OUTLOOK
It is almost the middle of July – Wow, time sure is moving fast this summer! With tomorrow being the 15th of July, we are on the edge of our seats waiting for the regulation announcements regarding southern chinook fisheries this week. The announcements came through yesterday and the short story is regulations are the same as they were last 3 years. Check out our saltwater report section below for more details and as always be sure to familiarize yourself with any and fisheries regulations. You can review all saltwater notices here!
This week looks like another nice week of mid 20s weather and across the board we have been hearing good fishing reports
On this line, saltwater fishing continues to be excellent. There are still great numbers of coho off Bowen and quite good numbers of chinook where we can target them.
The Chilliwack summer chinook fishery is also on everyone’s radar. It is still by no means “hot”, but we are hearing more consistent reports and it is worth a trip. Check out Taylor’s update on that fishery in the freshwater report section below.
Summer river trout fishing and beach fishing are another two great options this time of year. We have a weekly update on the beaches from Jordan below and Matt tunes in with an update from what he has been hearing about the trout fishing.
On to the report!
SALE FEATURE
Big Savings this week on all Shimano Torium Reels and Type J jigging rods! These are some of the nicest bottom fishing and salmon jigging rods on the market!
Check out the quick video below to see the savings and call or come down to the store to pick yours up! Sale runs until close on Thursday July 20/2023
CLASSES AND COURSES
If you’re looking to get in our Introduction to Fly Fishing Course, now is the time. We have some room in our September course. After the September offering, we are wrapping that course up for the year! So now is the time to sign up.
Introduction to Fly Fishing
This course is 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: Jun 14 & 17, July 11 & 15, Sept 19 & 23
Cost: $175.00+GST
Seminar Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Casting Time(s): 10am – 1pm or 1:30pm -4:30pm
FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
Chilliwack/Vedder Fishing Report
We’re into the second week of July, and we’re hearing more and more reports of springs being caught in the C/V system every day. There are fish spread throughout the system, from top to bottom, with the freshest and most aggressive fish being in the lower portion. The fish in the upper river are fairly tight-lipped, as expected, but those who are willing to wake up early to catch the first light bite or put in some miles to find less pressured fish are still finding success. The water is currently running much lower and clearer than what is normal for this time of year, which raises some concerns for the rest of the summer/fall season.
Float fishing is the preferred method of targeting these fish, with a wide variety of presentations having been producing fish, including bait, beads (both hard and soft), blades, jigs, yarn and gooey bobs. I’ve heard of a few fish being caught by the spey guys, which is really cool to hear- slightly smaller, darker presentations seem to be the best bet due to the current water conditions. Spoons, spinners and twitching jigs can also produce fish if used in the right areas under the right conditions. Be sure to adjust the size of your presentations based on the water conditions you are facing, and make sure your gear is up to the task. Summer chinook are incredibly strong fish that are more than capable of snapping leaders, breaking rods and torching reels if you’re not careful.
There are also varying numbers of sockeye scattered throughout the system but be aware that you may not target them in the C/V system, and you certainly can’t retain them. Sockeye do bite and often end up as incidental by-catch while targeting springs, so be sure to handle any sockeye that you happen to hook as carefully as possible as they are notoriously fragile.
We’re pretty much in peak-season for the summer chinook run on the C/V, so now is the time to get out there. Peak-season typically runs from the 2nd week of July to the end of July, so there’s a relatively short window to get out there and catch the peak of the run… so get out there and make the most of it!
Taylor Nakatani
Trout Streams Outlook and Report
We had a number of good trout reports from the Birkenhead, Skagit, Thompson and farther afield locations this week. We still haven’t heard of intense hatches on the Skagit, but they should be coming soon. Even without hatches, anglers reported good dry fly fishing on both the Skagit and Thompson as well as successful nymphing on all the systems. Small Stone fly patterns, euro nymphs, and classic hares ear mayfly imitations were top of the list for the Birkenhead and Skagit. Classic big hoppers and stone flies were producing on the Thompson.
Right now, all we can say is it’s time to go and we need to be looking at water levels closely if you are holding off until later in the season for a trip. To put it in perspective right now below Spence’s Bridge the river level is at 2.8m. Last year this same week it was at 6.6m. We should note that last year was an extremely high-water year but for maybe a more “normal” year you can look at 2019 where it was at roughly 4m.
Low water levels are being seen across the province on our rivers and we are concerned about water temperatures in August. We had a number of you email in water temps from last week so please keep them coming. It is nice to have some rough numbers to look at.
Good luck if you get out
Matt Sharp
SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS
Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
The coho fishing continues to be great and now we have some chinook opportunity as well. The announcements dropped yesterday, and it is the same as the last 3 years. There are chinook opportunities NW of Gower Point in 29-1 and 29-2 and also over in area 17 from Thrasher Rock Marker N up along Gabriola and Entrance. One chinook a day, hatchery or wild. Min size is 62cm and max size is 80cm. Coho are two hatchery a day.
I was over at Gabriola on Thursday, doing some scouting, and there is lots of bait and good numbers of chinook.
Here are the actual Fisheries Notices that outline the chinook opportunities:
Area 17 & 29 Chinook non-retention areas:
Effective 00:01 hours August 1 until 23:59 hours October 15, 2023 – Subareas 17-5 to 17-7, 17-9, 17-13 to 17-17, 17-19 and 17-20; and that portion of Subarea 17-4 except for those waters southeasterly of a line from Shingle Point to Pilkey Point; and that portion of Subarea 17-12 inside a line from Tinson Point to Snake Island Light (RCA boundary) to the southern Five Finger Island group, then to the RCA boundary starting at Horswell Channel Buoy (49°12.93’N and 123°56.03’W), thence true west to a point on shore north of Horswell Bluff located at 49°12.93N and 123°56.47’W; and in Subareas 17-18 to 17-20 and a portion of 17-12, those waters inside a line from Icarus Point on Vancouver Island true north 2 nautical miles, thence northwesterly to the Navy buoy in Ballenas Channel, thence to Nankivell Point at the entrance to Schooner Cove on Vancouver Island.
Area 17 & 29 Chinook retention opportunities (excluding those portions listed above as closed or non-retention):
00:01 hours July 15 to 23:59 hours August 31: One (1) Chinook per day with a maximum size limit of 80 cm on marked and unmarked Chinook.
00:01 hours September 1 to 23:59 hours December 31: Two (2) Chinook per day, no maximum size limit. The minimum size for Chinook in Area 17 is 62 cm.
Subareas 29-1 and 29-2 Chinook retention opportunities (excluding those portions listed above as closed or non-retention):
00:01 hours July 15 to 23:59 hours August 31: One (1) Chinook per day with a maximum size limit of 80 cm on marked and unmarked Chinook.
00:01 hours September 1 to 23:59 hours December 31: Two (2) Chinook per day, no maximum size limit. The minimum size for Chinook in Area 29 is 62 cm.
Basically, it looks like this:
Fishing has been great in general, so get out there and get your coho and chinook! I will be out on the water quite a bit this week, so see you out there!
Jason Tonelli
Beach Fishing Report
This past week on the beach produced a few fish for lucky anglers who played the tides and brought with them a variety of tactics. We have some great tides coming up for the beach anglers as we head into the weekend, with some very low tides mid-to-late morning as the weekend progresses into next.
That being said, conditions have been tough: high sun, big tide swings, and low river levels. With that being on the table, anglers who have found success have been scaling back their offerings. Most fly anglers who are beach regulars know this already and fish small krill and euphasid patterns for these light-biting and often sipping, fish.
For the gear anglers, this means lighter leaders and smaller offerings: scaling back your leaders to 8lb-10lb fluorocarbon and shrinking down your lures to the smaller ‘trout’ size can sometimes be the ticket.
One other option to try and trigger reactions is the use of scents: these are great for masking odors and smells from your hands, as well as adds that little extra touch to what is essentially a wobbling or spinning piece of metal. Having a few different scent options should help set the table, with Sardine, Anchovy, Bloody Tuna, and Herring being common choices.
Remember that the access to and from the sandbar relies on the tide being below 6′. Keep an eye on the height as you may end up being the only one left on the bar- and not for good reason!
Cheers,
Jordan Simpson