British Columbia Fishing Blog

The Chilliwack River, or more commonly known as the Vedder among anglers, is by far the busiest river fishery in British Columbia. One should not be too surprised, since it is less than 100km from two million Lower Mainland residents. Beginners, who could not care less about what they catch, love it because it usually yields many salmon every trip. Seasoned Vedder anglers enjoy testing their skills with coho and steelhead. We rush to the river before dawn because we love that first light bite, but also have the anxiety of having the trip ruined by others. It is a love and hate relationship that most of us cannot seem to get away from until we finally become too tired of it.

For the most part, my trips to the Vedder have always been very enjoyable. This is due to the fact that I am fortunate enough to have the opportunities to fish with experienced local anglers. Quality also supercedes quantity for my outings so I have a tendency to seek for fishing spots that are void of anglers even if less fish are to be had. If help is requested, I enjoy sharing the tips that have been passed to me. These objectives usually ensure that my trips would end well, but I have always been prepared for the chance of encountering a bad scenario. Today’s trip may just be that day, at least part of it anyway.

After the first scouting trip last week, the coho salmon fishing seems to have picked up. Chris phoned yesterday morning and his first words were, “Why aren’t you fishing? They are rolling everywhere!”

This was not the first time those words were spoken over the phone, but it always got me hyped up on coho fever. I decided that it was time for another visit this morning to see if I could bag a coho salmon or two.

Having his day off, Shane also decided to tag along. Shane spends most of his time targeting trout and char on the fly (see egging for trout in a salmon stream). Occasionally, he visits the Vedder during the fall salmon season but has always been unsuccessful on catching a hatchery marked coho salmon. His failure to connect with one has made him a skeptic on short floating, so it was time to put an end to his skunk streak.

The sleep on the night before was short and restless as usual. The thought of seeing the floatès disappearance and silver flashes always keep the heart pumping hard. The three of us met up at 6:30am at the hot spot. Constant splashes could be heard in the darkness, which only intensified the anticipation. We made our way down the ripraps when it was bright enough to see. The spot that Chris had picked out is a deep sandy tailout that hardly has any current. It is a classic coho spot, but I could also see hundreds of pink salmon holding in the same area. Never have I seen that many pink salmon in the Chilliwack River, which is fantastic as their carcasses will become abundant nutrient for rearing juvenile salmon and steelhead.

The pink army

Once the floats were visible in the water, we began sending our bait into the run. The bites were immediate. Shane Connected with a fish that leaped several times before it tangled the line up on a log. I was quite certain that it was a coho salmon (aren’t the ones we lose always are?). I soon found a bite too, but it was a feisty pink salmon that did not want to be unhooked by Chris. Judging by how productive it was after five minutes of fishing, we were confident that it would be action-packed for the rest of the morning. Could we be more wrong.

Entertainment started when Chris made his first cast. After greasing his reel the night before, he forgot to tighten the screw so one cast sent the drum of the reel into the water! It sank and lodged itself to some rocks in four feet deep of water. Chris attempted to net it without much success, so the alternative option was to take all the line off until the knot and drag it up.

While this was happening, we noticed the flyfisherman on the other side of the river had connected with a fish. He fought the fish to shore and proceeded to drag it up on dry bank. It is a practice that is acceptable if one intends to keep a legally caught fish, but not exactly the best for the fish if it is to be released.

While watching what had taken place and assuming that he was about to keep his first catch, I made a remark to Shane, “That must be a coho salmon! Good for him!”
“Are you sure?”, Shane replied.
“Ya! Otherwise he wouldn’t be doing that.”, I replied with condifence. After all, flyfishermen are generally more experienced.

As soon as my words were spoken, the angler, if we can actually call him that, kicked the fish in the air as if he was auditioning for “Bend it like Beckham”.

Stunned by seeing what had just taken place, I said, “I guess not…”

Shane shook his head and we were back to watching our floats.

It did not take long before this person foul hooked another fish and once again he dragged the fish up to the dry sand bar and gave the fish an even harder boot as if his day had been ruined by them.

After seeing enough, Chris advised the person loudly across the river, “Hey! Please don’t kick the fish back in the water like that!”

He immediately responded, “I don’t care! They are just pinks, a nuisance. You want to save all the mosquitos too?”

Despite of the rude reply, Chris continued, “You should be treating fish with respect.”

The language only degraded from that point, “I don’t give a ****!”

Seeing that we were dealing with someone who clearly was not going to listen, Chris simply replied, “Ok, but if you get caught by DFO doing that, it is a $250 fine.”

“I don’t give a ****!”

Funny enough, somehow he actually gave a **** after Chris took out his phone and called DFO, which unfortunately was not available. The person restrained himself from kicking more fish back in the water, but still dragged them up to dry land each time before leaving 30 minutes later.

The displayed arrogance boggled my mind. Why one chooses to be so rude is difficult to understand when the whole purpose of being out on the river this early in the morning was to relax, enjoy and appreciate. To treat pink salmon with such disrespect simply because there are millions of them returning is the same attitude that has resulted in the loss of many fisheries.

Not to have the day ruined by one individual, we kept fishing hard but only to be rewarded with some pink salmon. The coho bites that were expected did not really take place at first light.

Shane attempts to gain control of another pink prior to its release.

After retrieving his reel, Chris’ morning did not seem to improve. The bites that he had missed sent the entire rig back into the trees behind him sometimes, while other times it simply tangled up the entire rod.

The tangler!

When we thought things were almost organized, the next episode occurred. Without being noticed, an angler had moved to the spot where the previous flyfisherman was across from us. He watched us for a few minutes and decided to suggest that we were standing in where coho would swim past and that he wanted us to get out of the water!

We had difficulty to decide whether we should find his direct request offensive or funny. Even if he was right, which he was not, how an angler who arrives late could actually ask other anglers who have been at a spot to move is simply rude. Nevertheless, we decided that it was worth to have a chuckle over it and continued fishing.

After a couple of hours of entertainment, we finally settled down and fished in peace. At 9:00am, the sun just emerged from the hill top and the bite was finally on! The surface glare made float watching almost impossible and every bite resulted in the float shooting back into our face. The drift in the slow flow meant precise hookset was needed if we wanted to connect with a fish.

After failing many times, Shane rod finally displayed the welcoming bend that we had been waiting for. The rapid kicks indicated that it was most likely a coho salmon. Shane kept the rod high, to avoid the overhanging log that he hung up on earlier. The fish splashed on the surface several times, luckily leaped over the log toward him. It was indeed a coho salmon, a bright one too! I rushed to shore, placed my rod down and looked for a safe place to land the fish. It was not going to be easy along the steep shoreline, a bump and splash could make the fish spit out the hook instantly. Shane guided the fish to the nearby rocks and I made an attempt to grab its tail gently once it reached the shallow end. The first grab was a success! My other hand quickly tucked under the fish’s belly, which allowed me to firmly lift it up. The absence of the adipose fin put a smile on both our faces. Shane’s first ever hatchery coho salmon was finally landed.

For someone who had just landed his first ever hatchery coho, he sure did not show much excitement.

A fresh fall coho salmon, with most of its scales intact.

The bites went on for another 15 or so minutes before it completely died off. During that time, we managed to miss every single bite. Disgusted by the effort and slightly stressed by the number of fishermen that had arrived, we decided that it was time to make a move.

Shane and I decided to visit a spot in the mid section of the river that we are quite familiar with. Even though the sun was shining above us, the bite could always be on if the runs were undisturbed. In the meantime, Chris had left to his dentist appointment and we agreed to meet up for lunch a couple of hours later, unless the fishing was hot for us of course.

We were delighted to find the runs that we wanted to fish void of anglers. The water appeared to be much lower than last week, with ideal clarity that may keep the fish unaware of our presence. I chose to work the head of the run while Shane drifted through the tailout. Within a few casts, Shane was once again into another fish! The deep headshakes suggested that it was a jack chinook salmon, which are abundant in September and October.

Surface splasher.

It was quite coloured up, like the ones I had caught last week. When salmon are coloured up, especially fall chinook salmon, the best thing to do is to release them back to their spawning ground.

Back it goes!

In the meantime, I was also able to entice a few fish to bite further upstream but I failed to transform each hit into a fight. The quick takes suggested that they might be coho salmon, or at least I could always hope. While this was happening, Shane called me down once again. He had connected with another jack chinook salmon after losing two more fish!

Last fish for the day.

Spotty back.

After two jack chinook salmon, we managed to find a few more bites but failed to connect all but one fish that I had on for a minute. The fish, after burying my float completely, took a long solid run downstream. At first I had assumed that it was a chinook salmon, based on how it was fighting, but my mind changed when it showed its silver, purple tinted body in the air. I managed to guide it back upstream, but the unbearable hook pop happened once its head appeared on the surface. Once again, I had to return home with an empty cooler.

Despite of an eventful start that we could do without this morning, it was yet another enjoyable Vedder outing that I can both love and hate. While it was exciting to see Shane retaining his first hatchery coho salmon, it was disappointing to miss so many opportunities when fish should easily be hooked. The earlier episodes also suggest that the quality of the Vedder recreational fishery still has room for improvement. It certainly would be nice to see more fish in the river, but it would be even nicer to see more educated, respectful anglers.

This September has seen one of the bigger pink salmon return to the Fraser River and I was glad that my friend Iwan, my wife Nina and my dad were able to experience it. All three are from parts of the world (Iwan from UK, Nina from Denmark and Dad from Taiwan) where they simply cannot see biomass anywhere as large as this! It is another reason that Lower Mainlanders should feel lucky and appreciate this so called “low grade” salmon species.

Dad with a Tidal Fraser River pink salmon.

While I was glad to show this fishery to all three in September and watch everyone around me catching numerous fish, I probably had the most frustrating pink salmon season. Both Nina and I managed to land five fish each, but the similarity ends there. In total, she was able to hook into 17 fish while I only connected with 10 fish. After releasing my last fish on September 8th, I said the famous last words, “There will be more to come.” In the past three weeks, I have tried my best daily, only to end up watching Nina hooking multiple fish. I was quite hopeful until one week ago, when fish stopped showing up during the incoming tide. That is just the way it goes I guess, time to accept defeat and focus on coho, bull trout and cutthroat trout!

Yesterday I wandered around Garry Point Park to see if I could entice a bull trout on the fly. This is typically the time of the year when they emerge. Signs of fall surrounded me. The cool moist air sent shivers down the spine at times. The first flock of snow geese flew over me, heading into ladner. It seemed like just yesterday when I took photos of last year’s snow geese when they fed on the field by my house.

The fishing was rather slow, I guess these bull trout are not in yet. Near the end of my outing, I fished an area where there is a little bay behind me. In the bay, I noticed a great blue heron patiently hunting. There seems to be one hunting in that bay everytime I am fishing, perhaps it is the same one. Although fully aware of my presence, it did not seem worried at all so both fishers went on their business. At the end of a strip, I was ready to cast my fly out so I flicked the rod back. By doing so, a little trout just happened to grab onto the fly and was sent out of the water to the bay behind me. It landed not far from the rocks, but soon disappeared as it fell off the hook. I was hopeful that it would survive and swim away from the traumatic episode. A few casts later, I watched the heron stealthly shifted its position and pierced its beak into the water with precision. The same poor trout was lifted out of the water and swallowed by the feathery hunter. It took a few gulps before it was fully swallowed. Looking content, the heron stood in the bay and digest quietly while I continued my search for the first bull trout. It was a rather unusual, yet comical experience. Two hunters, one lost while the other gained, and a poor prey was caught in between the battle.

I took this photo last November at the same spot as where this heron caught the fish.

This morning, I woke up in darkness so I could be on the Chilliwack River before dawn. The start of October also indicates the approach of the peak of coho salmon season in the Chilliwack River. I enjoy lure fishing, flyfishing very much, but float fishing for coho salmon at dawn probably excite me more than any other fisheries. It is so addicting that the burial of the float emerges in my dreams like a blinking orange light in the dark.

I arrived at 6:30am with plenty of time to spare before my first cast. A short walk through the bush lead me to a stretch of river where no other anglers could be found. Despite of what many choose to believe, solitude is not impossible on the Chilliwack River if one invests the time and energy on exploring.

The water looked fantastic. It was clear but recent rain had stirred up some colour, making it ideal for fishing. I casted my float into a slot where I believed coho salmon maybe sitting. The float dove below the surface a few drifts later and I was connected with the first fish. The deep headshake suggested a jack chinook salmon. A few tugs later, its head surfaced and it was indeed a jack chinook salmon already in its spawning phase. I unhooked what looked like a giant olive and quickly released it without touching it too much. This ensured that it remained injury-free but also kept my hands free from the strong scent that fall chinook salmon tend to emit.

Ready to spawn.

The first coho salmon attempt on the Chilliwack River did not yield any result beside a couple of jack chinook salmon that were hungry for roe. Nevertheless, it was very enjoyable to be fishing on one of my favorite rivers in the Lower Mainland again, especially when I had the opportunity to watch thousands of pink salmon spawning and an osprey patrolling the valley.

Fall has arrived, it is the best fishing time on the Southern coast. Let the fun begins!

Having not fished at all in 2009 due to a lack of motivation to fish spring stillwaters followed by a ruptured achilles tendon, I was just itching to hit some moving water. Usually by this time, multiple trips to the T and Skagit have been done and a longer road trip to the Kootenays has been accomplished.

Two weekends ago I had decided that my leg had healed enough to at least try a walk and wade, preferably on a smaller piece of water. As I enjoy exploring new areas and waters almost as much as fishing, I decided to hit an indirect Fraser River’s tributary that I had visited in the past on a non-fishing trip. I knew then I could hit a more familiar piece of water on the way back. As I would be going solo because my usual flyfishing partner was was up north popping his Skeena cherry, I treated the trip as more of a scouting mission for the following weekend. As part of my scouting, I scoured through the regulations to see if the creek I was intending on hitting was indeed open. After not seeing any mention of the creek and double checking with Rodney, I knew that I was ready.

The drive up was uneventful but the obligatory stops at Timmy Ho’s, McD’s and a quick pee & smoke break at a bridge over a river, I finally reached my destination in just under four hours.

The piece of water where I was to hit first was not very big at all, but I was aware of that. I tentatively began wading the river, more focused on my leg than fishing, but that quickly changed as I totally forgot about my leg. The creek was not very wide or deep but there were very little obvious structures and riffles. Targeting the slower seams and slicks, I finally got into a bully of about 16 inches and then a nice rainbow before I reached what was to be the only pool on the creek. The pool had definite potential as it was nice and deep with the water funneling off a shelf at the head due to a nice logjam and slowly broadening out with a nice tailout. Also, there was a whack of sockeye just milling about and you could see the grey shadows of some nice bulls hanging around.

The creek

The reason to target this creek

Here are some of the results of the initial scouting trip.

Scarface

After landing two rainbows, thirteen bulls and losing a bunch more, I headed off to tributary number two but after such a successful scouting trip on my initial trip of the year, I found that I was not very motivated and more than a bit tired. I did fish for a bit but found that the fishing was slow and was not able to land any fish.

Last weekend, I headed up again but this time with Carlo. As usual, when fishing with Carlo, you start your drive up when it is dark and your drive back when it is dark.  

After we reached our destination, I was disappointed to see that the water had risen and had a very slight bit of colour to it. I also could tell that Carlo seemed a bit skeptical when we did not get into any fish after the first twenty minutes or so. The slower seams and slicks that were so evident a week ago were all gone due to the higher water. It seemed that the fish had either moved to different holding areas or had dropped back down, but I was not too worried as I knew we were approaching the only pool on the creek. In the meantime Carlo managed to land a smaller bull trout.

Carlo playing his first fish

After reaching the pool, things thankfully picked up and we both landed a couple of fish and lost a few more.

After exhausting the pool, we quickly moved our way to the mouth of the creek and were immediately into some nice fish!

Checking the time, we realized that we needed to head to tributary number two if we wanted to have time to fish it. 30 minutes later, we were at tributary number two and although the fishing was not as fast and furious, we were able to each land some decent fish.

Tributary number two

Untangling the leader from a branch while fighting a fish…

and still landing it!

Rainbow

Fall is upon us and the fishing will only get better.

After our successful first day of this year’s pink salmon season, today’s fishing was rather mellow. The news spreads fast when the fish are biting, the river bank was lined with eager anglers throughout most of the afternoon in South Arm of Fraser River. A couple of schools rushed through our spot when the tide peaked and turned. Some managed to hook a fish or two while others came up empty handed. Among our group, Vince, Marco and I all hooked and lost a fish, while Nina somehow connected with four fish and landed one of them in a short period of time.

We called it a day at 8:00pm and came home to cook up the fish that we brought home yesterday. I had filleted, skined and deboned them earlier today. Instead of grilling them like we usually do, we decided to follow a recipe that Nina had published on the website many years ago. I chopped each fillet into small pieces and grinded them with onion, flour, egg, milk and seasonings into a paste. The end result was a plate of delicious fish cakes, served with baked potato, vegetables and fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden. Late summer is always a treat for the taste buds.

The anticipation of pink salmon turns into anxiety as we approach September during every odd year. Each day when no fish are caught, I become more excited and worried at the same time. As other years, we started searching for pink salmon in the Tidal Fraser River around August 20th because small schools often sneak into the river during incoming tides. In previous years, I was always able to connect with a few fish and successfully land them before the massive run arrived. This has not been the case in 2009. Beside one fish that I briefly hooked and lost one week ago, each outing has resulted in no sightings of pink salmon. Where and when are they passing by my favorite spots, these have been the questions that I asked myself each day. Despite of how lowly some anglers talk about pink salmon, I find this chase is just as exciting as other salmonid fisheries.

Yesterday we saw the first signs of much large number of fish arriving in the river during the incoming tide. My UK friend Iwan and I managed to hook three fish each, but none ended up in the landing net. Iwan visits Vancouver with his wife Kira every year to see her family. During his visits, I always try to find an unique fishery in BC for him to experience. We’ve tried fall coho and chum salmon fishing, spring bull trout fishing and sturgeon fishing. This year he really wanted to experience the pink fever that I have described with such enthusiasm, so the mission has been to put a few humpies on his line.

After losing every single fish yesterday, we lost sleep last night because it was likely that today would be even better. We arrived at the same location at 2:30pm, when incoming tide was just starting. It seems like fish have been making their way upstream when the water is low. As soon as we arrived, Mark informed us that fish were rolling everywhere. It only took a few seconds for us to look up and spot some risers. Excited, we scrambled to get our lure in the water.

Fish continued to surface around us but there were no hook-ups. I could feel the occasional tugs but they were too light and fast for me to react. I guess this is what happens after the two year break. Nina hooked into a fish soon after we started fishing but it quickly shook itself off the hook. After an hour of trying, a fish or two were hooked around us before the school disappeared. Some say pink salmon are the easiest salmon to catch, this does not seem to be the case all the time.

Disappointed, we took breaks, chatted and made casts casually while waiting for more fish to arrive. The social aspect of Tidal Fraser River fisheries is why I find them so appealing.

At 5:00pm, Mark and Nina noticed many fish jumping downstream from us in the horizon. The tide was almost peaking, so if they were going to come, it had to be now! It only took a few minutes after the sighting for these fish to surface in front of us. They rolled and jumped in the middle of the channel first before slowly approaching our casting range.

The atmosphere suddenly tensed up. Everyone was eager to hook a fish. Mark was the first person to raise his rod when a pink salmon slammed his lure just several feet in front of him. It was not very big, but it pushed his rod to the limit. I reached down with a landing net after a few minutes and scooped up Mark’s first pink salmon of the year.

The first of the year is always very satisfying!

It only took minutes before others were finding humpies dancing on their lines as the school of fish grew in front of us. Despite of everyone’s success, Iwan, Nina and I could not seem to hook a fish! I could feel numerous bites, but they were always too light and swift. Fish started to circle in front of us instead of migrating upstream. It looked like they were actually feeding because tiny baitfish were frantically jumping out of the water! We had fish porpoising right in front of us, as if they were mocking our inability to trick them.

Finally, I had to change the game plan. I decided that the 1/0 hook was simply too big for these fish because all the ones landed looked to be in the 3 to 4lb range. I switched my hook to a size 2 and immediately I hooked up after detecting the same light tug! I landed the fish in no time and quickly put a size 2 hook on Nina’s spoon as well. She made a cast while I turned around to organize my box. “Fish on!”, she exclaimed before I had a chance to put the 1/0 hook away! It leaped a couple of times before spitting the hook out. Disappointment there was not, because we were finally hooking fish at least.

The right hook size resulted in a bent rod.

A few minutes later, Mark’s reel screamed as Nina hooked into another fish at the same time. The little 6lb setup that Nina was employing was taking a heavy beating by the fish as it peeled line off the spool like a freight train. “I cannot gain any line! It just kept going and going!”, Nina became worried. The fish showed itself on the surface soon after she made that remark and I chuckled because it was no more than 5lb. After the long sprint, the fish surrendered as Nina gained her line back. I extended my arm out with the landing net while Nina guided the exhausted fish into it. It was her first Fraser River pink salmon, ever!

Relieved with a fine catch after hours of trying.

Now that Mark, Nina and I had landed a fish, Iwan was still blanked beside a fish that was lost earlier. Looking deflated, he must have been wondering what was going on like what I was experiencing earlier. The rolls and splashes tapered off in front of us after an hour, it looked like Iwan’s time and luck was running out.

Nina and I gave our spot to him because fish seemed to be surfacing closer to shore at our spot. It took another 30 minutes before another school of fish began approaching our spot again. Finally, just as Iwan was ready to lift his lure out of the water just several feet from the rod tip, a pink salmon made a shallow attack and surprised him. I quickly grabbed the camera to document his first while Mark stood by with his net. After so many losses, Iwan played the fish with confidence while it made short darts and high leaps in the shallow water. Even though it was hooked not far from shore, it was not ready to surrender yet. We held our breath and watched Iwan and Mark putting on a brief dramatic performance.

A miss by the netter!
Success!

A first for Iwan at last after 15 hours of trying! His grin from ear to ear shows how rewarding it is when persistence is paid off.

Another happy Tidal Fraser angler.

September 2nd marks the beginning of 2009’s Tidal Fraser pink salmon fever. Fishing in the next several weeks will only get better. This is one salmon fishery that anglers of all ages and skill levels can truly enjoy, so make sure you take advantage of it while it lasts! If you need more information, please read this article.