February 2021 Fishing report

 Feb 01, 2021

Its Steelhead season here in the Fraser Valley!!

This season has been a great start to our local steelhead fishery, there is good amounts of fish in the system and we are seeing a fairly good average size to the fish. The local sport shop derbies are reporting a lot more fish in their daily weigh ins. This is great to see as last season was a bit of a struggle for a lot of anglers.

In my observations this season it really seems that we have better fishing conditions this year over last. I’m biased though, My personal favorite water condition is high and fairly murky. I love the challenge of finding fresh fish in a river that is just on the drop of recent rain events. Our guests will attest to the frequency of me getting to hold off until we have the right conditions. We are booking steelhead trips now for the month of April or for 2022 as we are full for the early part of this season.

 

Sturgeon trips right now have been very consistent. We have found fish on all our outings so far this winter. We do not target sturgeon heavily at this time of the year as its not a terribly busy time for travelling anglers to join us. We do however head out frequently to fish for a few hours and stay current with what is going on. We do a lot of tagging at this time of the year and provide information to the fraser sturgeon conversation society. We have supported this program since the beginning and will hopefully be able to continue for many years to come.

Local Saltwater fishing has been fair this winter. We have been out a couple times and had a few opportunities each outing. It is always a nice day out and we look forward to the fresh prawns that we get in the process. Its still early in the winter fishery and the best time is still to come. We will be adding crab and prawns to the program during the winter time so there is always a nice bounty after salmon fishing. If you are interested in getting out for this give us a call as we are steadily building our calendar for the season.

Current Corona Virus status – Yes we are providing charters now, You must be local and family at the moment. We have been working with Worksafe B.C to develop a highly structured and safe venue that keeps guests secure and minimizes risk. Guests will be required to wear masks while on the water and we are sanitizing all working surfaces and seating areas multiple times a day.  This is certainly not our preferred way to spend a day on the water but we would rather wear a mask and fish than not!!

I look forward to fishing with you this season

Kind regards

Oliver

Fishing Report January 30th, 2020

Welcome to the new year.

This is our  first report for 2020

We are out on the water regularly now and have been experiencing some better fishing.
Its been a very busy start to our year with all the administrative work we do during the first month of the year. This has taken me personally off the water more than I like but it needs to be done.
January is typically one of the more challenging months for fishing in the Fraser valley. The steelhead run that is in the Chiliwack river really doesn't materialize until the end of the month. Now as we head into February and the days get a bit longer we focus on steelhead in earnest.

This week has been fair with good conditions and even water flows. There has been a clay slide up river which has produced some colored water and decreased visibility. I personally prefer this situation as we have fish that are more aggressive and will sit closer to the edge of the river.  Key in these conditions is larger sized offerings and slower presentations so the fish can see items better.  The real advantage to colored water is that fish can migrate freely up river without getting trapped in low clear water pools. This keeps fish moving and migrating fish bite better.
best baits have been large worms, wool patterns and fresh roe when you can get it. beads, Colorado blades and small offering will work as the water clears and warms up a bit.

Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser has been consistent. The fish are in their wintering areas and are pretty well conditioned this year. We have been doing a bunch of sturgeon tagging over the last few weeks and will be out periodically in the next few weeks doing sturgeon conservation work. This is a great time to get on the water with friends and family and help out the sturgeon at the same time. Each time we fish we will be actively tagging and providing solid data for our fisheries managers to base decisions off.

If you are heading out in the next few weeks there are a few key points to consider
1. Tide plays a huge factor during the winter, fish feed primarily on the outgoing tide as the current increased and they can smell food sources easier
2. Good bait is critical- This is very important, old freezer burned bait does not provide consistent fishing.
3. Position of boat, Anchor further upstream of the school. These fish are tightly packed together and can be foul hooked if you fish in the middle of the school

I hope you have great days on the water in the coming weeks.
See you out there !!
Oliver

Fishing report

March 12th, 2019

Winter steelhead adventures in Chiliwack

 
 
 

Chiliwack River steelhead fishing has been fair the last few days, We saw some very challenging conditions earlier in the month with the serious lack of rain and cold temperature. This type of a situation occurs occasionally and can contribute to tough fishing. The fish receive higher pressure because they are schooled up in deeper pockets in the river. We have experienced this in the past and are able to still find a few great fish each trip this season. It just forces us to be a bit more persistent in how we fish through each run and do things a bit differently. This week we saw a bit of a bump in water with some new fish entering into the system. This will continue now with warmer temperatures and snow melt starting to raise river levels again.

This is typically some of the best fishing of the year as warmer water and longer days signaling  fish to enter the rivers immediately and begin their migration to spawning areas. The Chiliwack river has a very strong late component to its run and some seasons can contribute as much as 40 % of its recruitment. Hopefully we can tempt you to join us to find a few!!








Spring sturgeon fishing is right around the corner

Late March and April are some of the best times of the year for sturgeon fishing. The fish are just coming out of winter and have not been feeding much during the colder periods of winter. These fish are hungry and ready to eat as soon as the water warms up a bit. The Fraser is currently starting to warm up and we have seen the temperatures increase in the last few days. The first few eulichons will start to enter the river in the last week of march and it will be a steady increase of food source for the sturgeon. We will be starting all early sturgeon opportunities in the lower Fraser between Ft. Langley and mission to engage with those first few migrating sturgeon that chase eulichons up river.



If you have not had the chance to experience early season sturgeon fishing, you should give us a call to see what we can do for you. We still have availability for 4,6 and 8 hour trips during the month of April.

We can be reached at 1-604-852-0744 to book your trip of a lifetime


 

Fishing Report

Winter steelhead Report

The local rivers are currently fishing very well for winter Steelhead. We have been doing a few trips sporadically during the month of January and we have found a few fish each time.  We really begin to focus all of our guiding effort on Steelhead by the middle of February. This gives us a chance to fish the river at all water heights. We really tune into where the steelhead are migrating through with each river level creating successful days on the water.

This season has been a bit milder than other years and we have seen very favourable conditions. The fishing to date has been one of the best Januarys I have on record since 2010. If this trend continues we should be in for some great days.

We have some dates still available in February and some in march as well. I would not hesitate to fish for steelhead into early April as well as this can be some of the best Steelhead fishing of the season with warmer temperatures and aggressive fish.

Sturgeon Fishing

Sturgeon fishing has been very good recently. We have been focusing our efforts in the lower river and the fishing has been consistent. We are primarily using roe and lamprey. Its a very enjoyable time on the water with little pressure and mild weather.  We do most of our guiding right now for sturgeon on the weekends. We try not to fish for steelhead because its been busy on the weekends with crowds.

If you want to get out and experience a day on the water now is a great time to book or book your trip for later in the season.  We are actively booking for all fisheries at this time and dates for the summertime are starting to fill up.

Give us a call to book a great experience, I can be reached at 1-604-852-0744

Fishing Report

Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser has been very

 consistent right now, we are averaging 7-10
fish a day and the sizes have been anywhere between 3-8ft long. This week has seen a large rise in the river levels and the fishing has been consistent regardless. We will see within the next few weeks how high the Fraser will get due to our larger than normal snow pack this year. The fishing will naturally become a bit more challenging as the water rises but we should be able to find fish regardless of water levels.

We are currently booking for our remote river fly fishing adventures on the upper pitt river. This is one of our premier trout fishing adventures in B.C. the fishing can be fantastic and the scenery is spectacular. If you enjoy fishing trout this is definitely a trip you should join us for.

Give us a call at 1-604-852-0744 to set up your day of fishing this summer. We can certainly provide you with and experience you never forget.

Fishing report

The last two weeks have been great, as scheduled we began our official steelhead season and the fishing has not disappointed. All groups so far have had 100% success. Most of our guests so far have hooked between one to four fish each per day. Last Friday was an exception to that with 14 fish hooked and 9 landed. Its very promising to see such good fishing already in February, March should be spectacular with many fresh fish entering and good weather heading our way.

The early part of the season has seen a lot of fish in the 7-10 pound range. This is fairly typical of the early part of the season with our river. Most of the biggest steelhead arrive around the month of March and some well into April. I am pretty excited to see what the next few weeks will bring.

Fishing pressure on the river has been moderate with many anglers frustrated with challenging conditions and infrequent catches. This has been a blessing for us. This season has been very unique with a wide range of conditions and water levels. It has been very important to stay on top of these fish and really study what they are doing. I cant stress how important it is this year to pay attention to details. Its the small things that are making a big difference and minor adjustments to the approach has paid off in huge success rates.

This last period of reports we have been fishing the entire river. We have fished the upper on days when the river is high and worked our way down with the drops in water levels. We have had success on all our usual bait and this season wool and a Jensen egg has been really hard to beat.
This is really a staple bait in winter steelheading and if you have the proper conditions it will out fish bait every time. My personal belief is that you just get more casts into the river and that adds up at the end of the day.

   We still have some dates available for the month of March and a few in April.  If you are interested in a day of great fishing and scenery give us a call and book your day.
Steelhead fishing is now heading into the peak months and with better weather it just gets even nicer to be on the water.

Cheers and good luck
Oliver

Fishing Report

The best steelhead fishing of the season is going to start in the next few days. We finally have some high water and the current conditions are not ideal.
 This will change by the middle of the weekend and we should be on the drop all next week. This is going to allow us to target all those fish that migrated into the river on the high water.
 Best sections of river for us have been from Allison to the closure slab. This week we will be focusing on water further down river. We have caught fish on the fly, bait, and soft plastics like worms and Gooey Bobs.
 If you have a hard time fishing our rivers in high water you are not alone. Most people have a difficult time recognizing what is good water. Look at water and determine if its comfortable for a fish to hold in.
 We still have some days available for February and March for steelhead fishing.

This season we are again doing trips up the upper Pitt. If you enjoy fishing in remote areas with the opportunity of large fish, This is a trip you will want to consider for the summer period.

These fish are all ocean migration fish that are bright, aggressive and strong

best times for this river is between June 1st and the 10th of August

Call us to book your trip.
1-604-852-0744