Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report Jan 11th
January 11, 2013
Pacific Angler Outlook:Well the blow out happened as predicted by the Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report! The rain didn’t hit the Valley until late morning on Tuesday but when it showed up in meant business. 50mm of rain blew out the Chilliwack and many of the other rivers in the Valley. This is exactly what we were hoping for. We are in for clear skies and colder temps over the weekend so the rivers are dropping and bottom line, if you are a steelheader, now is the time to get out on the water. For the next few days the fishing will be awesome.
Another point of interest has been the saltwater fishing. The last few days of weather were amazing for winter chinook fishing in the harbor. Jason was out on Wednesday. They missed a few bites and landed a beauty 12 lb red spring off the mouth of the Capilano. The crab trap produced well and it was a great day on the water. If you are thinking about heading out see below for Jason’s detailed report in the saltwater section.
With the rain we were hoping to see the snow get beaten down in the Sea to Sky area but unfortunately you can take one look at the North Shore to see that it wasn’t quite warm enough. Most of the precipitation heading up to Whistler was in the form of snow. The Squamish only rose up about 6 inches but this might have been enough to stir things up a bit and make for some decent fishing. The river will be dropping like a rock this week with the very cold temperatures over the next few days. It looks like we will have to wait awhile for a big blowout… If anyone has made their way up that direction and knows how the road to the upper river looks please call in a report. We are planning to head out there next week.
The forecast for the weekend and next week is calling for clear skies and cold temperatures.
Unfortunately this will drop the rivers fast but if the rain pulled in enough fish, the fishing should stay decent for awhile. Prepare for sun and cold with the daily low temperatures dropping below freezing all next week.
Check out the Vancouver Weather Forecast and then use it to plan your fishing with the River Levels website or the Vancouver Tide Table
River Fishing Report:
Chilliwack River: Polar opposites from last week, the river has jumped up almost a half meter in 24 hours. On Wednesday it was running high and dirty, this should bring in a good push of fresh fish. Looking at the forecast, colder weather with a little precipitation, means the river will slowly drop and clear. It will be in beautiful shape for the next couple days. With the high water conditions, bumping up your gear is a must. Larger floats, with more weight to balance them will help keep your gear in the zone in the increased flow. Heavier leader with bigger hooks to match a large presentation is also key. The challenge now is finding a fish, they are eager to bite when conditions are like this. The best baits consist of larger fluorescent offerings such as pink worms, gooey bobs, spin-n-glos, jigs, roe, prawns and roe bags. For flies, go big. Fish intruders in pink and orange. Dimitri was on the water yesterday and is out there again today. Yesterday he reported about a foot visibility. That should double or triple today and this weekend should be perfect.
Chehalis River: The Chehalis also jumped up, but this river is known to come back into shape quickly. With the large canyon it rises and falls like a yo-yo. With this first good rain of the season, fish will be making their way up river and into the canyon. Fresh moving fish are aggressive fish. They key to catching them is covering lots of water and fishing bright presentations in order to get their attention. Fishing will be good for a shorter period than the Chilliwack, and we heard it is already getting pretty clear there with the freezing temperatures in the mountain headwaters.
Fraser River: The Fraser is a great system to explore in the winter months. We have not heard any new cutthroat reports because most guys are out steelheading, but with the bump of water in most of the tributaries the fish should have turned on. This is mostly a fly fishery and we recommend small size 8-12 bead head pheasant tails, black stone flies, or bead head muddlers on a full floating line or light sink tip. Using small spinners and float rigs are also a great way to cover the water.
Squamish River: The recent rains in the Lower Mainland have fallen as snow in the upper watershed of the Squamish. The river has risen slightly, but due to the cold temps, will fall again very quickly. Bull trout fishing has picked up a bit. The small bump in water helped put these fish on the feed for a short period. Eggs are always a good choice until later in the winter towards the end of February. Other flies to consider are matuka streamers, rolled muddlers, egg sucking leeches, and flesh patterns. The warmer the weather gets and the more rain that falls, the better the fishing is going to get. That isn’t forecast for awhile, so as these cold temperatures show up, the river will drop hard and fishing will be fairly slow.
Capilano River: They opened the dam with the rain and on Wednesday it rose up to 4 on the graph and has been dropping since. There were likely a few fresh winter runs that came in on the high water event. The water will be less dirty than other systems because of the dam, so large “blow out” presentations should not be required. Get out this weekend if you can because we expect the river to be back to low tough conditions by early next week.
It should be noted there are a few summer run steelhead in the river that have been there for some time (some of them since May or June 2012) and they are now over wintering in the canyon pools. It is best to leave these fish alone and concentrate on the fresh winter run steelhead. It is catch and release for ALL steelhead on the Capilano, regardless if the fish has an adipose fin or not.
Here is the link to the webcam to correlate water levels with good times to fish.
Stave River/Harrison This rain is exactly what we are looking for to get the nutrient levels up on the Harrison and Stave. The big dump will have stirred up eggs and flesh. This should make for some great cutthroat and bull trout fishing. Finding areas with riffles and walking speed current are the best for fishing eggs and flesh under an indicator but remember that when the nutrient levels rise, the smaller species like leeches, stoneflies and sculpin, that rely on the salmon flesh/nitrogen and eggs, are much more active as well. Stripping bead head nymphs and sculpin patterns as well as egg sucking leeches and general attractors can work well in these conditions.
Vancouver Saltwater Report:Things have been pretty good this week with multiple reports of chinook being taken off the W. Vancouver shoreline. Jason was out on a charter on Wednesday. For a detailed report and some pictures, check out The Guide Journal.
On behalf of the Pacific Angler staff we wish you the best in your fishing endeavors and we hope to see you either at the shop or on the water. To check out the latest Pacific Angler news view the Pacific Angler Facebook page.
http://www.vancouversalmonfishing.ca/guide-journal/?p=837Tight Lines,
The Pacific Angler Crew
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Topic: Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report Jan 11th (Read 2590 times)