This is the best time of the year to get out and experience good fishing for winter steelhead. We have been on the water almost daily for the past month and the fishing has not been disappointing. This season has certainly been a bit different than other seasons. The average steelhead for us has been over 10 lbs. and some really nice fish upwards of 16lbs. This season has been more of a low water year with colder temps than what we have seen in the past few seasons. Its been challenging at times to predict how the fish are traveling through the system. We would normally expect to see pods of fish travel daily upwards of 5-7 kilometers of river at a time. This year with lower water they are travelling through on a slower rate and in smaller groups.
We typically have been finding fish from the bottom of Tamihi rapids and throughout the system to lickman rd. We cover a lot of water in a typical day and it has been paying off with good results. We generally find fish somewhere throughout our drift and then focus our efforts in that general area. Typically you will find more fish in holding water up or downstream of that area.
I typically use a lot of artificial baits when guiding. Its not because bait doesn't work, I find fish with artificial baits because its faster and more time in the water. Once we find some fish I will slow down and focus on running baits to get the fish that may not take an artificial. we use anything from beads to blades to find them and then the best baits lately have been cured shrimp and roe.
The beginning of this week is forecasted for decent amount of rain, this should bring in another push of fresh fish and the river should stabilise by Tuesday. Wednesday through Sunday are looking promising for conditions if you want to get out and catch some of these great fish.
Sturgeon fishing has been slowly picking up as the temperature of the Fraser is starting to get a bit warmer now and the fish are perking up a bit. Its still a bit on the early side but within the next two weeks we should start to see the fishing get significantly better. We have been getting most of our fish lately on lamprey and roe with a few already eating eulichons.
I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable time on the water this week, Good luck and if you see us on the water be sure to say hello. If you want to get out on the water and fish with us in the next few weeks
Please call at 1-604-852-0744 or
oliver@oliversfishing.com
Cheers
Oliver
