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Having recently sent reports of the river fishing here in Campbell River, it seemed only right to check out the Ocean fishing as well. The opportunity arose yesterday when our chosen Charter guide Brian Chard needed someone to make up a party for a full days fishing. As if I’d need to be asked twice!!!
Brian quickly set up the rods and downriggers as we joined the other boats. Within minutes my partner for the day, Durand, had a hit and we got our first fish in the boat, a nice Coho which was returned. You can only keep hatchery Coho with their adipose fin snipped off. Next hit was a nice Spring Salmon of about 15 pounds, a lovely thick silver power house which was quickly dispatched and put into the cool box. We then had a lull for about twenty minutes, so we decided to take a sandwich and coffee. Just as Durand had his first bite, bang went his rod, another nice Spring of about 12 pounds! Isn’t it always the way. By this time the sun was burning through the northern cloud, so it was time to strip off the warm gear, first the jacket, then the shirt as the sky took on that wonderful deep blue and the mountains cleared to show their snowcaps looking like icing on a bun. Time to crack open the case of beer! The fishing slowed down after that, we had a hit from what we believe was a good Spring, but it got away (they’re always the biggest!). We boated a few more nice silver Coho which were all returned carefully. Some of the other boats had moved south to catch the big shoals of Sockeye that are feeding at the moment. It wasn’t long before the radio crackled into life. Brian’s call sign is Red Rider, so we listened in, then we heard “Dirty Harry to Red Rider, come in please?” Dirty Harry is one of Brian’s friends who had gone after the Sockeye. The news was that it was pretty slow as yet, but they’d had a couple. We decided to stick it out a bit longer in case we hooked into a big Spring Salmon. No such luck, despite eating the sandwiches and a few more beers to try and tempt lady luck! We decided to make our move and go down below Chatham Point. The sea was much smoother now and the boat just flew like a bird, the steady hum of the powerful engine taking us South. As we got nearer a school of Porpoises were over on the other side of the sound, well away from us, but close enough to watch their effortless and graceful leaps like synchronised swimmers. There is so much wildlife here to see and admire. We zoomed through
the narrows between two islands leaving a silver snaking wake behind us until we
arrived at We soon got the
gear down and almost immediately had a double header, that means that both rods
got a fish on at the same time! Brian netted one fish, a lovely Sockeye, then
bonked it on the head, emptied the net and then got the second fish safely on
board. The Sockeye aren’t the biggest fish, but I think they’re the best eating.
Ours were around 5 to 8 pounds, but they can be bigger. This action continued for about half an hour and we had eight fish in the boat, Durand getting our final fish of the day. Now it was time to set off back for Campbell River, so we cleared the rods and Brian swung the nose South then opened her up. With the tide running with us we had a great run, the other boats who’d been our companions for the day running with us, the radios buzzing with a lot of joshing as one boat passed another, all good natured and friendly banter, but knowing if anyone had trouble everyone would be there to help.
Slept well last night, shoulders a bit stiff this morning! Boy but those fish fight hard! Ocean fishing is different and makes a great day or half day out. Brian Chard is one of the best, he’s well respected for his knowledge of the fishing on the ocean and he’s good company, always ready to share a story or two!
News from Campbell River, 24th August 2006. Encouraging news for all those coming out here this year, the fish have already arrived. We are due a bumper year in 2006 and it certainly seems that way already. The main river has a lot, and we mean a lot, of fish in it’s whole length. The Pinks this year seem particularly big, a trend that we first noticed last year. Some of these fish are unstoppable, you just have to hope they run out of energy before you run out of backing! They are in superb condition at the moment, obviously straight in from the sea. There are already a few King salmon in the main pools, just this afternoon I was watching some swimming under the Comox Logging bridge, along with a hundred or so Pinks. I’m sure there’ll be some Coho in as well, but so far I haven’t caught one. The weather is hot and sunny, the water is quite warm, so for now we’re not bothering with waders, just walking in with flip-flops and shorts. This afternoon I went for a couple of hours to the top of the main river. The first fish I got was a lovely Steelhead in superb condition. There aren’t many in the river, so it’s always a bonus to get one, so that was great start to the trip. I then managed another nine salmon before calling it a day. Opposite me there were two Europeans (Brits?) casting wonderful long lines with double handed rods. Totally inappropriate for the fishing at the moment, they had been there all afternoon and not had a fish. If only they’d fished just a rods length of line they would probably have caught as many fish as we did! We started the week with two friends from the UK, Jim and Zoë Hill. They were here on their Honeymoon and we had a two day overlap with them, so we all went fishing. I think it was a success!!! Zoë caught her first ever salmon and in his first afternoon Jim more than doubled his lifetime total, so the afternoon was celebrated with a couple of cold beers on the terrace of Painter’s Lodge overlooking the sea and Quadra Island. We got some good photos of all the action which will be on our 2006 gallery. There is a good sequence of five shots where Jim is giving Zoë some tuition, the fifth shot shows her rod bent double and Jim looking very satisfied, hands on hips (his!!!). Jim had contacted me prior to their great day to ask about tackle. He thought it was a bit of overkill when I suggested a salmon reel with a good drag system, however, he brought it, a Hardy Angel. This he matched to his six piece Orvis travel rod which at first looked a bit ‘bottom heavy’ however, after a couple of fish had taken him well down to the backing with no hope of slowing them despite a good drag system, Jim decided that perhaps it was a good idea not to rely on a trout reel! He was using a Rio multi tip line using the fastest sinking tip which worked very well. Suffice to say, I think they will be coming back and we wish them well for their future together, they were great company. Click on the link at the end of this update for a slide show. The smaller rivers are struggling at the moment as they haven’t had much rain recently, so the salmon are building numbers in the estuaries. The good news is that the Autumn has started and the evenings are getting cooler, so we expect some rain in the mountains soon. There are still snow caps on the higher ones and the flight over the Rockies and Coastal Mountains are spectacular, so put your cameras in the hand luggage if allowed, the photos come out very well through the plane windows. We’ve been busy getting the vehicles ready for everyone arriving, even the boat’s had a lick of paint! We will try to give updates when we can, so everyone knows what’s happening! Tight Lines from the BC Fishing Team
BC FISHING REVIEW, 2004 SEASON. In 2004 the fishing was very different to previous years. This was due mainly to the reduced numbers of fish; however, this should be put into perspective so please don’t be alarmed. For example, previous years, the numbers of Pink salmon in the main river usually number more than a quarter of a million at the peak of the run. In 2004 the figures were more like 40,000. Admittedly a lot less, but still plenty to go round! Our fishermen out there in late August, or early September 2004 were still catching plenty of fish, but they had to try a bit harder. The comment from fishermen who had been out with us before was that they enjoyed the fishing this year more than any other, because they did have to work harder to get their fish. The runs of Sockeye, Coho and Kings were all better than previously. We had good sport with all the species in a number of different rivers. It was interesting to see the fishing changing as September progressed. The flows in the main river increased quite a lot, the effect of this was that when you hooked a powerful Coho or one of the big King salmon, then you really needed a double handed salmon fly rod to have any chance of playing a fish and getting it in. A number of our fishermen had brought their big rods after experiencing some difficulties last season in 2003, so this time they were well prepared and caught some very big and memorable fish. We have a photo gallery on the website, which shows a selection of shots taken this year. Every year we learn more and more and manage to find new rivers and places to take you. With the rising popularity of destination fishing in BC this has become one of our key issues. We don’t like ‘Combat fishing’, so we try and ensure that we can offer fishing which has some seclusion, even if the fish are a bit more challenging! This has worked well, some fishermen like to stay in the popular places, others go further afield with one of us to explore new possibilities. Some of our fishermen had their own adventures aside from the fishing; these included going with the Islander Postman in his seaplane. This is a trip of about two hours delivering mail to the remote settlements and logging camps among the archipelago of islands, this was very popular for a morning doing something different. Another group went on the snorkel tour down the main river, which must have been very enlightening as one of our group suddenly started fishing somewhere completely different and was rewarded with a large king salmon and a grin from ear to ear! We made several trips to the lakes again and they were also popular. Our local assistant, Dave Lihou was able to bring a boat which increased mobility and proved very useful, so much so that we now have our own boat, a fourteen foot all aluminium craft with two sportfishing seats, a bit more comfortable than the standard bench! In 2005 we hope to make good use of the boat, both in the lakes and the ocean, fishing just off the shore around the kelp beds near the Oyster estuary. Then there was the weather! 2004 was the coldest and wettest September we have ever had, although the final week did warm up a bit, but at times it felt very autumnal. Fortunately clothing is not expensive out there, so a warm fleece was quite effective to keep warm worn under a lightweight waterproof jacket. Prospects for 2005? Odd numbered years reputedly result in the biggest runs of salmon, so it should be a bumper year. After the reduced numbers of 2004 this will help restore confidence with the locals. This was an interesting spin-off for us in 2004. Because the fish were harder to catch there were very few local fishermen out on the rivers during the week, so fishing pressure was eased. Out on the ocean the usual American sport fishermen didn’t come either. They had followed the fishing reports so they knew the fish numbers would be down, so again, it was quite easy and not too expensive to pick up a days fishing charter and still get some good fishing. The hard fighting Chum salmon were providing most of the sport in late September. We are confident that we will be able to give everyone good fishing and a holiday to remember, for all the right reasons! In the meantime the best moments of 2004 are captured in our photo gallery and videos via the links below. We hope they will bring back fond memories for those involved and wet the appetite for those that have not yet been on one of our trips. Tight lines and we look forward to fishing with you in 2005. [Back] [Vancouver Photo Gallery - 2004] [Vancouver Video 2004]
RIVER TEVIOT 2004 SEASON REVIEW- Nisbet & Monteviot Beats. The 2004 season has been remarkable for a number of reasons. The Spring started off with lots of promise, a lot of fish were seen, but few were hooked or landed. The river looked in good shape all through the spring and prospects were good right through into May and June. From mid June onwards we had virtually no rain until September. The results were grim, the river dropped and dropped. It was so low below the Nisbet bridge that there were large flocks of gulls gorging themselves on fry, a fact passed on to the Tweed Forum who were unaware of this juvenile predation. The usual predators were still about, the Cormorants, the Otters, the Goosanders, the Kingfishers and the occasional Osprey. Probably as a result of these, the trout and grayling didn’t rise freely at all through the summer, though good numbers of fish were taken on wet fly, but rarely above 10 inches. Theory is that the bigger (and wiser?) fish were in the deep pools staying away from harm. Some work was done on the Nisbet beat in the summer months to try and provide extra lies and improved oxygenation of the water, since backwaters were becoming green and unpleasant. These have subsequently proved to be a great success, all from one morning’s work by two people! One lie that was created provided a nice summer salmon and two other fish later in the season. It is planned to do more work of this nature in the coming months ready for the 2005 season. It is a fact that during most of our fishing season the river is at a lower than normal level nowadays, so we are making efforts to improve the fishing in low water conditions. In this way we hope to provide good fishing throughout the year. By August we were despairing of the river conditions, local farmers were reportedly pumping out over a million gallons of water per day to irrigate their potato crops which was severely compromising an already difficult situation. In 2003 we didn’t have any significant rainfall through the Autumn until the end of November. With conditions already worse than 2003, what could we hope for? September brought rain and fish aplenty, who says miracles never happen! The fishing got better and better with good catches on the Nisbet beat through from September to end November. Every week to 10 days we’d get a little freshet which brought the river up time and again, each time drawing in more and more fish until the pools were getting too full. Who would think that we’d be complaining that you couldn’t lift off to cast without pricking a fish because there were so many in the pools! It’s true, I went to one pool, had four casts and pricked a fish each time, even though I was being careful, I had to walk away and find a bit of fast water to try and pick up a fish moving through, it doesn’t always work, but sometimes….. Word travels fast and we were fishing with full beats through October and November. There were quite a lot of coloured fish, but also good numbers of fresh fish constantly moving through the pools. In terms of fish hooked, it was about 3 coloured to one fresh fish, which in November isn’t a bad ratio. One thing, which we have noticed this year, is the size of the fish. From May right through to November there have been a lot of small grilse of 3 to 5 lbs in weight. These fish have run in all conditions high and low, often providing the only salmon sport in an otherwise very low river. We haven’t seen these fish before, so where have they come from? Did the nets scoop these target fish up previously? Who knows, but they were always bright silver and fresh, often with sea lice. We hope that this trend continues as it provides some good sport when summer fishing for trout or sea trout. The trends of smaller fish continued and in the autumn 90% of all the fresh salmon caught were between 7 and 9 pounds in weight. They were all in good condition looking more like ‘Springers’ than Autumn fish. A few bigger fish were caught, but usually they were quite coloured, so were carefully returned to the water. The Salmon season has now finished. Mid season we were facing all sorts of disasters, but mother nature responded and brought us water and the water brought us the fish. We have now had two seasons without the drift nets, we have now had two record seasons. One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but maybe two can give us cause for optimism? Walking along the river bank, now it is December, has all the signs that there has been a huge influx of fish and many redds have been cut. The spent salmon are everywhere, their race run, their work complete. Hopefully they have spawned to build on the resurgence of fish that we have seen these past two seasons. Our main danger now comes, as usual, from man himself! Abstraction is our biggest enemy here on the Teviot, however, even that is changing, albeit not until October next year. Abstraction will be controlled for the first time following legislation through the Scottish parliament. Hopefully when a river drops below a certain level, then all abstraction will stop to preserve our fragile river ecosystem. Maybe farmers will be encouraged to dig small reservoirs that can fill up in the winter and provide water in the summer. This is what the farmers in the flat areas in France have done for generations. Tweed Forum, a liaison body formed to find solutions to enable the wider community to all survive together has a tall order, but now there is no choice, we have to do it! The Grayling season is now well under way and good catches are being had on our own Nisbet beat. Although river levels are low at the moment this seems to favour the Grayling. Fishermen are being careful not to disturb any areas of redds where the salmon can still be seen spawning. Already a fish has been returned which if weighed accurately may have tipped the scales to a new Scottish record! If only…….eh! Fish above two pounds are common and the beat lends itself to the grayling, usually to be found in the faster riffles, maybe only one or two feet deep. In summary then, an outstanding season has been enjoyed, even though most of the action this time came from the last few months. Next year? Prospects are very good and we are hoping for a lot more spring fish. Before then, there’s still the best of the Grayling season to enjoy, so don’t pack away your small trout rods yet! Bookings for the Nisbet beat salmon fishing are filling up rapidly, largely due to the success of 2004, so if you have a mind to come and join us, call sooner rather than later. And again just to wet appetites, we have also included some pics of the 2004 season on the Teviot via the link below. Happy Christmas and Tight Lines to everyone! [Back] [Teviot Photo Gallery 2004]
The last month has seen a lot of changes for our fishing both in Scotland and on Vancouver Island, mainly thanks to our weather. Firstly we’ll look at the situation in Scotland on the River Teviot. Nisbet Beat:
With only the odd freshet through
June the levels in the Teviot were getting desperately low, in spite of which
the potato farmers continued to pump water out of the rivers, depleting the
already low flows even further. In places the levels were so low that flocks of
Black headed gulls were swooping in and gorging themselves on fish fry, a fact
that neither the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, nor the Tweed
Foundation were aware of. (They are now!) We made some small croys to improve
levels and flows in low water conditions, also increasing oxygenation of the
water. Our efforts were repaid with interest when in one evening one fish was
hooked and lost then twenty minutes later Tom Davis hooked a fish on the run
into the Kirk Pool. The fish had been lying below one of the new lies he’d
created a few days earlier!
Since we were really fishing for Trout and Sea Trout in the evening, Tom was only using a six weight 10 ft 6 in Tomahawk rod he’d built for himself. All credit to him, some twenty minutes later he landed a lovely silver salmon of 8½ lbs. The fish stayed in the fast water most of the time and with a light leader and soft actioned rod there was only limited control to move the fish into the deeper part of the pool. That was caught in early June and gave us the proof that fish are running through the summer. Twenty four hours earlier the river had risen 2 feet for a day, which obviously was enough to bring some fish in.
For the rest of the month it was
mainly trout fishing and trying to outsmart the sea trout which could be seen
charging around the tail of the pools in the evenings. The sea trout won! With
all the low water some of the lower beats on the Tweed were enjoying some good
sport right through into July, catching 4 or 5 fish per day. We had a day on the
Pedwell beat towards the end of July and were rewarded when
We are now moving out of August and there have been some dramatic changes in the weather. Mid August saw torrential rains with severe flooding and mudslides in the Teviot valley (as well as elsewhere). Having suffered several months with the levels around minus one foot below the gauge we then had ten days where it started with a flood of over 6 feet on the gauge then settled down to run about one foot above zero for a sustained period. Prospects now are very good and the beat is getting booked up into the Autumn. There should be the early Autumn fish in the pools now, which are typically smaller than the main run of Autumn fish. Rods were fishing the beat last week and they had four salmon which is our most successful week so far this season. We still have days available in late September, October and November, so please call us if you are interested. Campbell River: It is surprising how conditions can mirror themselves on opposite sides of the world! In British Columbia there have been sustained drought conditions for months with a number of serious forest fires on the mainland. The first salmon to run the Campbell are the Pinks, which start in mid July. This year they did arrive on time, but only in small numbers, furthermore, there were no fish in the Quinsum river. Even as I write there are only one or two fish there, not enough to make it worthwhile fishing. This was obviously a concern, so a visit to the hatchery and a chat with the manager was in order. It was very interesting to hear the reasons behind what we now find. Normally the fish running our rivers come down from the North through the Inside Passage. This year they have split and most of them, they believe have travelled down the west side of the Island, which is why the ocean fishing has been exceptional on that side. The Fisheries are confident that the run sizes will be normal, but the timing will be different. This is all due to the prolonged hot weather over here. The water temperature in the Quinsum is 2 degrees higher than usual, but this is enough to stop the fish running until it cools down. The Quinsum and Campbell rivers are fed by dammed lake systems. On September 1st there will be increased releases of water, which will help overcome the low flow problems being experienced on both rivers. It is hoped that this will also encourage the Fish to run in the rivers at their normal high levels. One concern is that the Pinks may not run the Quinsum and try to spawn in the Campbell instead!
We have just finished our first fishing week and all clients caught good numbers of Pinks. Because we only fly-fished we chose to stay on the fly-only stretch of the Campbell. This was a good strategy as the spin-bait fishermen were pretty crowded downstream! We have had to find some new areas to fish, which was a challenge in itself, but has provided some really good places. There are a new selection of flies proving their worth this season as well, maybe because of the low water conditions. For those of you coming out to join us, don’t worry we have a good supply tied up ready for you! These first Pinks are quite small, though we have had the occasional fish of 6 or 7 pounds. You can get a keeper stamp if you wish to keep some, there’s a limit of 4 fish per day. A friend here showed me some fillets off a female pink which he’d kept and they were nice and pink like a rainbow trout. Because the fish are waiting to come up the river the ocean fishing is very productive. One of our young guides, Kevin Enns went out with three friends and they had five fish in the boat in an afternoon. Kings of 25, 24, 15 and 12 lbs and a nice Coho of 12 lbs. Apparently, they had a triple-header at one time. This means three of them were playing different fish at the same time, quite a hectic battle ensued resulting in two fish landed and the third was '‘shaken off'’ as it was an undersize King! I know we had a thick fillet from one of the Kings BBQ’d and it was very tasty indeed. So, it would be worth considering a boat trip or even fishing a tide off the beach, though reports for this are a bit hit and miss, one night can be a hotspot, then blank for the next 3 nights. We’ve been over to the Gold River and there were some Sockeye still in, but very low water and the fish looked to have been long term residents. Good news is that as I write, the flow today has trebled, so that should bring a raft of fresh fish into the system. Planning in advance for the Gold River is impossible, if the conditions are right they only last about 24 or 48 hours, so you just have to go for it. In the space of a week the conditions have changed very dramatically. Last week it was so hot we had to buy some fans to try and get some air circulating in our house. Now we’ve been wearing winter shirts and it can be really quite cool in the evenings. One big problem is the fog. I guess because the land has become so hot. Now we’re getting rain it is turning to fog in the evenings and nighttime. The sound of the fog horns from the ships comes booming across to the town sounding quite eerie in the quiet of the night. One thing we have noticed on the Campbell and that is the wading is very tricky. Because of the hot, low water conditions there is a layer of slime on the rocks making it very difficult for safe wading. We have a number of wading sticks here for clients to use, but if you are thinking of bringing yours then it is highly recommended that you bring it, together with your fishing life jackets. Yesterday we witnessed the perfect example of what not to do. A fisherman came down to the river bank wearing Neoprene chest waders which weren’t pulled up properly, so the crutch was just above the knees. They were stumbling over the dry rocks before reaching the river, let alone wading! So there they were ready to start fishing, no wading stick, no life-jacket and no sunglasses to protect the eyes. They had chosen one of the most dangerous places off the bottom island where the flow is vicious. Three casts later and the fly was embedded in the brim of the baseball cap, shortly followed by a startled backward step and this angler sat down very hard on the rocks, fortunately on dry land. This was a painful lesson for a lady who could cast a nice line, but clearly hadn’t had the same level of training on safety. We can’t stress enough the importance of fishing safely! For those of you that will soon be joining us, we can promise you some very good fishing in a number of new places, which we think you will enjoy. The main runs should be coming in by mid-September, which means for example, that the group coming week commencing 19th September could be there for the peak of the Pinks run. Last year by this time they were nearly over by then. The big Kings may be a bit later as will the Coho, but there should be enough of all species to provide good sport for all. If we have any changes to the above forecasts, then we’ll be sure to let you know. Tight Lines to everyone! Ian and Julie
This
January we decided to explore the potential for ‘Winter Steelheading’ on
Vancouver Island. We’ve been here in Campbell River since 30th
December, so Happy New Year! The first two weeks we had several feet of snow. Surprisingly, it is not what normally happens here! Previously, it has been 3 or 4 years since there was last this much. Temperatures also plummeted, luckily we only had minus 8, a little further north and it was minus 31 deg C! Under
these conditions, it was as much as I could do to get to the river, let alone
fish it, however, our 4x4 truck was well up to the job and with thermal long johns
on to keep warm we had several forays in the river. I’ve come to the
conclusion that Steelhead are as common as Rocking Horse Droppings!! They
are much harder to catch than other Pacific Salmon, and there are not too many
of them. We would liken the chances of catching one to that of catching an
Atlantic Salmon in Scotland, it can be done, but there is no certainty. Steelhead
runs have declined over the last 15 years, and two years ago programmes were
initiated on most of the key rivers to try and bring about a recovery of these
runs. Talking with local fishermen who have fished for twenty or more
years it is interesting to hear their experiences. Fishing on the Campbell
River two days ago I met up with a fellow angler, local to the area. He
had gotten a new Spey Rod , I think for Christmas, and was trying it out, and
casting a very nice line too. A Spey rod out here is any double handed
salmon fly rod. The one he was using was a St Croix fourteen foot, and he
explained that in the winter many of the fishermen use them because the rivers
are that much higher, so there are no banks, just trees down to the water’s
edge. By using the Spey rod and Spey casting technique, it enabled him to cover
most of the river. It
is interesting to note the flies, which work well for Winter Steelhead. One of
the best is the General Practioner, a fly familiar to us for Atlantic
Salmon. Also the Egg Sucking Leech, which has a purple body and palmered
hackle with a bright pink chenille head, which looks like the egg.
Muddlers with silver bodies and using blue Polar Bear fur are also very
good. If the water is coloured, either by rain or snow melt, then they use
Chartreuse flies which are a bright lime green colour, but show up well.
For a picture of some samples click here. The
Campbell and Gold Rivers are two of the best Steelhead rivers on the Island, so
having tried the first, we went over to Gold River for another foray. One
angler had just hit it right and managed 12 Steelhead in three days. The
Gold is a fast flowing tumbling river which is very different in winter,
compared to the summer flows, it also changes quite quickly. Ideal flows
for Steelhead are about 250 cubic metres per second. In 12 hours the flow
went from 200 to nearly 700 centimetres. The
Gold (click here for pictures) is on the West coast of the island and there was still a lot of snow
about. Had it been a clear day, it would have looked very nice, however,
we had it overcast with low cloud and swirling mists. During the day we met up
with several fishing parties, including one group who were river rafting for
Steelhead. Three of them were in a white water raft heading down to
canyon, fishing pools, anchoring if necessary, then moving on, taking most of
the day. It was little consolation to hear that no-one had caught any
fish! The wildlife is always worth the visit, the Bald Headed Eagles
majestically soaring up and down the river, and as you walk along the edge of
the forest the small squirrels are scampering around looking for their winter
store of nuts. The trees are festooned with bright green lichens
like new leaves, providing some sustenance for the Deer and Elk. At one
point the paw marks of a Cougar were clear in the snow where it had passed
through earlier. On the drive back, the lakes were still covered with ice, the stillness in the cold of winter giving everywhere an eerie quiet. At
least all the snow should give better flows on the non-regulated rivers this
September, so we can look forward to some excursions to areas not fished
previously, in addition to the regular fishing on the Campbell and Quinsum
rivers. Winter
Steelhead fishing is for the locals, rather than the itinerant fisherman.
At the moment we don’t plan to include winter trips in our portfolio, it would
be unfair to pretend that you could come here with any guarantee of either being
able to fish, or of catching any! However, we will continue to look and
evaluate other possibilities as they arise. Our next area may well be on
the East coast of Canada where there are some new opportunities to fish for
Atlantic Salmon. The
other operations - fishing on the river Teviot in the Scottish Borders - will be
getting under way at the beginning of February as we start another season.
The low rainfall last year made for difficult conditions, but since the end of
November we had consistently high flows in the river and judging by the numbers
of kelts in the river, there should have been a good spawning in 2003. The
snow in the hills will hopefully fill the water sheds so we can expect flow
levels to maintain a reasonable height, certainly during the early part of the
season. |
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BC Fishing Ltd
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We set off at 7.00
am running north up through the inside passage, the sunrise creeping up over the
mountains. It is quite cold in the night and early morning, so it was good to
have a windproof fleece on. Slowly the sunlight started to light up the spray
shooting out behind us as Brian’s powerful boat roared up the sound. We came up
to Seymour Narrows where Ripple rock used to be. The currents here are amazing,
great swirling whirlpools looking like boiling oil. We skimmed across them then
cut left to go up the west side as it was chopping up a bit, so we looked for
the sheltered side. Even so we hit a few bouncy bits so Brian throttled back to
save our fillings and false teeth! In all we traveled about 70 miles, turning
right at Chatham Point. Then, we ran up a few miles to the North side of Stewart
Island. Up there is where the Spring Salmon are still feeding, and that is what
we were after! 
the fishing grounds. Things had hotted up and Red Rider was getting
all sorts of messages giving advice on lure, depth etc. That’s the thing out
here, everyone is so friendly and helpful, sharing their knowledge. We find this
on the rivers too, local fishermen always ready to help anyone and offer tips
and even a couple of flies that are working for them! 
We pulled into the
marina feeling very satisfied and not a little tired. We took the fish to the
gutting station where we cleaned them and bagged them up ready for the fridge or
freezer. We had 10 fish kept for the day, all bright silver powerhouses in peak
condition.
Julie
came away with a bright silver sea-liced grilse of 4½ lbs. Most of the middle
and lower beats had success through June and July.
Fishing
pressure on the Campbell is not too bad so far, especially considering that
no-one is fishing the Quinsum. Word has gotten around that there aren’t many
fish this year and clearly a lot of people have not come. Normally August is the
busiest period. Most Hotels and Motels are reporting that they are unusually
quiet this year.