British Columbia Fishing Blog

It has been over one week since we returned from Denmark to Canada. Although rainy at times, the mild weather is definitely a very welcoming  change after weeks of snow and ice on the other side of the Atlantic. It has also been over a month since I connected with my last fish. To fix the cabin fever, I am eager to get out to find a tug or two. Today I briefly visited one of my regular spots, Garry Point Park, hoping to entice a bull trout or cutthroat trout. No such luck unfortunately, even though the water clarity was more than satisfactory. January is always a tough month to find a fish down in the Tidal Fraser, due to the lack of food and colder environment. It was still a rewarding morning, as I saw a large beaver swimming against the outgoing tide and a statue-like heron hunting for fish. News from Chris on the Chilliwack River is suggesting improvement in the steelhead fishing, so we may need to venture into the valley to find a tug and cure the fishing bug.

After last week’s brief success, I returned to the old spot for the second time and hoped for some bigger catches. To my surprise, I was lucky enough to see some activities as soon as I arrived at first light. The video tells the entire story. Enjoy!

Beside one coho salmon trip and a couple of brief outings to my usual spots in Steveston, fishing in this past November for me was a bust. For this fair weather fisherman, gale force wind and bucket loads of rain made it rather unappealing to be outside. Whiners definitely don’t catch many fish!

I was somewhat relieved to get away from all the storms last week, not to a tropical paradise, but back to Denmark where I spend each Christmas. Even though the weather is not exactly better on the other side of the planet, it is refreshing and motivating to have a change of scenery and target species.

Winter along the Danish coast means sea trout fishing, which I have tried for several seasons now. I have not had much solid result until last season, after studying maps and trying out dozens of spots. Figuring out where these fish might be is only half the challenge, getting them to commit to your presentation is the other half. Being a naive freshwater fisherman, I remember showing up with some light spinning lures during my first outing to the coast. They never worked. Half of the time they probably did not even reach the fish because they were too light, the action of the lures also did not match up with their feed. After many trials and errors, I am now equipped with the right tackle and some confidence when I am out targeting Danish sea trout.

Yesterday I returned to a spot where I visited exactly one year ago. During that outing, I was teased by dozens of trout that chased but never commited to my lures. In the end, I had to settle with one small fish that was foolish enough to grab my fly. Ever since that trip, I have been waiting for a replay of the same scenario so I could perhaps attack it differently. For that to happen, the wind has to come from the east, otherwise it would be difficult to fish with both wind and waves pounding the shoreline. yesterday’s condition could not be any better. Although the temperature never reached above zero Celcius, the light easterly wind and clear blue sky gave me a very optimistic outlook of the trip.

The Japanese-made European fish mobil.

Just as the sun was trying to peek out in the far horizon at 9:00am, I made my way to the same rocks where I encountered these fish right away. It is every fisherman’s nature to fish the same spot where we previously had success and seek for similar outcomes. I guess this rewarding feeling is somewhat similar to what gamblers long for.

With the sea being so calm and flat, I could spot every underwater structure around me. Sea trout are not necessarily very far out from the beach. At times they dart between structures, hunting for crustaceans, sand eels and other baitfish. In the winter, some might even rest themselves in the algae bed so they can enjoy the warmth from the sun. I casted and constantly looked for shadows and ripples, hoping to spot a feeder or two. For the first two hours, there was not a single sign of life. If this was my first sea trout outing many years ago, I would have been quite disappointed. Since then, I have learned to accept this as a norm and understood that the fishing can also improve rather fast unexpectedly.

Casting into the calm sea.

At 11:30am, after the sun had brought some welcoming warmth, the morning finally was a bit more exciting. On one retrieve, I spotted a swirl at where my lure had just passed through. I wondered whether it was a fish or just some algae protruding due to some small waves. Just as I was thinking that, a fish hammered the long lure just before it reached the thick algae bed in the shallow water. The modified 4wt spinning rod performed its magic as the silver sea trout splashed on the surface. I kept the rod high as it began peeling some line off the little spinning reel, because too often my fish have been lost when they swam into the thick algae bed. The struggle was short lived, because its size was nothing to brag about. Nevertheless, a small catch is still better than a fishless day.

A little silvery catch.

After setting it free, I was delighted and relieved to have something to write about so quickly. During my past stays in Denmark, it always took several trips before I could find some success. I made some more casts to the spot, hoping that I had encountered a school of feeders. Another thirty minutes went by and I concluded that it was not a school.

I returned to the same area with a fly rod after a well deserved lunch break. Perhaps a small fly would outperform the big lures being retrieved at a faster speed. I worked it across the waist-deep water systematically, hoping that there would be some fish hiding in the shallow algae beds. After an hour, there was finally a tug. The first was undetected as I tried not to lose my footing while stepping off a rock. A few strips later, it tugged on the fly the second time but I still was not prepared to set the hook. I immediately shot the line out again, tempting aggressive sea trout that have nothing on their mind except feeding is not difficult. As soon as I started stripping in the fly, the same fish or its companion took another swipe at it again. Unbelievably, I managed to miss it too. It ended as quickly as it began. The next dozen casts could not do the trick. This is pretty much what coastal sea trout fishing is all about, they come and go within a blink of an eye.

The rest of the afternoon was just as unproductive. With the sun disappearing at 3:30pm, I packed it up before the fingers froze. One catch in early December is definitely a good warm-up of this year’s winter sea trout fishery for me, I look forward to see similar or better results before I return to Canada in mid January.

Bull trout such as this maybe small, they are still very enjoyable to catch on light gear.

For over a week now, I have been haunted by a seasonal cold that just does not want to unleech itself. This kept me indoor and away from the tributaries where coho salmon fishing has been at its peak. The constant rain has not helped either. To kill the fishing bug, I decided that the best thing to do was to drop by the local beaches in the Fraser River estuaries for an hour or two each day. The main target species is not salmon, but trout and char, on light tackle. After half a dozen outings with both fly and spinning gear, I seem to have noticed an interesting trend.

In the past, my success has always occurred just after the tide peaks. Last week’s high tides occurred around early afternoon, but somehow, rain or shine, I was unable to locate some fish, yet the same spots where I had just fished would produce in the last hour of the day. Bull trout could be seen following my spinner or fly closely behind and either attack or turn away when they ran out of water to swim in.

Normally fishing in the Fraser River estuaries is more tidal dependent than light dependent because the poor water clarity already provides enough cover for fish during the day. Perhaps when lighting becomes low, these bull trout are more willing to hunt in the shallow water.

This weekend, I decided to put that theory to the test. Yesterday I began fishing at 1:00pm but did not manage to hook a fish until 5:00pm. The bites were furious. Another fish was fooled once the first was released. This was followed by three more chances, including the sighting of a rather large fish following behind my spinner. 

Taking in the November sun while waiting for the bites to come on.

A collection of small spoons, spinners and crankbaits is your ticket to plenty of bull trout action.

I returned today to the same spot with great anticipation that I would connect with just as many fish. I began at 2:00pm, three hours before sundown. The first two hours were again fishless. With one hour of sunlight to go, I reached yesterday’s hot spot and casted the 1/8oz green spinner that has always done well for me. It took only two turns on the reel handle before I felt a solid tug, but the slow reaction never resulted in a hook-up. I was quite confident that it may come back as it only felt the hook briefly. A few casts later, I felt a light tug as the lure approached me. I continued retrieving and felt a stronger tug. Once again, the slow reaction never resulted in a hook-up. At this point, a big cargo ship cruised by so I decided to take a break while the big waves pounded the shoreline.

Once the water calmed down again, I sent the spinner out again and was prepared for another take. As if it was rehearsed, another fish (or the same fish) went for the spinner again when it rached the shallow water. This time I was quick on the hook-set and the rod shake confirmed the hook-up, but it was short lived. This fish spit the hook and sent the spinner flying back toward me after staying on for a few seconds.

Deflated, I decided to walk to another spot then come back just before dusk so these fish could settle down a bit. I returned 30 minutes later and an unsuspecting bull trout immediately attacked the lure. This fish took a few strong runs but was unable to escape. It measured just under 17 inches long, the best one so far this season.

Excited, but I was also aware that my time was running out because the sun had already set. I made a few more casts into the same spot without much result. I decided to work the beach systematically by moving several feet after each cast. When I was about 50 feet away from the spot where I hooked the first fish, another fish attacked the lure in the shallow. The strength of this fish suggested that it was a larger specimen. It also put the small spinning reel to work for a couple of minutes before I was able to guide it into the net. This fish measured just under 19 inches long!

With two fish brought to the net within ten minutes, I was already quite satisfied. I dried myself up and kept working along the beach, hoping that there were more than two fish in the area. Five more minutes went by and to my surprise, another fish decided to grab the lure in the shallow water. This fish was a juvenile compared to the other two, only around 14 inches in length.

While the fall salmon season is gradually tapering off, fishing for trout and char in the Fraser River and tributaries will only improve. Fishing in Southwestern BC indeed takes place year-round. The bull trout fishery in the Fraser estuaries is close enough to the city that one could easily take advantage of it by doing these short outings. For more information, please read this article.

The Tidal Fraser River finally opened for coho salmon fishing on Saturday October 10th (see notice). This is a fishery that I anticipate each year, because it is so close to home and the fishing can be spectacular. Beside coho salmon, it is not unusual to encounter other species too, such as chinook salmon, chum salmon, cutthroat trout, bull trout, northern pikeminnow and event a stugeon or two. Not knowing what I may connect on the next cast makes fishing the Tidal Fraser River in October and November very appealing.

While bait such as roe can be used, my preferred method is to cast and retrieve spoons and spinners. Not that I think it involves more skills to catch them on hardwares than bait, I simply find it hard to sit and stare at a rod tip for a long period of time.  I also find that bites are not as easily missed when retrieving a lure.

My choice of lure is a 1/8oz spinner with a size 3 green blade. This lure has been especially good to me when fishing for bull trout, cutthroat trout and jack coho salmon. I arrived at 11:00am on opening day, two hours before the tide peaked. In the first two hours or so, I managed to miss two bites while nearby roe anglers had a few bites and managed to land one jack coho. Once the tide peaked and started dropping, I missed another bite, followed by a 35cm bull trout that did not get away fast enough at around 2:00pm. At 3:15pm, the tide had dropped two feet and I had another quick tug. I hooked, watched the rod bent and for the first five seconds the fish fought sluggishly. I assumed that it was just another bull trout and retrieved slowly as the fish was being towed in. Suddenly, it leaped straight out of the water and I could see the 6lb or so silvery body was in fact a coho salmon. The fun soon began as the fish bolted and took several powerful runs like all ocean fresh coho would do. It must have taken about six runs before I guided it into the net. Not a bad opening day indeed! It has been two years since I landed an adult coho salmon in the Tidal Fraser River. Last year, a dozen or so outings only yielded a hatchery jack coho that I managed to drop in the water after bonking it.

This coho was a wild fish. Just about all the scales are intact, the body was very deep as it should be since it just entered the river. A quick photo and we sent it back to the river so it is now on its way into one of the valley tributaries.  Hopefully this is a sign of many more good days to come in October.

I returned on day two to hit the same tide, hoping for coho number two. There were more anglers, either spincasting or plunking with roe. This is fine, as the Tidal Fraser fishery always has a relaxing, friendly atmosphere. More anglers also keep each other motivated if there are sightings of fish. Day two was unproductive for me beside a tiny trout that greedily grabbed my 1/4oz spoon. Others were more successful, the odd jack coho and bull trout were landed. The highlight of the day was the large silver coho in the 10 to 12lb range that one angler was lucky enough to connect with.

Day three’s weather was much more tolerable. It was not as windy and the overcast sky was ideal for coho salmon fishing. I arrived around Noon to find Mike and Andrew already patiently watching their bar rods. They reported many fish rising when they arrived at 10:30am but it had been quiet since.

Even though the update was not that exciting, I was quite confident that we would find some fish. Unlike streams, fish are constantly on the move in the Tidal Fraser River so the fishing result can change by the minute.

Sure enough, I immediately felt some taps after sending out my little green spinner. Not long after, I connected with a jumpy 12″ cutthroat trout that swam into my net very willingly. I was quite excited, because for awhile now I have been attempting to collect DNA samples from Tidal Fraser cutthroat trout that the hatchery wants. A quick snip, a measurement and a photo, it was time to send it back to the river.

Silver cutthroat trout can be common in the Tidal Fraser in October.

As soon as I released my fish, Andrew felt some strong bites on his bar rod. He forcefully set the hook and the bend suggested a rather large fish was at the end of his line. The pulls seemed very unsalmon-like as it stayed in the deep for a long time. We put the net down and began speculating. Perhaps it is a sturgeon? The fight went on for ten more minutes before the fish emerged from the cloudy water. It was indeed a white sturgeon! It took awhile to bring in the four foot long fish on 15lb test tackle, but Andrew did it perfectly. Without gloves, Mike grabbed onto its tail, hoping that the sharp scutes would not cut his hands.

A surprising catch!

It’s unusual to catch a white sturgeon when fishing for salmon with roe, but it’s not impossible. The area is usually too shallow for sturgeon to swim in, unless you cast further out like what Andrew did.

Once everything settled down again, I returned to my spinner casting. Once again, it did not take long before I connected with another fish. This time, the catch was a bull trout. As I was collecting a sample from it in the net, an angler had come down and made a cast nearby. He immediately connected with another cutthroat trout! There were definitely some feeding fish around.

While these fish in the 12 – 16″ range are no trophy coho, I rather catch some of them than catching nothing, especially on light tackle.

The rest of the afternoon was just as exciting. Andrew managed to land another white sturgeon. Carlo joined us and managed to be teased by several coho salmon that decided to only stay on his line for no longer than two seconds. I added one more to the species catch list, a beefy northern pikeminnow that has not felt the arrival of winter yet. A few chum salmon could be seen rolling as the tide peaked. This is a very good sign, because there have been some worries that the Fraser River chum salmon return seems either low or late.

The Tidal Fraser River never disappoints. This Thanksgiving Weekend has resulted in three days of memorable fall salmon fishing.