Local Saltwater April 12 2012

April is a great time to get out and start fishing the local saltwater for winter feeder springs. We have had a couple of reports in the shop recently however this fishery is notoriously hit and miss.

If you do choose to go out try and focus your efforts around Vancouver Harbour,  Howe sound, West Vancouver,  Jericho, the Freighters are always promising places to try as well as the West and south end of Bowen island have been producing reports.

Try fishing off the bottom and using anchovies or4 inch coyote spoons (cop car, green glow and UVgreen) behind a green or red flasher with a UV finish.
Some other recently hot lures:
-Gold star spoons( cop car and green glow)
-Huchie in winter-white and army-truck
-Locally made c4 lures (no.5 pearl anchovy or dark green diamond)


  Try the new Maruto trebels! Extra sticky and extra strong

April 12 Rivers Report

Chilliwack  

  Until recently the Vedder had been consistently low and clear for the last several weeks. Now that we see early signs of snow melt the river has started to colour in its glacial summer fashion. This provides a feeling of safety for fish and can very possibly encourage them to move and bite. Personally I consider water like this perfect for bright plastic presentations such as your standard pink worm. This is starting to be considered late season for vedder Steelhead but some fresh fish will still continue to move in over the next month before the river becomes fly only on May the first. The majority of fish this time of year are wild fish, many reports we have received in the shop have consisted of people catching 10 or more fish before finally catching a desired hatchery marked Steely. However this time of year is often when anglers can try new things and learn a lot about how to fish different presentations and new water with the advantage of the added confidence knowing there are large amounts of fish spread throughout the entirety of the river system.



                            Capilano

    The Capilano is never the most productive Steelhead fishery around but can often be fun to fish and explore. Definitely one of the more scenic rivers around the Capilano has high canyon walls that can aid a good angler in spotting fish. try fishing small presentations and fluorocarbon lines. In about a months time the Cap Coho will start running. These particular Coho run in the spring and average around 3-6 pounds. Fishing can be productive on spoons spinners and drift fishing roe.  
  Please remember this river is entirely catch and release for Steelhead, hatchery marked or not!  
     

                  Stave

    The Stave river has been fishing very well for Steelhead this past week and should continue to fish well throught the next month or so. The river has a large number of chum fry that are hatching right now which provides fun fishing opportunities for cutthroat trout and white fish as well. Fly guys should try using fry patterns and Squidro intruders. Gear fisherman can continue to use standard Steelhead drift gear or switch over to fishing Croc spoons in an effort to imitate hatching fry. This can be an extremely fun time of year for the stave do to the aggressive feeding habits of all fish in the system. It is not uncommon to see Steelhead rising in chase of the salmon fry.

Always feel free to give Shea, Mike or Garry a call at the shop (604) 944 2479

Local Lakes April 12′th 2012

Stocking has started our local urban lakes. Mill Lake, Whonnock Lake, Rolley ,Lafarge, Como, Rice and Green Timbers Lakes were stocked on Thursday March 15th with the next stockings scheduled for later this week.Local Lake rainbow trout are released at “catchable size” and usually have an average weight of 300g.

Buntzen and Sasamat where stocked on April 3rd with a thousand fish each.
Hicks, Deer, Erock and Elbow have all been stocked as of April 4th with 500-1000 fish
We have also been getting great reports from mill lake recently, with fish upwards of six pounds being caught regularly. all coming information will be posted in the Region 2 stocking database at “http://www.gofishbc.com/stockingreports/default.htm“  
Fly guys should fishing larger patterns like leeches, buggers and dragonfly nymphs will produce fish.

Gear fisherman can still float or bottom fish bait and catch good numbers of fish. If that doesn’t seem appealing try throwing spoons and spinners while moving and working areas. This can be a lot of fun because you stay active and occupied instead.
3/16 oz Fire-Stripe Crocs are my personal favorite


-Shea O’Grady

Ice Off April 2012

Well we going to try to keep you updated with all the ice that is coming off.   For those still ice fishing, shrimp through the ice seems to be producing the best results. Time to check your supplies, leaders, tippets and indicators because come the end of the month we will be fishing everywhere!

Chronomids, Leeches and dragons are going to be key along with a good density compensated sink line or tip to get to those fish just coming up to feed after a long winter. So come on by and see what’s new and let us show you some new gear for this season. Don’t forget licences need to be renewed now as they all expired Mar 31st, 2012.

Ice off Report

-Morgan is out
-Six Mile lakes are out.
-Douglas Lake out
-The creek out of Kidd lake is running
-Jocko is out
-Stump and Alleyne starting to open up

Everything will be happening quickly from now on. We will be updating this list regularly so stay tuned!

ask us about our offset leeches!

-Shea O’Grady

Fraser River April 12 2012

Sturgeon fishing will likley pick up in the coming few weeks. Sturgoen fisherman should be anticipating freshet as well as the eulachon run. Sturgeon numbers will likely be increasing in the Tidal (Saltwater) portion of the Fraser as they will be attempting to intercept the eulachons. Fishing will only get better throughout the river from now on. While not everyone can fish Sturgeon, there is also the great Cutthroat fishing to be had in the Non-Tidal (Freshwater) portion of the river throughout the back channels, back eddies, slack water, and mouths of any tributary rivers. Try small silver spoons (silver or redhead Dick Nites) and as for flies try sculpin, fry, and woolly bugger patterns. ~Michael Thom