Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Darko]

There is a whole generation of us young anglers who will never get to feel the pull of a Thompson steelhead, or see a 40 lb Kisipiox Steelhead, but hearing your stories of the golden ages may help us cope.

The longer, and more detailed the story the better. Any historic BC steelhead river is welcome ;Kisipiox, Kitimat, Babine, Thompson, Gold River, Dean ect. Any legendary steelhead stream.

It would be a shame for the stories of these fish to be lost. So feel free to share them here. Thank you all in advance.

[Dave]

A few old Vedder memories … remember this is 60 years ago.
Counting over 100 steelhead holding in a run in the lower river.
Seeing 25 hooked in one run in one day.
Looking into the box canyon and seeing a mass of steelhead, so many you couldn’t the bottom.
At the end of the day, at Riverside Resort, anglers digging into the dozen or more dead steelhead laying in the big galvanized box, for their fish they left there while out searching for more.
Knowing every angler you met that day.

[Wiseguy]

Stamp river back in the early nineties rowing my drift boat down from the gun club to the service road take out. My best day was 16 hook ups and 11 landed. The jet boat guides David Murphy, Greg Mcinroy, Kenny Myers regularly hooked 20 to 30 on good days.  Schools of winter steelhead would swim up the Stamp river starting in early December. You would see fish surfacing as they swam upriver.  It was incredible winter steelhead fishing during those years. For a change of scenery I would drive up island and fish the Gold river when it was in its hey day from shore and get into a 1/2 dozen. It was not uncommon for a drift boat or raft putting in below the canyon and drifting the lower end of the Gold river to have 30-40 hook ups of a completely wild winter steelhead run. Those were the days.

[iblly]

Used to fish the stamp with my dad in the early 90s. Our guides name was Jay. Can’t remember his last name. Ya I also remember seeing schools of steelhead heading up river. Multiple hook ups and fish landed every day. Fabulous fishing. My favourite on foot spot was a place I think was called Swansons ? Long time ago.

[Wiseguy]

Used to fish the stamp with my dad in the early 90s. Our guides name was Jay. Can’t remember his last name. Ya I also remember seeing schools of steelhead heading up river. Multiple hook ups and fish landed every day. Fabulous fishing. My favourite on foot spot was a place I think was called Swansons ? Long time ago.

Swansons was indeed a fabulous shore spot. My first time there I couldn’t believe the number of hook ups first thing in the morning before the byte turned off.  It was like fishing for coho on the Vedder! Lol

[Fish Assassin]

Unfortunately public access is no longer permitted thanks to idiots littering the shoreline with bottles and garbage.

[avid angler]

A few old Vedder memories … remember this is 60 years ago.
Counting over 100 steelhead holding in a run in the lower river.
Seeing 25 hooked in one run in one day.
Looking into the box canyon and seeing a mass of steelhead, so many you couldn’t the bottom.
At the end of the day, at Riverside Resort, anglers digging into the dozen or more dead steelhead laying in the big galvanized box, for their fish they left there while out searching for more.
Knowing every angler you met that day.

I’ve seen 18 in one evening in the not so distant past

[iblly]

Unfortunately public access is no longer permitted thanks to idiots littering the shoreline with bottles and garbage.

I remember one year at Swanson everyone was losing their rigs at the bottom end of the run. Turns out someone had anchored an old mattress on the bottom of the river. Possibly the land owner ?

[psd1179]

Hearing these stories is like hearing the house prices in Vancouver back in 1980s

[RalphH]

Hearing these stories is like hearing the house prices in Vancouver back in 1980s

My parents bought their house in Surrey for 12,000 in 1966. Current market value is about 1.6 million, that's return of 228%  per year.

[wildmanyeah]

My parents bought their house in Surrey for 12,000 in 1966. Current market value is about 1.6 million, that's return of 228%  per year.

its closer to 9% per year

[RalphH]

I just used an on line growth rate calculator:

https://miniwebtool.com/percent-growth-rate-calculator/?present_value=12000&future_value=1600000&num=58

you used a future value calculator of a lump sum

the formula for the future value of a lump sum is FV=PV x {(1 +i) to the power of p)

[wildmanyeah]

I just used a ROI calculator

https://www.calculator.net/roi-calculator.html?beginbalance=12%2C000&endbalance=1600000&investmenttime=length&investmentlength=57&beginbalanceday=2024-02-01&endbalanceday=2028-12-31&x=Calculate#calresult

real state on average in Canada i think is around 6% per year, good investment but not liquid

[RalphH]

I just used a ROI calculator

https://www.calculator.net/roi-calculator.html?beginbalance=12%2C000&endbalance=1600000&investmenttime=length&investmentlength=57&beginbalanceday=2024-02-01&endbalanceday=2028-12-31&x=Calculate#calresult

real state on average in Canada i think is around 6% per year, good investment but not liquid

same thing - see the edits I made above

and I bet you can't guess why the 2 are different

[Silex-user]

 Late brother George and I used catch the earliest Horseshoe bay ferry go over to Port Alberni before Labour day Chinook salmon derby and fished Stamp river. We would walked across the farmer hay field and fished Swanson pool. Once high tide rolls around and about 1 hour later a fresh run of summer chinooks would stacked up here. In about couple hours we would get our limit of 2 adult chinook each.

Then we would head up stream and fished General Money run all the way up to mouth of Ash river for summer steelheads and resident rainbows. What blasted. Nobody around except maybe a bear to make things interesting. 

 Queen Charlotte island aka Haida Gwaii  Yakoun river. One best winter steelhead fishing I done solo back good old days in 90's around 3 rd week of November . Late dad, uncle and dad's friend drop me off while they went hunting for Sitka blacktail deers. I know all the runs on the Yakoun river. I was dropped off at Papa John bridge run walked down stream about 200 feet from the bridge and made 7 cast  and caught 3 chrome bright sea lice hen steelheads averaging around 14 lbs. Then the big buck steelhead grab my hot pink yarn. I never caught steelhead fought so hard before and I knew it was big. I just prayed that my 12lb mono leader wouldn't break. I ran like a mad man downstream and about 20 odds minutes later I landed the beast. Bright silver with blushed of red cheek and I used  my Sage 3113MB centre pin rod to measured the beast. I measured the head from my chrome rod butt to end of the tail and it  measured past my first guide. Total measurement length 41 3/4 inches, not sure about the girth. I just remember I couldn't put my hand around his tail. You got remember this before smart phone. no pictures. Biggest wild steelhead I ever caught. The rest of day I fished all the way up passed branch 32 runs about 1/2 km. I would would like to fished further upstream more but I was chicken sh*t. I am scare of bears. Those QC Island black bears makes the lowermainland black bears looks like cubs. I ended up catching and landed 21 steelheads. I had had one steelhead came up surface and attacked my float.

 First year retention of chum salmon ever on Squamish river. I have never caught so many chrome sea lice chums before. Each angler was allowed 2 daily limit of chum back then. What a blasted. Each fishing trip I was averaging 40 chums. If I had purple jigs back back then I would double amount chum caught.

I have lots of memorable 57 years of fishing trips. Now when I take the my young fishing or hunting friends on these trips I always tell them don't take anything for grant. It could be last enjoyable trips you able to experience.

Enjoy.


Silex user