British Columbia Fishing Blog

Today we had the pleasure to fish with Al Belhuemer of Pro Line Sports on the Fraser River. Somehow our only sturgeon day of the year became the wettest as well. The forecasted 30mm rain was delivered. White caps and tide change arrived two hours into fishing, sending the boat spinning around, which made fishing extremely challenging. The first six hours produced two fish, but perseverance paid off once again as the last 1.5 hours resulted in six hook-ups, including two double hook-ups. Largest fish of the day was 5’6″.

Anticipation in the rain

A prized catch, hanging onto the roe sac

Slimed and pleased

 

The Tidal Fraser River is saltier in the winter time due to the absence of snow melt. This allows some saltwater species to move in and it is not unusual to encounter them while fishing between November and March. While spincasting for bull trout today, this whitespotted greenling decided to bite onto the spinner. Other saltwater species that one may find in the Tidal Fraser River during the winter months include pacific tomcod, spiny dogfish, shiner perch and starry flounder.

Most of the bull trout that I’ve encountered down here in Steveston are between 1 and 2lb. Every now and then, a large fish that weighs 5lb or more would swim among these little guys. There seems to be a gap in the weight range, because fish in between these two size classes are uncommon. Since the fall salmon season opening, I have found 24 bull trout at the end of my line. Although it has been a blast catching them, every single fish has been in the light weight class. The big ones are still swimming out there, undisturbed, somewhere. It would be nice to find one before the season ends. Last night I mentioned to Nina that I was going to find a 8 pounder today. Well, almost.

The wind was blowing hard from the east this morning. The tide was very high by 11:00am. Combining the two together resulted in poor fishing condition at some of the more favourable spots due to the amount of debris accumulating in the area. I picked out a couple of sheltered spots to work the spinners. After not finding a fish in an hour, hope was fading away fast. I fished the area at the far side of Garry Point Park, where a slough enters into the mainstem Fraser River. I missed a good hit at one point, which raised some hope because they would usually come back for another attempt. A few casts later, it indeed came back again. I hooked it just several feet from shore as usual. At first I thought it was a snag because there was no movement, but a few seconds later the head began to shake violently. The fish surfaced and I was shocked by how long it was. At last the beasty bull has showed itself. The game was not over yet because it began heading into the deep. The ultralight rod was pushed to the limit so I could only wait for it to tire itself out. It came into the landing net with ease after a few minutes.

Although long, this fish was rather snake-like, which is very common for this time of the year. If this fish was caught in spring, it would almost be twice as heavy. I estimated it to be around 5lb. Unfortunately I was fishing alone once again and the length of the fish made taking good photos rather difficult.

Heavy rain moved in at 1:00pm, but I managed to squeeze in one more fish before ending the outing.

Both fish were taken on a 1/8oz green bladed spinner. Another short and relatively productive outing.

Today marked the 11th outing since the Tidal Fraser River re-opened for salmon fishing. I decided to drop by Garry Point Park once again for a couple of hours around flood tide. Since the bulk of the salmon run has gone by and none have been taken, I decided to only arm myself with the light spinning rod this time for bull trout. What has been impressive so far this season is the abundance of bull trout and cutthroat trout. To date I have seen four cutthroat trout caught and released, which is a good sign considering none were seen in previous years while fishing for fall salmon.

I finally have been testing out a new spinning rod that was built from a 4wt Rainshadow blank. It is a sensitive rod as expected and it bends beautifully with a trout on.

The softness of this rod is a disadvantage when spincasting because it is hard to get a good hook set, especially if a thicker hook is used. Yesterday I had trouble picking up the strikes that I had, so today I downsized the hook to a thinner one and the change paid off.

I fished the shallow bay in front of Pajo’s Fish and Chips as usual. Kids were throwing rocks into the water, dogs were swimming on the beach, large boats were roaming by constantly, who would think trout and char could be picked up with all the disturbance. At high tide, the depth I am fishing at is between 3 and 6 feet. During low tide, these areas would be completely dry. Once water returns, fish also return to feed on critters around vegetations.

I managed to hook three today. The first small one darted into the shallows and pecked on the lure right in front of me. After a few kicks, it got off pretty easily. The second and third fish were much larger, estimated to be between 2 and 3lb. Both fish were hooked within a few casts, so they must have been schooling together. Knowing how soft the rod is, I gave it all on the hook set and the rod bent straight to the cork each time. Both fish were hooked fairly far from shore so they provided pretty lengthy fights.

This maybe the last Tidal Fraser River outing in October. Although salmon fishing has generally been poor, the bull trout fishing has been very entertaining.

Rodney’s October 2008’s Tidal Fraser River bull trout count

After bringing up followers and ambushers yesterday in the Tidal Fraser River, I saw some pretty exciting actions in the shallows today. With only a couple of hours to spare after the weekend chores, I hurried down to Garry Point Park to catch the end of today’s incoming tide. The Westerly wind was blowing hard, but that was not so much a factor since the park has fishing spots at all directions.

Today I decided to retire the spinners temporarily and try some bigger lures. I had a box of Gibbs Croc and Koho spoons in size 1/4 and 3/8oz stocked up recently. Green and orange are my productive colours. Green seems to work for chum salmon when they decide to bite, while orange almost never fails if there are coho salmon around.

Soon after I began trying the shallow portion of the first bay, a bull trout darted upward and lunged at the Croc spoon. It was rather exciting as I saw the entire event. Again, because the fish came up from the side of the spoon, it managed to get foul hooked. Unfortunately, I don’t think this particular fish will survive after being released due to the size of the gash near the abdomen. It swam away quickly, so you just never know. If it doesn’t, a nearby heron will be happy tomorrow.

Something that I’ve noticed this fall is the amount of juvenile salmonids that have been swimming by while we fish. During every flood tide, it has not been unusual to see schools after schools of them swimming toward the ocean. Perhaps this is a good indication for the fishing in several years from now.

I managed to produce a couple more hits but no hook-ups in the shallows before moving on. After a spot change, two more bull trout decided to grab the spoon in the deeper water. As tide started flowing outward, my expectation for even a sighting of salmon quickly diminished. After another spot change, I then made another exciting observation. Big boats are always moving by at the Fraser River mouth, so waves pound the shoreline constantly at times. When this occurs, I usually choose to cease fishing and wait for the water to calm down again. While waiting at one point today, I just happened to glance down between two wave crests and saw a big salmon, probably a chum salmon, swimming by several feet below the surface. See salmon in the Chilliwack is a norm, but seeing them swimming in the murky Tidal Fraser River is rare. It reminded me that anything could be swimming by in front of me while fishing this brown canal. After that sighting, I quickly dropped the ultralight setup and brought out the salmon gear again.

I finished today’s outing with this gorgeous sunset shot.