Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: epok on January 16, 2014, 11:13:18 AM
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Hey everyone,
Hey guys just wanted to introduce myself! My name is Nick, I work for BFI Canada and just recently got this crazy addiction to fishing! My favorite fish to eat is coho or rainbow trout. This was my first year salmon fishing for the season and I enjoyed it, acutally I loved it. I have fished for trout/perch/kokanee before but never large game fish. So I am beginner to fishing when it comes to river/tidal waters. So I have a couple beginner questions that I am hoping someone could answer for me.
1) I am really wanting to get into fishing so I would like to buy a good rod and reel for steelhead but I am on a budget and I thought to myself who would know better than you guys. So I was wondering what you guys would reccomend and how much would it cost?
2) I would love to try fishing for other species aswell but I am not familiar with fishing spots. I live in aldergrove and can travel to where ever but I dont know what lakes/river systems hold what fish. I would love to fish for steelhead and all types of trout.
3) What fish are the best to fish during our seasons in BC?
Thanks for all the future help.
Epok!
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Courtesy of Rod:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/river_fishing/chilliwack_river_winter_steelhead_fishery.html
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Some great beginner rods for sale in the buy&sell section of this site. Maybe like an Abu Garcia with a shimano 10'6 and some 15# line. You can pretty much use that setup all year and it'll cost u under 200$
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Go with a Fenwick hmx rod + shimano sahara 2500 spool with 8 pounds line. Cause around 150-170$, but can use forever and the rod bent pretty good when it come to big fish. I use the set up for everything, pinks, coho, trout,bulltrout
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Jack he's looking for a river rod, level wind will serve much better if float fishing than a coffee grinder.
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Courtesy of Rod:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/river_fishing/chilliwack_river_winter_steelhead_fishery.html
Thats awesome great guide. thanks rod and corgi!
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Some great beginner rods for sale in the buy&sell section of this site. Maybe like an Abu Garcia with a shimano 10'6 and some 15# line. You can pretty much use that setup all year and it'll cost u under 200$
I cant post in that section yet but when I can I will look that up?
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I believe it's 50 posts
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Jack he's looking for a river rod, level wind will serve much better if float fishing than a coffee grinder.
But is it still possible to float fish a river with a spinning set up?
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Hey everyone,
Hey guys just wanted to introduce myself! My name is Nick, I work for BFI Canada and just recently got this crazy addiction to fishing! My favorite fish to eat is coho or rainbow trout. This was my first year salmon fishing for the season and I enjoyed it, acutally I loved it. I have fished for trout/perch/kokanee before but never large game fish. So I am beginner to fishing when it comes to river/tidal waters. So I have a couple beginner questions that I am hoping someone could answer for me.
1) I am really wanting to get into fishing so I would like to buy a good rod and reel for steelhead but I am on a budget and I thought to myself who would know better than you guys. So I was wondering what you guys would reccomend and how much would it cost?
2) I would love to try fishing for other species aswell but I am not familiar with fishing spots. I live in aldergrove and can travel to where ever but I dont know what lakes/river systems hold what fish. I would love to fish for steelhead and all types of trout.
3) What fish are the best to fish during our seasons in BC?
Thanks for all the future help.
Epok!
I am by no means an expert fisherman, I've only river fished for four years, but I'll offer my 2 cents :)
As far as a good rod and reel goes for steelhead fishing in the winter and salmon fishing in the warmer months goes, I would first reccomend that you get a baitcaster (level wind) rod and reel. This is much better for float fishing than a spinning reel/rod. You could get a center pin rod and reel but I'm sure that most would agree that this is not the best choice for a beginner! A good entry level baitcaster rod should set you back $100-$200. A good all around rod would be 10 feet 6 inches long and have a line rating of somewhere around 8-17, or 10-20, or 12-25 and a power rating of medium or medium/heavy. I like the Shimano Convergence ($100ish), Shimano Technium ($175ish), and Fenwick HMX ($150ish), but lots of other options available.
For a level wind reel I like Shimano or Abu Garcia, but several other good ones for sure. The Shimano Corvlus or Cardiff are good entry level baitcasters (around $100). For Abu I like the 6500 C3 if you're trying to save $.
Always good used deals on this site, Craig's List, etc. and I would certainly look there just MAKE SURE you know what you're buying and if you don't know then get someone to help you buy used gear.
If you want to save the hassle and spend a bit more to buy new then I would go to a good tackle shop near where you live, tell them your budget and what type of fishing you're doing, and they'll hook you up. You can get a new rod, reel and mono on the reel for under $250 easily.
As for rivers to fish...I live in Chilliwack and primarily fish the Vedder and Chehailus. There are many other rivers to fish in the lower mainland and I'm sure others will be able to offer better advise here. I don't know a lot about lakes in this area we primarily lake fish in the interior where we have a cabin + boat.
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But is it still possible to float fish a river with a spinning set up?
It is certainly "possible" to float fish with a spinning rod. I did it for my first year river fishing and I caught fish. However a level wind reel/rod is a much better choice. Why? A level wind reel drifts a float quite nicely, you just have to lightly "thumb" the spool, and if you get a fish on you can press hard on the spool adn set the hook at the same time, then once a "fish on!" is confirmed you can disengage freespool by turning the handle. With a spinning reel you need to have the bail open for line to come off, which makes for a very akaward hook set trying to get that bail flipped over. Trust me I float fished for an entire year with a spinning set up and it is not ideal. There is a reason why 99% of the guys float fishing have either a level wind or center pin.
Spinning reels/rods ARE great for non-float fishing! For example chucking spoons, spinners, twitching jigs, etc. Any tiem you're casting out and reeling in spinning set ups are great. For freespooling and floatfishing, not so great.
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I believe it's 50 posts
Nah, its only 5 or 10 for the buy/sell section. 50 is the Reports section.
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This is a good score. The rod is an excellent all around workhorse. Not sure what 301 reel this is but I asked for more details. Keep an eye on this post.
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=34909.new#new
Also if you reel with your LEFT hand then you want a reel ending in "1" like this reel. If you reel right then it will will end in "0." For example 300 vs 301, and so on.
If the reel is a Calcutta (likely a Calcutta B) then I would jump on this deal ASAP. If it's a Cardiff, still not a bad deal I have a Cardiff 401 and it's a decent reel. If it's a Corvalus, meh, it's pretty cheap but nothing wrong with it.
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Awesome thanks for the help all.
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3) What fish are the best to fish during our seasons in BC?
Here's my fishing schedule, month to month:
January to March - steelhead
April - nothing
May to July - still water / trout
August - if you are lucky, there will be a Sockeye opening this year
September - Pinks in the odd years
October & November - salmon in the rivers
December - nothing
You can still fish for steelhead in April - fly only
Trout fishing starts to slow down by the middle of July for me
I sometimes fit in another still water trip or two in the fall
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1) Probably your best best for all types of fishing is a levelwind combo. That way you can float fish and chuck metal, and if you really wanted probably chuck jigs as well. I'd recommend an Abu/Ambassadeur reel. Great reels for the price, and the 2 I have had have lasted me at least 3 years each. Rods, I like more whippy/noodly rods. I'd get something rated 8-12 or the likes. I find rods that are faster action and sensitive are easier to find in the states, Cabela's has some good ones. I also like St Croix rods.
2) The best opportunity in the lower mainland is for salmon and steelhead. Almost every river around will hold some limited winter run fisheries. You can use habitat wizard to search stream names and see if they contain steelhead. If they do, go have a look. Salmon are also in most places as well. Trout will be in most rivers around as well, and char have really taken off in the past few years (I have found), and can be fun to target and a great way to save the day (especially when out steelheading early season). I'll leave the finding flows up to you, as most people work hard to find their areas (plus it's not the greatest idea to post about most flows unless it's the Vedder or some already over exposed, heavily pressured system that can sustain itself). Never under estimate talking to locals or old timers, especially on less known rivers you have chosen to explore on your own, you'd be surprised what people will tell you when they see you out there on those little flows!
3) I like the way that Easywater broke it down so here's what I fish month by month the most:
January: Winter steelhead on a number of flows, Bull trout
February: Winter steelhead again
March: Winter steelhead, Bulls, Cutties
April: Winter steelhead, Bulls, Cutties
May: Summer steelhead, Cutties, interior rainbows, carp
June: Summer steelhead, cutties, interior rainbows, carp, pikeminnow
July: Summer steelhead, bulls and bows
August: Summer steelhead, bulls and bows, chinook
September: Summer steelhead, pinks, coho, chinook, cutties
October: Pretty much all summer steelhead and coho, some chinook and chrome chum fishing, cutties
November: Fall run steelhead, early winters, late coho, cutties
December: All steelhead fishing
A side note here... don't just stick to the mainland, see if you can plan some trips to the island, especially during October. The summer run steelhead, stream cutthroat fishing and coho fishing can be absolutely fantastic (we're talking days of 50-60 coho to the beach, 10+ steelhead to the beach if you hit it right). Not to mention, the scenery and seclusion (never seeing anyone) is what it's all about!
Good luck with the search! It's super rewarding once you start figuring it out. I found the more I figured things out by myself, the more rewarding it was rather than taking hand outs. Fish hard, talk with old timers a lot, and get out and explore. The more you go out exploring and not expecting to catch anything - the more you'll be rewarded with catching down the road.
Cheers,
Dan
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Dan is right. I started by walking the rivers and talking to old timers and also trying out each pool that I came across. If I caught a fish there, I recorded what I caught it on and the conditions. Pretty soon, I had a whole book full of useful info. I also checked all the places that were listed in fishing books and sites. Another good tip is to look up a river or stream and use Bing to look at it in Aerial view, you will see places along the river that you can try out and it will be away from everybody else. Good luck and you can try fishing for cutthroats and bull trout right now but they will be way more active in a month from now when the fry starts to emerge.
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My 2 cents. Read Rod's articles. IMO you can catch fish with a $80 combo and go from there (I paid $50 for mine when it was on sale):
Google: Abu Garcia® Black Max™/Cabela's Pro Guide® Salmon/Steelhead Casting Combo
And you may just stop there. Depends on your personality. With the above combo you have the tools you "need" for $80.
I"d say spend as much money as you can on a good rod. I prefer rods on the lighter side of medium. I like my St. Croix Avid Med-Light a lot ($250). It's fast action (bend is at the top) so it actually seems stiffer. I prefer lighter rods (weight and action), just more fun and user friendly, but I can bring a fish in fast too (search "side control"). Overplaying a fish is just form.
You gotta think you drive a long way, spend a bunch of money on tackle and really don't get into that many fish so enjoy it when you do. I find a good rod is important for that.
For level wind reels, if I were you, I'd just get a Abu Garcia Black Max for $40 (new). I honestly don't think it matters that much with level wind reels. You can move onto a Daiwa Luna or Calcutta etc later if you decide to stick with level wind and "want" something smoother etc, or go with centerpin or spey or whatever later on once you know what you like.
I agree with others that level wind is better for float/river fishing. If you do go with a spinning reel though, go with the best Shimano your money can buy. I find for spinning, good reels are key.
And don't skimp on fishing line. Mainline (Stren, Ultragreen..etc), or flurocarbon (Seaguar Blue). Learn a knot you trust. I like the trilene knot myself. Go get yourself a $20 vice from Searun Fly and Tackle and learn to tie jigs too.
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Here's my fishing schedule, month to month:
January to March - steelhead
April - nothing (Prime Cuttie and steelhead time on a certain north side flow)
May to July - still water / trout
August - if you are lucky, there will be a Sockeye opening this year
September - Pinks in the odd years
October & November - salmon in the rivers
December - nothing (I was getting lots of chrome coho right up to Christmas)
You can still fish for steelhead in April - fly only (May is the fly only closure on the Vedder)
Trout fishing starts to slow down by the middle of July for me
I sometimes fit in another still water trip or two in the fall