After this week’s 32 hour Lower Fraser commercial sockeye fishery opening, we headed down to Steveston yesterday and bought some to enjoy. In this video blog, I demonstrate how we like to fillet and prepare our delicious sockeye salmon. This may not be the only and correct way to do it, but it is more of a generic guideline that shows how simple yet tasty fresh wild salmon can be.
While the Fraser River is experiencing a record return of sockeye salmon, that does not mean you cannot fish for something else while the river is choked with them. Here is a video blog of our recent pole fishing outing around Steveston.
I went fishing this evening, at Garry Point Park of course. A couple of days ago a pretty big pikeminnow greeted my 4wt, which was nice. I wanted to see if I could get another one on the tiny fly, but also had my sockeye gear with me (not betties but spinning rod, spoons etc) just in case because they have a tendency to hang in the shallows just after high tide to avoid the strong outgoing current.
The southeasterly wind was a bit strong so most of the spots were unfishable with the fly rod. I reached almost the end of the park and was greeted by Al. While chatting, he told me that there were people snagging on the other side, where I was just about to go. It’s a side canal where salmon have a tendency to stage back once the tide starts going out to avoid the strong current. I went over there after we chatted, sure enough, a few individuals were going at it and sockeye salmon were jumping once awhile in the bay.
Out came the cel phone to file a report at RAPP of course, then the camera followed.
Some were obviously aware of what they were doing. No need to keep turning around and look at me for approval.
Too bad, with a few fish holding that bay, there was a good chance that one of those would hit a fly or lure. I’m sure the same people, if not more people, will be back tomorrow if anyone else wants to go check it out. Just walk to the far end of Garry Point, can’t miss it.
Update: It appears that this video has stirred things up a bit, but the wrong person has been taking the heat. Somehow, people are assuming Marco at Nikka Fishing and Marine was behind this video. Not sure where that idea came from, but it is completely false. I encountered people who were trying to snag sockeye while fishing, was not pleased with it, took the video myself and decided to point out an existing problem in this area. I work hard to promote and improve recreational fishing in this community in many projects so I take personal offence when I see people choose to break the rules.
I do not know who the individuals are in the video so to think there is a personal agenda behind this video is absurd. I’m curious why some have chosen to make this a problem with Marco or the store. Just so it is clear, neither Marco or Nikka Fishing and Marine has anything to do with it. If you have a problem or concern with the video, you are welcome to email me at info@fishingwithrod.com to discuss this further.
Since over a century ago, commercial fishermen in Steveston BC have been harvesting sockeye salmon when they return to the Fraser River. In recent years, the stocks have experienced low returns, resulting in no harvest during some seasons. This year, the return has been abundant and openings have been provided for commercial fishermen. Today we watched these commercial fishermen netting in front of Garry Point Park for several hours.
We started our last fishing day a bit earlier, one hour earlier to be more precise. We arrived at the river bank at 10am and decided to try a spot where Carlo and Shane had some success on the first day while we were having our shore lunch. Today Nina wanted to fish, so we bought her a classified II licence. $20 per day it was, since she is not a permanent resident yet. It’s a lot more than what it costs for the rest of us, but still a bargain considering how good the fishing is and how much more expensive it is when fishing in Europe.
We first tried a run just upstream from the supposed hot spot. I rigged up a nymphing setup for her to begin with because it’s pretty easy to use. With a strike indicator, it is simply float fishing. She just had to flip and drift until the indicator dove. It only took a few drifts before the indicator took the first dive. The fish was briefly hooked. The second fish came soon after and she landed with ease. The third and fourth fish did not hesitate to bite either after the second was released, but they also quickly came off the hook.
Once she fished through the run thoroughly, we moved down to the run where we wanted to fish. White water rushed down to its head, crashing against the log jam on the high bank, forming a deep slot where it looked extremely fishy. Nina sent the nymph out, letting the white water carry it down into the deep. As it brushed against the edge of the log jam, the indicator was quickly pulled down. This repeated several times and each time a large cutthroat trout came to the river bank. After a few fish, we started seeing some rising to feed and noticed a big hatch happening around us.
I suggested that we put on a dry fly because it was likely to work. After retying, she casted the fly out and it took no time for a trout to slurp it down. Another one took it after we released the fish, followed by another one. By the end, we easily had a couple dozen takes on the surface. At one point, we couldn’t figure out why there were so many misses. After a closer inspection of the fly, I discovered the tip of the hook was gone.
While Nina was fighting one of the cutthroat trout, a large bull trout suddenly darted out from the log jam and chased the smaller prey like a crocodile. The sighting was pretty wild. Carlo and Shane arrived in early afternoon and I told them what happened so Carlo came down with his bull trout setup. After a couple of casts and fast stripping, he fooled the large bull trout easily.
We ended our outing at 3pm because this evening we decided to do something that was actually not fishing. Not sure why girls are so obsessed with horseback riding. We took an one-hour trail ride along the Elk River in Hosmer with Alpine Enthusiasts. It was nice to tour the watershed from a different point of view without a fishing rod. You can tell how confident I was by my facial expression.
