OUTLOOK
Well August is here, with the Fraser Panel report and new tidal fishing regulations fresh off the press, a bunch of fisheries are fishing really well, and others are facing some concerns, there is a lot going on.
Let’s start with the regulation changes. As of August 1st, the slot limit on chinook is over. So, one fish over 62cm is legal to retain. Good news! We still say that there is nothing cooler than releasing a very large fish and seeing it swim away to make more big fish but at least for the 15-25 lb fish we are now able to bring one home. After August 30th we will be back to two a day. They have also opened 29-1, 29-2, 29-3 (South of Bowen) and 29-4 for one chinook a day over 62cm. Check out the official notice here. There are a variety of amendments/clarifications posted in the last 24 hours so be sure to review those. All notices are easily found on this page.
The chinook fishing in the salt continues to be great. We have seen more fish and bigger fish this year. We also have a special edition report from the sunshine coast this week. Brendan had a super successful trip and if you are heading that way the fishing is very good right now.
On the local front Jason is off at the Dean this week, so Derek is going to take over the SW report. The long and short of it is we are seeing good numbers of Pinks around the corner up Howe Sound and around Bowen. In the harbour, the Bell has been producing very consistent chinook.
Outside of the regulation changes, one of the big questions we are getting asked is about the pink salmon. Yes, they have shown up. We had reports yesterday of pinks in Squamish and for about a week the guides have been getting good numbers in Howe Sound trolling and casting.
I have been looking at fisheries reports on the Fraser Pinks. You have to be a biologist to really understand the information. You will hear talk of P50 numbers. This is the number that fits the middle of their bell curve. Meaning there is a 50% chance it could be better and a 50% chance it could be worse. It sounds kind of like a game of roulette at the casino but if you look at 10-20 years of data the trends seem to come close to the P50 most years.
The P50 for Sockeye on Fraser is 4.7 million. This is average for this cycle, but this cycle is not known for having openings, so it is not bad news, but we probably won’t have an opening. For the Pinks we are seeing a P50 that is better than the last cycle but way below the average of 12 million fish. This is Ok news, but it isn’t great. We should see some good pink fishing, but it will not be consistent. They do not have solid numbers for the Howe Sound Pinks but in past years the Squamish fish have mirrored the Fraser fish with a level of consistency.
So that’s what the DFO scientists are saying. Let’s compare it to fisherman’s science. What we have been seeing on the water. When I look at our logs, good fishing on beaches up Howe Sound started 4 weeks ago in 2015. This was an amazing year. When we look at last year, we saw some “ok” reports this week, but we never really had the concentration of fish to make beach fishing consistent. So at least from our 12-14 years of information the numbers from DFO make sense.
Long story short it is time to go pink fishing up Howe Sound but with lower numbers, beach fishing consistency is not going to be great. On the Squamish, guys and girls who know what they are doing are getting fish. There have even been some epic days but don’t expect epic days every day. So get out there, put time on the water and it should be worth the trip. Alex has more details below and we can only hope for more epic days to come.
If you want to fish the Seymour mouth or up Indian Arm for pinks, we expect them soon but have not heard anything yet. When we hear the first reports of pinks off the Capilano mouth we know it is getting close. The Fraser should be a few weeks out yet.
On the trout fishing front, this is a great time to hit trout rivers in the interior. The Skagit, Thompson, and all the interior rivers are doing well. We have some low water concerns, but they are not at a critical stage yet. We have staff out on the water over the weekend. We have intel in the blog below and more intel will be coming soon.
The Vedder has also been a fishery worth looking at. We have heard of solid number of chinook. The early component of this fishery is like steelheading / minus the cold weather. You don’t expect to catch a ton if any on an outing and you need to put in your time. That said it is worth hitting the water for and numbers will ramp up as we get into August. Alex has more details in our blog report.
Last but not least, Zach has a very cool article of fly-tying thread. Never thought I would call an article on thread cool, but he walks you through the differences and how you can use different threads to achieve different results. This is a common mistake we see in even intermediate tier’s patterns. For more details check it all out below.
We hope you all enjoy the long weekend – we’ll be in the shop regular hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday and closed on Monday to enjoy BC Day on the water
BC Day Long Weekend Hours
Friday August 2 | 10AM – 7PM
Saturday August 3 | 10AM – 6PM
Sunday August 4 | 11AM – 5PM
Monday August 5 | Closed – we’ll see you on the water!
Read the full report here!
https://www.pacificangler.ca/pacific-angler-friday-fishing-report-august-2-2019/
Author
Topic: Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report: August 2, 2019 (Read 3847 times)