Outlook:
Welcome to a wet start to Sept! This year, there was no doubt about the end of summer. Even late yesterday afternoon the rolling thunder following the frequent lightening we could see outside the store was a reminder of what we have enjoyed AND what is coming.
That being said, fishing has been AMAZING. Fresh pinks being caught off Furry Creek, Birkenhead fishing well (when not hit by flash floods). Fraser river opening after being closed to protect the precious sockeye run. Lake fishing coming back into the picture! The local salt from W. Van down to the Sandheads has been consistently producing good numbers of Chinook from low teens to 30+lb!
September is AMAZING local fishing. We have had a great start to the month as you will see in our saltwater report. Call Bryce at 778-788-8582 to book your charter now!!
Nothing like kissing your first salmon!
Labour Day Chinook Classic was AGAIN an amazing success!! While I do work for Jason Tonelli I have no shame in tipping my hat to a man that works harder than most people I have met in my life and successfully was the driving force behind another successful event!
Ken Bowden with his winning check for $25!!
Winning fish weighed in at just over 38lb! That works out to about $650 per pound!
The DFO sent out another updated Fraser River Opening allowing anglers to fish for Chinook, pink, chum etc. We implore all anglers to respect the fragility of the current sockeye run and REFRAIN from fishing the Fraser River with methods that are known to hook sockeye as well. You can successfully target the species open for retention while minimizing the chances of hooking sockeye. Do not be selfish or naïve. Ask, fish properly and legally and help to protect fisheries that we want to flourish for years to come.
Stillwater Report:
The fall weather is here. Colder nights, cooler days and the lake fishing should be getting more consistent. I stopped by Courtney Lake on the way home from Penticton last Sunday and while I was there I saw several nice size rises and boils of trout. Fall patterns that are popular are leeches, damsels, dragon fly and yes, chironomids! A quick read of a Brian Chan Fall Lake Fishing article to prep you is found on BC Adventure website.
River Reports:
Skagit:
The water has been dropping but we are forecast for solid rain over the weekend and the river is expected to rise. We had a number of reports this last week with anglers hitting bull trout and rainbows, though it seems that the rainbow reports are father and farther between. With changing weather patterns, we expect the green drake hatch to kick into gear soon. We will have to watch the water levels but we expect good things this next week. For the green drake hatch, I love parachute style flies in olive fished with a light 10ft 5lb leader. For the bull trout we use 10-12ft fast sink tip with olive, brown and or white streamer patterns from 2-4 inches long. Fish these guys with a 5ft leader of 8-10lb.
Birkenhead River: The Birk is up from last week and fairly coloured up, which has made wading and fishing more tough. The bulls are very aggressive and so are the rainbows. Fishing egg patterns behind the spawning Sockeye and Chinook is a very effective method to target these fish. The bulls also like flashy streamers when the water is coloured up like it is now. Expect the rainbow fishing to pick up when the water clears and more salmon start to spawn. Make sure to carry bear spray and make lots of noise while walking from spot to spot.
Fraser River: (courtesy Brian McKinlay)
Sturgeon – As the Pink salmon flood the Fraser river so the Big Sturgeon go on their feeding frenzy and thus we have experienced some incredible days on the river recently! This trend should continue over the next few weeks. Fish of 500 lbs have been encountered and those monsters of 1,000 are in the river!
Salmon – the most recent forecast for Fraser Pink salmon is over 20 million and climbing daily! We are seeing fish a bit bigger than normal, many are 6-8 lbs with a few 10’s thrown in. Lots and lots of pinks is meaning really good catches and people going home with limits of 4/day. take up home canning and enjoy them over the next year or so. Chinooks should open any day now in the non-tidal and we are eager to start hooking those hogs of later September-early October, the ones that reach 50+ lbs.
Fraser Pink
A note about bottom bouncing: there is no need to BB, Pinks and Chinook are excellent biters. BB is the ONLY fishing method that can catch a Fraser Sockeye and that is why DFO was forced to close the river for 2 weeks and punish those who make a living by using selective sport fishing techniques. When there is no retention for Sockeye then one should be putting away the BB gear and learning to fish selectively and using true sport fishing methods that get fish to bite if you want these river closures to go away.
Be safe on the water and be friendly.
Brian McKinlay – owner/head guide since 1996
Silversides Fishing Adventures
Chilliwack River:
Farewell to the summer and its sunny days. We are here with the rain, thunder and lightning. With a blast of early water this season, some fish poked their noses into the lower reaches of the river.
Vedder BBQ
Pink salmon, adult and jack chinook and a hand full of coho were likely to have entered the system. As the month grows older and the rain pounds harder, the higher water levels with the peak migration of the salmon bio mass will likely show up the last 2 weeks of September. Millions of pinks and thousands of coho, chinook, and chum salmon will charge their way into the river.
Dimitri sawing logs on the Vedder
Adjusting your terminal tackle as well as your presentation to the conditions will make all the difference in your success this fall. First and foremost the key to catching fish comes down to being out and on the water. All the other small technicalities fall in behind at a close second.
Signing out,
Dimitri
Thompson River:
The fishing for rainbows has slowed down significantly since we fished it a few weeks ago. Still got about 8-10 fish on Cali blondes through the mid morning- afternoon. Saw a few sockeye pushing through, so no doubt the rainbows are following them up the river
The took the smaller patterns more easily and had limited success with golden stone nymphs
On a different note we fished the Canim river yesterday and Hooked at least 30 fish on dry flies in about 3 hours. AWEsome fishery, great easy wading river with no pressure
Over and out
Peter Kaal
Saltwater Report:
Welcome back Capt Air Cast! A.K.A. Eddie!
It sure felt great to be back on the water after a month long absence recovering from a broken foot. All the reports of the good fishing I was missing was driving me crazy. My main goal was to heal in time to participate in the Chinook Classic Catch and Release Derby. Although we had decent action I was unable to produce contenders to exceed the 38lb Slab that won.
Todd Sweet on the Dawg getting ready to net a slab!
I was pleasantly surprised to see not just springs but a chrome 10lb sockeye and a wild coho almost the same size along with the abundant pinks to providing good action.
Later in the week I hit 2 more cohos of which one made it to the BBQ. The Bell, North Arm, T10, Sandheads and everywhere in between had the weigh boats from the derby running back and forth. Murphy’s Law: Just like last year for me the bigger fish came to my net a couple of days after the Derby.
Brent E. with a nice slab taken off T-10!
I’ve had some really fun trips with big fish on. Some landed and some still out there and one stolen by a seal. Yesterday the fishing was a little slow. I thought it might have been the weather change and the approaching thunder storm but I later received a report of Transient Orcas spotted from Point grey to Roger Curtiss. I hope there’s a few less seals now. In terms of gear, anchovies and small herring are working great with the bloody nose, green glo, and Frog patterns working best for me. An assortment of the usual flashers but purple was one of my favourites.
Capt. Eddie with Tyler’s stag group and a nice haul!!
I also had a chance to try the Latest Ricker double glo spoons and they are a great alternative to bait. I’ll be testing a few of the other standard patterns to see if one stands out. The best depth for me was 67′ but I hooked a slab at 37′ on Tuesday and some others down at 87′ and 97′ on Thursday. Yes, I like using lucky sevens. I proposed to my wife 07/07/07 and I’m still very happily married. My first daughter was born 7lbs 7oz and she loves to fish!
The largest, a 25lb slab from the stag party!
I should also note that I have heard of some nice fish hit in the 130′ to 160′ range so it’s good to play around with depths. Yesterday/s thunder storm and torrential downpour should be pulling the fish in towards the river mouths so South Arm, Bell Buoy and soon the Capilano will be producing even better!
Tight lines,
Eddie
Dimitri:
What a crazy last ten days of fishing. A definite continuation of the previous weeks. A fresh push of chinook continue to hit the local waters as they head to their designated rivers. With all the new schools of chinook comes some pretty good fishing!
Luke from Ogopogo Parasail in Kelowna with a 25lb beauty!
With the weather turning from summer to fall, shorter and chillier days along with a little less sun, the fish have seemed to move around a little. I found that a lot of the chinook were coming in the top 60ft of the water column. This is by no means a hard fast rule, but definitely noticeable.
Most of my efforts were concentrated in 95-170ft of water parallel to the contour in front of bell buoy, T-10 marker, and the south arm of the Fraser (Sandheads). My go-to presentations were anchovies, herring and the infamous Pesca RSG Spoon in chartreuse, green, and blue. All fished on a 6ft, 30lb test maxima leader.
The Ogopogo Parasail team with their days haul!
With a bio mass of pinks headed for and already around the mouth of the Fraser, it was important to keep the gear moving quick. All the time while trolling, playing & netting fish in order to avoid having your baits ravaged by the more than eager pinks.
Good luck and tight lines
Dimitri
Todd Sweet:
Wed was likely one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. I had great guests who booked a 10 hour charter and we spent the whole day down at the Sandheads. In the first 40 minutes we had two springs and a hatchery coho in the box.
Mark & Ian went 5 for 5 on the Chinook to the net!
At the end of the day we survived the bumpy water and boated 5 springs 1 coho and 3 pinks. Springs were hit on herring in a teaser with no flasher as well as anchovy with flashers. Depths were that hit fish were 80 and 100 in the morning and 50, 57 in the afternoon.
Ian crosses the pond from the UK to grip’n grin with a Chinook!
Thursday the afternoon trip was a bit challenging. The orcas had been through in the morning which likely shut things down a bit. We hit a jack spring at the bell buoy and another jack spring at the mouth of the Cap. Anchovy in teasers were the bait of choice and hits were at 80,100. A spectacular lightening storm put on quite a show for us.
Till the next tight line,
TS
Stay tuned for more courses that will be coming up at Pacific Angler as we continue to educate and spread the love and passion for fishing. We will be turning our course focus to river fishing techniques in the fall!
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On behalf of the Pacific Angler staff we wish you the best in your fishing endeavors and we hope to see you either at the shop or on the water. To check out the latest Pacific Angler news view the Pacific Angler Facebook page.
Jason, Matt, Dimitri, Andre, Max, Eddie and Bryce