Fishing Report March 28, 2015

I can't believe its already the end of March, time just seems to speed up at this time of the year for us. We are into one of my favorite times of the year, April is one of those months where there are seriously too many fishing options to choose from-Salmon, Sturgeon, spring Steelhead and interior Trout. How does one decide what to do? Easy, do them all!!

Salmon fishing  is now getting into one of the best times of the year for our winter Chinook fishery, during this time of year we have a mixed bag of transient feeder Chinooks and early migration mature Chinooks. This is a very enjoyable salmon fishery that is close to home and yields some of our best local salmon fishing of the year. We are pretty fortunate to be able to offer all these different fisheries for our clients at this time of year. Best areas are still in Vancouver harbour and around the north west end of Bowen island.  As we begin April, it's time to start thinking about the hump and over towards the gulf islands. I would also advise you to start adding a bit of bait into your mix of gear being towed along. My favorite is herring in teaser heads, I know its a bit on the big side but I always seem to find a fish that wants a bigger bait. We drop crab traps on these trips as well so there is almost always a nice crab feast to look forward to afterwards as well.

The sturgeon fishing is just starting to get going and the fishing is still a bit on the spotty side but this is going to change as we get some warmer weather. The river is starting to bump up a bit now and this should start to trigger the fish as well as the Eulachons. This annual run of small smelt are really the key to getting the big sturgeon moving and aggressively feeding. We will be seeing these start any day now as the river is rising and temperatures start to warm up a bit. I look forward to this time of the year the most. It is always exciting and after chasing steelhead all winter its nice to get out and experience the big game aspect of our area. The fishing has been the best currently around the mouth of the Vedder and down towards the gravel pit. Right around the mission bridge has also been good for a few fish each day. We are getting multiple hook ups each day in these areas and we will also be venturing down below the mission bridge in about a week from now to target the fish moving up river. We are currently using Eulachons, Lampreys and still a bit of salmon eggs right now.

Steelhead fishing has been very good lately, the river is in prime shape and now that new licences are up there will be fewer people on the river. This has to be my favorite time of the year to fish for steelhead. Warm water temps and aggressive spring steelhead will keep me interested any day. I prefer to fish for early spring steelhead on the fly but will also use conventional gear if I don't have a full day to target these fish. My favorite areas to fish are always as low in a system as possible at this time of year. Spring steelhead enter a river and hang out in the lower sections for a few days acclimatizing themselves before running up, They are generally very fast traveling fish once they have been in the river a few days. These fish are usually a bit more aggressive than earlier fish so the bite is pretty hard.

This season we have added a few new lakes to our program in the interior, these will remain unnamed because I believe in secrecy! I take only groups of two anglers at a time into these lakes. It is way more enjoyable if the group is small and we can fish out of the same boat. We provide everything you will need for our trip. We stay in a local hotel and then drive to the lake each morning, this gives us all a good nights sleep.  We fly fish on these adventures, if your not into fly fishing, no problem we can teach you! We generally fish with chironomid flies during this time of the year and its a fairly easy way to catch rainbows at this time of the year.

If any of our fisheries interests you or you are planning a trip for later in the year feel free to give us a call and ask us what is going on right now. I'm sure we can put together a trip that will create memories for a long time .

cheers
Oliver