Hey everyone,
Hey guys just wanted to introduce myself! My name is Nick, I work for BFI Canada and just recently got this crazy addiction to fishing! My favorite fish to eat is coho or rainbow trout. This was my first year salmon fishing for the season and I enjoyed it, acutally I loved it. I have fished for trout/perch/kokanee before but never large game fish. So I am beginner to fishing when it comes to river/tidal waters. So I have a couple beginner questions that I am hoping someone could answer for me.
1) I am really wanting to get into fishing so I would like to buy a good rod and reel for steelhead but I am on a budget and I thought to myself who would know better than you guys. So I was wondering what you guys would reccomend and how much would it cost?
2) I would love to try fishing for other species aswell but I am not familiar with fishing spots. I live in aldergrove and can travel to where ever but I dont know what lakes/river systems hold what fish. I would love to fish for steelhead and all types of trout.
3) What fish are the best to fish during our seasons in BC?
Thanks for all the future help.
Epok!
I am by no means an expert fisherman, I've only river fished for four years, but I'll offer my 2 cents
As far as a good rod and reel goes for steelhead fishing in the winter and salmon fishing in the warmer months goes, I would first reccomend that you get a baitcaster (level wind) rod and reel. This is much better for float fishing than a spinning reel/rod. You could get a center pin rod and reel but I'm sure that most would agree that this is not the best choice for a beginner! A good entry level baitcaster rod should set you back $100-$200. A good all around rod would be 10 feet 6 inches long and have a line rating of somewhere around 8-17, or 10-20, or 12-25 and a power rating of medium or medium/heavy. I like the Shimano Convergence ($100ish), Shimano Technium ($175ish), and Fenwick HMX ($150ish), but lots of other options available.
For a level wind reel I like Shimano or Abu Garcia, but several other good ones for sure. The Shimano Corvlus or Cardiff are good entry level baitcasters (around $100). For Abu I like the 6500 C3 if you're trying to save $.
Always good used deals on this site, Craig's List, etc. and I would certainly look there just MAKE SURE you know what you're buying and if you don't know then get someone to help you buy used gear.
If you want to save the hassle and spend a bit more to buy new then I would go to a good tackle shop near where you live, tell them your budget and what type of fishing you're doing, and they'll hook you up. You can get a new rod, reel and mono on the reel for under $250 easily.
As for rivers to fish...I live in Chilliwack and primarily fish the Vedder and Chehailus. There are many other rivers to fish in the lower mainland and I'm sure others will be able to offer better advise here. I don't know a lot about lakes in this area we primarily lake fish in the interior where we have a cabin + boat.