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[bigsnag]

Decided to make the trip to Squamish after work to fish the evening incoming tide. Managed to slide into a spot when 2 fellows had enough fun for the day. It wasn't my version of a choice spot but after seeing where the travel lane the pinks where taking and a couple of tip adjustments I was into steady action.

All the ones landed had sea lice on them as you would expect. Lots of mature " humpies " aggressively taking the fly. they represented 60% of the ones hooked. The does did have a 50% degree of sea silver to them and were very sporting and lively on the rod. There was long minutes sometimes between groups of fish moving up. It kinda made me question whether I had the fly in the zone or not but that thought was put to bed when the familiar tug was felt again.

I manage one some what bright buck to take home after going through a lot of releases. With the high % of males encountered I feel that this years run of pinks is coming to a close.

 Next stop on the Pink train will be the Vedder or the Fraser if it ever reopens.

[HOOK]

We were out there today and the ratio from males to females was probably 1 to 3. We got tons of females today and some so clean we couldn't believe it. The run is still weeks from being over but yes almost all the males are humped up and getting gnarly. We found we needed to fish out a bit further to get the females and especially the really clean ones 

[Every Day]

The fact that you are getting mostly females is exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Males typically dominate the beginning of runs and come in early to stake out spawning areas. Females then come in at the end of the run and pair with the males that have the best spawning areas/attributes.

Lots of females = the run is coming to a close and the end is not "weeks away." I'd suspect if you're seeing a ratio of females that high, the run is probably nearing its end and you'll be seeing way fewer ocean fresh fish by the end of the week. Just a somewhat educated guess.

[bigsnag]

The fresher fish not necessarily  the cleaner fish are more willing to bite. For me my benchmark for clean is sea silver especially for the lower Squamish. The does I encountered last trip were  60% silver but their bellies were fat and swollen and in the mottled colouration. The horizontal stripe was a distinct shadow showing. I must have encountered fish that while staging to enter the river had advanced in spawning maturation. Heading out today,I hope today's tides bring me fresh clean pinks. 
Tight lines all.
























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[fishseeker]

Well thanks for the report.  Last week I went out and, since it seemed pretty slow last Friday, I assumed the run was probably coming to an end.  How wrong I was 

After reading this I felt I had to give it another go today and brought along a buddy who had had some discouraging trips to the Squamish earlier this week.  It was indeed very productive and, like others have reported, we were landing mostly females.  (Very clean as reported)

One little bonus for me is I landed my first every bull trout!  I had heard reports of others catching those in there this year and I felt very privileged to land one.  I fear many newbies would confuse those with pink salmon and retain them so, hoping, that hasn't happened much.

Another curious thing I noticed is how the bite changed.  Last week I was getting all of mine on a slow strip retrieve.  This time round I was only getting them as the fly was swinging through the interface between the faster and slower water a bit further out.  I think it was going down this way because the fish were travelling in a very narrow travel lane right between the fast and the slow water - they did not appear to be holding or milling about in shallower water - really on the move today I thought.

[DanJohn]

Well thanks for the report.  Last week I went out and, since it seemed pretty slow on Friday last week, I assumed the run was probably coming to an end.  How wrong I was 

After reading this I felt I had to give it another go today and brought along a buddy who had had some discouraging trips to the Squamish earlier this week.  It was indeed very productive and, like others have reported, we were landing mostly females. 

One little bonus for me is I landed my first every bull trout!  I had heard reports of others catching those in there this year and I felt very privileged to land one.  I fear many newbies would confuse those with pink salmon and retain them so, hoping, that hasn't happened much.

Another curious thing I noticed is how the bite changed.  Last week I was getting all of mine on a slow strip retrieve.  This time round I was only getting them as the fly was swinging through the interface between the faster and slower water a bit further out.  I think it was going down this way because the fish were travelling in a very narrow travel lane right between the fast and the slow water - they did not appear to be holding or milling about in shallower water - really on the move today I thought.

Now that you mention it, yeah I agree. The fish today were really motoring. They had somewhere to be, and only the odd one would hang around for a bit.

[fishseeker]

Now that you mention it, yeah I agree. The fish today were really motoring. They had somewhere to be, and only the odd one would hang around for a bit.

Its a definite change from the previous weeks and I have  been there a lot this month.  Speculating that maybe this is a big push for spawning grounds upstream.  Also looked like the males had vacated the shallows - previous weeks it was hard not to tread on them  - not so this time. 

[RalphH]

The fact that you are getting mostly females is exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Males typically dominate the beginning of runs and come in early to stake out spawning areas. Females then come in at the end of the run and pair with the males that have the best spawning areas/attributes.

Lots of females = the run is coming to a close and the end is not "weeks away." I'd suspect if you're seeing a ratio of females that high, the run is probably nearing its end and you'll be seeing way fewer ocean fresh fish by the end of the week. Just a somewhat educated guess.

I experienced more males today but not by such a ratio. Some of the males were in good shape and we ate one tonight it was quite tasty. Basically the run is done by the 1st week in Sept most years. My sense is it was more or less average or perhaps a week late.

[BCfisherman97]

I notice a lot of males the other day, probably a 5 to 1 ratio. And a lot of 1-2 pound females.

[FlyFishin Magician]

I too have noticed a lot of small fish - 1 to 2 pound hens that were bullet chrome!  Not so chrome anymore mind you.  There are still plenty of bright fish around though.

[Ambassador]

Lots of nice fish still this past Saturday - again mostly females as I encountered last weekend. This weekend there were a lot more zombies on the rivers edge than last weekend - had to be careful not to step on them while wading out!
Midday there was obviously a mudslide Saturday as the river went from silty gray to mocha over the course of a few hours. I believe that is close to the end for Pinks on the Squamish this season - and what a stellar season it was! 30+ tailed and released (Except 2 for the smoker of course) on a couple of occasions. Makes up for the multiple skunking days I had last fall!

[fishseeker]

Figured I had to have another go today and fish were really stacked in there,  even with the water all colored up I could see rivers of them going by just from their shadows in the water.  They were still very willing to bite and I stopped after landing about 20 of them - probably a record number of pinks for me in one day.

Interestingly, they were all pretty bright still but they lacked the energy they had about two weeks ago.   I can only assume they had been in the river for a while and I was surprised that most of the ones I got were all in reasonable shape still.   Of course, there were plenty of old beaters in there too.