Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Darko on January 29, 2024, 09:13:56 PM
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There is a whole generation of us young anglers who will never get to feel the pull of a Thompson steelhead, or see a 40 lb Kisipiox Steelhead, but hearing your stories of the golden ages may help us cope.
The longer, and more detailed the story the better. Any historic BC steelhead river is welcome ;Kisipiox, Kitimat, Babine, Thompson, Gold River, Dean ect. Any legendary steelhead stream.
It would be a shame for the stories of these fish to be lost. So feel free to share them here. Thank you all in advance.
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A few old Vedder memories … remember this is 60 years ago.
Counting over 100 steelhead holding in a run in the lower river.
Seeing 25 hooked in one run in one day.
Looking into the box canyon and seeing a mass of steelhead, so many you couldn’t the bottom.
At the end of the day, at Riverside Resort, anglers digging into the dozen or more dead steelhead laying in the big galvanized box, for their fish they left there while out searching for more.
Knowing every angler you met that day.
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Stamp river back in the early nineties rowing my drift boat down from the gun club to the service road take out. My best day was 16 hook ups and 11 landed. The jet boat guides David Murphy, Greg Mcinroy, Kenny Myers regularly hooked 20 to 30 on good days. Schools of winter steelhead would swim up the Stamp river starting in early December. You would see fish surfacing as they swam upriver. It was incredible winter steelhead fishing during those years. For a change of scenery I would drive up island and fish the Gold river when it was in its hey day from shore and get into a 1/2 dozen. It was not uncommon for a drift boat or raft putting in below the canyon and drifting the lower end of the Gold river to have 30-40 hook ups of a completely wild winter steelhead run. Those were the days.
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Used to fish the stamp with my dad in the early 90s. Our guides name was Jay. Can’t remember his last name. Ya I also remember seeing schools of steelhead heading up river. Multiple hook ups and fish landed every day. Fabulous fishing. My favourite on foot spot was a place I think was called Swansons ? Long time ago.
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Used to fish the stamp with my dad in the early 90s. Our guides name was Jay. Can’t remember his last name. Ya I also remember seeing schools of steelhead heading up river. Multiple hook ups and fish landed every day. Fabulous fishing. My favourite on foot spot was a place I think was called Swansons ? Long time ago.
Swansons was indeed a fabulous shore spot. My first time there I couldn’t believe the number of hook ups first thing in the morning before the byte turned off. It was like fishing for coho on the Vedder! Lol
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Unfortunately public access is no longer permitted thanks to idiots littering the shoreline with bottles and garbage.
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A few old Vedder memories … remember this is 60 years ago.
Counting over 100 steelhead holding in a run in the lower river.
Seeing 25 hooked in one run in one day.
Looking into the box canyon and seeing a mass of steelhead, so many you couldn’t the bottom.
At the end of the day, at Riverside Resort, anglers digging into the dozen or more dead steelhead laying in the big galvanized box, for their fish they left there while out searching for more.
Knowing every angler you met that day.
I’ve seen 18 in one evening in the not so distant past
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Unfortunately public access is no longer permitted thanks to idiots littering the shoreline with bottles and garbage.
I remember one year at Swanson everyone was losing their rigs at the bottom end of the run. Turns out someone had anchored an old mattress on the bottom of the river. Possibly the land owner ?
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Hearing these stories is like hearing the house prices in Vancouver back in 1980s
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Hearing these stories is like hearing the house prices in Vancouver back in 1980s
My parents bought their house in Surrey for 12,000 in 1966. Current market value is about 1.6 million, that's return of 228% per year.
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My parents bought their house in Surrey for 12,000 in 1966. Current market value is about 1.6 million, that's return of 228% per year.
its closer to 9% per year
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I just used an on line growth rate calculator:
https://miniwebtool.com/percent-growth-rate-calculator/?present_value=12000&future_value=1600000&num=58
you used a future value calculator of a lump sum
the formula for the future value of a lump sum is FV=PV x {(1 +i) to the power of p)
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I just used a ROI calculator
https://www.calculator.net/roi-calculator.html?beginbalance=12%2C000&endbalance=1600000&investmenttime=length&investmentlength=57&beginbalanceday=2024-02-01&endbalanceday=2028-12-31&x=Calculate#calresult
real state on average in Canada i think is around 6% per year, good investment but not liquid
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I just used a ROI calculator
https://www.calculator.net/roi-calculator.html?beginbalance=12%2C000&endbalance=1600000&investmenttime=length&investmentlength=57&beginbalanceday=2024-02-01&endbalanceday=2028-12-31&x=Calculate#calresult
real state on average in Canada i think is around 6% per year, good investment but not liquid
same thing - see the edits I made above
and I bet you can't guess why the 2 are different
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Late brother George and I used catch the earliest Horseshoe bay ferry go over to Port Alberni before Labour day Chinook salmon derby and fished Stamp river. We would walked across the farmer hay field and fished Swanson pool. Once high tide rolls around and about 1 hour later a fresh run of summer chinooks would stacked up here. In about couple hours we would get our limit of 2 adult chinook each.
Then we would head up stream and fished General Money run all the way up to mouth of Ash river for summer steelheads and resident rainbows. What blasted. Nobody around except maybe a bear to make things interesting.
Queen Charlotte island aka Haida Gwaii Yakoun river. One best winter steelhead fishing I done solo back good old days in 90's around 3 rd week of November . Late dad, uncle and dad's friend drop me off while they went hunting for Sitka blacktail deers. I know all the runs on the Yakoun river. I was dropped off at Papa John bridge run walked down stream about 200 feet from the bridge and made 7 cast and caught 3 chrome bright sea lice hen steelheads averaging around 14 lbs. Then the big buck steelhead grab my hot pink yarn. I never caught steelhead fought so hard before and I knew it was big. I just prayed that my 12lb mono leader wouldn't break. I ran like a mad man downstream and about 20 odds minutes later I landed the beast. Bright silver with blushed of red cheek and I used my Sage 3113MB centre pin rod to measured the beast. I measured the head from my chrome rod butt to end of the tail and it measured past my first guide. Total measurement length 41 3/4 inches, not sure about the girth. I just remember I couldn't put my hand around his tail. You got remember this before smart phone. no pictures. Biggest wild steelhead I ever caught. The rest of day I fished all the way up passed branch 32 runs about 1/2 km. I would would like to fished further upstream more but I was chicken sh*t. I am scare of bears. Those QC Island black bears makes the lowermainland black bears looks like cubs. I ended up catching and landed 21 steelheads. I had had one steelhead came up surface and attacked my float.
First year retention of chum salmon ever on Squamish river. I have never caught so many chrome sea lice chums before. Each angler was allowed 2 daily limit of chum back then. What a blasted. Each fishing trip I was averaging 40 chums. If I had purple jigs back back then I would double amount chum caught.
I have lots of memorable 57 years of fishing trips. Now when I take the my young fishing or hunting friends on these trips I always tell them don't take anything for grant. It could be last enjoyable trips you able to experience.
Enjoy.
Silex user
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I guess I got carry away. It should being steelhad stories. Oh well.
Silex user
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that's return of 228% per year.
I would argue that the way you have worder it mine is more a correct representation.
I think you should of said growth rate of, not return of
i would also argue that using the growth rate % in describing returns over that time useless in describing real estate price increase.
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Really they are both the average rate of change.
The 1st calculator just calculates the yearly average change as a percent. So if the house is worth $24k after 1 year the return is 12,000 or 100%
ROI/FV includes the time value of money. We all know a $ today isn't the same as a $ in 1966. The 9% not just inflation but also opportunity cost, risk (possibly taxes) and what an investor wants to get out of it. Not included are moving costs and the marginal costs of new accommodation.
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228% per year does not describe or account for any of that.
but I'm beginning to understand how the liberals do the budget
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228% per year does not describe or account for any of that.
but I'm beginning to understand how the liberals do the budget
mathematically the formula used by that calculator is fine. ROIs does not calculate an average return per year. It's discounted return over the life of an investment. Averages are troublesome to deal with - that's why families have 1.3 children on average, for example. There is a considerable argument whether a house is an investment. My house is worth around 70k. The land is worth well over 1.5 million. If I sold the house I need another place to live.
My father sold that house in 2011 after my Mother passed away for around 360k. What does that say about your 9%? What's the ROI over 12 years on return of 1.24 million on an invest of 360K?
I'd like to add something, on topic even, that the Golden Age of Steelheading ended around 1960.
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I remember seeing a chart of steelhead catches in commercial fisheries by year, The amount of catch basically declined since the record keeping started while salmon catches fluctuated. it kind of implied to me that steelhead were always being over exploited being the less abundant fish being caught in salmon fisheries.
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228% per year does not describe or account for any of that.
but I'm beginning to understand how the liberals do the budget
you misunderstood my comments. They did try to explain why the two are different.
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you misunderstood my comments. They didn't try to explain why the two are different.
Hey! Knock it off Ralph.This is a steelhead thread.
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Hey! Knock it off Ralph.This is a steelhead thread.
This is gold for Ralph, he's finally got someone to talk to, lol!
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someone doesn't like rabbit holes!
I don't think anyone here experienced the "Golden Age". It only gets recognized as such once it's long gone.
You want to know about the Golden age of steehead fishing read Haig Brown or Ralph Wahl or John Fennelly or Zane Grey.
Read a lot of history then you may realize when people start talking about the "Golden Age", we are all about to go down the toilet hole.
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someone doesn't like rabbit holes!
I don't think anyone here experienced the "Golden Age". It only gets recognized as such once it's long gone.
I'm sure a lot of forum members have fished the thompson from the 1970's - 1980's. Those were definitely golden times for the thompson, maybe not in the late eighties but still night and day compared to today.
I guess I got carry away. It should being steelhad stories. Oh well.
Silex user
not at all, I loved it. More stuff like this! Less reminders about how unaffordable housing is
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I'm sure a lot of forum members have fished the thompson from the 1970's - 1980's. Those were definitely golden times for the thompson, maybe not in the late eighties but still night and day compared to today.
Imagine taking a train, and then getting an Indian to take you by canoe or horse back to go fishing for steelhead by the fly. Then when your done for the day you stay with local settlers who complain about the flooding and mosquitoes that happens every year and they are going to build to be building a Vedder Canal to fix it.
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Imagine taking a train, and then getting an Indian to take you by canoe or horse back to go fishing for steelhead by the fly. Then when your done for the day you stay with local settlers who complain about the flooding and mosquitoes that happens every year and they are going to build to be building a Vedder Canal to fix it.
I tried really hard to understand what you are trying to say and I have no idea.
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I'm sure a lot of forum members have fished the thompson from the 1970's - 1980's. Those were definitely golden times for the thompson, maybe not in the late eighties but still night and day compared to today.
not at all, I loved it. More stuff like this! Less reminders about how unaffordable housing is
https://sportfishingbc.com/threads/thompson-river-stories-share-yours.95148/
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https://sportfishingbc.com/threads/thompson-river-stories-share-yours.95148/
How did I not see that before, I will definitely enjoy reading that. thank you! I only check this forum maybe I should start reading that one aswell.
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Double post
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https://sportfishingbc.com/threads/thompson-river-stories-share-yours.95148/
X2. Some great steelhead stories of the mighty T back in the day on that forum.
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I'm sure a lot of forum members have fished the thompson from the 1970's - 1980's. Those were definitely golden times for the thompson, maybe not in the late eighties but still night and day compared to today.
Well I apologize to you for writing something that lead the comments astray but I just wanted to say "Hey if you think the 80s was a Golden age for housing prices you should have been here in the 60s!" if you get my drift. ::)
Personally I don't think of the 80s as a Golden Age though that was a high point for ocean survival plus most of the hatcheries DFO built under the Salmonid Enhancement Program started to produce large and sometimes massive returns. However it also produced a lot of the rot that's left us where we are today... at least in my opinion.
Another Golden age you might want to look into was the Coquihalla River in the 40s and 50s (if not early). Before the 1st pipeline was built through there and all but wiped those fish out. There was a come back in the 80s which I was able to experience. The highway was a big negative as was the 90s crash in ocean survival. Pretty soon it was a good year if 50 fish came back.
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Back in 80's there was awesome steelhead fishery throughout the Lowermainland, not only Chill-Vedder river, but rivers on north side of Fraser river, I have caught both summer and winter steelhead there. Even the local rivers in South Surrey has small run of winter steelheads. I remember watching the Hatchery guys would floated the upper part of Nicomekl river and electrical shocked the waters to captured cutthroats and sometimes steelheads for brood stocks. Feel sorry for the newbies and who else who wants to chase the winter ghosts will never experiences whats it like back the good old days.
Silex user
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This is edited from fishing journal dated July 18 1987 – Coquihalla River. In my journal I noted I was fishing despite having developed Bells Palsy that paralyzed the right side of my face.
The day was bright and clear and the water had dropped from the last trip. After fishing a few spots above the 1st highway bridge I returned to the bridge to fish the water below a small drop where a turbulent pool below spread out into a smooth riffle. Below that the river runs down into a boulder strewn stretch to another low falls and into a pool
I fished a Grease Liner on a #7 long belly dry line, a Hardy Golden Prince and a 9 1/2-foot Loomis rod. I fished the water below the drop and the it’s boiling tail out then started on the top of the riffle. A fish rose on my first cast taking the fly in a neat little swirl. I just saw the head. Immediately I lowered my rod tip and moved it downstream so it was close to parallel to the bank so water pressure would slide the fly into the hinge of the fish’s jaw.
The fish immediately jumped 4 or five feet out of the water then followed with 2or 3 more leaps. It ran downstream into the middle part part of the riffle and jumped 2 or 3 times. It ran into the tail out then across near my side of the bank. It stopped behind a rock and I moved downstream of it to try to keep it from running out of the riffle and down the bouldered stretch to the next falls. I then stumbled into the water and the fish ran off downstream to shallow water seeming to hesitate to enter the rough water below. I tried to coax him back by feeding slack into the current but he was decided. It was a couple hundred yards down to the falls and the next pool and I ran and jumped from rock to rock to follow and saw him go over the falls into the pool below.
In that boiling water below the falls the fish porpoised twice perhaps pushed upward by rising eddys. Then followed a tug of war before he came close to me laying on his side. His back was grass green, with thick black spots, a heavy rainbow stripe on his side. I grabbed his tail, removed the fly and watched him glide into the jade green and yellow rock of the river then disappear.
I think that was the first steelhead I had landed on a surface fly. I noted in my journal it was about 30 inches and 9 or 10 pounds though now I think that may have been a bit of an exaggeration. It was one of the larger Coquihalla Fish I have landed
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I have a number of great Steelhead stories when fishing use to be good. 3 cast for 3 steelhead on the Nisqually River, one chrome, one with a red strip and the last was spawned out. Best part, absolultely no one around.......the good old days. Another was on the South Fork Nooksack, this section of water is now completely closed year round. Hiked into an upper hole where there was a water fall that was impassible most of the year. Hooked 18 summer run and landed 13 of them, all catch and release and again, no one around. Another was on the lower Quinault River. Hired a Indian Guide and my dad and I hooked over 20 Steelhead during the day, most where spawned out but we did get a couple chrome ones to take home.
And then there's all the amazing days I use to have on the Fraser catching Chinook and Sockeye, simple amazing fishing..................now all gone.
I've sold the boats and haven't wet a line in years. Sure miss the time on the water. :(
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I began steelheading in 1990 which may not be considered the golden era of steelheading but I did enjoy some fabulous fishing in the 90s. One April in the mid nineties I had a seven fish day on the vedder. Biggest steelhead I ever caught was on the vedder in the nineties. Wild fish well over 20 pounds. Chehalis was pretty darn good steelheading back then as well. Caught some beauties on the Squamish in the early 2000s. Had pretty good success on the Stave back then as well.
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There were lots of steelhead in the Squamish & Cheakamus in the 80s. I recall seeing quite a number in the Cheak just above the Cheekeye. I hooked 4 on a Squamish Poacher 1 afternoon in April & lost everyone!
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My dad fished those rivers,Squamish and Cheak, in the 70s and 80s. I unfortunately did not. He talked about huge coho back then as well.
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Dad also told stories about nice steelhead in the little Campbell in Surrey.
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Little Campbell was good back in the early 80’s, ghost shrimp were go to bait
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Yup dad had the bug pump.
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I'm sure a lot of forum members have fished the thompson from the 1970's - 1980's. Those were definitely golden times for the thompson, maybe not in the late eighties but still night and day compared to today.
from old timers I know or actually knew since they are no longer here, the end of the Thompson was in the late 1950's when gill nets on the lower Fraser changed from cotton to monofilament.
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In the early 50s steelhead caught and killed in the Fraser Fall gillnet openings was high - as high as numbers estimated in 80s which included 1st Nations by-catch. I have a copy of a letter from a DFO biologist on this which I have posted before so doesn't seem likely the switch to mono nets caused much of a change.
https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/acat/documents/r18317/Smith1955_1276104681962_4ed861c81acd4dfbe8d26b70385dd29227921f0e891532dad067913e2c89096e.pdf
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In the early 50s steelhead caught and killed in the Fraser Fall gillnet openings was high - as high as numbers estimated in 80s which included 1st Nations by-catch. I have a copy of a letter from a DFO biologist on this which I have posted before so doesn't seem likely the switch to mono nets caused much of a change.
https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/acat/documents/r18317/Smith1955_1276104681962_4ed861c81acd4dfbe8d26b70385dd29227921f0e891532dad067913e2c89096e.pdf
wow... reading that made me very upset.
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Like the good old stories of other's, my best steelhead days were 30+ years ago. The most steelhead caught was at the Gold. Using a small spin & glo they called Gold River special, and even on a flooding state of the river, 25 wild beauties were landed. What a memorable steelhead trip. The biggest steelhead I had hooked and landed was at the rapids of the Vedder. At first I thought I hit a log or snagged up. It felt so heavy that was unreal when it started darting among the rocks in raging current. It jumped and tried to shake the hooks many times. I couldn't believe the size of that beast. It would dash among rocks and tried to hug behind them to get the current break. With only a 12 lbs leader, I knew I had to make the beast work against the strong currents of the rapids to tire it out. So I would deliberately jerked the rod tip to bug the fish to come out from behind the many rocks it tried to hide and rest in between its mad dashes and tugs. It seemed like forever and walking hundreds of feet down the rapids. Eventually it came in at the small run at the bottom of the long rapids. I couldn't even tuck the fish to the shallow to land it. Luckily an old gut was fishing there and he helped tail the fish. He looked at the size and said I hooked a spring. Lol. No it was a huge wild buck with a red colour stripe along its side. Unfortunately, there was no portable camera with me that day. Back then I carried the bulky Motorola phone. It had no camera. I had hooked many 16 to 18 pounders in 40 years of steelheading but nothing compared to that beast in size and fight. Now an old soldier of steelheading, I will carry the memory of this beast with me for the rest if my life. Tight line all.