OUTLOOK
Long weekend here we come! Tons of fishing reports have been rolling in over the last week. The interior lakes are doing great and the saltwater scene is still bumping across the straight but we have seen some slower days locally. We don’t want to jinx it but the weather looks pretty good as well. We should see mostly sun with temps around Vancouver hitting low 20s and temps in the interior in the mid to high 20s. With any luck the wind does not blow too hard for the saltwater guys!
Check out Andre’s Interior lake report for more details on what’s happening on the interior lakes. Jordan has a report on the Sea-to-Sky area lakes that offer a great alternative closer to home.
Don’t miss Jason’s Saltwater report for details out on the ocean. He has an overview of the last week of fishing and what he’s expecting for the week to come.
As a reminder here are our Victoria Day Long Weekend Hours in the shop:
Friday May 18 – 10AM – 7PM
Saturday May 19 – 10AM – 6PM
Sunday May 20 – 11AM – 5PM
Monday May 21 – Closed! See you on the water!
CLASSES + COURSES
Our last offering of our Introduction To Fly Fishing Lakes Course for the season is almost upon us. Join Matt in that class or get a seat at the tying table with Andre for his tying beach fly patterns class. Beach fishing will be here before you know it. Finally, we have 4 spots left in our June Mastering Local Saltwater Salmon course.
Tying Beach Fly Patterns
Join Pacific Angler for a 3hr evening seminar of tying flies specific to catching salmon on our coastal beaches. Without a doubt, fly selection is critical while beach fishing.
These flies are often not commercially available, so successful beach anglers learn to tie their own patterns. Your instructor will walk you through each fly pattern step-by-step.
This Tying Beach Fly Patterns course is suitable for fly tiers with a basic knowledge. 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: May 28, 2018
Cost: $45.00+GST
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Introduction to Fly Fishing Lakes
This course will give you an in-depth look at the fundamentals of fly fishing lakes. We explore equipment, techniques, major insect hatches and ideal lakes to begin with. You will learn all you need to plan your next successful lake trip to one of BC’s 5,000 lakes! This course is comprised of one 3hr evening seminar.
Cost: $45.00 + GST
Dates: May 29, 2018
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Mastering Local Saltwater Salmon – 4 spots left!!
Over 50 million salmon migrate past Vancouver annually. Learn how to catch these fish with a Pacific Angler. 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 6hr seminar and a fully guided day on the water in one of our Grady Whites.
Seminar: Jun 3
Guided: Jun 10, 11, or 22
Cost: $300.00 + GST
Seminar Location: Pacific Gateway Hotel – 3500 Cessna Drive Richmond, BC
Seminar Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm with one hour break for lunch. There is one restaurant on site for students to have lunch at their cost. Coffee/Tea and water will be provided in the class.
Guided Day: Full day on the water.
FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
Capilano River Fishing Report
The Capilano River is maintaining its water level. Bigger waves of fish started to show up this week and more people are getting consistent action.
There have been lots of questions about where is the best spot for catching these coho. The answer is the Cable Pool. With the water having the good flow, fish tend to shoot straight up and hold just below the hatchery. If you cannot find a spot on Cable Pool, don’t be afraid to try the pools below as there are high chances that you might run into moving school but finding staging fish in these pools is not common until the water drops a little.
For float fishing, fishing roe under a float setup is the best method. You can also drift with colorado blades or small jigs.
Tossing spoons and spinners is also a great option if you can find slow moving water.
Andre’s Cap buggers are now in stock. The Cap bugger has been the most successful fly for early cap coho historically though we also like small muddlers, and shrimp style attractors in green, blue or chartreuse.
The pools in the Capilano River are quite deep. Some people have trouble getting their flies down enough with the standard sink tip lines. Thus we like to use full sinking lines in type 6 or 7.
Have fun and stay safe out there.
If you do run into any steelhead or wild coho, please release it with care.
Dustin Oh
STILLWATER FISHING REPORTS
Sea-to-Sky Corridor Lake Fishing Report
With so many options for fishing in the lower mainland, one of my favorites is the semi-local lakes in the Sea-to-Sky corridor.
Many of them are often passed while heading to Whistler and overlooked by the anglers going to the interior. With rising gas prices, the Squamish area can provide a small break from the city without having to break the bank. We also find that though many of these lakes are stocked they are healthier than our Vancouver lakes in regard to bugs, leeches and fish food.
Alice Lake Provincial Park is a great place to start. This is a great option as there are quite a few lakes close together. Alice, Stump, and Edith Lake all provide angling opportunities and there are dozens more just off the beaten path for you to explore. For fly fishing and dedicated spin casting anglers a float tube or other watercraft changes the game. Next week I am going to do a feature on float tube options and how I set up my float tube for accessing these lakes but it is not completely necessary if you are using an ultra light spinning rod. Some of the lakes either have small docks or varying degrees of shore access.
Another fun option is Brohm Lake. Though a watercraft does help, there is a small outcropping of rocks you can easily float fish from. Though smaller on average, there are quite a few fish that are more than willing to go after flies and lures. This is a great option for those who like ultra-light fishing.
With those as a starting point, the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC’s website, www.gofishbc.com is a great tool to help point you in the right direction.
As the fish tend to be smaller and aggressive, general attractor patterns are where to start when filling your fly box. If you are using an ultra light spinning rod, having a selection of spinners and spoons is were I start but having the classic float ad bait setups are also always in my kit and when I fish from shore the bottom power bait-rig is very productive. If you are not familiar with these rigs come down to the shop and we can help you out.
Stripping weeded edges with nymphs can pay off!
Driving to the interior isn’t always a viable option and with some great fishing nearby, one can always sneak away for a couple hours if they head the other way.
Tight lines,
Jordan Simpson
Interior Lakes Fishing Report
Great reports are coming in from Merritt lakes this last week. We had a customer that fished Courtney Lake and had 20 plus fish on a Booby fly when nothing else was working. Nearby at Marquart Lake both rainbow and brook trout were caught on size 16 chromies with red rib. Over at Roche Lake the trout had switched from leeches and were caught on chromies as well. On some lakes when the trout are not keyed in on a certain bug, trout will gorge on anything. I saw a video of the stomach content in a vile from a rainbow and there were bloodworms, scuds, immature damsel nymph and water boatman all alive at the same time. So be prepared to change up your presentation quickly until the fish start to go trough the regular cycle of hatches throughout the day.
Sometimes there is a ton a variety in what the fish are eating but other day they are keyed in on one thing. In this picture we see size 14 grey green chironomids from one of the Corbett area lakes.
The only report I heard from the Cariboo region was from Dragon Lake and the fishing was slow so far. Heffley, Community, Knouff Lake came off 2 weeks ago so give those lakes a try. Due to the warm weather we are having in May the lakes that are in the 3600 FT are the temperature is already at 57-60 degrees.
Lakes to fish this long weekend: Harmon, Kane, Courtney, Marquart, Lumbum, Corbett, Kump, Bleeker, Glimpse, Peter Hope, Roche, Tunkwa, Leighton.
Andre Stepanian
SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS
Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report
Lets take a look at the last 7 days of fishing, as there were some major changes. Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we had some great fishing, even in the big winds and rough sea conditions on the weekend. There were great catches around Roger Curtis, a few fish at Cowan, a few fish out on the Hump and we also had some hot action off the QA. Monday was also good if you were on the fish as they were in a pretty specific spot, and Eddie was on them indeed, with a double digit hook up day and a limit of 8 chinook to the boat. Then Tuesday came and things really took a turn for the worse. The bite was definitely off and you had to work very hard for even 1 fish. Tuesday was also a new moon and there were some big tides. These big tides sometimes turn the fishing off for a few days and that certainly seemed to be the case locally as it was slow on Wednesday as well. Thursday things picked up a bit, but still on the slow side compared to the amazing fishing we have seen these past 5 weeks.
Three generations had a great day on the water with Captain Eddie!
So where did they go? Well we are now into mid May and this is often the beginning of the turning point where we start to see things cool off a bit locally and things heat up a bit over on the other side of the Strait. Not that the fishing hasn’t been very good at Galiano, Gabriola, and Nanaimo all of April and early May, because it has been, but as we move into late May and especially early June, the fishing is often a bit better on that side.
Tom’s guests showing their catch some love.
I fully expect it to pick up locally in the next few days as well. Once these big tides back off, the bite will come back on and if history repeats itself we will have some good fishing in late May and early June off S. Bowen and the Hump. Just keep in mind we had it pretty good for 6 weeks where you could just troll from Roger Curtis to Cowan and get your limit, or even just fish the QA. Now I think we are going to have to work slightly harder for the fish by finding the bait and finding little pockets of fish and staying on top of them to maximize your day.
Captain Khoi’s guests with their catch off of South Bowen.
Prawning is open, but the commercial boats are out in full force and it is a big risk is you set traps while they are fishing. A friend lost all 4 traps the other day, so currently we are not prawning in our local waters. If you are in an area where there is no commercial pressure, it should be productive. The crabbing has been pretty good this past week and this should continue through the rest of May and into June.
Make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook as I will be posting some pictures later on this afternoon of productive flashers, spoons, and hootchies that we have been using.
See you on the water or in the shop,
Jason Tonelli