OUTLOOK
It has been another amazing week of weather and we expect more to come this weekend! Lake fishing reports are rolling in and if you are heading out it looks to be the perfect weekend. Check out Andre’s Interior Lake Report for all the latest updates. If your plans take you more north to the Pemberton area, Jordan hit the Pemberton lakes this last week and had some decent fishing. All of the details of his trip are in his report.
The saltwater fishing continues to be great but we did have some tough winds and tides to deal with this week. The fishing really is changing day by day, from hot to not. Keep in mind that just because it was hot or cold at one spot on one day doesn’t mean it will be that way the next. The heat always plays havoc with winds and wave height, so check your marine forecasts before you hit the water be sure to read Jason’s Vancouver Saltwater Fishing Report for all of the details from off the water this week.
Though it is still early Andre has brought in his famous Cap-Bugger and has a great write-up on how to fish the Capilano with this specialized technique. All of the gear for this fishery is on sale this week as our feature product so if you are thinking about trying this fishery or need to replenish flies or replace a line, make sure to read Andre’s report and come in for the sale. Details below!
CLASSES AND COURSES
There are just a couple of spots left in next week’s Introduction to Fly Fishing Lakes so if you’re thinking of attending don’t delay in calling the store. Also don’t miss out on Andre’s Introduction to Fly Tying. This is the last offering of this course until September.
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
Date: May 30
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
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: Jun 5, 12 & 19
Cost: $75.00
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
FRIDAY FEATURE PRODUCT
Capilano Cable Pool Gear
Though it is still early for the Capilano if you want to tackle this fishery now is the time to gear up. To help with that we have a selection of our favourite Capilano gear on sale.
RIO Deep 7 Sinking Lines, the fluorocarbon and the Cap-Bugger fly are all on at 10% off for this week only! Come down our guys will make sure you are set up right! Be sure to read Andre’s Capilano River Cable Pool Feature.
FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
Capilano River Cable Pool Feature
If you haven’t tried fly fishing in the Cable pool, stripping a fly with a full sink line fishing off a cliff, you are missing out on an exciting and unorthodox kind of fly fishing. It is not easy, it is not for the beginner and it takes some very specialized equipment but it can be very productive and there is nothing like watching a coho chase you fly to the surface of a clear 20ft deep pool.
This style of deep line fishing became popular in the late 90s. I was not the inventor of this technique but I was one of the first experimenting with lines leaders and flies. In the beginning fly patterns were very diverse. I spent many days developing patterns and though my Cap Bugger is very much like a wooly bugger there are a number of very subtle changes specific for the Capilano.
This method of fly fishing in the pool only works well when the water level is at 2ft or below, you can check the levels on the VKC site by clicking on the Capilano cam. After tying hundreds of different patterns I basically altered and tweaked a wooly bugger until it was suitable for this fishery. The “Cap-Bugger” has a shorter tail, a shorter hackle, olive chenille in various shades and a brass bead tied on a size 8 and 10 straight eye streamer hook. The shorter hackle and a slimmer body help the fly to sink fast and because the coho chase the fly the shorter tail insures a better, solid grab from the fish. The way to fish is to roll cast your fly into the pool and let it sink until the fly is just above the fish and start stripping the fly, it is not a fast strip all the time, you have to change up and find the mood of the coho that hour or the time of day. The beauty of this fishery is that you see the coho chase your fly of course if you are standing on the cliff and not at the river level part sections. Some days you can get a strike after a few casts and other days it could be a fish of few hundred casts so being persistence pays off. All you need for gear is a 7 or 8 weight rod, a full sink line (see featured product}, 8 lb. fluorocarbon tippet and a few cap-buggers and for safety please learn how to roll cast off a cliff specially on the two upper ones section in front of the viewing platform as there are people standing behind you. For more in depth information please come to the shop and I will gladly help you try this exciting local fishery that is unique to our city.
Andre Stepanian
STILLWATER FISHING REPORTS
Interior Lakes Fishing Report:
I have had some solid reports after the long weekend. From Roche it looks like the lake is recovering from last year’s winterkill. You might get the odd big fish until they grow to their usual 25-inch range but for now there is plenty of 3lb-4lb fish to keep you entertained.
Reports were also good from Lundbom, Harmon, Peter Hope, Bleeker, Tunkwa and Glimpse Lake. I heard from a couple of customers that caught up to 40 fish a day on chironomids. Dragon Lake is fishing really well so if you have a few days off it is worth the drive to Quesnel.
The lake temperatures around the 3600ft are about 55 degrees and this is my favourite time to start lake fishing as you can hit some crazy hatches and with the right chironomid your strike indicator with get quite a workout. Make sure you have the chironomid called “Chromie” in various sizes and rib colours as this is the most abundant hatch in the early season. If you wish to fish early in the morning fish leeches and scuds before the chironomid hatch starts. As the temps rise closer to 60 you will witness damsel hatches. The strong gusty winds that the interior experienced the last couple of days should make a drastic change to the temperature of the lakes and help turn over even more lakes. A few customers headed to the Cariboo region lakes but the lakes are still cold and some are just turning over so the reports were not too positive yet. Usually the first week of June is a good time to start exploring the lakes in the Cariboo region, so you are almost there!
Andre Stepanian
Pemberton Lakes Report
With the weather finally being nice enough, I decided to fish a Pemberton area lake this past Wednesday. My buddy Zach and I left for Pemberton early in the morning, grabbed some breakfast and arrived at the lake. With the Fishcat’s pumped up and our rods strung, we headed out.
Fins on, ready to go!
We had heard reports of anglers doing well on black ants during the mid-day heat, but first thing in the morning we started out prospecting by dragging leeches and dragon nymphs. The lake proved to be finicky at first but after a while we found a couple fish on Gomphus-style dragon nymphs. We did notice that the fish weren’t committing well to the bites and many came unbuttoned shortly after hooking up. Our friend Scotty and his wife Jen also joined us for a short while and they also found the odd fish here and there as well. Scotty actually was fortunate enough to find a couple of the big rainbows that rumoured to be in these lakes. After a while, things seemed to go to sleep and it appeared nothing would work. Deciding to change things up, I put on a bonefish fly with rubber legs that imitates a small saltwater shrimp usually found in tropical locations such as Belize or the Bahamas. Turns out trout like them as well because I was soon rewarded with a fish!
After that, I put on a pumpkin head on my wet line and one of Andre’s famous Cap Buggers on my dry line. Kicking around, I happened to find a few more fish both near the surface as well as down deep, so the fish still prove to be a mystery to us and we will need to return a few more times to hopefully dial it in eventually. I did find that the fish that would take the Cap Bugger on the dry line near the surface would hit fairly hard, often peeling line on the take.
Over all, the Pemberton area is a beautiful place with friendly locals and many great lakes and I would try to fish a few of them over the next little while before it gets too hot.
Jordan Simpson
SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS
Vancouver Salmon Fishing Report
This last week saw some interesting fishing. There were some hot days at Thrasher then some dead days, only to have some hot days down at Porlier and then some slow days. There were also some red hot days at Roger Curtis followed by a few dead days and some good to great days at QA. So in all of these spots there are fish, but as usual, they are moving around a lot. The fishing really is changing day by day, from hot to not. Keep in mind that just because it was hot or cold at one spot on one day doesn’t mean it will be that way the next.
So where to go? If the wind is light to moderate, it is hard not to go to Thrasher this time of year. That being said, we didn’t go there on Sunday this past week even though we could have, and we had much better fishing off S. Bowen from Roger Curtis to Cowan. So you never know. Confused yet? It gets worse. Or better depending on how you look at it. There are also fish up Howe Sound at Hole in the Wall. So you really do have a lot of options. So the best thing to do is look at how much time you have, look at the winds and tides, and pick the spot that best suites your needs and your vessel.
On a more recent note, there wasn’t much fishing pressure mid week because of the huge winds and the big tides didn’t help either. With lighter winds forecasted for this weekend and the tides starting to mellow out later next week, I think fishing will start to pick up on the weekend and continue to be good into late May and early June.
In terms of what has been working, not too much has changed from the previous weeks reports. Visit last weeks report for a picture of productive spoons, teaser heads and hootchies. Keep an eye on the water colour for an indication of what depth to fish. In dirty water that is coloured by the Fraser, the fish are 60-120 on the riggers. In clear water they are much deeper, 120-175.
Finally, you may remember Andre’s report on fishing Tomic Plugs from a few weeks back. Customer Kevin had great success fishing plugs! Nice fish Kevin.
See you in the shop or on the water.
Jason Tonelli