sinking type-6 lines allow you to strip your fly while maintaining a deep presentation. The most effective flies are olive woolly buggers (Andre’s Cap Coho Bugger), muddler minnows, and small polar bear winged flies in sizes 8-12.

Andre Stepanian

Interior Lakes

We have heard some good reports from Dragon Lake recently. Many of the Caribou lakes have been producing well.

Salmon Lake has been fishing quite well as of late. Lots of fish in the 18″-24″ range. Fish are being taken with a variety of methods. Don’t be afraid to drag a leech around in the morning and evening when the chironomids aren’t hatching.

More solid reports have arrived from Douglas Lake Ranch. Stoney and Minnie have been fishing quite well recently. The fish have been down deep in both lakes (20-30ft). Both the sunk line chironomid technique and long leader floating line technique have been accounting for many of the fish to the boat. Boobie flies fished on a full sinking type 3 or type 6 line have proved to be deadly since the fish have been down deep. This technique can elicit some incredibly aggressive strikes.

If you are new to chironomid fishing, try fishing lakes where the fish are known to be willing biters(Tunkuwa,Leighton,Englishmen etc.). This will help to speed up the learning curve. At the same time, always have Leeches and scuds in your arsenal. Chironomid fishing starts as early as 11:00am and lasts till 4:00pm more or less, so before this the fish might feed on leeches and scuds.

Here are some lakes that are worth checking out in the Merritt area: Davis, Englishmen, Harmon, Marquart, Lundbom, Kump, Corbett, and Courtney. For more in depth information and getting set up for your trip please drop by the store.

Andre & Max.

Local Lakes

Rice, Lafarge, Como, Buntzen, and all the other local lakes are fishing well.

It is a good idea to play around with different techniques to find the most effective method on any given day. When experiencing slow fishing with stationary bait rigs like float fishing or bottom fishing, a spinner or a spoon can really change your luck.

We encourage people to take the introductory angler in their life to one of these stocked lakes. It is a great way to get people into the sport based on how willing the fish are and proximity to the city.

Stump Lake in Squamish is fishing well for smaller cutthroat trout. Because this lake is tannin stained, dark coloured bugger and leech patterns are most effective. Don’t be afraid to fish some flashy flies to target some of the bigger cutthroat that may be feeding on the invasive pumpkin seed.

Many of the Whistler Lakes have been stocked this past week. We have heard good reports from Alta lake and Nita lake recently. The species of target in Alta lake are cutthroat trout and rainbow trout. Cutthroat are best targeted with woolly bugger and minnow type flies like muddlers and belly dancers or small spoons like a Dick Nite. The rainbows can be taken on a variety of flies. Chironomids fished under an indicator can actually work quite well on Alta for rainbows.

We have also heard decent reports from the Pemberton Lakes recently.

 

Local Saltwater

It has been a hot and cold week out on the salt. Thrasher Rock has been fishing well at times. Seems like there is quite a bit of boat traffic down to Porlier, however, we have not heard a ton of reports south of Thrasher.

If you aren’t up for running across to the other side, you can still have some decent fishing in the harbor. Point Atkinson to the mouth of the Capilano is worth taking a pass at. This is the time of year when coho begin to stack up off West Vancouver. Smaller spoons in the 2.5-3.0″ range, and white hoochies in both mini and full size are your best bet. These fish are typically fairly shallow in the water column. Running your gear anywhere from 25-60′ on the riggers is a good start.

We have heard of a few nice chinooks being taken of the North Arm and the Bell Buoy. These spots typically don’t pick up till later, but they can crank out some nice fish this time of year.

 

To book your trip give Jason a call at 778-788-8582. If you are heading out in your own boat, stop by the shop for the latest up to the day report and info on the hot flashers and spoons.

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, Eddie, Matt, Andre, and Max.