Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Driller on July 12, 2012, 09:42:12 AM
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I am driving through northern BC on the way to the Yukon. I will have a few days on the way up and down to fish for Salmon. I will have 3 rods, 8wt single handed, 8 wt two hander, and my drift rod. I'd like to primarily fly fish. I know springs love their roe so I may end up hucking some gobs of roe if I find them stacked up somewhere.
I'm looking at maps right now and I'm having a hard time deciding which river to try first. I thought I heard some rivers if you aren't a local there is a guide requirement or something like this? I just want to fish. Kispiox, Bulkley, babine, Morice??? No Kitimat, its a bit out of the way for me.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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When you going??, July is Chinook time on the Skeena, bar fishing is best here, fly fishing in July is flossing on Skeena main.
In August some chances at Steelhead on tributaries of the Skeena, but again, bar fishing the Skeena is your best bet, September is trib fishing for Steelhead in my books.
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I'm leaving next week, and returning first week of august.
I don't want to floss. I'm not a huge fan of bar fishing, but I will give it a whirl if that's all I have.
Like a blind man at an orgy, I guess I'll just have to feel things out.
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Get Yourself a mooching reel and its just like fighting one on the flyrod :D ;D.
When one of those Skeena 50 plus pound Chinooks takes your gear you will forget all about any other fishing, trust me.
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Hi..Good luck with that... most are still are running bank to bank, and the colour of chocolate milk. That may change (just) slightly by next week.
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Well, I travelled up through Smithers and up the Cassiar hwy to the Yukon. All rivers I passed in this area are really high. Even though I was told fishing in the skeena was good, for sockeye I didn't other. Everyone targeting these fish are flossing, so Ive been told. One of the most wickedest awesomest drives up the Cassiar hwy. like really. It is true beauty. Lots of bears, moose, mountains, avalanche debris paths.
The first lake we fished was just outside of who knows where and it was called morcheau lake. We were told it had huge fish in it. Like 10 to 15 pound rainbows. All people at the lake reported catching nothing, but that evening I saw someone out in the lake with the landing net out. I was in a float tube, and was not able to see what they caught , but I do know they were using the big trolling spinner things that are about 3 feet long. I missed a fish on the black leech. I was only able to fish from 10 to 11:15 pm. I would like to fish this spot on the way home again. It is really nice with mountain views and even an old volcano on the horizon. Bugs....very bad.
Next lake we fished was in the Yukon. Simpson Lake. BIG lake. The previous lake mentioned was a free camping spot, but Simpson is a provincial pay to camp thing. Met an old mountain man there named Glen. We spoke for hours about the place. The lake is popular for the lake trout. Many, many fish were taking mayflies off the surface. I tried all kinds of dry flies, but not once cold I get a fish to strike. There were millions of may flies on the water. I watched several fish come up, sip or gulp a mayfly off the surface and leave 5 other mayflies sitting there. I was thinking, why not eat all 5 of the mayflies. Regardless, it seemed hard to get them to eat my fly, when the surface of the lake was littered with hatching mayflies. I tried mayfly nymphs, chironomid emergers, leeches and damsels. Apparently there are pike in the lake. Shoulda woulda coulda brought the Pike gear. Headed up the Robert Campbell hwy to the Nahani Range road and headed east towards the NWT. I really can't remember the name of the river, but approximately 70 km down this road you will see a really nice looking river. This is where I caught my first arctic grayling. These fish are small (10-14"), but they feed like crazy. It seemed that most of them were within 10 feet of shore and were ready to pound on the dry fly. I landed 15 fish in less than 2 hours of fishing! Its the first time I caught this species. Very happy.
We have since turned around and are now in Whitehorse. We may hang around the Yukon for a couple of more days, or...head back down the Cassiar hwy and either fish morcheau lake, or pick another since there are so many choices on that hwy.
Mexican food in Whitehorse is GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!
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;D
Well, I travelled up through Smithers and up the Cassiar hwy to the Yukon. All rivers I passed in this area are really high. Even though I was told fishing in the skeena was good, for sockeye I didn't other. Everyone targeting these fish are flossing, so Ive been told. One of the most wickedest awesomest drives up the Cassiar hwy. like really. It is true beauty. Lots of bears, moose, mountains, avalanche debris paths.
The first lake we fished was just outside of who knows where and it was called morcheau lake. We were told it had huge fish in it. Like 10 to 15 pound rainbows. All people at the lake reported catching nothing, but that evening I saw someone out in the lake with the landing net out. I was in a float tube, and was not able to see what they caught , but I do know they were using the big trolling spinner things that are about 3 feet long. I missed a fish on the black leech. I was only able to fish from 10 to 11:15 pm. I would like to fish this spot on the way home again. It is really nice with mountain views and even an old volcano on the horizon. Bugs....very bad.
Next lake we fished was in the Yukon. Simpson Lake. BIG lake. The previous lake mentioned was a free camping spot, but Simpson is a provincial pay to camp thing. Met an old mountain man there named Glen. We spoke for hours about the place. The lake is popular for the lake trout. Many, many fish were taking mayflies off the surface. I tried all kinds of dry flies, but not once cold I get a fish to strike. There were millions of may flies on the water. I watched several fish come up, sip or gulp a mayfly off the surface and leave 5 other mayflies sitting there. I was thinking, why not eat all 5 of the mayflies. Regardless, it seemed hard to get them to eat my fly, when the surface of the lake was littered with hatching mayflies. I tried mayfly nymphs, chironomid emergers, leeches and damsels. Apparently there are pike in the lake. Shoulda woulda coulda brought the Pike gear. Headed up the Robert Campbell hwy to the Nahani Range road and headed east towards the NWT. I really can't remember the name of the river, but approximately 70 km down this road you will see a really nice looking river. This is where I caught my first arctic grayling. These fish are small (10-14"), but they feed like crazy. It seemed that most of them were within 10 feet of shore and were ready to pound on the dry fly. I landed 15 fish in less than 2 hours of fishing! Its the first time I caught this species. Very happy.
We have since turned around and are now in Whitehorse. We may hang around the Yukon for a couple of more days, or...head back down the Cassiar hwy and either fish morcheau lake, or pick another since there are so many choices on that hwy.
Mexican food in Whitehorse is GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!
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Fish the kitimat... It is awesome! When the tide starts coming up, the fish start coming up, and you can see them following your fly. Landed so many fish that i just sat on the beach and would cast to them when I saw them moving up. I had many takes right at the shore line.
I think an 8wt might be a bit light but it could be alright unless you hook one of those huge chinooks.
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Driller. Spent a year working in Whitehorse on the dam. Good rainbow trout fishing in Scout lake just north of town another lake that has rainbows up to 14lbs(caught one that size) is Chadden Lake.Go to the fisheries office in Whitehorse were you should be able to get a book that will tell what is in the local lakes and also has maps.We were catching rainbows at one o'clock in the morning.Tight lines.
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In kitimat now, don't bother stoping here unless you want to work hard for a chum or the odd pink...
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sounds like you had a great time! how long did it take you to drive from here to the skeena main approximately?
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Well, I travelled up through Smithers and up the Cassiar hwy to the Yukon. All rivers I passed in this area are really high. Even though I was told fishing in the skeena was good, for sockeye I didn't other. Everyone targeting these fish are flossing, so Ive been told. One of the most wickedest awesomest drives up the Cassiar hwy. like really. It is true beauty. Lots of bears, moose, mountains, avalanche debris paths.
The first lake we fished was just outside of who knows where and it was called morcheau lake. We were told it had huge fish in it. Like 10 to 15 pound rainbows. All people at the lake reported catching nothing, but that evening I saw someone out in the lake with the landing net out. I was in a float tube, and was not able to see what they caught , but I do know they were using the big trolling spinner things that are about 3 feet long. I missed a fish on the black leech. I was only able to fish from 10 to 11:15 pm. I would like to fish this spot on the way home again. It is really nice with mountain views and even an old volcano on the horizon. Bugs....very bad.
Next lake we fished was in the Yukon. Simpson Lake. BIG lake. The previous lake mentioned was a free camping spot, but Simpson is a provincial pay to camp thing. Met an old mountain man there named Glen. We spoke for hours about the place. The lake is popular for the lake trout. Many, many fish were taking mayflies off the surface. I tried all kinds of dry flies, but not once cold I get a fish to strike. There were millions of may flies on the water. I watched several fish come up, sip or gulp a mayfly off the surface and leave 5 other mayflies sitting there. I was thinking, why not eat all 5 of the mayflies. Regardless, it seemed hard to get them to eat my fly, when the surface of the lake was littered with hatching mayflies. I tried mayfly nymphs, chironomid emergers, leeches and damsels. Apparently there are pike in the lake. Shoulda woulda coulda brought the Pike gear. Headed up the Robert Campbell hwy to the Nahani Range road and headed east towards the NWT. I really can't remember the name of the river, but approximately 70 km down this road you will see a really nice looking river.
I did this same trip over 35 days in 2008. Fished every day.
We stayed at Simpson lake as well and saw the craziest mayfliy hatch I've ever seen, I was literally coated in the little buggers. There are huge pike at the top of of the lake in the big weedbed - I picked up a few on clousers, and had a few monsters follow my fly in. There are also huge lake trout in Simpson but I never got anything over 5 pounds. Did get a few on the fly though.
If you are still up there and have time drop into Atlin and fish Palmer lake. It's a small lake with a ridiculous amount of Pike. I got them to eat poppers, what a blast.
On the way back down the Cassiar try and fish Kinaskin Lake. Lots of pretty wild rainbows and the lake is gorgeous. We also spent some time at Mezziadin and caught some sockeye on the fly at one of the creek mouths. Stewart (and it's US sister Hyder) is a cool town, and worth checking out.
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Oh ya, we had a lot of fun fishing the creek mouth at Dease Lake as well. Caught a bunch of grayling on dry flies and the wife landed a nice pike on a spinner. The creek mouth is right at the provincial park.
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We headed back down the Cassiar right away. Stopped at wheeler lake. Landed a nice Pike probably 5 lbs on the fly in the float tube. Had a bunch of strikes, and lost a couple in 3 hours. Good times. Hit the Kitimat today for 6 hours, lost a couple of pinks, landed one 17 pound chum, and lost a few others.
Day wasn't long enough. Gonna hit the Skeena tomorrow. The tributaries with clean water look good along the skeena.
I got a tip that telegraph trail, and Tahltan river is awesome. Too bad I drove by it.
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Your timing should be perfect for kitwanga fish the seam(float big chuncks of roe). Or the bulkley mouth ( bar fish chartreuse spin an glows)... I m jealous.
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Left Terrace today. Stopped at 4 or 5 creek mouths along the skeena on the way back to Smithers. No good spots were found. I'm traveling with a young guy from quebec and upstream from the copper river which is not far from terrace you need a steelhead tag after July 24. No problem for me as I have a loaded license, but my co pilot is young, and telling him he has to spend huge cash to have a salmon tag steelhead, classified waters etc. is a bit of a stretch. So, had we stopped to fish, he would not have been allowed to get his line wet anyway.
Bottom line. Ferry island in Smithers, lots of fishable water, with many sockeye being hooked. Great place to stop if you are into bottom bouncing.
I really enjoyed the Kitimat river. Many fish in the system ready to take the fly! I really can't wait to go back.
We did visit Stewart Bc and then over to Hyder. The glacier up the hill from Hyder is mind blowing! There was one grizzly at the fish creek site.
Back home, to catch some sturgeon and salmonoids!