British Columbia Fishing Blog

At last, the Fraser River has almost restored its peaceful setting after several weeks of sockeye fever. This year’s record run was certainly good news, but it made the river rather chaotic. At the Fraser River mouth, one does not have to look too hard to find boats zipping in and out of the harbour, thousands of salmon jumping at each tide change, seals and sea lions hunting, fishermen attempting to catch fish from shore, and of course exciting salmon viewers being impressed by one of nature’s wonders.

Now that the run is almost over, I have been able to venture out for a couple of hours each day with my flyfishing rod, hoping to catch whatever is lurking around. My main target species have been trout and char, but beside one beautiful cutthroat trout that was lost by my feet a few weeks ago, fishing has been slow. There should be no excuses, because the water clarity of the Fraser River has been fantastic, fish can easily spot my presentation. My only theory is that fish have been stuffed with all the discarded sockeye salmon parts from commercial fishermen, so they are not as keen to hunt down something that actually moves.

Yesterday I was finally able to connect with a nice northern pikeminnow. This fish engulfed a size one fly, which I simply jigged along edge of the reed beds as the tide current carried it downstream. This week’s tide is ideal for this type of fishing, because the afternoon outgoing tide is a small, gradual drop. I really enjoy fishing under this condition, because there is plenty of time for the fly to reach the fish without being disrupted by the strong current.



Today I returned and found some rises on the surface. Unless the bigger cutthroat trout that I saw last week, these were slightly smaller so I was not very certain what they were. Could they be steelhead smolts? Perhaps smaller anadromous cutthroat trout? I tied on a small nymph pattern, hoping one of them would attack it as I skipped it just below the surface. Sure enough, I felt a gentle tug after the first cast but was too slow to react. On my second cast, I placed the fly slightly further out and connected with a cutthroat trout immediately! Unfortunately, the fish unhooked itself while I was busy untangling my fly line.

I continued casting the small nymph after the disappointing loss. This time, I placed my line almost parallel to the reed line, so I could drag it along the edge of it. I suddenly felt one tug after another. Not knowing that it may be, I lifted the rod and found a peamouth chub at the other end of the line. Although it was just a small minnow, I was pretty ecstatic because it was my first peamouth chub on the fly. This has been something that I wanted to do this summer, so I was more than satisfied. Once I sent it back to the river, I proceeded to catch three more with the same technique before the bite suddenly died off.



Fly fishing, willing biters, calm sunny days, this is what early fall fishing on the Fraser River is all about.

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.

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.

This morning we started even later. Carlo and Shane decided that they would try out a different stream. We decided to stick to the same stream where we have been fishing in the last two days. There are so many options when staying in Fernie. So many tributaries of the Elk River to choose from, just the Elk River itself is already so long and it would take weeks to experience it all.

We decided to go back to the magic hole where dozens of cutthroat trout congregated and fed on the surface yesterday. We arrived and found the exact same scenario. Fish were still coming up to sip down insects. Nina set up the video camera, I stood on the high bank and prepare to make the first cast. Once the camera started working, I sent the dry fly out. At the end of the first drift, a chunky cutthroat slowly rose and sucked down the fly. I set the hook precisely, but after a few dives it came loose. I quickly flicked the fly back out. Halfway through the second drift, another good good sized cutthroat came up and grabbed the fly. Like the first fish, it too came loose after only a few seconds. Two casts, two fish, none to my hands, the morning excitement was already climaxing and we were only ten minutes into it.

The third fish took a bit longer to entice. After another ten casts or so, a smaller fish rose and took down the fly. This time it was not as lucky. It was hooked firmly and I brought it downstream for the release.

After all the drama, it suddenly died down. There was still a hatch happening but fish were not as eager to feed on the surface. We spent another 30 minutes without much success so it was time to move on and switch up the technique. I rigged up an indicator and a small nymph so we could walk and cast to see if any fish were hiding in deep slots. By early afternoon, the sun was beaming so fish were shier. We walked a stretch of river for two hours and I managed to connect with half a dozen more cutthroat trout and one brook trout. Some big ones were caught under log jams, which made the fight rather interesting. Most of these were lost after a few head shakes.

Mosquitoes are crazy this year and there is a drinking/tap water advisory in effect around here for anyone who is thinking about coming up to enjoy this type of fishing.

Casting upstream for a rise.

Lunch break.

One more day before heading back to the real world.