Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: fish fishburn on May 24, 2011, 04:08:11 AM
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I'm in the preliminary stages of planning my trip out to Chilliwack this summer to try my hand at Salmon fishing. I will be staying at a good friends place for 2 weeks who lives a 5 minute walk from the Vedder River. They will be both working during the day and I will have nothing to do but fish (poor me).
I would really appreciate some imput on what to bring to make the most out of my trip. For reels I am taking my Stradic 4000 and Curado 301 and a cronarch. As for rods I will probably buy what I need when I get there because none of my rods are over 7 ft long and I am thinking they are not long enough, and the selection of longer rods is really crappy here in my location (Ottawa). As for gear I will bring a small box of spoons, spinners, floats, and most of the terminal tackle that I think I will need.
Is the Vedder warm enough to wade without waders in mid July to lets say Sept or do I need some waders? I would like to know when is the best time to come out there? I can come any time after mid July. My species of preference is Chinook because of their size but any Salmon is fine with me. I also plan to spend a day in Mission and take a charter for Sturgeon. Any reccomendations for a good charter would be appreciated so I can book my trip with them during my stay.
I am not a newb to fishing. I have been a tournament bass fisherman for over 20 yrs and was on the Nitro prostaff in the mid to late 90's. I am 50 yrs old and fit and can hump the river all day if needed. I would enjoy meeting some of the board members here during my stay and getting out on the flow and learn a few things. I also have the use of a 14 ft tinny and motor while there if needed.
I know there are a few bass guys on the board here if you need something thats hard to find out there let me know because I probably have it or can get if for you before I come out there. I really don't want to fish Bass while I am out there but hey, if someone can give me some pointers on the flow Salmon fishing in exchange I can give you a day of bassin tips. Just show me where they are and I will show you how to catch them.
Looking forward to your replies and am getting so excited about my upcoming trip. Thanks in advance. Mike.
P.S. Is it possible to rent some pin gear while I am there? I really want to try it bad.
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if you can wait till october ,that will be the best time for chinooks,coho,pinks,chums , middle of july till middle august small run of red chinooks .better bet would be the fraser for chinooks all august if they open it. you are going to need a 10-11ft salmon rod.waders also.
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Is the Vedder warm enough to wade without waders in mid July to lets say Sept or do I need some waders? I would like to know when is the best time to come out there? I can come any time after mid July. My species of preference is Chinook because of their size but any Salmon is fine with me. I also plan to spend a day in Mission and take a charter for Sturgeon. Any reccomendations for a good charter would be appreciated so I can book my trip with them during my stay.
With the huge snowpack on the southcoast this year that is 3 weeks behind in melting.....you should NOT be wading the Vedder mid July. Not only will the water still be freezing, but depending on the weather, it may be dangerously high for wading....regardless, there will still be snowpack melting in early-mid July this year in that watershed. I suggest waders and common sense if you decide to stand in or cross the river or and side-streams.
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Take a look at this thread for reference as it contains quite a bit of information related to what you are asking for:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=21963.0
As ynot has pointed out, the Chilliwack River chinook salmon fishery in July and August is pretty small and not really worth coming up for. You'd experience much higher catch rates if you visit this area in early October. Keep in mind that this is a pink salmon year and we are expecting millions of them returning to the Lower Fraser River and tributaries such as the Chilliwack River. This can be good and bad. It's good if you'd like to catch many salmon in the 4 to 6lb range, but they can be a nuisance if you are targeting other species such as chinook and coho salmon at the same time. Those who experienced the Chilliwack River fishery in September/October 2009 will tell you that the river was plugged with pink salmon.
Since you're visiting the area from US, you should definitely consider visiting some of the other fisheries too. The Chilliwack River fishery does not really represent how good the fishing is in British Columbia. Check out some of the river and beach fisheries on Vancouver Island, as well as interior rivers where big trout feed on salmon eggs.
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Since you're visiting the area from US, you should definitely consider visiting some of the other fisheries too. The Chilliwack River fishery does not really represent how good the fishing is in British Columbia. Check out some of the river and beach fisheries on Vancouver Island, as well as interior rivers where big trout feed on salmon eggs.
As for rods I will probably buy what I need when I get there because none of my rods are over 7 ft long and I am thinking they are not long enough, and the selection of longer rods is really crappy here in my location (Ottawa). As for gear I will bring a small box of spoons, spinners, floats, and most of the terminal tackle that I think I will need.
Despite our desires - I think Ottawa is STILL in Canada :o
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Damn, that was a fail... :-\
Are they gonna take my citizenship away now? ;D
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Damn, that was a fail... :-\
Are they gonna take my citizenship away now? ;D
Maybe not. But they will ask you to buy Non-Resident Alien license ;D ;D
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Ottawa is Canada's capital city. FYI. Let's hope you don't make the same mistake identifying fish. That's lots more serious. :)
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I was going to say something but I didn't want to alienate Rod.
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Thanks for the info so far. Looks like I will be coming out around the end of July. So if I want to catch Chinooks I guess I will havae better luck fishing for them on the Fraser. I have access to a 14 ft tinny with a 15 hp motor. Would that be sufficient to get me to some of the areas to bar fish?
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You should all be banned for pointing out my incompetency. ;D
Thanks for the info so far. Looks like I will be coming out around the end of July. So if I want to catch Chinooks I guess I will havae better luck fishing for them on the Fraser. I have access to a 14 ft tinny with a 15 hp motor. Would that be sufficient to get me to some of the areas to bar fish?
Can't comment on the boat as I have no boating knowledge, but for the end of July, another option is to head up to the Thompson River if there is a chinook salmon opening. There usually is, keep an eye on the DFO's fishery notice or I usually have it posted on the website too.
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Hey Guys,
Well I booked my flight today. I will be coming to Chilliwack on July21 to Aug4. Thanks for all the info. Feel free to add more if you wish. I will be out fishing on the 22 somewhere, this trip can't come fast enough. Thanks again.
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i live right off unsworth(stonesthrow to the vedder), you should have a blast out here
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Thanks Phogan, I plan on having a blast, visiting good friends, eating lots of good food, and hopefully catching a few fish would be a bonus. My friends who's place I will be staying at said it is less then a five minute walk to the Vedder from his house. Not sure exactly where but I will find out the exact location before I go. It would be nice to meet a few board members from here while I am there. If your going out during my stay and don't mind a newb tagging along, let me know, Ill buy the bait and lunch if for your time. Thanks.
Mike.
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There is another river in Chilliwack, called the Fraser. ;D It's on the north side of the Ciity. You could bike to it. The fishing should be excellent by the end of July. Sockey may or may not be open by then, but springs should be. Please watch out for the Coho if you do fish in the Fraser because these cannot be retained at that time of the summer. Please educate yourself before you come in identifying fish before you come and read up on the size and # of salmon limit.
On cold rainy days even in July, a breathable wader would be more comfortable than bear-legging it.
This is a beautiful part of BC and I believe very close to being the fishing capital of Canada.
Enjoy your stay. :)
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Thanks for the reply eddy. I have been reading alot of info over the last six months or so about salmon fishing. I think I have the id of the various species down but I will have my regs with me just in case when I am out fishing. The regs in B.C. seem so complicated to the regs here. I am heading out to Lake Ontario next tuesday to fish for Salmon for three days, its will be all trolling of course but I am so pumped none the less. Hopefully I will have some pics when I get back on Canada Day to post here for you guys.
I went out on the Ottawa River a few days ago fishing for Northerns and surrendered my new Curado 301 on a Shimano Crucial rod to the fishing gods. I set my rod down in the middle of a retrieve to grab my sandwich and something real big grabbed it and over the side it went :-[ I'm going to take my buddy out with his scuba gear and try to locate it, hopefully we find it, the reel was only a week old. The good thing is we were in only 10 f.o.w. the bad thing is it went over the side of the boat like it had an outboard attached to it so hopefully it got snagged before it was dragged to far. Tight lines and be safe out there.
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Agh. I've had a few fishing mishaps too. Just this year I lost my camera in Jacko lake, near Kamloops. It was near shore and it happened just after ice off. I stripped and jumped in but could not find it. It was COLD lol.
I know you want to stick to salmon, but kamloops has the best rainbow trout fishing in the world IMHO. Nothing is like a Kamloops Rainbow Trout. Kamllops is about 2 hours away from chilliwack. As someone pointed out, the Thompson may be open for Chinooks. Tthis river is runs right through Kamloops.
Interesting you are coming over here in July because I am going to Montreal / Ottawa / Toronto in July. I have someone there to help me try bass fishing so no worries about that. I am a newb to salmon fishing, so I don't have too much to add.
Enjoy your stay.
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Great news. I headed up the river to where I lost my rod and reel almost 2 weeks ago. I took my buddy with me and he brought along his snorkeling gear with him. Just when he was about to call it quits after about a half hour of snorkelling he comes up with my rod and reel.
What a relief, it was wedged in between some logs with just the rod tip sticking up. Also got my #5 Mepps spinner back as well. So all in all it was a great day. On the way home we pulled into the local hotel on the water and had a few pints and lunch, on me of course. So my new reel is going to get a thorough cleaning and packed for my trip out to Chilliwack in three weeks.
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Hey fishburn, since no ones offered, I'll take you out one day. Maybe smack a couple of salmon and send them back down on the end of the hook for some sturgeon. If you're up for it lmk and we can exchange numbers.
Cheers!
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Thanks F33, I will definitely get in touch with you. Can we do that legally? Anyway I want to share a story with you guys. I went to Bowmanville last week to do some salmon fishing on Lake Ontario for the first time. I bought a few trolling rods and some gear and off we went. We took my buddies 18ft lund with two driggers on it. He has only fished salmon once so we were not to sure what to expect.
Got on the water by 11 am and set the rods. By 11:15 a rod goes off, aalmost ripped the rod out of the holder and hes gone. I reel in my gear and my swivel is broke in half, never seen that happen before. Had 5 more rods go off in the next hour and we lost every fish, same thing busted terminal tackle.
That evening at the hotel we were discussing the situation over a case of beer and we decided that our releases were not set up properly, theres no way the terminal tackle should be busting like that. It was all quality stuff Spro and Sampo. Got out the screwdriver and adjusted my dipsy's and worked on the drigger releases as well.
Headed out the next morning and it was rough out there my buddy was feeling sick so we had to come in. Went out that evening and had 3 hits and got em all, Steelhead the heaviest being about 8 lbs (my first steelhead). Headed out at six the next morning and within a half hour my monkey puke spoon goes off. I grab the rod and this fish pulled off 300ft of line in 10 seconds, man what a feeling. Then I worked him to the boat and he was in the net. A 20lb spring. We got 4 more springs and were off the water by 11. They were all in the 20 to 25 lb range. What an amazing fish those Springs are and the Steelies are lots of fun, jumping all over the place. I have lots of fish for the smoker now and have already had a few steaks off of one salmon. I think I'm going to set my 25 cruiser up for salmon fishing since Lake O is only 3 hrs away and I am hooked on this type of fishing. I can't wait to do it again on the end of July while I'm in Victoria for a few days. My old buddy is going to take me out in the salt chuck.
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Seems like you have some good friends in the right areas for fishing. Do you guys use flashers when trolling the big lakes or flasher off the ball and just spoon?
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Well because we are newb's to this type of fishing, we basically were doing what we learned off the net and sites like this one. I was using a flasher two ft ahead of my spoon and the dipsy about 4 ft from the flasher. On our drigger lines we were using flashers and flies. Same thing about 24 to 30 inches from the flasher. On my buddies dipsy he was just going with the spoon about 4 ft from the dipsy. I tried different spoons through out the trip but always went back to my monkey puke spoon(gold on the sides and chartreuse down the middle. It was definitely the hot spoon. As for the flies the chartreuse and white seemed to work the best but our biggest spring was caught on a purple and white fly. I had a box of J plugs my buddy loaned me to try but I never got to try them. We were catching them a mile off shore in 25 to 40 ft of water in 90 to 110 ft of water. We did okay for a couple of guys who didn't really know what the heck we were doing
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fshfrk - i would love to come out there too, both of you pm me and let me know when you guys are thinkin.
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Ya man.
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Things are getting close to getting out of here and heading to B.C. I am trying to sort out my fishing gear that I plan on bringing. For reels I am bringing a few baitcasters and a spinning reel. I have set up a small plano box for all my terminal tackle, hooks, swivels, split shot, jigs etc. I have tons of plastics but could use some advice on what to bring with me.
I have a small plano box for spoons, little cleos and a few krocodiles. I want to add some spinners but am not sure what colour or blade size is required. If there are some must haves for fishing the Vedder and Fraser can someone let me know what it is and I will get it. Floats, line size and any other info would be great to know as well. I know I will have to hit the local tackle shop to pick up a few things as I don't have access to salmon gear here, but I don't want to spend a day in the tackle shop when I can be out on the water. F33 and Phogan I will get in touch with you guys later in the week. Thanks in advance, Fish
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I am also looking to spend a day on the Fraser fishing Sturgeon. Can anyone suggest some contacts for me? I don't need to be owwwed and awwwed by a fancy jet boat, I get my speed thrills out of my bass boat. Prefer to fish with the average Joe that understands these fish and where to catch them. Must also have half decent gear for me to use since I don't have it. I'm willing to take care of your expences for the day, gas, bait etc. If this describes you or you know of someone pm me so I can address this as soon as possible. Will be there between july 21 and aug 4. This is on my Bucket List of fish to catch.
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Have all of the above, just hope we can find a few to get into.
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As mentioned in my earlier post, here is the fishery notice that just came out for the chinook salmon opening on the Thompson River.
http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=133933&ID=recreational
Keep in mind that the river is still quite high so fishing may not be good at all despite of the opening.
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As mentioned in my earlier post, here is the fishery notice that just came out for the chinook salmon opening on the Thompson River.
http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=133933&ID=recreational
Keep in mind that the river is still quite high so fishing may not be good at all despite of the opening.
Thanks for the heads up Rodney. I'm not sure about fishburn, but I'm thinking of keeping it a little more local. And yes it will
be a bit of grind with the high water conditions.
Cheers!
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As mentioned in my earlier post, here is the fishery notice that just came out for the chinook salmon opening on the Thompson River.
http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=133933&ID=recreational
Yippee. ;D ;D ;D
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well tomorrow is the big day. Got my bags packed and am ready to go. F33 drop me a quick message with your cell # and I will give you a shout on friday sometime.
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are you still wanting the rod and vest?
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Hey fishburn i sent you and email for some reason I cant send you a message or do a quote lol. Anyways phogan same for you. Regards.
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Bryson, I sent you a e-mail. F33 I got your message and will give you a call before the weekend.
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fr33k - got email.
going to stacy lake this weekend on sunday for a day trip, a friend coming from vernon, then somewhere closer to here monday. interested?
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fr33k - got email.
going to stacy lake this weekend on sunday for a day trip, a friend coming from vernon, then somewhere closer to here monday. interested?
Sorry I missed this monday as I didn't get back till monday evening. Heading up to Chilliwack Lake tomorow to go meet up with some family and might do a fish for a couple hours.
Also fishburn are you still around? Email me your number and I'll give you a call, maybd the three of us can get out for a few hours.
Cheers!
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Was a pleasure to meet fish fishburn on the river today, what was the chance of that. He said he has had an excellent trip and will be writing a story when he gets home. I snapped a few pictures of him fishing and he snapped a picture of the sockeye I hooked. Rodney wanted picture of a Chilliwack Lake sockeye so I was successful in that. Buck helped get the pictures too. ;D ;D