OUTLOOK
Happy Family Day Long Weekend! We hope everyone is going to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with the family and maybe get out on the water with them. Though the weather is not going to be perfect, it doesn’t look too wet or stormy so it should be a good weekend to get out.
We have a big report this week. Matt is back from Christmas Island, and he made it just in time to catch BC Fly Guys seminar that we hosted last weekend. He is going to tune in with the first video report in a while because he wants to share 3 of the top tips that we learned during the evening. If you are a lake guy or gal and missed the seminar you will want to tune in for this video report. The fly guys talked about 6 of their key patterns. Not patterns that they use every day but patterns they would never leave home without. More importantly they talked about the scenarios where they use them. We can’t share all the secrets shared in the evening, but Matt wanted to talk about a couple of the key concepts that they discussed that were new to him.
The day after the seminar JT took the guys out Winter Chinook fishing. Yes, you heard it right, we took the BC Fly Guys ocean gear fishing and they knocked it out of the park. Matt has some highlights from that outing and Jason has a detailed saltwater report on what they saw.
For the saltwater anglers, we also had a hot product drop today! Islander Reels have dropped a limited edition TR3: Percy Walkus Hatchery Edition with a beautiful Roy Henry Vickers engraving. There are only 100 of these in existence and ours sold out within minutes of the release this morning. Congrats to those who grabbed one of these beautiful reels. While we are sold out, we just had to share a photo of these reels – true works of art!
Finally, we have not forgotten about the river anglers. Rivers are dropping hard and though there is a little precipitation in the forecast we do not expect it to move water levels. This means we will see low clear conditions. If you are heading out, you will need to change tactics and we have details on the Squamish and Chilliwack in the river sections of the report.
If you’re headed into the shop this weekend, we are open regular hours Fri-Sun and closed on Monday for the Family Day Holiday.
Family Day Long Weekend Hours
Friday February 16 – 10AM-7PM
Saturday February 17 – 10AM-6PM
Sunday February 18 – 11AM-5PM
Monday February 19 – Closed – See you on the water!
If you want to see the video version of the report where Matt goes over all the lake tips, some updates from Christmas Island as well as River and Saltwater news, click below.
If not – on to the written version of the report!
COURSES
Introduction To Fly Tying
There is no greater satisfaction than catching a fish with a fly you tied yourself. This Introduction to Fly Tying 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 fly tying materials and tools purchased for the course.
Dates: Feb 20, 27 and Mar 5
Cost: $125.00+GST
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Introduction to Spey Casting
This 2-part course is designed to introduce you to the art of Spey fishing and establish the fundamental techniques required for basic Spey casts used on our local rivers.
Dates: Seminar – Feb 21, 2024 Casting: Feb 25, 2024
Cost: $225.00+GST
Seminar Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Casting: Full Day, Squamish
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.
Dates: (Mar 6 & 10), (Apr 29 & May 5), (Jun 4 & 8), (July 11 & 15), (Sept 18 & 22)
Cost: $180.00+GST
Seminar Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Casting Time(s): 10am – 1pm or 1:30pm -4:30pm
Winter Steelhead on the Fly
Fishing for winter steelhead on the fly (single hand or spey) is arguably one of the most challenging and rewarding fisheries in BC. Let our steelhead gurus help you unlock the mysteries of these magical fish with their decades of steelhead guiding knowledge. This course consists of a 3hr evening seminar and 1 full day of guided fishing on the water. In the seminar we will go over rods, reels, lines, sink tips, flies and reading water and swung fly techniques. The fully guided day on the water we will be work on casting, reading water and swinging the fly.
Seminar: Mar 20, 2024 Guided: Mar 23 or 24, 2024
Seminar Only Cost: $75.00+GST
Seminar and Guided Walk’n Wade Cost: $325.00+GST
Seminar Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Guided: Full Day
Check out the full course listing here and give us a call at
FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
Chilliwack River Fishing Report
The C/V system has dropped very nicely from last week’s minor blowout, and the river is currently looking absolutely mint- not too high, not too low, and a beautiful “Steelhead Green”. Fish are being caught in decent numbers throughout the entire system and the weather looks like it’s going to hold for a few more days. This is good news for those of us who can only get out on the weekends, though it will mean that the river will be very busy. Ya win some, ya lose some, I guess.
It’s mid-February, which is what many people would consider to be the start of the “peak-season” for steelhead on the C/V system. As such, now is a good time to get out there and put in some miles. All the gear I’ve discussed in previous reports will be effective, just adjust the presentation based on river conditions. As the river continues to drop, it’s a good idea to transition from larger, brighter presentations to more subdued ones- jigs, worms, blades, beads, bait and gooey bobs will all catch fish in all conditions, as long as the size and colour of the one you’re using matches the conditions you’re working with. As a general rule, it’s big and bright for dirty water, small and subdued for clear water. There are exceptions to this, but it is a good baseline to follow. As always, knowing how to read water and covering as much water as possible is one of the biggest factors that will contribute to success in steelhead season, but that should go without saying at this point.
Make no mistake- the steelhead run is nowhere near its end and the rolling closures don’t start taking place until April, so there’s still plenty of time to get out there. We can expect good fishing until the end of April, so don’t worry if you haven’t caught one yet or haven’t been able to get out there… there’s still a lot of time!
Taylor Nakatani
Squamish River Fishing Report
The Squamish has settled back down to low clear winter conditions. I would expect challenging conditions mid-winter, but we have some warm temperatures in the forecast that should keep the fish active. This last week saw many anglers connect with fish with a variety of angling techniques.
Swinging flies will be the most popular method to cover water. Streamers in white, black and olive will be preferred when the water is low and clear. Trout will bite brighter steelhead patterns but, it’s still a little early to purely target steelhead… stranger things have happened.
Gear anglers are having success on an assortment of spoons. Silver, gold, copper, and white will all produce fish. The simple cast and swing is excellent to cover water that would take forever to fish with a float setup. If the weather stays warm, the fish will stay active and will ferociously chase down a swung spoon.
Nymphing naturals and egg imitations has been productive. It’s getting late in the season for eggs to be the dominant food source for trout. Stone flies and pheasant tails are great options under an indicator or tight lined. Be sure to fish these with fluorocarbon leaders for a fast-sinking stealthy presentation.
As we mentioned last week, the river changes are numerous. Take care navigating newly deposited log jams and unstable banks. Your favorite run is probably still there but it might look a little different.
Cheers
Eric Peake
SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS
Vancouver Winter Chinook Fishing Report
It’s hard to believe that we are already in the middle of February, well into the winter salmon fishing season, and what at a season it has been so far! There have been lots of chinook around this year with more to come. We are so lucky to have such great winter salmon fishing in Vancouver anywhere from 5 to 50 minutes from downtown.
I was out quite a bit last week and had great fishing on all the trips. The BC Fly Guys were in town to do a lake fishing seminar at the shop, which was fantastic by the way, and then we went fishing on Sunday. There are some great posts of the action on their Instagram page, check it out @bcflyguys and check out @pacificanglersportfishing for more great posts.
Note that this fishery is scheduled to close March 31st, so if you want to experience this great chinook fishery, you should book your trip right away. These fish are a lot of fun to fish for, taste amazing, and the BC spot prawns are a great addition.
There are also some larger fish around as we get into late February and March as the fish have been feeding all winter long. The weather seems to be warming up as well, so what are you waiting for?
For gear the most productive setup for me lately has been a black flasher with some glow tape on it with a blue glow spatter back hootchy. The chartreuse flashers and hootchies can also be excellent, and I gave them a good wash this past week, but the fish were clearly on the darker gear.
My go to black flashers are the PA Custom Black aka “The Black Mamba” which is made for us by Oki, the “CB55” from Gibbs, and the Oki “Black Onion”. Lately I have been using the Delta hootchy in blue glow spatter back. It’s a little bit longer and thicker plastic than the Yamashita version and it glows like crazy. Both brands work well, but the fish seem to be hitting this larger version quite well right now. If you are fishing deep, make sure to charge up those glow flashers and hootchies before you drop them down to the depths.
If you are looking for the above flashers, hootchies, and UV lights to charge your gear, we have them at the shop, free parking out front. If you can’t make it down, give us a call and we will put together some items for you and ship it. The new online store will be up in a couple of months as well, but not in time for winter chinook season.
As I mentioned before, 6 weeks left, so book your trip or get out there while you can!
See you in the shop or on the water,
Jason Tonelli