OUTLOOK
The weather looks fabulous for the weekend! We had a damp week but once again rain this time of year is a good thing. It will keep river levels up and the lakes cool.
We had some great lake reports for the interior even though the weather was a little unsettled. This weekend it will start to heat up with temps in the low twenties for Saturday, Sunday and then it will get hot next week. This should be good for most lakes in the interior.
On the saltwater front things were a little slower than last week but there were fish off Bowen, fish at thrasher and we heard of a few early coho off the mouth of the cap. The cap should be getting good over the next few weeks. Check out Jason’s saltwater report for more info.
For river fishermen there is still not much going on but we are eagerly awaiting trout fishing to open up and chinook fishing on the Vedder to get rolling. We will have a detailed overview of these fisheries in next week’s report, so stay tuned. The Capilano got some water last week and with it we expect fishing to pick up. We have heard of a few coho being caught and the river is now at a great level for fishing. Check out the Capilano report for more details.
EVENTS
5th Annual Vancouver Chinook Classic
It’s back! The Vancouver Chinook Classic is the premier 2-day Catch and Release Salmon Fishing Event hosted annually at the new Pier 73 Marina & Yacht Club at the Pacific Gateway Hotel. The event awards the largest cash prize of any fishing derby in Vancouver and is always a good time!
Check out all of the details for this year’s tournament and download your registration form here!
COURSES
Our June courses have wrapped up and we’re already looking at July. Be sure to get your spot in the always popular Fly Fishing On Beaches Course with Andre or a seat in Matt’s Introduction to Fly Fishing Course.
Fly Fishing On Beaches
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 3 courses in 2014!!
Dates: July 5, July 13 or July 18
Cost: $45.00
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
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.
Seminar Date: July 20
Seminar Time: 6:30PM – 9:30PM
Casting Date: July 24
Casting Time: 10AM – 1PM or 2PM – 5PM
Cost: $125.00
FRESHWATER REPORTS
Capilano River
The water level on the Capilano came up over the last couple days. The guys fishing roe and using drift set ups have been catching fish. This is common when the river bumps up. When it drops the fly fisherman and guys using small spoons and spinners will start catching the majority of the fish. It should drop over the weekend. Focusing your efforts during morning and evening will give you the best chance at enticing a coho to bite.
Short floating a variety of natural baits such roe, krill, and dew worms is effective when there is enough current in the pools to move your float. When the river level drops, casting and retrieving small spinners and spoons is a more effective presentation than float fishing. Fly fishing is a deadly way to target coho salmon, particularly in the deep canyon pools. A 6 to 8 weight fly rod matched up with a type 6 sinking line allows you to steadily retrieve your fly through the right column of the water. Effective fly patterns for Capilano coho include small olive coloured flies; such as Andre’s Cap Bugger, olive or blue muddler minnows, and even small flashabou flies.
You may catch the odd summer run steelhead in the Capilano. These fish are extremely low in number and must be handled and released with the utmost care. There is zero retention of steelhead (both hatchery and wild) in the Capilano River. If you don’t know what it is, don’t kill it!
Please note: ALL steelhead (adipose clipped and unclipped) must be released with the utmost care.
STILLWATER REPORTS
Interior Lakes
We heard some good reports over the last week but most are reporting that the chironomid fishing was slower with the unstable weather. Specifically we had reports of sedge, mayfly and damsel hatches. Check out the picture below of the hatch, the fly and the fish. Some great dry fly fishing from the interior. Thanks Steve for the pics!
With this in mind make sure to have a good selection of flies if you are heading up this weekend. You will want to look for chironomid hatches but be prepared for the fish to be focusing on other insect species. We just got a shipment of flies and the bins are well stocked. Head down if you need to get some sedge, mayflies or damsel patterns.
VANCOUVER SALTWATER REPORT
There is a lot to talk about this week so let’s just jump right into it. The bait continues to move around the South Bowen and Gibson area. Where you find bait you find chinook and coho. It is pretty much that simple. Now being in the right place at the right time, not so much! Add some orcas into the mix and you have a recipe for some highly variable fishing. When the whales haven’t crashed the party and the bait is around, the fishing sure has been good. Lots of chinook and some nice size coho as well. The fact the bait is shallow and the salmon are shallow has also made it a lot fun to work the gear. We are getting most of our fish from 30-70 on the downriggers. This is much more fun than 150-240 that we often fish at Thrasher Rock this time of year. In terms of gear, for flashers we are using Green Onion Glow, Green Onion, Purple Onion Glow, Purple Onion, Salty Dawg, and Betsy in silver or gold. Use the Betsy on your top rods or a non glow flasher and use the flashers with some glow tape on your deeper rods. Spoons and bait have been very productive, both with a 5 to 6 foot leader. On your shallower rods non glow spoons like the Killy McGee have been very productive. Basically some spoons that are nickel with some green on or blue on it. A little deeper down where things get dark we are back to the old standbys like a Pesca Gut Bomb or Irish Cream. The same can be said with your bait teaser heads. Chrome colours working up top and glow colours down deep. We have to mention the all powerful white UV hootchy as well. This has taken a number of chinook this past week and lots of coho.
Our guests worked hard to land this fish at Thrasher yesterday.
Getting back to Thrasher, we did some trips there this week and fishing was average. We had to fish hard to get into some legal size fish. They are around but it hasn’t shaped up to be a stellar year over at Thrasher. For the most part we are doing as well or better on this side of the pond. We have another week, maybe two at the most for this fishery and then it usually winds down. You can always grind out some feeders on the structure but with the good fishing on this side I would rather fish shallow and take my chances at finding the bait and the fish. That being said, you could go there tomorrow and have an excellent day. The fish move around a lot so you have to roll the dice, stay on this side or make the run across. Never an easy decision unless the NW winds make it for you!
A young guest with his first salmon. Great reeling!
We are starting to see the first mature Squamish chinook get caught. This fishery will get going as we near the end of June. A good bet next week will be to head to Hole in the Wall and fish bait in the 60-120 zone on your riggers and troll from there up to Sunset in search of these large chinook heading up Howe Sound on there way to the Squamish and Cheakamus. If you head out at first light you can even get them shallower at times, from 30-60 on the riggers. This fishery is hit and miss as the fish are there one day and gone the next, but when you hook up they are often a good size. This is a bait fishery, so a good setup would be a Salty Dawg or Green Onion Glow flasher, 6 foot leader, and herring or anchovy in a glow green teaser head.
Another nice fish caught on a local 6 hour trip.
Coho are also building in numbers off West Van. It is not red hot by any means and it is very early for this fishery, but it looks promising so far. There are already coho in the Capilano River and in the hatchery and we have heard of some fish being caught off West Van on white hootchies. The fish are usually shallow early season, from the surface down to 50 feet. So keep your gear shallow, troll fast, and cover water.
Crabbing has been decent but will drop off substantially the next few weeks as the commercial fleet is now working the local crabbing grounds.