On the vise

In preparation on my trip to the Skeena River and surrounding area tomorrow, I have been trying up all sorts of salmon and steelhead flies. The latest of which is a variation of a favorite steelhead fly of mine. I have tied it in a variety of colours such as pink/purple, blue/black and now an orange/copper. I'm hoping to entice some steel and maybe a coho with it. I have had good sucess with copper flies for coho in the past.

For those of you interested the recipe is:

Hook: Owner size 2 - model 5115-091 tied as a stinger on a 25mm waddington shank.
Thread: 140 orange
Tail: copper flashabou
Body: wrapped copper flashabou
Hackle: black hackle tied in at the tip
Dubbing ball: holographic - gold orange diamond dub
Under wing: uv pearl crystal flash
Wing : orange fox fur (or craft fur)
Over wing: black angel hair
Collar hackle: natural guinea

Family trip to a local lake

Today was one of the best fishing trips I have taken in a while. Not because of the number or quality of fish caught but because I got to share it with my family. It's not very often both my kids join me fishing and it is even more rare my wife joined me.

We got to the boat launch just before lunch and I was pleasantly surprised my skills at reversing the boat trailer down the narrow launch have improved despite it only being my second try at it. We launched the boat so it would be ready and I drove it down to a campsite a hundred yards down to meet my wife and kids where we lit a fire and cooked some hotdogs on it.

After lunch I went out fishing. I got into a couple on the fly while anchored and then went back to get the kids who were done exploring the shore. We decided to drag a couple flies behind the boat and troll around. It took us a bit to find the fish but we did manage to hook a few. Most importantly both my kids hooked into fish. The smiles on their faces said it all and made the trip worth while.

The fish were hooked just off the drop off, some with a black doc spratley and some with a black/red mohair leech pattern.

Hot day of sturgeon fishing

Today's fishing adventure was hot. Not fantastic fishing hot, but temperature hot. In fact, at my house we would refer to the weather as "hot enough to boil a monkey's bum". Bonus points if you know where that expression comes from, or your name is Bruce.

Anyway, back to fishing. Since I am heading back up North next week I thought I would hit the Fraser again for sturgeon fishing. I arrived at the river later than I normally would, but I'm on vacation so sleeping in is a right I am taking advantage of. Thankfully there was no one at my spot and soon after arriving I had my bait on the bottom of the big muddy.

The weather was hot, the fishing was not. I was baking in the sun, drinking lots of water and eating a delicious peach from my recent Okanagan trip. Waiting and waiting for a  bite. Since there are salmon migrating through the river at this time of year my first bait was sockeye belly. It produced nothing so I tried a few different baits. I tried pink salmon belly and some roe. Nothing. Since salmon and roe was all I brought for bait, and neither species was working I thought I would cover all angles and put on a strip of pink and a strip of sockeye. I sat and waitied with not even a nibble from a pike minnow.

I was beginning to think I may get skunked when all of a sudden, without warning, my rod slammed down with a big hit. I quickly scooped it up and set the hook. The fight ensued and after a couple head shakes and a bit of line pulled off the reel the sturgeon showed itself with a nice tail stand. The sturgeon ended up giving three nice jumps before I managed to get it to hand to unhook it and send the little four footer back on its way to grow and be caught another day.

Carp frustrations

This past week I have been in Osoyoos, BC visiting family. Of course I took a fly rod with me just in case I had time to get out fishing. Well this morning I had a bit of time so off I went. I found a nice spot along a canal, parked my truck and went for a walk. I hadn't gone far when I spotted a handful of carp ranging from around four to seven pounds cruising in a clear pool.

Figuring they would be fun to hook on the fly I began chucking feathers at them. Although, I didn't really come prepared to fly fish for carp. I tried a bunch of different flies but couldnt spark their interest. Cursing myself for not bringing a gear rod with some bait (a method of fishing carp I am much more familiar and sucessful with) I walked the dike a bit. I fished a few more pools and saw some real nice big carp but as with the first pool I couldnt convince any to dance. I did manage to hook a small bass, but that's all I could manage.

Feeling a bit defeated I left to join the family at the lake, already plotting for the next time we are in Osoyoos visiting. Next time I come prepared for carp fishing.

Can you see the carp in the picture?

Pink Tide

Went out to the beach again today, and found some larger schools of pink salmon. It should be the tip of the iceburg with the next couple weeks producing some good numbers, but there were plenty of fish moving through already and some good size schools showing themselves. It didn't take long to get in to a fish and the action was non stop until the tide really started ripping in. Then it died off (although there were still some small schools hanging around.

Same set up as last time with the pink clouser was what was wo4king for me today, but when we start to see numbers like this almost anything put in front of them will catch fish. Even the gear fishermen were hooking lots ;)

Chasing Pinks

Yesterday I went back to a local beach in search of more pink salmon. I had been there on Tuesday and done quite well with eight fish to hand and four long line releases. This time I had my wife and daughters in tow. Well, sort of. They came with me but dropped me off in favour of swimming in a nearby lake. It was hot out and I can't say I blame them. It also meant I got a few hours of fishing in.

The tide was well on its way out and there were people fishing all down the shoreline as one would expect on a weekend. Fortunately, many people were leaving and since I don't like fishing shoulder to shoulder I walked and found some solitude. In fact I found enough solitude and room that I was able to walk up and down the beach chasing a small school of salmon that were hanging around.

Pink salmon fishing is not rocket science and many over think it. The basics of it are; you need to get your fly or lure in front of the fish and they will bite it. I'm pretty sure you could wrap aluminium foil around a hook and trick one into biting. That being said, I find there are patterns that work better than others. Which brings me to my next point. If you walk along and ask the average fisherman what color to use when fishing pink salmon, 99% of the time the answer will be "anything pink for pinks" or something to that extent. Well I can tell you I have caught just as many fish on chartreuse. Pink does work well but if the bite turns off, switch to something different.

Back to yesterday's trip. I walked into my spot, stripped off some line and began casting. It didnt take long for me to see a few fish rise so I waded down towards them and dropped a few casts in front of where the school was moving. Before long, I had a fish to hand. Unfortunately, the schools were small and far between so the action was a bit slow. I did manage to hook two more, one of which I landed. The two I landed are now ready for the smoker.

Flies used today were again a clouser with dumbell eyes. Two of the fish were hooked on a pink fly and one on chartreuse.

Rumor has it the bulk of the run is just around the corner and should start to show up in the next week or so. Im hoping to get out a couple more times before I head back up north.

Feeling Pink

Got together with a few fellow fishermen for fly flinging fun today.

It was in pursuit of some early pink salmon in the Vancouver area. Typically around this time of year there are a few salmon making there way along the local beaches towards their streams of origin. Armed with my fly rod and a box of flies we went out early and found some fish cruising the beach shore. More fish than I was expecting, but it was a pleasant surprise.

Low slack tide worked the best but fish were caught throughout the day. When they are thicker in there, it doesn't matter what the tides are doing. A helpful hint for those that aren't familiar with fishing for pink salmon, a long cast and deep wading is not necessary. No need to bomb your lure out a long way; save your energy and time. Tip number two, your leader (when fly fishing) should be a little heavier than you would think. I typically fish 15 pound mono. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it helps turn over a weighted fly a little easier. Secondly, and more importantly, the thicker line can take more of a beating on the sharp barnacles which at some point will be contacted either when fighting a fish or on the beach behind you during your backcast. A few knicks in a thicker line will allow you to land your fish, a smaller pound test line is more likely to fray and prematurely snap. Not to mention these fish are not leader shy, so why use lighter line?

The fly of the day was a sparse pink over white clouser minnow fished on a clear intermediate sink tip. I love using this fly on the beach as it rides pointy side up, is less likely to snag and always gets the fish in the upper lip. Not to mention it must also appear tasty to a salmon because it is usually effective.