OUTLOOK
It’s been a wet week for those of us on the South Coast! With the atmospheric river that rolled through earlier in the week, we’ve seen localized flooding and challenging conditions. We’ve included a brief river-fishing update below, but with more rain in the forecast this weekend, we urge everyone to stay safe and use good judgment.
Since most of our local rivers will be unfishable this weekend, we’re bringing you a special report from somewhere much warmer and much drier - Cabo! Check out Jason’s feature below from his recent trip. If you’re heading somewhere sunny this holiday season, swing by the shop and we’ll help get you set up.
And for those reading from out of town with a few anglers left on your Christmas shopping list, this weekend is the perfect time to wrap up your shopping. We’re offering free shipping on all orders - no minimum required. Details on that are below.
If you missed the special mailout yesterday our 2026 Courses are live online. We’ve got a great lineup of courses that start in the new year.
CLASSES AND COURSES
If you missed our special mailout yesterday our 2026 Courses are Live online! From beginners just starting out to more seasoned anglers looking to refine their craft we have the course for you.
Check out the full course listing here . Sign up online or call the shop at 604.872.2204 and grab your spot today.
FREE SHIPPING WEEKEND
You read that right! We are offering FREE SHIPPING on all Canadian orders* this weekend!
From Friday December 12 at 6PM to Sunday December 14 at 11:59PM all online orders will ship for free! Get your holiday orders in this weekend and we’ll get them picked, packed and on their way to you for free!
*Please note that some items are not eligible for free shipping such as over-sized and over-weight products
FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
December River Fishing Review
Mid December is always a tougher time of year to go river fishing. The salmon runs are done for the year, the fish are in spawning mode, and the first steelhead are just starting to trickle into some of the local rivers.
With the extreme high-water event that occurred and caused flooding over the past 48 hours and another push of rain incoming for Sunday and Monday, the rivers will stay high and blown out for a few days yet. With overall high and blown out conditions and many roads and highways closed, river fishing this weekend will be tough. Keep in mind that even some of the rivers that have already dropped quite a bit will be dirty due to the very mild temperatures and debris that has pushed into the systems. What this means is that even if the river height looks okay on the graph, the water is likely going to have no visibility until the rain stops, and we get some colder nights that will freeze up the runoff at higher elevations.
When the rivers do drop, it will be time to go exploring as there is likely going to be some new runs on some of the systems. We should see some fresh winter steelhead in the rivers that have an early run component, like the Vedder/Chilliwack. Until then stay dry and safe.
Jason Tonelli
SPECIAL FEATURE
Fishing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
I was in Cabo earlier this month on a family vacation and of course I managed to squeeze in a few days of fishing between some great days with family and friends around the pool, at the restaurants and of course the beach. Here are a few notes on the different fisheries I checked out and if you want to have a more detailed talk about any of them, please give me a call at 604-872-2204 or email me at jtonelli@pacificangler.ca
I went out with Tag Cabo Sportfishing for my first day on the water. My friend Dave who lives in Cabo full time now, is friends with Arturo at Tag Cabo and the three of us headed out in a 28-foot center console. The goal was to find some tuna or dorado crashing bait balls and to cast topwater lures at them. This is a run and gun type of fishery and personally I like it more than trolling. We had a blast chasing the birds, bait, and fish and managed to hook a few tuna and dorado on poppers. We also saw some striped marlin and cast some live baits at them and hooked a few on light gear but we lost them after some epic jumps.
A great topwater day with Tag Cabo!
If you have decent sea legs and can cast larger spinning rods, this is the way to go. It is a lot more interactive style of fishing and nothing beats a big surface grab. I was impressed with the quality of gear we were using, all top notch and new Shimano spinning rods and reels, braided line, fluorocarbon top shots, and some very cool poppers. I would say if you are an intermediate to advanced angler you should request this type of fishing from Arturo and his team. They will put you in the appropriate boat with the right kind of gear. If you have trouble standing up in an open boat, in particular up on the bow, or you want to relax a bit more and consume some cervezas, I would stick to trolling. Tag Cabo has a big fleet, so they can accommodate anything from single anglers looking to cast topwater lures, to larger groups where trolling is more appropriate. Give them a call and let them know Jason from Pacific Angler sent you.
As luck would have it, some good clients of mine were in town at the same time and they had a few Vikings booked with Pisces Sportfishing. I was invited to join them for the day and ended up on the 37 Foot Viking "BBII" and was very impressed. The boat was in pristine shape, and the fishing gear was top notch and looked brand new. The boat recently got two new engines, so it was super smooth and literally had zero diesel smoke. The captain and crew were awesome fishermen, and we got onto some marlin almost immediately on the troll to warm us up. Then they saw a huge bait ball and multiple marlin on the surface crashing bait. The trolling gear came in at breakneck speed and multiple live baits on light gear were being cast to marlin. All hell broke loose, and we had multiple doubles, triples and by noon we had hooked 17 striped marlin!
A great morning marlin bite with Pisces Sportfishing
We were back to the docks before 1pm, exhausted, huge smiles, and memories of a marlin bite I will never forget. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this company and crew, as being first class. There were 3 of us on the boat and I would say 4 would have been better with all the hookups and would help spread out the cost as well. The boat has plenty of room, so even 5 or 6 anglers would be okay. I know you aren’t going to hook 17 marlin on all half day trips (the other boat hooked 21) but even if each angler gets to fight one fish, that’s a great day and enough for me. I liked having a beer and watching all the guides do their thing and the fish jumping and other boats hooked up around us just as much as fighting the fish. If you want to book a top-notch team on an outstanding vessel, give these guys a call.
Well, I couldn’t go all the way down to Cabo and not hit the east side of the Baja to chase some roosters, so we loaded up the family and friends and rented a villa on the beach close to La Ventana. Dave has fished with a lot of the guides in the area, so he had one of them pick us up early one morning for some roosters on the fly. We grabbed the 10 weights and headed out in the dark, leaving right from the beach in front of where we were staying. A 15 min boat ride later we were catching some bait and then were off to find the roosters. The name of the game here is to toss some bait in the water, the roosters come up and crash that bait and get jazzed up, then you make your cast. They like it fast, really fast, so the rod goes under your arm and it’s a double hand retrieve. As usual in rooster fishing, you get a lot of follows and last second refusals but when you do hook up it’s a great surface eat and instant backing. We both hooked multiple roosters and even had a double.
Double header roosters on the fly!
This fishery is a lot of fun and I think I am going to setup a hosted trip in October 2026 for 4-5 days of roosters, tuna, and dorado on the fly. If you want to be on the list for this adventure, send me an email at jtonelli@pacificangler.ca and I will send you some details once I put the trip together.
Te vere en la tienda o en el agua,
Jason Tonelli
