Flyfishing Vancouver Island BC | Single Spey Flyfishing Adventures

Winter Time! Large flies, Large fish...

2011-12-16T08:04:00.001-08:00

Winter time, the season I cherish the most for personal fishing! I simply haven't been out due to life, family, commitments etc. So sorry for not keeping up on the posts but this will all change soon, my favorite season has arrived. Yesterday I tied these up, not cause I need more flies, because I'm always into inventing & playing with new patterns... If one didn't then how would many of the popular flies fished today exist? At the end of the day it's just fun to approach fishing from different angles, try new things and challenge one self to sway from the norm! I think this is a great fly style much overlooked; It's durable, has great action in the water, gets you where you need to be and best of all has a little class too! A very well balanced design that I'll pride in fishing. Consider Arctic Fox / Temple Dog Hair wing patterns for your next outing, this stuff is active hair in great lengths when you have the source for it. If you can't find these materials, contact Jack Cook at Steelhead Anglers

Flyfishing for Salmon on Vancouver Island

2011-10-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Many years in the months of Sept & Oct we simply don't have the water to float and access sections of rivers that we fish in winter months, this fall has been different. With good water levels our options are endless and often productive. Guiding on Vancouver Island is great in that there are so many watersheds to choose from depending on how far one wants to venture, but this often leads to a loss in what is currently happening on any certain watershed when rivers are flowing good. Some of the benefits are this spreads the angling pressure thin with many days not encountering another person all day, and if the anglings good what could be better! The benefits become huge when you time the fishing just right but then there are the days when everything seems good but you just can't buy a fish! Pacific Salmon are questionable at the best of times when in our fresh waters and I feel there`s still so much to learn about technics on how to entice these fish to a fly. I find the personalities of our different species of Salmon are extremely defined when in clear waters. Coho and Chinook being the hardest to catch when fresh from the sea. Chum Salmon just seem to eat flies anytime you can find them, Pinks are on and then off the bite but will more often than not take a fly offering. Coho love a stripped fly, usually sparsly tied bait patterns. Chinook just seem impossible most of the time but on occasion get hooked up! Sockeye, well I have yet to see a fresh chrome one take an offering on a Vancouver Island Stream. Once these fish have been in the river for a while then they become more territorial and will bite anything that swims within their range once staging in the upper reaches of a river, but this isn`t the greatest time to target them either!
I often compare this Island fishery to the Famous Skeena region which I know well from my past guiding career. Clarity of the rivers on the island can often be a challenge and there are pro`s and cons to this factor! The downfall to Skeena Country is it`s not unusual to go weeks without good fishing conditions due to dirty rivers, resulting in anglers shuffling to any waters with any clarity to them and sometimes just not fishing at all. In fall months this often results in heavy angling pressure on the fisheries that are fishable which isn`t the greatest experience either. When these Skeena tributaries are in good condition they usually give up good catching and thats the trade off most anglers seem to care about... it`s easier to make excuses about the dirty water than try to come up with why a salmon won`t bite your fly in good water conditions and this discourages many anglers. I`ve witnessed a lot of great flyfishing in Skeena country when the water has a couple feet of visibility, simply swing a large fly and wait for the tug! The above is somewhat different when targeting Steelhead on the Island as they are quite different from our Pacific Salmon. Our Chrome fresh Salmon are great fighting fish in good numbers, and frankly my uncertainty of this fishery keeps me trying even harder... The Coho in the picture is a great example of why to give it a go, a beautiful world class fish on a fly and no anglers to be seen!

Flash flooding rivers; Dead Low water to deadly high water in 3 hours!

2011-09-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

My guest came up from Washington for a couple of days fishing on his first visit to BC. Being a Steelheader for many years his priority was to experience our Steelhead with a possible mix of Salmon. Prior to his visit the forecast was looking very interesting with good rainfall for several days. Rain we needed after 6-7 weeks of Sunshine and the run off drying up in the hills. This season we had some of the greatest run off I've ever experienced late into the summer months for Vancouver Island with good flows reaching into Aug. A typical summer would see the rivers dropping to low levels in mid July! I was excited about the forecast, thinking of happy fish thriving in greater flows after staring at the sun for 6 weeks. Typical of weather predictions though things tend to change as the days progress with the rain often arriving later; in this case driving the heart of the rainfall on the day of fishing rather than in the days past which of course would have given us a perfect dropping river to fish! On the first day, we headed west for Steelhead and we were expecting 50mm of rain. We knew it was going to be wet but the way things were looking it may be our only chance to fish Summer Steelhead in our 2 day adventure! We started fishing a river that was the lowest I've experienced it in 2 years... My client was stunned, there's Steelhead in this! I started him out with a small Steelhead Bee, fishing pocket water as we progressed up the river. I planned on fishing a stretch of river that was accessed by crossing the river, then working upstream for the morning as all the pools fished from the other side. Then at lunch we would cross back and hike to our vehicle. As he cast the Steelhead Bee the fly was getting drenched before it hit the water due to the amount of rainfall occuring! From pool to pool we encountered Steelhead as I payed close attention to the water levels... These fish were hot, taking the fly violently and tearing up the pools. My concern now was getting back across to the roadside before the river was too high to wade. Every time I got to a pool I focused on a rock to gauge the levels as my guest fished but clearly things were rising faster than I could ever imagine! Finally I said, it's time to cross and within a short time following watched the river blow out! I can't say that I have ever watched a river rise that fast while fishing it; we succeeded in hooking 3 awesome wild Summer Steelhead in 3hrs. A rising river isn't so bad to fish after all. The following day we got out on the Saltwater chasing Coho on the beaches before the winds came up, we managed one looker with a boil at the bait pattern before the rollers came in, time to head up the river!! The pic and video above is a result of the river fishing, a nice chrome Coho after many casts at cruising fish migrating up the river. A successful trip overall dodging weather and water conditions to the best of our abilities, every once and a while you get it right!

A Wave of Fish!

2011-08-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

Its incredible how in a couple of days everything changes on our waters! For three weeks I have been anticipating the return of Pink Salmon to the Campbell River. With a few fish trickling in over the last three weeks trying to put clients on fish has been a challenge and then in one night, everything changes! It's very typical for these fish to return between the first & second week of July and of course until they truly arrive the word on the river is mixed with ideas, concerns and rumors... One angler has one theory, the other is skeptical and others have in their minds a more scientific idea as to why the fish aren't coming. Some anglers figure their not going to return at all, and then up to the day before the big arrival when you hear of the monster floods two year ago which the hatchery feels has blown out all the eggs and everything's a disaster for this return of fish, the chrome bright Salmon start to flood our waters! We may not get a million fish back to this 3km stretch of river but certainly plenty enough to please beyond expectations most anglers fishing dreams... This video was taken randomly last night after hooking approximately 10 fresh sea bright salmon while enjoying dinner, beverages on the home pool; don't try this at home:)

Pink Salmon On the Beach

2011-07-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

With tough catching on the Campbell River today, we split the day and made an evening on the beach with hopes of finding salmon there. It was very quiet in the way of fish showing and the waves were rolling in on us make things slightly more challenging. Oh yes the weeds, Kelp and everything else that the waves were flushing into the water created more challenges but with some persistence we managed to find a salmon willing to play! This fish was a handful ripping off lots of backing on a couple of runs! A fresh Pink Salmon with lots of spunk and a great reward well earned by my client, good job!!

First Pink Salmon 2011

2011-07-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

My first Pink Salmon this season came much later than usual... Today while fishing the lower river I found a group of fish and as I cast my fly to them more pushed into the run. The rivers slightly larger than usual for this time of year too making it a bit harder to target these sometimes finicky fish! Fishing my floating line with about 12ft of leader and a weighted fly I fished many a cast before hooking up, as a matter of fact I think I made an hours worth of casting and then a bump! Next cast a flash and then finally after making the 30th last cast I hooked up on a nice Pink Salmon, sea lice still attached to this feisty little chromer! I'm guiding the next 5 days so I'm pleased to finally see a few fish in the Campbell, my home waters that can produce some of the greatest fly-fishing on the planet. in the last week I have also witnessed a few longer slender fish which i assume are Steelhead but haven't had any luck temping them to take a fly which makes me curious? If indeed steelies, these fish are usually quick to pounce on anything that swims in their territory. The big question is will there be another banner return like the last two seasons, we'll soon know!

Fishing Update July 26th / 11

2011-07-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

It's incredible how much anticipation there is regarding our Campbell River Pink Salmon fishery! Calls and e mails from people I don't even know wanting info on whether the fish have arrived yet, what to use, if they can keep some.... The return of our Pink Salmon run is certainly late this season, I personally witnessed my first fish on the 24th. Last year it was the 11th and by the 23rd we had full on action in our home pool till your hearts content and the river was fairly full of fish already! I have a post on this blog from the 23rd of July 2010 including a video for those interested in viewing...

This season I convinced a guest into coming last week instead of next. My opinion was the earlier you can experience the pinks in their return the better, the fish fight better and there are less anglers targeting them... As a result, my client didn't get to experience any of the Pink Salmon he read about on Vancouver Island! This is the greatest challenge with traveling anglers wanting to angle for migratory fish and really there's no certainty from year to year whens going to be best; many get the old "should have been here last week" or "next week will be perfect!" Water & weather conditions weight heavy on an anglers success on the west coast so hitting the right week for the upcoming season is always a gamble...
One of my great friends & clients for many years now said to me last time we fished that one really needs to come for 2 weeks to have a few good days of fishing for Steelhead or Salmon. This particular friend spends many weeks at our old lodge up north every year and has witnessed group after group coming and going, some with success, others at a total loss and it's rarely related to ones angling skills...

So far this season everything is later than I have ever experienced for Vancouver Island; I hope this means lots of good fishing ahead! I'm also guessing there will be less estuary fishing this season with all the water in our smaller rivers that usually holds back fish migration till fall months...
I certainly wonder how global warming makes record snow pack, colder weather and as a result very cold water in our rivers unusual to summer months... The recent 5 year weather trend has been good for Salmon & Steelhead on Vancouver Island, I hope it keeps up!

Guide Update July 20th / 11

2011-07-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a nice Sea-Run Dolly from an estuary we fished the other day. We caught a number of these in a span of about an hour... Like most sea-run fish these Dolly Varden are there and gone again before your eyes; this leaves you at a loss sometimes when you think it's the easiest catching around. This day we fished the beaches in search of Salmon along the river mouth and shorelines but no signs of any salmon at all! We sometimes catch these Dolly's that work the beaches prior to the flood tide, then they push up the river mouth and become quite active but we didn't find them on the beaches today! When the tide starts rising these fish get very active surfacing and splashing often making them a lot easier to target and with a little luck they're in the mood for your offerings! This activity is common on flood tides, often like clockwork that lasts for the first hour and a half as the flood tide fills up pool after pool, then all goes quiet and just like that it's over! Sometimes that short part of the day is all the action you see on the end of your line.
I sometimes do a little crabbing in the mix to make sense of this day which can have long quiet stretches. It also makes for good sport depending on how you target them! A net or maybe a fishing line with a chunk of old salmon carcass tied on the end... I managed to pull one right into the boat this way the other day as it latched on to the bait behind my boat, bringing them to the surface is easy, getting them to hold on to get them in the boat is the challenge without a net! I flung a large Dungeness Crab right over me towards my client while he tried his luck casting a fly. This too is good sport when your meat fishing and slightly entertaining:)

Conditions on Vancouver Island have been very unusual this season, we are still experiencing winter water levels and water temps are also quite cold. It's not exaggerating to say some of our rivers are easily 5 times what they normally are for this time of year.
This makes everything about this fishery different as typical low water levels in summer on the Island make fish migration completely different. Most of the time fish get held up in the estuaries much longer and those fish that insist on heading into the river like Summer Steelhead venture up high into the upper reaches of watersheds where water temps are ideal for holding over in warmer months.
Our Salmon are late arriving so far, frankly haven't seen many yet and smaller streams that I usually target for Summer Steelhead are large and limited to access, not being able to wade into usual areas that a boat just can't get to. All this throws a loop into my approach fishing and guiding, it's exciting to try out new approaches to our fisheries that one doesn't often get to do and there will be more float trips this season for sure! Just hope the fish are hanging in these lower reaches of our watersheds enough to make swinging a fly successful!

Rigging our Tube Flies

2011-05-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video on how we prefer to rig our tube flies. Use Octopus style hooks from sizes 6 - 2/0 depending on the species you're targeting. We recommend Gamagatsu or Owner brand Octopus style hooks. Other Tube fly hooks work as well but this is our preference. You can purchase our Tube Flies at bcflyguide.com

Vancouver Island / Spring Steelhead April 26th / 11

2011-04-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

April Showers bring all the colors of the rainbow including Chrome?
Yesterday we spent the day floating the river with your typical spring weather, 5 minutes of rain, then sun, then wind from the south, then.. It certainly felt like spring time and of course the smell of skunk cabbage in the air makes myself think of all those fresh chrome surprises I've had and talked about to clients for many years...
We get fresh Steelhead arriving even into late May; over the last few years it's seemed clear that the runs of Steelhead I've known on Vancouver Island aren't in numbers in the later season as much much as they are earlier in Winter months. Now this has always been true to some extent that the earlier runs of fish are stronger in numbers but some watersheds used to bring a strong push of fish late April / May that just don't seem to be evident like they used to.
Years ago the elders I fished with talked about the numbers of late fish that staged and spawned in the lower reaches of the watersheds at one time, and in good numbers. Those fish don't seem to be around anymore and after considering all the scenarios I still don't have a convincing answer as to why... Was it due to colder water temps, ever changing river conditions due to environmental changes in the watershed or is it ocean conditions making them arrive to the watersheds earlier in the season for some unknown reason...
This year we've had colder water temps throughout the winter season and I personally have been anticipating a possible return of late Steelhead in good numbers. One can dream of the good old days and when I think of all the days I've experienced these hot fish on warm spring days with the scents of Skunk Cabbage lingering in the air, the more I can't forget how awesome Spring Steelhead fishing is... The days are longer, everything is vibrant including the weather, the elk are thriving in the river valley and occasionally just when you thought your Winter / Spring Steelhead season is over that awesome chromer takes hold and tears the pool apart!

Yesterday was interesting as we floated 10kms of river to ourselves, everything seemed right accept the fish just weren't on the bite, not even a trout... Keeping that steelheading spirit we just kept pounding as we knew this could change at any pool. When fishing in spring you can get a mixed bag of opportunities from fish that are dropping out to that new arrival who thinks its the master of its domain; letting anything that swims by know who's in charge! We arrived to this long run that could be fished for half a day and I defined where I've had most of my success in past seasons on it. We focused on making every cast count in this section to the point of even re-rigging our line setup and it payed big! Changing the line and fly got us the distance we needed to cover the far bank confidently! the result was three takes, two hook ups and one landed which turned out to be that late arriving hen we had just dreamed of hooking up minutes prior! Some wishes do come true!! :) you can view this fish on video while the weather changed before our eyes at the link below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFwwkdQEIXQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Winter Steelhead Update (Vancouver Island) Feb 16th / 11

2011-03-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

It all started with some guys who built bamboo rods planning a Steelhead fishing trip, one of them living in Vancouver BC and two of them living in different parts of the states. They contacted me about a guided trip on Vancouver Island and told me they built bamboo rods for the trip, Two handed rods of approx. 12ft... Well this is something I don't see often so I was looking forward to seeing these big bamboo rods in action! When I met these guys they had their rods on roof racks ready to go and mentioned the rods had been on the hood of their truck for the last three days, traveling around the island in search of Steelhead. The rods had spliced ferrils that are taped together and I assume keeping these rods together once taped is the way to be if possible on a fishing trip... For the three weeks prior of their guided trip with Single Spey Flyfishing Adventures we had experienced low water condition and cooler weather and frankly the catching was challenging, even the sea-run trout seemed to have evacuated the watersheds. We then received a massive low pressure that pushed in rain and within a few days our water condition went from one extreme to the other! Our booked day was questionable on the morning of after the guys endured massive winds and rain while sleeping in their tents... I checked the water levels when i woke up. The rivers showed that the peak of flows were over and flows were dropping fast. When I woke up I realized our power was off and checked my I phone for the time, 6:25AM! I also realized there was a text on my phone from the boys, how are the rivers... I replied lets go look! We headed to the river and after a 45 minute drive arrived to the put in where we start our float, the river was raging but had good visibility and I pondered... I though to myself if we can avoid all the logs floating and jammed in the river rowing three guys, my gear and myself safely to soft flowing water we shall find steelhead! I must admit I was slightly concerned how it was going to go as I had never floated this river with flows near this high!! "Lets do it guys" I said, so off we went:) With two of the guys never experiencing Steelhead yet and having built these great bamboo rods just for the trip I was excited to get them hooked up! The first good pool we got to one of the guys got tugged twice, "Ah shit, I just missed one" I heard from above... Hhmmmm, I could see that there could be a few challenges ahead, trout guys wanting to set the hook as soon as they felt anything! This is always a challenge as hook setting while swinging a fly for steelhead is a whole different deal. You must allow them to take the fly, reaching to them as they take rather than setting up! We moved on and got to a one man pool that is as reliable as any... The guys wanted Brian to go for it as they felt he deserved a good chance at a fish, I set him up and within 5 casts, "there he is" Brian shouted and then nothing! The fish had broke Brians tippet with ease... Another hard lesson for trout anglers, when fishing for the elusive Steelhead most experienced Steelhead fisherman make for certain that their gear is always top notch, no room for errors when often it's a one shot deal in a days fishing... You can't miss out on that opportunity! Well we now knew we were likely in for a good days fishing after missing out on two fish in two runs. It was great to see the Bamboo rods in action, the guys were all new at spey-casting but making it work and to see the differences in the rods actions made it a nice challenge for myself in assisting these fellas with their approaches to casting these interesting fishing poles. One of the rods had a fairly flimsy tip section, the other a softer mid section and the last one that looked to be the most consistent action from tip to butt. As the day progressed we had trees flowing past us, the occasional push of dirty water and no shortage of new obstacles to row around while the river flows never seemed to ease up! The guys hooked and lost more fish, large chrome fish that would come to the surface when hooked or simply leap right out of the water but the guys just couldn't keep them on the line for any amount of time. What a way to get the Steelhead Bug! We did manage to land one fish thankfully as you can see and this is a classic situation for myself as a guide, working rivers through hell and high water for dreaming steelheaders:) Most local anglers would simply pass on days like we had, with pelting rain, flooding happening everywhere including the ditches along the roads but oh no, lets go fishing lololol!! In the above picture you can see the pool where we landed the fish. When floating to this section I say to the guys lets have a look at this channel, it's some of the slowest water we've seen today, deep looking and flows into the head of what is usually a great pool. So we get out of the boat and Ryan says to me, do Steelhead lye on the sand as this back channel was simply that, a very sandy bottom, deep and slow moving... "oh ya" I answer, anywhere they can be to be out of the raging currents that has depth and a slow flow is as good a place as any! The back channel where this fish was hooked is merely an oxbow with barely any water in it at regular river levels. Here is the link to the you tube video I posted of us playing and landing this fish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQPjDIKLKTg&feature=youtube_gdata_player As the day progressed we hooked a few more fish but brought none to the beach. With hopes of the rivers levels dropping as the day progressed I was at a bit of a loss when some of the last great pools of the float were simply not wadable. As it turned out when I arrived home and checked out on-line river levels and our water had started rising quickly from noon on... A great day none the less and quite the adventure to say the least, just us and the Wild Steelhead of Vancouver Island. I also did manage to get all three Bamboo Spey rods in hand for a few casts and will say they are in a league of their own and do the job just great! It also put more meaning into our day and would love to one day own one for myself:)

Vancouver Island Winter Steelhead update Jan 26th / 11

2011-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

What makes for a good days fishing? Even on days when the fish can't resist your flies and you're hooking up on Steelhead like this one the most important part of the day is having good company on bright waters combined with good weather! If I have all those things and get skunked it's still a great day! Today was a little better than the average catching day and that always makes one feel extra rewarded with their fishing experience! Today 2 friends & I floated the river together and shared good waters with aggressive Steelhead... The fish were on the bite and we were confident in the water that held fish so we took turns fishing the hot spots and all hooked fish equally! This doesn't happen all the time but on occasion the stars align just right and everyone goes home thinking about why they don't get out more often? The one thing you must do in order to get these rewards is get on the river as much as possible. Along the way the odd error will occur like the windy day when you can't row your boat downstream or you go for an unexpected swim in January and your 8kms from your vehicle. Or maybe you break a rod or two along the way! When you have the three important elements on your side, the good friends, water & weather none of it much matters and the day is still better than most! When fishing Steelhead you never know for certain how it's going to go but occasionally it turns out to be near perfect and all the other tough days on the water are soon forgotten! And when you hook one of these wild specimens of Vancouver Island you are simply reminded why you go to all lengths to do it!

Dad / Son time on the Water

2011-01-19T12:04:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how an early fishing experience can stick with a person for life! My father took me fishing many a day when I was old enough to hold a fishing rod and I still remember those days clearly... I don't remember many things from my youth so I'm guessing the outdoors, the smells, sounds and just being one with the environment is something that's never really forgotten once experienced. As I got a little older and had opportunities to get on the water it just felt right because it never really changes out there when walking through the trees, near a lake or stream, the sounds and smells are similar and pure as you know them and simply put it is a real experience! I say this because many other things in life are cool to experience but are often novelties or trends within society that come and go throughout ones life. It seems the older I get the more I value the true things I have brought into my life and work! I guess where I'm going with all this is I feel lucky these quality times as a youth outdoors fishing were instilled in me as what real good things are, and they are some of the only true things in my life other than family! Where I go fishing are places I can always count on to ground me with pleasure through good and tough times. It's ironic that the things I ignored the most when fishing as a youth are the things I value more & more every time I get out! I now understand now more than ever how important it is to get youngsters on the water or simply outdoors experiencing what's real and will always be. These pictures were taken last summer in our back yard of a father & son having a great time catching pink salmon on a fly. A fishery that's just perfect for new comers to the sport of fly-fishing and I'm privledged to get to witness and share these experiences with others introducing a sport that needs to live strong within the young people in our community! I see youngsters quite a bit near our property fishing and think it's the greatest thing when they are on the water whatever their fishing style is... I have posted a couple of videos recently on youtube that are of this same fishery of friends and clients having a blast hooking these great fish that often turn newcomers into fishing finatics. To view them just key word fly-fishing for salmon / Campbell River. If you want to book a trip to experience this great fishery along with other great fishing opportunities in July, contact us at flyguide@telus.net

Fishing Update / Jan 10th / 11

2011-01-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

Jocelyn & I went out for the day to wet a line (or should I say froze a line) in hopes of a fresh Steelhead. The water conditions were perfect but we are headed into a high pressure meaning cold weather for our parts, somewhere just below freezing temps! It was cold enough to ice up our guides & lines but overall it was a great day. We only managed to fish 2 nice pools due to a late start and an early departure as we both have other commitments to meet these days. My wife is going to school for the first time in 20+ years and is loaded with home work aside from being mom to our son etc... so needless to say, when the rear opportunity to go swing a fly comes we do our best regardless of fishing conditions! I have mentioned before about these Glow Worm Tube Flies I sell on my web site and how well they work. This is another example of the results, the trout can't resist them either! The great thing about this fly is it is very light weight for such a large presentation meaning most fly-fishing outfits can cast it with no troubles! this fly lights up beautifully in the water as it is tied with UV polar chinelle which doesn't retain water when you have to pick it up and cast it again. Many anglers never think about large flies like this for trout and in some places it would likely not make sense, but our sea-run fish love them and I know that enticing fish in colder waters to chase a big meal verses a small one is usually in your favor... We had a great time, I hope there's another day on the water with my wife soon holding one of those fresh chrome Steelhead:)

Salmon On the Fly (fishing the home pool)

2011-01-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

I was just reviewing some pictures from last season and found this video along with others... I haven't been out on the water recently so here's something to think about for a summer fishing adventure. This fishery is great catching sea-bright Pink Salmon entering our home pool just minutes from tidal waters. Our river is crystal clear so you can literally watch these fish migrate into it in waves through months of July & Aug! In my opinion, this is the greatest opportunity for new fly-fishers to experience catching salmon on light gear, allowing them to also test their skills and gain knowledge of how to play fish in fast moving water, and observe their behavior etc. If one is trying to get a friend into fly-fishing this is an adventure for you! If you love Bright waters & bright fish, this is also a fishing trip you deserve to take. Enough said I think, river fishing for salmon on light fly-fishing gear that's simply unbeatable!

Hair of the Dog (Temple Dog Hair-Wing Flies)

2010-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

Temple Dog Hair is likely the most lifelike of all hairs when wet! I like using Arctic Fox for a lot of my hair-wing patterns but getting hair even up to 3 inches long can be a challenge. I can usually get Temple Dog Hair 4+ inches and this stuff is even more lifelike than Arctic Fox for a little more $. There's something about tying and fishing these patterns averaging 4 inches long that is just awesome when fishing large rivers on Vancouver Island for Winter Steelhead!These flies are tied on 2 inch long plastic tubes, an under-wing of calf tail, Kens glitter wing hair:) and of course topped with Pink Temple Dog. Finished off with real Jungle Cock Cheeks. Fairly easy full dressed patterns that look awesome in the water and catch fish! Flies like these are available on my online Tube Fly Shop at http://www.bcflyguide.com/flies.html

Kens Tube Fly Shop

2010-12-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

You can now purchase Kens tube flies on line! Visit our fly shop on our web site at www.bcflyguide.com and click the fly shop page to see what we offer! Please give us any feed back regarding flies you would like to see on there or anything else that may improve your buying experience while shopping on our site. We hope to hear from you and thanks for viewing our blog!

Fishing Home Waters (Cutthroat Heaven)

2010-12-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today I did something I have considered doing for a long time but never did. I put my gear in my kayak and wheeled it and my pup Parker for 45 minutes up the road, over the hill and around the bend to the bridge that crosses over the Quinsam River, the main tributary of the Campbell river. No need for waders today, I was soaked from head to toe with sweat for this forever feeling trek, dragging along 100lbs of gear; next time wader up once there and I will confess this was probably the best workout I've had in a while! I spent around 3 hrs fishing the little bit of good looking water the Quinsam River offered in hopes of maybe a nice fresh steelhead but no luck there! I did manage 3 nice sea-run cutthroat on the line though. I had a great pull at the end of my swing at one point but missed what felt like a large fish, in my mind a possible Steelhead! after fishing 5-6 more casts I change flies and fished for a while in that same section of the run but nothing so I pressed on through stepping through to the tailout. then it came again, this beauty cutthroat that might be the largest cutt I've ever caught in this watershed. What an awesome fish! It was sluggish in that snow melt water but progressively woke up as the fight went on!

My fishing buddy on the boat also enjoyed the day! This is a good stream that has what I believe a decent run of Steelhead that most of us don't get a chance at with rod in hand as I feel these Steelies boot above the Hatchery where one can't fish in Steelhead season. What a great place to live for fishing adventures:)

Fishing Buddy

2010-11-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Going through some pics today I found this one... It instantly made me smile and then I thought I should share it! What a pain in the butt he is but having him with me when fishing alone is nice at times... He will endure the coldest days to be out there with me and there isn't much insulation on him as you can see:) he's a great swimmer, often crossing runs behind me and never hesitates which at times can be a concern... he may have bobbed under a few trees along the way too but don't tell my wife! If I lost him I'd be better off permanently fishing :) He's the boat mascot too having to be right up on the bow waiting to fall in while zooming along. PARKER, THE CRAZY FISHING PUP! gotta love him:)

Meeting in the middle! Spey Flies tube style...

2010-11-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

After writing the last post I was slightly torn about my spey fly comments... I do love Spey Style flies and the simplicity of them. I think when they were originally tied they were the more practical patterns of their time! What most attracted me to Spey Flies was their slender profile and long hackles that came to life when fished. The hooks they were tied on were very cool to look at but not overly great to fish! They were also expensive and being a long shank hook didn't help with good hook-ups...
I think In the past I had dabbled with tying these patterns on tubes but never was excited with the results. First off was because of the tubing I tied them on, your typical 1/8th tubing which by the time you wrapped a body over the tube made the Spey Pattern too bulky; in my opinion when all was said and done lost the fly lost it's slender profile which makes these patterns attractive... I tied one up today on my flex tubing, the tubing i use for my worm patterns and I think it turned out nice. The tubing is as skinny as it gets which helped to start. I compromised the spey fly rules a little to make this fly more practical for fishing by adding a tungsten cone head to it. This pattern will now get you to the fish when fishing large winter rivers and deep water. Now it's time to put the Tube Spey Fly to the test!

Why Tubes Flies?

2010-11-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

I often get the question "why tube flies? Simply put I reply, "they are the most practical & versatile flies for Salmon & Steelhead fishing"! You can buy our tube flies at our Tube fly Shop page at www.bcflyguide.com
Years ago I had a major fetish for Spey Flies and for a long time that's all I would fish! I had spent many hours tying up an awesome box of very expensive flies which were on very expensive hooks but one day opened a box of rust! Don't get me wrong, I still love fishing these traditional patterns but they aren't overly practical for one who spends plenty of time in a rainy coastal climate. One year I decided to tie some tubes with not too much thought about them but more for the novelty of fishing something different! I tied up some marabou flies in various colors to start and did like them but wasn't overly excited, they were OK but they weren't those cool traditional Spey Patterns I spent time to tie & fish, dreaming about those long Heron hackles pulsating through that long run of just the right depth and flow... STOP!!!! lets get back to reality. I rarely hooked fish on those patterns and as a matter of fact I think I spent more time looking for Heron Hackles than I did playing fish! I like tradition occasionally but sometimes It's just not practical! Point is the next thing I know is I'm hooking more fish, my friends are using my flies and I'm tying up patterns for my other friends who are secretly fishing them under a float on the Stamp River and cleaning up behind all the other anglers... Sometimes you need a good knock on the head and I guess in a round about way it was for me. The more I tied up these flies the more it seemed to be more practical and beneficial! The only thing I will note is that unless the fly is medium to large in size (#6 hook or larger) some patterns just don't make good sense tying on tubes. But when fishing larger flies, especially lengthy ones tubes make perfect sense! Most advantages are related to the hooks we use when fishing these flies. Large long shank hooks have a lot of leverage on the bend of the hook when hooked up on fish, placing a lot of movement on the hook itself while fighting a fish to shore. Now consider fishing that same long fly on a tube with a short octopus style hook behind it! There are 2 benefits here. One is the obvious that your hook isn't likely moving much at all when that crazy fish is bouncing on the end of your line. The other is once hooked up on a fish tube flies tend to slip up the line out of the fishes mouth also preventing the fly from getting torn up. Maybe this isn't a big deal but not a bad thing either! One other great advantage I realized was that many of the flies I tied worked great for all different species of fish so when the trout were biting that fly I'd switch to a smaller hook, and when targeting Kings I put on a larger hook. I would also at

times stack one fly on another to enlarge a pattern which made an articulating fly of any color combo I wanted! Today, many years later my attraction for tubes has come a long way and many companies are offering a whole line up of tubes and cone heads of various colors and weights making them believe it or not even more practical to use... The top picture has a pair of flies that I tied with some product that gives you color coordinated cone heads & tubing. This is a very easy to tie effective fly with just the right weight balance with a tungsten cone-head! As simple and effective fly that looks great!
Another great advantage I came across years ago guiding Skeena River country was tying skater flies on plastic tubes. Since then I have designed tubes that are most reliable in staying on top in the roughest of water. Makes many people wonder how rough a piece of water one would skate a fly on but I have experienced some of the most exciting fishing where that fly is literally shooting water off its front end in rapids and large chrome Steelhead are taking a whack at them! Oh ya, Trout & Steelhead on Vancouver Island like this too at times... Well enough said, If the above doesn't convince one new to tube flies to give them a try nothing will and I'd rather be fishing them than talking about them...

A Chummy Day On Remote Waters

2010-11-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Chum / Dog Salmon are great sport fish! Among the locals who have been fishing the Campbell River area most of their lives, most will agree that Chum are some of the best fighters and sportiest fish when bright and healthy. Not only for the fly guy who likes a challenge but in saltwater too amongst the charter boat / gear fisherman. For the most part when you hook a chum you're in for a job getting it to hand. I have seen these fish take more fly lines from uneducated fly-fisherman than any other fish! They are known for being brute pullers more than anything else but I have also seen them jump and do all the things a fish can to attempt breaking you off... The funny thing to me when guiding these great fish is how many clients think they have foul hooked these fish after getting pulled around the pool endlessly! "Are you sure Ken, seems fouled" they'll often say! And then "I mean I just can't turn him"!! Often at the end of the fight you hear "bloody hell Ken" or "Gawd Damn they can pull can't they"! :) The one thing about Chums more so than any of our other Pacific Salmon is, timing is of the essence! These fish turn extremely fast in fresh water to spawning mode here on Vancouver Island. They are the last to arrive of all our salmon and typically get to business soon after arriving to the river. It's best finding these fish near saltwater within the lower reaches of the watersheds. When caught like this one in the picture just following a flood tide & just above tidal waters, they are a great fish to target ending our main guiding season. Thanks to everyone who joined us this great 2010 season. Lucky for us residents the attention now turns to hunting for early Winter Steelhead within the next week or two. I hope some of you will consider a winter trip for in my opinion the best fishing we have to offer on the Island from Dec - May; It's Winter Steelhead time...!

Todays Fly! Winter Wing Tube Fly

2010-11-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

A great color combination for many Winter Steelhead rivers on Vancouver Island. I placed this fly on my hand to show size of the pattern which is approximately the size I personally like to fish when swinging flies on large waters... The cone head is 1.8grams getting this winter wing fly down to places where Steelhead don`t like things intruding in their space! when tying flies like this one should consider how they stack the wing, starting with firmer materials and building the more supple lifelike materials on top. This pattern has Finn Raccoon for the white part of the wing which is some of the most life like material I have ever used... the Guard hairs on this material I also leave in because they seem somewhat reflective (translucent) similar to polar bear. Flies like this one will be on my upcoming fly page on my web site at www.bcflyguide.com where those who don`t tie flies can purchase some. I will post when my fly page is available (hopefully soon) so please do have a visit then and give me feedback, any comments are welcome as this will be new for me and I want it to be as good as possible.

Winter Wing Recipe

pink eumer tubing
Tail : glitter hair on flashabou
Body : oval silver rib over single strand pink wool with pink saddle hackle palmered along rib
Wing : glitter hair, pink arctic fox, white finn Raccoon, topping of flashabou
Collar : Pink Shlappen
GIANT CONE HEAD :)

Click on the pic to enlarge, enjoy!

Steelheading Flyfishing in Paradise!

2010-10-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

Beauty fish... Vancouver Island Steelhead take you to some of the most pristine waters on the planet! Fishing these places are dreamy at the best of times, waters one might have a dream about when thinking of throwing a dry fly to the perfect pool of that stream flowing out of those majestic mountains. These perfect pools we have in abundance, not always holding fish but when they do no New Zealand trout fishery compares to that of one holding sea-bright Steelhead. I say this because many of my clientele compare some of these rivers to those fisheries from down under, the ones that are so renown and prized as world class fishing destinations... Ours are limited, some of few on the planet offering fishing experiences like no other. Flowing through old growth forests that are a pleasure to walk through bringing you to fly-fishing paradise! This great fish you see is the icing on the cake that really isn't the prize at the end of the day, although it's a nice bonus! The prize is within the moment of being lucky enough to experience this truely spectacular environment for everything it isn't, in todays civilized society; it's pure serenity, a slow paced environment that doesn't allow one to move quickly with too many thoughts! When you leave these places it brings most of us down to reality for a short moment before re-entering this fast paced place we have made this planet... For some of us it puts clear perspective on the more important things one should focus on... What a powerful fish these are even when we don't come in contact with them :)

Little Summer Steelhead Oct 18th / 10

2010-10-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Add caption

This little Steelhead was a great sport! We sight fished this steelhead who was in a tail-out below many Coho... We presented many flies to her with a little interest starting with small subtle patterns and progressed to larger & larger ones as the challenge continued... This fish loved one of the flies and actually had it in its mouth 6 times even chasing it after the fly was pulled out of her mouth. Then she disappeared up into the depths of the pool and we thought we were at a loss! When we came back she was there again. I tied on a large Olive colored leach which she didn't want to have anything to do with and simply hunkered down in her lie. I went to a brilliant hot orange leach (BC orange we call it) and she hated it so much that the fish swam 4 feet to eat it and didn't let go! All this time working for this fish; cast 3 more inches of line I yelled to my client, shorten up a foot... feed it in so it gets deeper, SET THE F'N HOOK!!! :0 A well deserved fish and greatly rewarding at the end of it all. Not because of the fight nor the size of the fish but the circumstances and environment in which we had this awesome experience with this great little Wild Summer Steelhead:)

Nice Cutthroat:) Oct 14th / 10

2010-10-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

These fish are the ones that often keep us entertained when targeting Salmon & Steelhead on Vancouver Island when catching gets tough! This fish made my sport today pleased, even when fishing his 15ft meat stick! A great fish, just like a leopard rainbow with spots all throughout it's body... I'm sorry i didn't get a better picture as this one doesn't do this fish justice. We saw many fresh Coho on the move today but had no luck intercepting any... all in all a great day though!

Friends Addition / Fall Coho Oct 12 / 2010

2010-10-12T10:20:00.000-07:00

Fussy fish these Coho can be in freshwater on Vancouver Island, to the fly that is... Often times come up when you have what seems to be the best of conditions, perfect water and fresh chrome Coho (silvers) in perfect fly water. If this was the remedy for Steelhead I'd have no doubt that it's going to be a good day on the water. Pacific salmon are very different! On some rivers in BC without a doubt if your within reach of some fresh Coho you're able to catch them on a fly. This is not the case for some Vancouver Island rivers where you can put every fly imaginable past these perfect sea bright fish without a taker. Then the guy with the spoon shows up and "FISH ON" within a few casts if not the first! And no not the keener gear guy either, I'm talking about the 6yr old fishing with dad who casts it out there any old way they can:) Wonderful fishing is at times and great for gear fishing that it allows the youngster an experience that often hooks one for life. This is what often turns people on to the finer art of casting a fly in their future.... Venturing back to the pristine waters that never seems to stop flowing through their veins since their first experience! For any of you fly guys who gets discouraged like I can at times, especially guiding these fly fussy fish, It's a quick slap in the face to bring it all into perspective as to why we fly fish! The challenge which sometimes never rewards one with a fish but keeps them Valuing the occasional hookup. I know that sometimes catching success is better for these great fighters on the saltwater beaches but I also know that it can be tough to hook Coho even when they are swarming around you and your casting spoons!! So at the end of all this I still prefer the fly-fishing challenges that still keep me subconsciously thinking of the perfect fly / approach to that water where you find chrome silvers swarming in that perfect pool! Oh ya, I guess I should tell you that that the fella holding this fish in the pic is a saltwater guy at heart, but also enjoys pulling them out of freshwater when he can, nice fish Vince!

Guide Update Sept 27th / 2010

2010-09-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

Wonderful Vancouver Island, the land of wild Steelhead... A rainy day on the water, tough fishing but with a nice result. this fish leaped nearly 5 feet out of the water 3 times, pretty awesome! Convincing Steelhead to eat your fly isn't typically hard to do but the key is finding them in the ideal water. This fish was in water that looked easy to cover but every time you threw your fly into it the current would send it off in a different direction! After finding the proper line we convinced this fish to grab on! a fish of a number of casts but it was worth it:)

Awesome Steelhead Tubefly!

2010-09-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

This is my tube fly of choice if there was ever one pattern to have in my fly box! This fly has all the makings of a successful Steelhead fly. With multiple strands flowing freely, there's nothing as lifelike as marabou in the water... This pattern is not over designed to resemble any one thing and this is one thing I have learned about most great patterns with great catching success! It is also easily tied and productive in all the great colors one should have for all coastal waters. Personally I don't find a lot of use for fishing Orange but there are places where it's most successful like the tannen waters on the most northern Vancouver Island rivers. When fished properly this pattern is most practical too. I prefer to fish almost all my tube flies without a hook lock and ones that are 3 dimensional can pivot on the line without fowling themselves allowing them to always swim properly. I also tie this fly with tungsten coneheads for added weight when needed. The only downfall to marabou is it isn't durable like other materials but most of the time I've never really had an issue with this... Worse case scenario is that large Steelhead you just released tore it up! That's not likely though as typically this fly slides up the line when a fish is hooked. One of the greatest things about this pattern while casting is it doesn't retain water like other materials so picking it up out of the water etc is easier making your casting experience nicer as the day flies past! This is the standby pattern in many colors that many of the guides I've worked with lived by for many years on mighty Skeena waters and one I will always have in my flybox on Vancouver Island where I originally started tying this great fly many years ago.

Marabou tube fly Recipe

plastic tubing 1.25 inches in length
Body, ball of yarn 3/4 forward from tail end (3 wraps of chenille)
marabou tied in at tip and wrapped palmered spey style.
5-10 strands ostrich herl tied over marabou
a preference of flash tied over marabou (e.g. flashabou, crystal flash... )
collar, Shlappen hackle.
finish with head of thread or slip on proper fitted cone head
optional weight could be lead eyes or metal tubing (Copper, Brass)

Go fish this great fly on any waters for Steelhead, Salmon and even trout,especially while swinging a fly! Don't tie flies, contact Ken at flyguide@telus.net to purchase some and stay posted for our upcoming fly page on our web site www.bcflyguide.com
Enjoy!

Vancouver Island Flyfishing for Steelhead! 12/09/10 catch!

2010-09-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

Imagine the ultimate trout stream, fishing for giant wild rainbows... A stream that resembles New Zealand waters but with much stronger fish! Above all this these Rainbow Trout are Wild Steelhead! Fish that have survived all the element that the pacific ocean can throw at them, but have made it back to their home stream where they will reside for the next 8 months. This is the Small Stream Summer Steelhead fishing on Vancouver Island that I know well. It's not the fishing that most anglers relate Steelhead fly-fishing to be! The popularity of swinging flies on larger waters using large flies with two handed rods & heavy sink tips! I love that kind of fishing too and spend many days on Vancouver Island fishing this style! The summer fishery I'm referring to is a rare and highly rewarding one. It's an incredible experience sight fishing wild Steelhead that are so aggressive they will even chase a dry fly for several meters! What trout fishing could be more exhilarating? These are confident fish that have designed themselves over time and are quite comfortable hiding amongst these mountain streams no salmon ever enter! Many anglers feel intimidated with this great fishing opportunity. One that has to be approached with the most of care, at a slow pace many anglers just don't have the patience and confidence for! This leaves these great waters for the anglers who most cherish Steelhead fishing in any form...The Sport of Steelheading on Vancouver island is more than the over popular Spey fishing & swinging flies! It's also the traditional trout style of fly-fishing, angling small rivers with single hand rods, dead drifting dry flies and wet flies with a floating line; for the greatest trout on the planet!

Worm fly!

2010-09-10T16:51:00.000-07:00

This worm fly has been one of my favorites over the last two winters... My main attraction to this pattern over bunny leaches was it's glowing translucent looks, much like a real worm in the water, almost see though but with an added glow! A friend showed a version of this pattern which I have slightly modified. This is a pattern that was originally tied on a short shank with a stinger hook several inches back from the shank! The majority of the body was wrapped around the fishing line used to attach the stinger hook... I have recently found some thin & very flexible tubing that is also quite durable which when I found this tubing I had this fly in mind.... Tying this fly the other way was a pain in the butt! It was timely and really not a pretty result. Today I fished on the lower Campbell tempting some Chinook to the fly on the only run I personally know of that they may actually eat the fly in all of the Campbell River... No I didn't even try this pattern but rather a large bait pattern, red & black with a lot of flash. I did hook two fish, one fight was short lived and the other pulled my arm off for a while and then let go! I often feel fishing these big brutes is non-sense anyhow but occasionally I like to give it a go! After fishing I tied on the new version of the worm fly to test it's durability and see how it looked in the water, I was pleased with the results! I think I'm on to some new tubing and a better pattern overall:) Watch out Winter Steelies!!!

Quick Update

2010-09-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

We've has some good catching lately... The coho we've encountered have been large in size but aren't big biters... something in the water I guess or lack there of. We saw Orcas again at the mouth of a droughted river that is in dire need of rain; maybe that's why these fish aren't cooperating! We hooked one large Coho which broke my clients line shortly after hooking, just not much luck with these large Silvers... Today we hooked dollies & pinks, encountered a bear, eagle and whales all competing for our precious fish:) The summer steelhead are still biting well in this low water and some are even taking a shot at our dry flies... the rain is landing as we speak and I pray it makes it to the rivers:) I guided some guests from Dolphins Resort today, great people with a passion to fish in any conditions, even with the 25knot wind we had they kept on casting with no hesitation, simply charming... they caught fish too! Fall is on the horizon and with it comes new fish and hopefully more water:)

Kens Fishing Update

2010-08-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

A great experience for one of my guests after hooking a couple of beauty little Summer Steelhead. This awesome little fish ripped up the pool yesterday cartwheeling around and showing what any Steelhead is all about. Aggressive, full of strength and not to take for granted! We had a fish take a look at our dry fly but deny it so we chose to try a small wet pattern and hooked up on two fish within 10 minutes. The first fish tore up the pool leaping in every direction over 5 times. Our waters couldn't be much lower so fishing carefully making efforts with every cast being just right pays off... Small patterns casting upstream from behind the fish is best with these conditions. Rain would be well received right now but a fishing guide simply doesn't have those powers so make the best of it and sometimes great results come along! There's bigger fish in the pools but we're happy with any wild Summer Steelhead willing to play, need to get out again soon after my mouth heals from getting my wisdom teeth pulled this morning, dentists aren't nice are they?!!!

Incidental Catch!

2010-08-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well not really! Fly-fishing the ocean beaches has its benefits even when the salmon fishing gets put off! We had a great day on the water last Friday, the conditions were beautiful, glassy waters most of the day with migrating salmon of all kinds pushing through our gin clear waters, simply put you could see everything swimming by! We had managed to hook some fish through out the day, fresh chrome salmon chasing our flies, sometimes denying our presentations but what could be more exciting than watching pods of chrome Salmon coming and going with the push of the tides occasionally taking interest in our flies!!... The day was coming to an end with tired smiles on our faces as we gave in to picking up the crab traps and calling it a day! The undersized crabs loved our traps, with several just under the legal limit, crabby deal I'd say! The fish seemed to have completely disappeared within our range of sight and everything seemed quieter, then some odd blowing noises, Whales! We quickly pulled the traps and headed towards the point of the bay anticipating an encounter, in the distance were large Orca fins working right towards us. We shut down the motor and waited... Peaceful quiet surroundings, glassy crystal clear waters and then up they came right beside my 15 foot boat were these awesome creatures. The young one of the pod swam just under the surface beside the boat and turned and looked at us as it progressed on by followed by other adults from this pod of giants. I certainly couldn't think of a better way to end a trip on the water. For a moment it made our serious fishing moment feel so insignificant, but just for a moment....:)

Guide Update Aug 3 / 10

2010-08-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Our home pool has been incredible fishing over the last 10 days... Fishing floating lines & and weighted flies for these sea-bright Pink Salmon. We have also been hooking some larger fish this season in more recent days with some reaching 7lbs. A number of times we weren't certain if we had foul hooked some of these fish that ran into the backing being unable to turn them, as the fight progressed realizing these fish are just fighting incredibly hard! We have had 30 fish days and the fish are still pushing up the river in great numbers. This is another great return of fish that we are blessed to see here on the Campbell River. Bright Fish in Bright Waters is what we call it when you can target these fish at there best in the perfect location on the river; something that is of great importance when fishing Pacific Salmon in our freshwater. When fishing any of the pacific salmon species, timing and location is everything and we certainly have the location and the time is now:)

Campbell River Pink Salmon

2010-07-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Don't Try this at Home! I've been slow at putting posts on lately, but I like to place new thing's that haven't been done on the blog when possible... I thought this would be a nice added touch, a little live footage taken this morning as an unexpected friend showed up while I was landscaping. I set him up and away he went, hooking chrome salmon in my back yard with sea lice still on them. Fishing Pink Salmon on the home pool can be a blast, these fish are sometimes off the bite and then, WHAM, you'll hook 6 in a row! Other times you can't keep them off and only being half a kilometer from tidal water makes this a great place to hook up! Let us know your favorite Pink Salmon Fly, ours is My Slip Stream posted on one of our first of this blog fished on a floating line with a long leader. Hope you enjoyed the Video:)

Friends Flies

2010-07-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is a saltwater fly-fishing fanatic! Does this mean he catches more fish than me, NO!! :) All kidding aside, he has spent many days chasing salmon in the chuck with fly-rod in hand. Here's some patterns he sent me to view. He said "Blog On" if you wish dude so here's a few flies that I've seen more than once in his fly box, this could only mean that they truly work!
Epoxy flies are very durable and can keep on hooking salmon without falling apart. A benefit everyone likes when spending many hours at the tying bench. There are other products that work like epoxy, clear acrylic is one of them. Tuffleye www.info@wetahook.net is another option, this product can be cured much faster than epoxy. There are other products out there similar to Tuffleye for those looking to tie bait patterns with more durability. Contact Nile Creek fly shop to see the product they carry as well. www.nilecreekflyshop.com
One should consider some of the above as an option if tying salt-waters flies on a regular basis.By the way, now's the time to be on the Salt casting those patterns to feeding salmon & sea-run Trout. Fishing Vancouver Island saltwater beaches will be good until late Oct depending on the location and river conditions, FISH ON!

Finally A Post!

2010-07-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

Hello From Campbell River.... I apologize for the lack of posts, there's more to come very soon:)

Our neighborhood has lost a gentlemen that was one of the last of his era, Van Egan. Van was a good friend of Roderick Haig-Brown, a passionate fisherman and writer of all things we as anglers of the coast love. I did not know him well but feel a close connection due to our similar passions on the water. I'm certain he lived his life just as he wanted it, in his home on the river till the end, he will be missed.

With many things in the works I have not found too much time on the water to give you true honest fishing updates. I have been out a little but it's only been an hour here & there, nothing I can consider a true fishing day. I will bring everyone interested up to speed on whats going on in our area! First off I have to say it's been the oddest season since the new year for weather conditions, we had a warm winter, flowers were growing on our property the end of January! This in mind I thought we'd be in for a drought of a summer as spring would have come early, not so... When May & June came along it stayed cool out. Other than our past week of a heat wave our weather has stayed mostly below 20c. Relating this to the fishing; A good season ahead for water levels on smaller rivers that tend to drop out as the summer progresses, these water levels should make for great fishing! Up until last week The Campbell River has been the same size since April making it simply unfishable and tough to find fish in for those crazy enough to challenge it's heavy flows... In this past week I have seen many good things come along with the lower flows; the Pink Salmon are slowly poking in the watershed... The other night we watched a seal swim through the home pool, that can only mean the numbers of fish must be getting significant.
Last week I guided a fellow for 2 days, we fished a Summer Steelhead river that was also flowing large but for the better! We found some Steelhead that actually chased his fly, One actually had the fly in it's mouth twice but he couldn't manage to hook it up! A crazy day it was where the fishing gods just didn't let up:) On Friday we floated the Campbell, my client hooked many trout, a few of decent size but for the most part small tiddlers. As we floated down the river we made a stop at a run and encountered about 30 fresh Pink Salmon. None of them would take our flies so it was tough catching for a couple of days, good thing it's not all about that!!

I've managed some saltwater fly-fishing but it's been a windy July so far making this fishery not so ideal. I've talked to many charter guides who say the Coho seem to be in great numbers out there and we're expecting a record return of coho according to BC Fisheries & Oceans. They have also made the opening for Pink Salmon in the river a month earlier than usual, starting on July 15th, this must mean hey are expecting great numbers if Pinks too! I hooked a nice fish yesterday near the mouth of the Campbell down the beach that I lost while casting a Bait Pattern. Running my Jet Boat back up the river to home I stopped at a run to again hook another fish that came off the line all too fast; this fish picked up the fly while I was stripping in to make a cast, a fishing curse when this happens as it's hard to get a good hook-up. another heavy feeling fish that I never had the chance to Identify! I landed a beauty Sea-Run Cutthroat yesterday near tidal water that I thought was a Pink Salmon, a good trout indeed. In the minimal time I've been on the water this last month fishing's been positive when I've been out.

Not being able to be on the water so much I have made many upgrades close to home; I've worked on my Jet Boat, Raft, fishing rods, flies and property, nothing unusual for any married man I guess:) Most importantly I have spent a lot of time with my son who's now on summer holidays. It's not wrong to take the jet boat up to the lake for pleasure is it? It makes a great craft for swimming off when the sun is high and I can't be casting at Chromers.

The busy fishing days are just ahead!

Saltwater Flies

2010-05-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

With so much opportunity for saltwater fly-fishing around here I feel that I've barely scratched the surface! Literally... we around the inside passage have a great fishery that allows us to fish the saltwater beaches with simple outfits, a 7wt rod and a floating line, some leader and a bait pattern of any sort seems to work! This is a luxury that most coastal areas don't have. The west coast of the island seems more rugged deep shorelines where most people fish with full sinking lines and often on rough water to boot! On occasion I guide the beaches on the inside of Vancouver Island and at times it's unbeatable action for Salmon, sea-run Dolly Varden & Cutthroat trout. Usually fishing for Coho or Pinks when targeting Salmon on the beaches but we have hooked the odd Spring / Chinook Salmon as well which makes me wonder if we got a little more serious about this opportunity how we'd succeed. I will try my best to focus more on this saltwater fishery this season; I've been telling myself to do this for several years now but typically I'm short on time or too focused on the freshwater fisheries which are dear to my heart! Please comment on this post if you have any insight to my ventures to go a little deeper for the unknown fly-fishing possibilities nearby, do you think the squid fly should work? I'm definately going to give this some more time this season as I feel it's highly overlooked:)

Skeena Trip May 2 - 10 / 2010

2010-05-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't been back to the Terrace / Skeena area since I sold my partnership of Spey Lodge 4 years ago; simply put, I was due for a trip. I made it up there at the beginning of the month, a time when I have always enjoyed the possibilities of hooking some spring Steelhead, trout and a possible early Spring Salmon. Well when traveling to fly-fish for migratory fish one is always gambling their timing and for me it was completely off... However, I didn't just go for the fishing, I have many friends up there still living in this secluded environment among great waters and it was good to see them and share fishing days like we used to on a regular basis. A part of me still lives in Skeena country and always will as like any other fly-fisherman who loves wild Steelhead & Salmon there's no better place on the planet to swing the two handed rods on big water! I had never seen conditions like the week I was there in the month of may, very low water like early March conditions. We fished many a great place like the main stem Skeena, Kalum, and tribs of the Nass where the Steelhead pic was taken. I caught many Dolly Varden, both sea-run and resident fish and that was OK as we don't have them on the Island to be readily caught while swinging flies for Steelhead. My old Jet- boat pictured with 2 of my good fishing friends on the main-stem were at a loss for what the fish were up to when we were there; they faired well the week following my visit for both Steelhead and Sping Salmon. Typical of what the traveling angler gets from his guide reports on occasion, should have been here bla bla bla.... so like anywhere including Vancouver Island, timing is everything when looking for migratory fish! But be very clear on what timing means; not when the run is supposed to be peaking but when water conditions are ideal and that's something that you must gamble when booking in advance. If rivers have been low for a while, it's likely that the fishing is going to be tough. On the last day of my fishing trip I convinced my buddy to take out the little Jet, a stealthy way to get to fish without running over their heads in gin clear water! We floated this little inflatable Jet down through awesome runs and sighted just about every stone on the bottom of the River that day which I have never been able to say before. It is clear why this river is such a success for wild returning fish, it is one of a kind. On this day we did hook some dollies and saw a early spring in the tail out of a very long slow pool and close by the Chinook was a Steelhead too! They were spooked before we could even get close to them but nice to see. Being able to float down and then Jet back up river is a great option when needed, probably my favorite day of the trip even though we were skunked:) In a few weeks from now I hope to be on to some Summer Steelhead here on the Island, I just can't wait!!

Seasonal Worm Hatch! Apr 6 / 10

2010-04-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Every season at some point in the spring you get a combination of conditions that bring out the worms in great numbers. As most of us BC Steelheaders know, fishing worm imitations in big water produces great results. On this particular day when arriving to the put in to do a float trip for Steelhead we weren't sure what to expect of the river! We had a major storm the night before with 90km winds & rain... At 3 in the morning I was thinking I would have to cancel my guide trip in the morning as it was blowing out of control on my property, one of my boats ended up in the neighbors property!! When I woke up it was dead calm out. Well I got things together and picked up my guest. The river was in great form that day, just a bit of color and vibrant with life and when putting the boat in I noticed worms everywhere I looked... This made me feel very good about our upcoming day on the water! By 10 in the morning my guest had already landed 2 beauty Steelhead. As the day progressed 5 Steelhead came to the fly and a few Cutthroat. The Cutts were both pop bellied full of something that I first thought were likely fry. Then a friend who lived on this particular river his whole life had mentioned to me that every year at some point there's a worm hatch and the trout just gorge themselves on them.... How did I overlook that:) These pics are from that day, one poor pic of a Cutt with a worm fly in it's mouth and the other of it at hand...It's hard to tell how round it's belly was in this pic but I can tell you they were well fed that day! I wonder how hard it is for Steelhead to not digest these slithering treats that they hammer them as soon as they enter the pool? I guess it would be great food for the Kelts dropping out and better yet maybe it's a diversion for the fry to escape easier... No, that's thinking too much I think:)

Guiding Update March 31st / 10

2010-04-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

We've had some great fishing on the north Island for Steelhead this last week! Of course when conditions a right at the right time of year what more can one ask for... The nastier the weather, the better the fishing and you soon forget about the cold wet weather you often endure to make fishing dreams reality! In saying this these pics were taken yesterday and it was primarily sunny & warm out...Multiple Steelhead hook-ups make the day go too fast. Some fish you don't even get close to as they seem to be running before they hit your fly, when you get the take it's instantly into your backing!! Heart Stoppers we call them, it's there game and your just holding on for the ride. The month of April looks very promising and from what I hear Vancouver Island has had some banner Steelhead returns on many of it's rivers this winter, I wish I could be more than one place at a time! If you want to float beautiful Vancouver Island rivers for these great wild fish in the next few weeks give us a call. Bring out the big bugs and lets swing them for awesome Wild Steelhead ready to tear them up and sometimes spit them out! Oh well, can't win them all:)

Kens Tube Flies

2010-03-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic I received from a friend who loves using my marabou tubes! He had recently purchased some of these flies from me for his Steelhead ventures abound. This style of marabou tube fly is the one that we lived by for many years as a wet pattern for Steelhead in the Skeena area and Vancouver Island. I tie these flies to fish, guide & sell in many color combos weighted and unweighted on plastic tubes. I use cone heads for weight and traditionally used lead eyes. I found that the lead eyes actually worked great compared to tying them on hooks, tied on the plastic tube they didn't move around or break off like they did when fishing them on hooks. There has been many a Steelhead hooked & landed with these patterns. They're lively action and suppleness makes them irresistable once a Steelhead pics them up. I found using supple flies in slow moving cold water was by far the best approach as with more rigid flies it seemed that if a fish bumped them and the fisherman wasn't on the hookup right away the Steelhead would let go of the fly quickly! With soft materials it seemed as though if a fish took a whack at your fly it didn't let go but instead just kept chewing and pulling on the fly wanting it more & more!! When a fish has all the time in the world to feel your fly out like on a slow swing, soft flies are certainly more effective. Think about this next time your fishing that slow tank where Steelhead live. Want some Steelhead tube flies for your Steelhead ventures, look no further, I have a great selection of patterns to choose from in marabou, arctic fox, bunny leaches & more. Contact me anytime at flyguide@telus.net to place your order :)

Guide Update March 11 / 10

2010-03-11T20:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of pups and a nice buck Steelie! Bringing the dogs fishing, a pain at times but how else do you train a dog to be good on the water than by taking it along for the ride... My dog Parker, the jack russel in the pic has been out on the water in boats fishing with me since I got him as a pup at 8 weeks old. I used to bring him down the Campbell River on my Kayak. Now, his favorite place to be is in any boat fishing with me! If I'm on the driveway hooking up the boat and he's in the house he goes completely mad! My friend also has a younger pup who has taken a liking to our fishing outings:) I have to say is there a better place for a dog to be? I know how I feel when I'm out there, maybe we're just dogs at heart:) Being in the elements, one with nature seems to be more and more valuble all the time for me. I often wonder what people who don't get to mingle with nature get along and keep sensible about who we are and our place here on this awesome planet. Mingling with nature and it's wild creatures is something that grounds me I guess when the world seems to be spinning all too fast! Then you hook a fish and everything seems to stand still... For me the reward of guiding is bringing people who don't get the chance to do this often into our environment and give them a quality time to the best of my ability. The picture here sort of sums things up. Everyone in this pic is enjoying themselves in wonder and in the moment... Ya I know, BLA, BLA , BLA... you get the picture right. I often seem to get caught up like many of us in home life / society and can get sucked into the everyday hussle! Motivating to get out on the river some days is a challenge but never have I regretted being there once I got off my butt! I was out the other fishing on a low river, the wind blowing upstream and feeling like the catching may be a bit of a challenge and yes for the steelhead fishing it was! Some friends of mine bought some boats they wanted to try out so we took the day we had and went for it. As a result it was a big day rowing against the wind. We sighted one Steelhead but has some good trout fishing. I brought my 5wt and had a blast on a couple of spots for good size cutts, a rainbow and we even managed a dolly which I have never encountered in this particular river... I thought to myself, spring has sprung and the fish are getting more active all the time, soon we'll be smelling the Skunk Cabbage:)

Vancouver Island Fishing Pictures / Friends Addition Feb 27th / 10

2010-02-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while we all go on a bit of a skunk streak! How to beat it, just keep fishin!! Well I guess that paid for the fella holding this one as I know his luck has been a little tough lately steelheading over the winter... See through fins, and a bar of Steel for you! I'm jelous:) They don't get nicer than this anywhere.

Friends Addition Feb 26 / 10

2010-02-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

An Island Angler sent me these great pictures from some of his past fishing adventures. I thought they were great so I'm sharing them with you. These 2 pictures are great examples of our Vancouver Island Trout! I'm not sure but they are likely both sea-run fish that migrate into our rivers which is typically the case on the island. These pics are a reminder that our trout season is not far away now. Actually this winter season has kept the trout fishing somewhat on thoughout the year due to our warm temps.
I was out searching some areas the other day looking for possible new access points on one of my favoured steelhead fisheries. After sort of succeeding I ventured back towards Campbell River and then took a quick detour to a lake on route. I had heard from a friend that there was decent fishing happening there over the winter, very unusual for this particular lake as it is one of our deeper lakes that seems to turn off though winter months. I'm not so familiar with this lake as I have only made maybe a days effort on it in the past. I put my Kayak in quickly for a hours fishing and headed to where I assumed the creek flowed in at the head of the lake. I could hear the water flowing in and made my way towards it. Amazingly I was on the other side of the lake when I first heard it, lakes are a quiet peaceful place aren't they! A bit of a row later and still looking... After rowing completely to the farthest point across I viewed a little falls coming in behind some bushes and thought that had to be it! I started casting my fly towards the shoreline with plenty of doubt of a possible hook-up! I was fishing a slipstream (my bait pattern) with lead eyes which I fish pretty religiously when on the river; being too lazy to change to a lake fly. Also I have major confidence in this fly in most situations, thinking if nothing else it should get some attention glowing in that crystal clear water. A few casts to the shoreline and nothing! The wind blew me down the shoreline a bit where there was some structure and I made another cast, as I stripped this fly in at a good pace it felt like it was dragging the bottom, then it came off and then tightened up again! Sure thing, I had a Cutthroat on. This long slender fish was a spawner good and hungry after doing his thing over the last month or so. A decent fish of about 16inches. I then managed 3 more fish before heading back to the Jeep. They were all Cutts, all had spawned already and quite aggressive to my fly. It was pretty cool as I could see these fish charge the fly broadside often coming slighly towards me making it hard to hook-up! Good fun and nice to see something different too! Thanks Huw for the photos, keep them coming!

Accessing Remote Steelhead Rivers on Vancouver Island

2010-02-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

On Vancouver Island there are too many Rivers to explore for fishing opportunities for any one lifetime. Hiking & wading into rivers is often the only option as a lot of our waters are simply not accessible due to size and location. Others are accessible by floating with rafts & kayaks via roadside put-ins / take-out locations... Some rivers have Helicopter access where one can land on rock bars etc and of course most of us love this option if affordable, there is simply no greater way to get around our beautiful coast into remote areas! Another option is via Jet Boat for some waters that can only otherwise be accessed by Helicopter. Yesterday we went on one of these trips taking my new Jetboat into a river that simply isn't accessible any other way other than Helicopter. This is another one of those great Rivers you wonder if the Steelhead are currently residing in now that we're getting into prime season for winter fishing on Vancouver Island. For myself fishing has always been #1 about exploring waters, hunting for treasure! Yes the fish are always the bonus and when fishing some technics it's all about catching as the process is not always enjoyable; but when going out for the sake of sportfishing (in my case casting a fly) its more about the adventure and seeing & learning new water & places as the process is great fun!... On Vancouver Island there seems to be more mystery about our wtaers than most other places I've been on the Coast when hunting for Steelhead! In the end I feel greater rewarded when catching steelhead here and this seems to be instilled in my idea of Steelhead fishing. Yesterday we did not see any steelhead on this amazing watershed however I know they do exist here at times, maybe later in the season, who knows? We did manage to hook one nice size cutthroat trout and one Rainbow (possible small Steelhead / summer run) close to 3lbs. As we exited this river we also encountered a seal up the river 1km from salt! This may be a sign of chromers entering this rarely fished jem. We'll be back but not soon enough for my liking:)

Guide Fish / Feb 8th / 10

2010-02-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Well there be steelhead in them waters! Please ignore the Wanker holding the fish, What a beauty! Another larger one got away too!! This is what makes Steelhead dreams... Not just the fish but the day itself, awesome weather, good company and Wild specimens with see through fins in a beauty river to be had! The wormy thing in it's mouth is the ugliest fly around out of the water, wet it and it's all different... The thing looks like the nicest worm immitation ever:) Want to be guided for Wild Winter Steelhead on Vancouver Island Swinging a fly, now's a great time to consider! We're doing our best in keeping Vancouver Island Steelhead Dreams alive... Valuing our waters helps preserve our fisheries!

Guide Update / The River Where Big Wild Steelhead Roam.

2010-02-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

You know, it's been a while since I've had an opportunity to put a new Steelhead picture on this blog! A few reasons for this are New Sports / Clients loosing fish & another is I'm not interested in trying to take a picture of myself with a fish! The other day I worked my clients a long day on the river casting to endless beautiful runs & pools. These 2 fellows were Albertans new at Winter Steelhead fishing and very excited to be on this trip. They had a friend out on the Harris River on the south Island the day before who was float fishing and managed to land an 8lber. Although they were excited for their friend they were more interested in learning how to make it happen with a fly! As our day progressed these guys were pumped, occassionally they were getting grabs by Sea-run Cutthroats keeping their attention span to the top of their game... On occassion, we float through some large deep runs on this particular float where you can't even wade either side of the river to make a go at these fish tanks. Usually I just accept this fact and float on through thinking man what a place for fish to hang out! Well this time I encouraged my one guest to make a few casts while floating through! Both fellas were fishing single handed rods, major trout fishers from the interior who could make good casts but just a little new with the heavy sink tips & flies... My sport in the front of the raft made a nice cast into the pool and we floated along with the fly as it drifted into darkness deep & slow. Luke then stripped it in and made another cast, the fly started sinking and stopped, I watched his rod bend over and thought for sure he was snagged up! Then it pulled and the head shakes came, "there's one" he called out.... He stripped up the slack as the fish made its way under the boat, then the fish woke up! All I could say was "watch your line" as the fish started screaming to the far bank! As the line tightened up it bundled up behind his finger and got stuck; anable to give out more line the fish broke the tippet and took the fly! A downer this was but not an uncommon occurance with Steelhead fishing when the line all around your feet! Rule number #1 get the line on the reel ASAP!! I think over the years of the few times we've hooked a fish while floating and it's only a handful of times. It's very exciting as it's not really expected. This fish will forever be in the mind of this new Steelhead Fisherman, the one that got away!!:) As the day progressed we hoped for another which never came. This is not a river of many fish although it has been getting better in recent years for returning fish. What this river is to me though is a gem with some of the greatest Winter Steelhead on the coast, all wild and Strong fish with an average weight larger than most other watersheds on Vancouver Island. At the moment my Steelhead dreams are more with this river than any other and the passion for it seems to grow stronger all the time:) It's certainly keeping my Steelhead dreams alive!

Vancouver Island Winter Steelhead Guiding Update Jan 30 / 10

2010-01-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

We floated a section of river for the first time after the mass of water we've received over the last 6 weeks. This beauty river is one of my favorites to swing a fly on in winter months. The river had some changes including a split in the river leaving me & my client at a loss as to which way to take, left or right braid? We took the right channel and hoped for the best, it was all good but questionable for a while! Along the way we managed to hook several nice cutts and lost a nice Steelhead that picked up our fly at the dangle. Hooking a fish on the dangle if often a curse! Sometimes what happens like this occassion is the angler picks up his line to place his anchor for a Spey Cast and as they lift up the rod there's weight at the end. This situation often results in a poor hook-up and a fish on the top thrashing on the surface often shaking free of the fly! None the less we had a great day floating 12kms of river in prime condition all to ourselves. My guest was a great sport who was very interested in trying the 2 handed rod for the first time and happily fished it all day. He was lucky enough to hook some nice fish while learning some casting skills and even got to hook up on that big Steelie that left him hanging and hopefully anxious to get back on Steelhead water soon. This week we'll be out on some more remote waters with our new jet boat hoping to find more untouched water that this island has to offer. There's no place I'd rather be in Winter months exploring new waters & swinging a fly!

Winter Steelhead Vancouver Island Feb 09 (historic fishing addition)

2010-01-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

The Creek Run in low water. This picture is of a Winter Steelhead hooked late Feb 09 on a floating line, weighted Slip Stream (which was featured on one of the first posts of this blog). Low clear water & sunny days are the choice times to fish this fly! My Buddy Ken in the picture who has lived in Calgary for the past 10yrs had forgotten the pleasures and rewards of this fishery until we made it out this particular day. It's the classic Vancouver Island Winter Steelead that makes us anxious to be wading through cold rivers in winter months. My favored way to fish cold low waters is with a floating line, 12ft of straight 10lb test mono with a loop knot attached to a weighted fly. This season we've had huge water of which I presume is related to an El-Nino year, the first year we've had effects from it in several. Rivers here are large and have been in recent weeks mostly unfishable! It's been a Sink tip / weight fly combo for may of this seasons outings. Good thing for 2 handed rods.Well I'm getting ready for a good week of fishing ahead, the rivers are shaping up and the time couldn't be better. The flooding rivers have givin me time to focus on other things I guess like the purchase of what will be my new Jet boat ready to test out in a week or so, Just can't wait to start getting on some remote waters for exploration dates over the next few months. Too much water, too little time!

Vancouver Island Winter Steelhead update 2010

2010-01-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

Small Steelhead eat big bugs too! When fishing the other day we found a couple of fresh steelhead in the river that were hot for our flies! This fish was the smaller of the two but put up a good scrapon a beauty day on the water, the first of 2010... You can see my 2 man Kayak in the background which works great for jumping into hard to access runs without commiting to a whole day float. One thing to consider when you arrive to a favored pool and the side you would automatically fish is occupied, try fishing from the difficult side! Years ago I arrived at a run that I always fished from river right. It was the soft flowing shallow side of the run which is where 99% of all anglers would automatically fish when they got there! There was a guy fishing it from the faster flowing side where the main current was, on the deeper more tough part to cast & wade. After talking to this fellow I gave the senario some thought. Why wouldn't I consider fishing from that side, it was wadable, and with a 2 handed rod you could make it work to fish water that realistically you never covered before from river right. The other day when we arrived to a particular run there was a guy fishing the obvious side which he had made quite an effort to cross the river to do. With this run being as large as it is I had no problem fishing the tough side while he was there, it wouldn't be intruding by any means on his fishing or water. Besides he did sort of jump us to the pool when he seen we were floating down in the head of the run and started fishing it mid way down... I decided to float my boat to the other side down under the trees and started in with minimal room to cast comfortably but good enough. Within 10 nimutes I was into a great fish about 8 lbs which leaped out of the water 2 or 3 times putting up a good scrap! This wasn't the first time I have caught a fish there but it's amazing how people get into a routine of reading water a certain way, this I think can lead to repetitive fishing and sometimes disillusion of how good the fishing is! What if everyone thought the same and you arrived on that pool late in the day after it had been fished at least once. Yes Steelhead move around often but how many fish get pushed to the other side of the river after the pools been waded & torn up by an angler or two! Food for thought and yes the grass is sometimes greener on the other side:) A great saying I have stuck by for many years guiding, Steelhead are where you find them! Happy New Year

Christmas Spey Fly

2009-12-24T10:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all & a Happy New Year! Not the greatest Spey Fly I've ever tied but I thought it was a good fit for today:) If one can't get out on the water they may as well tie a fly for the season... I'll call it Kens Christmas Spey! Here's the recipe;
Body - Green & red Floss
Rib - gold flat tinsel, & oval silver
Hackle - Red Shlappen
Collar - Heron
Wing - White quill, preferably Swan
Thread - Red:)
This may be my last post for 2009 unless of course I make it out to the river! It would be great to show you this fly in a steelheads mouth, I may give it a try later this week... Hope to see you all in 2010, wow that number doesn't seem right, wasn't it just the year 2000.... Have a great holiday season, best fishes!!

Winter Steelhead Vancouver Island / historic addition

2009-12-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

It's always nice to reflect on those beautie's of recent past fishing days... This was one of the first Winter Steelhead I caught after returning to Vancouver Island 3 seasons ago. It was on a nearby River in February and it was the classic situation. The cast prior to hooking up I had a good tug & I thought I'm sure I got a good pull there? Casting another Single Spey back into position for another swing proved this beauty Steely, You know, tailing this fish for a pic wasn't so easy, I had it in shallow water resting up against my legs & searching for my camera I managed to get an angle and shoot a few photos (which I'm glad now that I worked hard to get).
Guiding on the Skeena & Nass watersheds for the previous 7yrs made me realize one thing that I somehow had forgotten. There's no fish like a fresh Winter Steelhead on Vancouver Island. They may not size up to a Skeena fish all the time but catching these fish close to the ocean in pristine clear water is something all-together different. Don't get me wrong, I love all the Steelhead fisheries I've fished in BC and they all shine in different ways but I've caught many a 18 - 20lb Steelhead on Skeena waters that were slightly sluggish in comparison to these awesome chromers that don't give you the time of day to think when hooked up!
There have been good reports so far for the rivers in our area for winter fishing. When I've been able to make it out they've treated me well too. I hope the season will progress with strong runs of these much overlooked fish. Many anglers I know on the Island have given up on Steelhead fishing for one reason or another and it's too little interest that may be the demize of our greatest sports fish of the westcoast one day. I hope this picture may encourage some of you to get out there and hopefully you'll be reminded of why this sport had you completely out of your mind once upon a time; then I won't feel so lonely out there hooking them all to myself:) We still have great Steelhead fishing and the greater the interest in angling for these fish, the more people may stand up and take action to keep protecting these great fisheries for generations to come! Wishin you all great fishin! Happy Holidays:)

Steelhead Tube Fly for Vancouver Island (extra large)

2009-12-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

Patterns like this one have become fairly popular in the Northwest amongst Steelhead Flyfishers, especially those fishing with 2 handed rods. This is my own pattern (The Space Invader) which resembles the Intruder stinger style flies that originated in Oregon. I designed this one on a tube simply because I think tubes are better to use than shanks with attached stinger hooks. This pattern has similar goals as the stimulator doe's as well but with some different materials. To keep the flies bulky presentation when wet swimming against the current I use Polar Bear Dubbing under Shlappen Hackles, then add the peacock herl & flash above. A slender body of floss or yarn works great for the body and then repeat the first process near the head of the fly. Add eyes of preference last and there you have it! It's a great pattern, somewhat involved but they do get the steelheads attention. With all my tube flies I like to use Gamagatsu or Owner Hooks Octopus style #4 - 2/0. I sell these Space Invader Tube Flies in various colors to suit the water ones fishing including Pink, purples, black & blue, Black & chartruese etc. A killer fly & very fun to fish!

Vancouver Island Winter Steelhead Fishing Update Dec 7 / 09

2009-12-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

There are Some fresh winter steelhead in our rivers on North Vancouver Island. Yesterday was my first day to get out for Steelhead in weeks due to a renovation on our property which has prioritized my time... Along the way, we've had an enormous amount of water leaving our rivers in flood stage for 3+ weeks. The river I fished yesterday came down 3 meters in 7 days, three vertical meters of water on this watershed is a massive amount of water and to flow consistently at that height for 3 weeks is hard to comprehend! The positive thought is minimal fishing pressure over the last month with fresh fish anxious to push up the river with the flows dropping. Well for 4 days now we've had the opposite of precipitation, very cold weather down to -8 and blue skies.. So yesterday being not the greatest of conditions didn't stop me from heading out for the day. When my friend & I got to the river we were wondering why we were there? There was no sun exposure, still -8 degrees & bleeping cold feeling:) We put our waders on to gear up for a pool and by the time I had my waders on my hands were freezing! I said, lets go find some sun in the upper river so we jumped in the jeep and moved on. At this point I think we were both thinking this day may be a right-off! Well we sucked it up and headed to one of the upper pools. As I worked the shoreline my boots froze to every rock I stood on needless to say my line & guides were also icing up badly! I reflected on the many days I have done this in the past & questioned why! Am I getting too old for walking down icy river banks risking my life for a fish? One thing I always stand by is don't be too quick to judge the situation and give things a chance, I'm glad I did. Temps slowly warmed up although it didn't make it above -3; I guess one gets aclimated after loosing the feeling in their finger tips:) Did I mention that the river was in beautiful shape, that probably was the one thing that like usual keeps a fisherman focused on why they are WORKING for fish. We fished a couple of pools and I managed to hook a fish while picking up my line to cast but soon lost it after a few head shakes. We moved on and went for a quick bite and then headed down to the lower river to try a run. This entailed crossing a tailout to access this beautiful run from the other side. As we made our way across & up there was a small slot on the far side which I thought I would cast into with a slight chance of hooking up a fish. I told my buddy to head to the pool and have the first run through so he proceeded on. I made a few casts into the slot and managed to snag up a rock so I waded closer to the run to get my fly out. I made a couple more casts and there it was! This fish was your perfect 12lb chrome & white Hen Steelhead leaping out of the water more than 7 times! Nothing the rest of the day felt cold! We didn't encounter any more fish but fished some awesome water with our Spey Rods. I never did get a photo of the fish as my friend was too far upstream to come down & grab the picture. You have all seen Steelhead pictures and if you look at the one headlining this blog, it looked much the same just a lighter green back and slightly more slender. As an alternative to the fish pic I have posted the fly I used; I can't say enough about bunny leaches / worms, they are the simplist flies to tie and certainly one of the most productive steelhead flies on the planet! with all the right combinations of colors / weight for your steelhead fishing situation, these flies are all you need. I will be selling these flies and many other Steelhead / Salmon tube flies through this Blog ASAP. If anyones interested in tube flies please contact me; flyguide@telus.net for more info. Steelhead are upon us, time to go fishing:)

Monster Cutthroat / Kens Weekend Fishing Trip

2009-11-29T23:41:00.000-08:00

This Cutthroat barely fit in my net after finding it on a
mainland lake near Vancouver Island. I fished all by myself on this lake on Saturday afternoon searching for it's renown monster Cutthroat. It was a long day in the rain with no sign of action anywhere on the lake but I figured if I keep covering water I should encounter something that will eat my stickle-back immitation. The take was gentle and frankly I wasn't sure what I had hooked although it was pretty heavy feeling. As I starting reeling it in the head shakes got bigger and stronger. When I first saw this fish I was stunned as I have never encountered a cutthroat like this before. The fish started to wake up after trying to get it close to the boat; it put my 5wt 8.5 ft rod to the test:) Eventually I got the fish back close to the boat but it circled it 2 times working hard to get into the anchor rope, luckily I managed to keep it off and soon after put it in the net! A great result after a long day with no sign of fish at all! This fish has been eating well and clearly this lake has all the food a cutthroat needs. I'm guessing there are few trout like this one on any of the Islands lakes but we do have some of the greatest river fishing on the coast which is why the Island is a choice place for me!

Fishing Vancouver Islands Oyter River November 22 / 09

2009-11-24T09:15:00.000-08:00

Sunday I had a few hours and the Oyster river was at the perfect hight to fish so I hiked up to the Hatchery and fished my way back to the car. I took my boat & my dog and we hit the trail. Well the trail was good for a while but was washed out a bit for a good long way. This made it tough for me to drag my boat through but a half hour of wheeling up & then I was good to float back down to the Glenmore Pool. Well no question the river made a few changes but overall they may have been positive ones. The big question when we have a rain like the last 2 weeks is how the Spawning beds & salmon eggs faired. With all the great returns of salmon to our rivers on the island this fall we can only hope that the spawning beds didn't get flushed too bad. Back to the fishing, I fished 4 pools hard with no success! I encoutered an old Chum but didn't see any Cutthroat which was my goal. I also consider that maybe I will encounter one of those Summer Steelhead that I occasionally hear about in the Oyster. For years now I have heard of the odd Summer Steelhead rumer including swimmers who say they've seen them in the lower reaches near the estuary. The true Steelhead run I know of in the Oyster River, Vancouver Island is the winter fishery ! It would be great to have a good run of these awesome Winter Steelhead, the river is a nice size, just large enough to float with endless runs & pools to fish. I have some great memories of this sleeper river that once was! I will never overlook this great river as occasionally it provides great fishing! We'll be heading north on Vancouver Island tomorrow, hope to find a chromer:)

Vancouver Island River Fishing Conditions

2009-11-18T09:04:00.000-08:00

Well I don't have much to say about the fishing this week, it's been a washout for the most part on our watersheds, they're really shedding! Many anglers I know get discouraged when this happens & many of them feel it's altogether no good for our fisheries. Some of the pools they've come accustomed to may not be the same after a huge run off. In the last 3 days I've watched allot of wood come floating past the house here which has floated mostly out of the Quinsam River. The Quinsam is a river that used to have some great holding water to fish below the Hatchery but over the years it's diminished to barely a reflection of what it once was. On some of the rivers I've guided along the coast over the years I've seen washouts improve & reclaim some good water that once was so as discouraging as times are when rivers a too high to fish there is at times light at the end of the tunnel for improved fishing opportunities. I can think of many places where I float rivers that have log jams that may be gone now making it a more user friendly environment. New Pools that were ok before may be just right to hold that Steelhead just in the right fly water too! At the end of all this nature has it's ways for sure & not all is lost when changes are made. For those river fisherman that can read water well it opens up new water to explore on a beat of river that they may have fished their whole lives. One things for sure, the river has been deeply cleansed & now there's new fish in the watershed to hunt, & maybe the little quinsam river will have some new pools to fish with some fresh Winter Steelhead:)

Vancouver Island Steelhead Flies of the Month

2009-11-13T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just to touch on the Pattern last posted on this Blog, Many of the flies I use are tied with Arctic Fox & Temple Dog wings as the fly I posted was. Combined with the tried & true color combinations I've used for years & a little flash of some sort to accent the fly is hard to beat! I've got a variation of tubes in this box including Eumer cone tubes (excellent weighted tubes balanced to swim your fly just where it needs to be and also some tungsten cones on colored tubing & liners for fitting the cones. Jungle cock is not needed just always seems to add a bit of class to the fly but not certain it helps catch fish! Also some of these flies have some Polar bear underwings which is great for adding some color & keeping the wing off the tube. A simple goal is to build the wing starting with stiffer fibers(furs) if using different materials for the wing... Temple Dog being the most supple of the bunch of furs from my experience. I will add that no matter where your fly tying ends up with steelhead patterns for getting action out of your fly, nothing compares to marabou for action and they are user friendly patterns to cast. Marabou just doesn't retain any water so picking these flies up out of the water makes them awesome but simply put it's not durable & doe's get damged easily so fur is now my preference. Good fur color also doesn't bleach out as quick as marabou does. Anyhow I really think that these hair wing patterns are as good as they get for big flies in big water:)

Vancouver Island Steelhead Picture / Friends Addition..

2009-11-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

Some Friends were on a Steelhead trip to one of our early winter Steelhead fisheries on Vancouver Island. With high water it made the fishing a bit of a challenge the first day but the next day was the perfect conditions, a dropping river with some new fish to target. Nice to see some early Winter Steelhead, hope there's lots to come for when I make it out! Swinging a large fly in big water is always something I enjoy with a 2 handed rod in winter months, I'll soon be there I hope:)

Flyfishing Vancouver Island's Fly of the Month | Single Spey Flyfishing Adventures

2009-11-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

On a recent Summer Steelhead trip I guided, we had encountered a summer run in a prime tail out to swing a fly to. I had my guest situated upstream about 50 ft or so casting down to the fish swinging everything over the fish tempting a hook-up! This fish was in the perfect water to skate a waking fly over so that's how we started with no success. It was a bit of a bummer as on that particular day it was one of my best clients goal with what we thought might be the perfect conditions. I then switched flies over for him to some small reliable wet flies that still didn't do the trick! My guest had many flies swinging right on that fishes nose with no success. It's a wonder the fish didn't bolt off but obviously these patterns did not intrude on his space enough to be bothered... After basically thinking this was a done deal we went to the extreme for this little river that usually has best success with small patterns like steelhead bees & bead head nymphs. This is it I said to my guest, lets go for it!! We're going to the extreme just to see what happens, it will either take off or eat it! The first cast came short just to be safe with the second cast in far range of the steelheads sight. I'm Standing up on the bank just downstream from this fish watching it's reactions to this when of it went. When that fly got within 4 -5ft of the fish it came swimming upstream to it & jumped it! He's got it I called to my sport & he was hooked up! It was a bit of a surprise to me but great to see this situation play out. It's an example that you never know no matter how many days you spend on the water. About the fly; I found these cone heads at a shop but wasn't too thrilled with the drilled out spots for the stick on eyes. What I did like about them was the idea that they would fit on my large tubing without a liner tube. The other benefit about the cone is being a fairly large diameter it keeps the flies presentation broad when swimming in the water . I have to say I will be using these cones more for large winter levels as the big chromers are heading our way:)

Friends Fishing / Guiding Pictures

2009-11-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

This is a great pic of a dark buck Coho, what an awesome looking fish! It was caught on the west coast of Vancouver Island while targeting fresh Chum Salmon. A friend of mine guided this fellow who looks to be happy with this truly awesome specimen. Hope it successfully spawns & makes many more great Coho for future fishing adventures:) Our rivers are now flowing large & it won't be long before the winter Steelhead arrive in a few of our rivers. hope to encounter one of them soon. Thanks to Steve for sending me this photo! If you have any good Island flyfishing pictures you'd like to share let me know & I'll post them.

Sea Run Cutthroat

2009-10-29T20:14:00.001-07:00

Soon the Sea-run Cutthroat trout river fishing will be more consistent as they migrate up our rivers to spawn over the winter months. This usually starts by following the spawning salmon up the river in the fall to feed on salmon eggs. Angling for them in summer months is inconsistent at the best of times because they are where the food is most abundant. This means sometimes being far from they're native rivers estuary feeding along the ocean beaches. Although we have on occasion some good hatches in our rivers, it's just not enough to keep these nice trout residing in our fresh waters regularly. There are a few exceptions to this rule, usually when a river is fed by a large lake that's well fertilized supporting a trouts diet. But most of our island waters are short, high gradient rivers flowing crystal clear with little to no bug life at the best of times. When the fry migrate out in spring months the cutthroat take full advantage and are a blast to fish for! Skating Muddler minnows on the surface brings great action in fast water. These Golden fish are beauties, click on the pic to see the details on this fish, I have it on my desk top right now as it is a high quality picture, hope you enjoy!

Guiding Update Oct 25 / 09

2009-10-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

We all like what I call Chromers! You know those fresh fish that have just arrived from the Ocean, are full of life & fight, simply put at their best!! Often when I'm guiding & fishing our waters this time of year I'm not quite sure what species of fish we're going to encounter; often the question comes up from other anglers who you cross paths with "what are you fishing for", & my answer is, "anything chrome" ! In the picture is a great sport of mine from last week that is somewhat new to angling Salmon with the fly. His friend & I were below playing a Chum Salmon & he thought he'd make his way downstream to take a picture of his buddy when he hooked up this great silver Coho. He was fishing a floating line, long leader with a slip stream, one of my bait flies that I have posted on this blog for you to view if interested, it's one of the first posts I have on here. Once again this fly is simple but extremely effective in clear waters for migratory fish! Another great fishing experience for me & my clients:)

Dog On The Blog

2009-10-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

We've been fishing a lot this past week and have experienced some interesting fishing along the way searching out fish on the North Island. We've been to 6 different rivers targeting 5 different species of fish. The Chum (Dog Salmon) are arriving in the rivers now & by the sounds of the numbers of Chum in the ocean, we're to expect many more in the rivers soon... This year it's safe to say that all our Salmon have returned in great numbers on the Island. Out of all these species of fish there are no fish that seem to pull more relentlessly than these big Chum! Our water levels are now flowing more consistently & with this we can fish larger flies swinging them with 2 handed rods... Even with the 15ft 11wt rod we used to land this fish in heavy water in the upper Campbell, there was no shortage of fight from this Jurasic looking Beast! We lost 2 others and hooked some Coho too in the upper islands. Soon it will be Winter Steelhead time & for myself there's no better fishing time of year:)

Guide Update Oct 20 / 09

2009-10-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

We had a nice day fishing small stream Summer Steelhead yesterday! The river was up but dropping fast as our island rivers usually do. My guest hooked & landed 2 Steelhead which we sighted in the pools before hooking them. It's incredible to watch these fish move for the fly! We fishing over one fish with many flies with no interest and then fished a very large pink tube fly which took one cast to hook up... I watched as this fish swam upstream 4 ft to take the fly aggressively! Small but mighty are these wild summer fish, they often leap out of the water and when you think you've tired them out they go crazy again taking runs & jumps. Fishing these fish in a pristine environment tops off a day west coast steelheading:) Today I guided a couple of newcomers to the sport. We floated the Campbell & hooked Some fresh Coho Salmon, Chum Salmon & some nice sea-run cutthroat, another great day on the water!

Coho update Oct 17th / 09

2009-10-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Silver Season! It's been a great Coho season for numbers this year... The size of the fish have been above average too! Catching these fish on the fly at times on the island can be challenging but the rewards are great. These acrobatic fish like the fly swimming so often when we're done our swing and we're at the dangle we strip our flies in hoping for the grab. This fish was caught by one of my sports on the upper Campbell river after many fish denied our flies; with persistence you'll usually dig up a fresher fish that will give all it's got to chew up your tube fly! Another good day on the river and the challenge always makes it more rewarding. Thanks for sending this great photo Rodney!

Guiding Update Oct 6th / 09

2009-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

We floated the Campbell River yesterday in search of Steelhead & Coho (silvers). At the top where we put in we hooked many Sea-Run Cutthroat on Dry flies which has been a great way to start our floats. Using a large dry fly like a Humpy works great! We also skated some Muddlers with success until we moved on for larger fish! As we floated down stream we saw many fresh Coho in the river. We fished hard for these fish which aren't huge on the bite... For the amount of fish we covered, our success wouldn't be considered great. We did land one nice fish 16lbs which was in good shape, somewhat new to the river. On the Campbell River I think there are more fished fowl hooked than caught respectably! There are too many fly anglers fishing inappropriately with way too heavy sink tips sweeping flies & lines through the pool rather than swinging flies with a proper hang down of the fly. This results in allot of action for anglers, with the mojority of the fish being fowl hooked everywhere but in the mouth! I shouldn't disclude the amount of flies & lines snagged in the river too which keeps them busy as a result! I retrieved a full fly line while my client was fishing yesterday as an example. None the less, the Campbell is a beautiful river, large flowing for the island allowing anglers to swing flies in crystal clear water on a short river that hosts allot of fish! Many of our rivers are just too low to fish in dry months like we've had this season but the rains are coming:) So far this season there seems to be great numbers of all species of pacific salmon. Still haven't received any great summer steelhead fishing related to the inroduced Tsitika Summer Steelhead, I guess 2010 will be the year! We did however see a pair of Sockeye spawning near the pump house pool, are they lost Fraser river fish? I also spotted one on the Salmon river a few weeks ago! Makes a guy wonder!

Saltwater Fly-Fishing / Beach fishing for Coho!

2009-09-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

In the last few days I've been trying out my new boat on the beaches in our area. Yesterday I witnessed 2 pods of Killer Whales swim by while I was rowing around looking for Salmon... Although the picture of the Orca isn't the greatest, you could imagine what it feels like to be in a little boat while these monsters are near by! I watched as these whales came completely out of the water at times in amazement, can't see that on the river! The beach is always a challenge to get guests to try out. Salmon fishing & still water is hard to comprehend for those from other places I feel as most have never had the opportunity like we do here in our waters. It's one fishery that once you experience it you're usually hooked! Today I fished with a friend who invited me to Nile Creek near Qualicam Beach on Vancouver Island. We both hooked a few Coho while Stripping in Bait patterns, it was a beauty day with a few nice fish in between. The ticket was to place your fly on or around the jumping / finning fish & start stripping your fly fast! I managed to land one of the fish I hooked, shook the other off and missed a few more on the Grab... It's a very exciting way to fish, casting at wild feeding salmon up to 20 lbs. When I was rowing back to the car I heard my friend hook up on a great fish, In the distance I could see this fish leaping while my friend was howling with excitment, wish I could have got the pic of it leaping out of the air which I attemped with the previous fish:) This fishery is just starting to get good this season in the Campbell river area, looking forward to more of it this next month...

Fly of the Week

2009-09-18T12:09:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks, here's a pattern which I designed many years ago that has been one of my favorites for small stream Steelhead fishing. This purple bead head nymph has caught more Steelhead than I can remember and plenty of fish when friends & clients have been using it too! The other day when I guided my client into that nice little wild steelhead, we used other little patterns that I thought would work but nothing happened. I'm always one for trying new stuff and approaches to fishing opportunities and I have to say this pattern proved itself once again after trying many other things over that fish you see posted on this blog recently... Simply put, steelhead love purple so next time you find yourself at a loss on a small steelhead river with gin clear water give it a go, you may be pleasantly surspised!

Guide Update Sept 15 / 09

2009-09-15T20:58:00.000-07:00

My client was greatly rewarded today with this nice summer run! Fishing this summer fishery has been a challenge this season due to low water conditions, thank goodness for the great salmon fishing we've had to fall back on. Today we hooked this nice Wild Steelhead on a small wet fly casting up to several fish in the pool. What a nice reward after fishing a few hours hiking through Old growth rain forests and casting into beautiful gin clear pools on this awesome mountain stream. Hopefully later this week after the rain we're expecting we can catch some on Dry Flies. A great day with a great guy who is passionate about the sport of flyfishing & just being on the river! Not bad for a day's visit:)

Guide Update Sept 10 / 09

2009-09-10T13:38:00.000-07:00

We've had some great rain fall in the last 4 days making our waters large & very fishy! This is the time to take full advantage of our fisheries and now I have nobody to guide, oh well, I guess I'll have to enjoy it on my own for a few days... It was remarkable how we went from some of the lowest waters I've encountered to the opposite in such a short time. One of our rivers felt like winter temps which confused myself & the fish we were targeting as they just didn't want to bite our bugs yesterday. I've never seen water temperatures change so dramatically in my lifetime. The Coho are also arriving in good numbers, looks like fall is here:)

Guiding update Sept 2 / 09

2009-09-03T09:38:00.001-07:00

Well as I have mentioned in recent past, we've had a very dry summer! The Rain is here & I'm very excited about some potential great Summer Steelhead fishing this week! As one can see in the pictures above, these summer fish have concentrated into pools in good numbers due to the dry rivers they've encountered for 2 months, staring at blue skies. This is the least I've been on this watershed in one season but my client yesterday really wanted to walk a remote mountain stream away from it all so we went for a look. Well what we saw was very inspiring, one pool alone had over 40 large summer Steelhead in it! Click on the picture above to enlarge them for a better view of what we encountered and enjoy! As I mentioned to my guest yesterday, I see salmon regularly swarming in the home pool but when I see Steelhead like the pictures above it's a different deal for me all together! A beautiful sight indeed, hope to be back later in the week when the waters up to skate one up on a dry:)

Fly of the Month

2009-08-31T12:15:00.001-07:00

I just tied these flies on Eumer Conetubes. These weighted tubes swim really nice fishing large waters for Steelhead & Salmon. What really amazed me when fishing them last winter was how level they swam in the water. Over days of use these patterns seemed to get you to the Zone without getting hung up on bottom near as much as flies fished with lead eyes etc.. One thing about the tubes was the paint did chip off a little on the cone part at the front of the tube but a little hard as nails coated on them helps allot in preventing this, just simply coat the cone at the same time you cement the head of the fly. On these patterns I use a colored tubing for the hook locks to match up with the patterns giving these simple flies a more refined look! Oh, one more thing... these flies did catch fish too:)

Steelhead Update 09

2009-08-26T15:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering about our Steelhead fishing & why I haven't been showing much regarding this fishery lately it's simple! First of all most of my recent guests are new at the sport of fly-fishing which has been great with the pink salmon fishing. Secondly is we just haven't had the water this year due to a major drought on the island with allot of heat combined! We will soon be getting some fall freshets & with that will come some better Steelhead fishing conditions. The numbers of Steelhead seem to be there so I'm certainly anxious to indulge in some of this fishing with dries soon. I have many guided dates available for this fall if anyone's interested in coming. The Salmon returns have been great for all the species we target here so hopefully the fall will proceed with great results.

Guiding Update Aug 25 / 09

2009-08-25T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well we've had some incredible fishing for Pink Salmon on our home waters in the last few weeks. These little fish averaging 3 - 5 lbs 1km from tidal water are allot to handle at times with the average single handed rod. We've had 30 fish days in the home pool alone & some of our guests feel it's some of the best fishing they've ever had. Even after fishing Steelhead on some of the worlds renown rivers there's something to be said when hitting the pink fishery just right! They're much like fishing small Atlantic Salmon Grilse one guest mentioned but having them by the thousands. I understand that we've had close to half a million in the Campbell river alone this season so rumor has it! It wouldn't surprise me with what I've witnessed first hand many days this month:) This is a Great fishery that has made many an angler very happy after a day's fishing here. I just finished guiding to anglers from England who never fly fished in their lives. They landed 10 fish between the two of them for a half days fishing, not bad for being brand new at the sport. they say there's many more fish heading down the straight here and if they're heading our way it will easily surpass and pink salmon return on record to date! There's something to be said for bright waters, bright fish!

Aug 12th / 09 Guiding Update

2009-08-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

What an amazing month for Salmon fishing in Tidal waters so far, the numbers of fish cruising our beaches seems exceptional. There's more & more large Coho showing everyday with many in the high teens cartwheeling around! We managed to land one nice coho this morning as seen in the picture, this nice silver put up a good fight after grabbing my clients quickly stripped fly! I'm a firm believer in a fast presentation when fishing bait patterns for Coho. I have often missed out on good fish while stripping my fly slow, it seems like they analyse it more, boil on it, even bump it without really grabbing the fly when all of a sudden your flies at your rod tip & the fish is gone! The mystery of what you might hook when fishing Saltwater keeps this fishery very exciting with all the salmon & sea-trout about. Who knows, maybe a Steelhead will surprise us one day when fishing the chuck:)

Flyfishing Update Aug 11 / 09

2009-08-11T07:11:00.001-07:00

A cool picture I took last week in the back yard just before landing this little Chromer! We've been getting some nice Cutthroat in the Campbell River as well. It seems as if the larger Cutts are playing the tides in the lower river so when timed right we're hooking some bigger sea-runs mixed with salmon. Some of the ocean beaches we've fished lately have been tremendous with a mix of large Coho, Chinook, pinks & Dollies! It's not hard to have a 20 - 30 fish day when timed right. Fishing our tidal waters is interesting in many ways. Even within the same stretch of shoreline it can be a challenge based on structure, depth & currents influencing your fly. Then there's the question of what you want to target when you're seeing different fish cruising & showing up through your fishing range. Many times in the last week of guiding I've been torn as to what to put on a clients line being that sometimes a larger fly will get the possible attention of a large Coho or King (Chinook). We lost a nice Chinook the other day likely due to the small fly we were fishing for pinks. This incredible fishery on the inside passage is one that I think many have yet to experiment with to any degree. I'll have to pay more attention to it on years to come, especially when we're droughted out like the last 4 weeks. I have been meaning to play with the 2 hander & different line weights for some larger fish attention that may be cruising our shoreline! As much as my heart lies on the river bank, I am gaining a great passion for the saltwater fly fishing available. Once again a great reason to be on Vancouver Island tackling this diverse environment! Heading to Steelhead waters in the morning:)

Home Sweet Home Aug 2nd / 09

2009-08-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Chromers on the Home pool! These Pink Salmon have been late this season & are just now arriving in numbers. We hooked a number of fish in our back yard today, the bite was on & off but for the most part the fishing was great! Here is just a few of the great photos we took while having a nice BBQ & enjoying good company... many of the fish had fresh sea-lice on them so we know where they just came from! A floating line, 7wt rod & some small weighted flies is all one needs to have some great success. these little fish battle excellent fresh from the ocean:)

Guiding Update Aug 1st / 09

2009-08-02T19:56:00.000-07:00

The Island has some incredible scenery & places that most people never get to see! This particular river is a high gradient one mostly set in canyon walls inaccessible to the everyday angler.. The ones who venture into it's tough access pools can have some incredible experiences. We fished this pool a good part of the day due to the number of large Dolly Varden schooled up in the tail out of the pool. While fishing these selective fish, we had other fish move into the pool on occasion to add to the challenge. Some wild Summer Coho came through & at one point we had a pair of Summer Steelhead move into the tail out in perfect position to swing a fly to! A couple of times we had these fish take the fly & spit it out before we could hook up! This was also a great situation to experiment with different flies & angles of approach while observing the fish. Frusterating at times like most fishing can be but a learning curve and the odd reward to top off being in an incredible peace of gods country:)

Guide Update. 32 celcius & Steelhead

2009-07-28T17:55:00.001-07:00

Guided fishing for Steelhead in the heat! Wow, we've had some incredible hot sunny weather here for a couple of weeks now! Tough to fish in at times but tougher being away from the water so not a bad deal:) Hiking a beauty mountain stream yesterday provided us with a great fish & battle ending up with a excellent result. This fish was mingling with a school of rear summer Coho Salmon (silvers) when it came to the fly. We weren't sure what it was exactly until we had a closer look... After a long day in the heat and the reward of a steelhead I took off my shirt and dove into the crystal clear water to cool down. Another great wild fish from Vancouver Island

Fishing Update July 21st / 09

2009-07-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Myself & a couple of friends hiked for some Summer Steelhead yesterday. I ended up this canyon wall where I viewed some pools searching for numbers of fish. Although it would be difficult to fish this water below, I thought it would be nice to have a look so to understand what the fish are swimming through before reaching a stretch of river I've fished for many years. It was actually quite mellow water that I viewed, very deep in places with plenty of holding water for fish to hang out but I sighted no fish! I wonder if I could float through it with my Kayak?:) We made our way back home to the C R where my friend encountered some Pinks rolling down near tidal water, looks like maybe they have arrived, approximately 10 days later than last year! Many good fishing days in the near future for Steelhead & Salmon I'm certain, maybe I'll get out today!

2009-07-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, I've been thinking about these Campbell River Summer Steelhead a little lately being in my back yard & all... I haven't caught one yet but know of a few that have been landed so maybe it's a start to a good season. The Salmon are late as well so who knows. One thing I love about fishing Summer Steelhead on Vancouver Island is that all one needs is a small & simple sparsely tied pattern. Our fairly warm & gin clear water in the Campbell River makes these fish extremely aggressive and it doesn't take much of anything swimming into their zone to get their attention! Black & Blue has always been a favoured fly for larger off colored water & winter fishing usually tied much larger & on a tube. I thought earlier that a small black & blue pattern was missing in my collection of summer fishing excursions so I just tied this fly on a #6 tiemco hook. These hooks are great! they are on heavy wire, a nice design at a fair price unlike the Salmon & Steelhead 7999 tiemco which I feel is over-rated at the best of times. Fishing this fly with a long leader & floating line will be a pleasure whether I hook a fish or not . Wish me luck as I am about to embark on a lower river float in search of a new summer run arriving to my home waters:) Catch the blog later to see the results!

Dry Fly Summer Steelhead 09

2009-07-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is... My First Summer Steelhead of 09. Better yet is it was caught on a dry fly! You can see the stimulator on the other side of it's mouth as I hold it up for a quick picture. Based on what we saw today there looks to be a strong run of fish heading our way in this fishery. Some fish we sighted today were quite large looking healthy wild fish! This fish was the second to come to a dry fly from some fairly deep water in almost the same place as the first fish. My good friend who took this picture had the pleasure of rising the first fish which broke him off all too soon... He later managed to hook & quick release another nice large steelhead in a pristine pool where wild steelhead live. River levels are slightly low but it doesn't seem to bother these fish much. We did more hiking than fishing today viewing many beautiful places to cast a dry fly. We encountered fish through out the watershed, had a meeting with a couple of young deer & enjoyed good company too. We also encountered a great number of steelhead fry through out the watershed in every shallow spot we waded through, the future looks bright{chrome}! A great day with hopefully many more to come this season fishing wild fish on Vancouver Island. Not a bad little chromer for July 15th:)

Historic Vancouver Island Flyfishing Addition

2009-07-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

This Summer Steelhead was caught on one of Vancouver Islands Gems... This remote river can be tough to fish a fly productively due to the nature of it. Like other rivers on the Island with Summer Steelhead, the pools where fish stage are large & deep with minimal flows & a smooth surface so fish can see you coming if not careful. Between pools are long lenghts of high gradient stretches that are boulder infested & unfishable at the best of times. Still this river calls me from time to time due to it's spectacular environment & incredible wild Steelhead up to 20lbs. With the tannen water it is sometimes tough to see fish but often if you know where fish hang out, you can see the white of there mouths open & close in this deep clear brown water. This great picture of a friend holding this steelhead reminds me of the quality of many of our small fisheries that rarely see an Angler. The challenge in these waters will make some so called steelhead bums re-think what steelhead fishing is all about!

Family Fishing

2009-06-30T17:40:00.001-07:00

I took the family for a quick float to the estuary the other day from the house, Jocelyn hooked some nice trout. The pic shows her casting from the boat, not a bad cast for someone who rarely does it! She hooked 4 nice cutthroat & one immature Steelhead just over a pound, I guess it didn't like the ocean and decided to come back after a year! We're still waiting for the mature summer run Steelhead to show up in the Campbell River, soon I hope. The pinks will be arriving in 2 weeks! I'd like to have some Steelhead fishing before the salmon show:) We encoutered what I guess was a Summer Steelhead over on the west side of the island while guiding the other day. The fish was in the deepest part of the pool (10ft deep under fast water) along an undercut bank so it was impossible to temp him to a fly, next time I hope!

Fly of the Week

2009-06-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks, thanks for visiting my site! Here it is, the fly of the week... This fly is not a stranger to many fly-fisherman, but this version may be an unknown approach to some. Early in the week, my Friend was using a bead head Muddler last time we hit the estuary together. He faired very well with it hooking several Dolly Varden!! The pattern in the picture is tied on a tube with a tungsten cone head, next time I hit an estuary I will be fishing it to see how it performs. I am a huge fan of tube flies, & I particularly like how you can slip the cone over the head of the fly for a consistent silhouette. These tungsten cones are very heavy & will dive that little muddler down into the depths, sometimes a better place to be while fishing Dolly Varden on the island from my experiences. Muddler Minnows are a stronghold in the fly boxes of many fly-fisherman on the planet. It is an exceptionally great pattern to fish on Vancouver Island for Steelhead & Trout both Salt & Freshwater. This fly resembles many things swimming in our waters like Salmon Fry, large adult Caddis & Stoneflies & let's not forget the Sculpin (bullheads) that seem to be everywhere including the ocean beaches. My favorite way to fish a Muddler Minnow is using a traditional unweighted one with a Riffle Hitch. Skating this fly on fast riffles & runs where Steelhead & trout roam can bring you incredibly fishing action! Give it a try if you haven't already, you may be pleasantly surprised:)

Fishing Update June 23/ 09

2009-06-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Good old Dolly Varden, yes we have them on the Island! This picture was taken last year on the upper part of a mountain stream I guide for Summer Steelhead, & Coho. Unlike allot of fishing I've experienced for these aggressive fish on mainland rivers in BC the few Island fish I've caught seemed quite wary! Not certain if this is true fishing all Dollies on the Island but seems to be the case for me after's yesterdays experience. Some Friends & I fished an estuary yesterday arriving there at low tide, it was just starting to flood in. Shortly after starting to wet a line we noticed small splashes at the head of the pool, suddenly there were more around us. As it turned out there was a number of sea-run Dolly Varden in the estuary feeding away on something, likely anything they could get their mouths around. With this attitude I felt that fishing a fry pattern just below the surface & covering ground should fair as well as any fly. Two of us were already at the pool with the other friend working down the other side of the River. We had noticed fish rising really good just below him and mentioned to him to stay on his side as he worked downstream. Steve was fishing a bead head pattern and was into some great fishing! We bumped the odd fish but were working pretty hard for them. I insisted on keeping with one of my favorite flies on the coast, my Slip Stream. I hooked a fish here & there but nothing like Steve was! I eventually tried a different area with little success so I crossed the river to make my way to Steve for a hopeful good picture of a closeup Sea-run Dolly Varden needless to say my camera failed me! I proceeded to fish around Steve and then noticed when a fish was rising near Steve & he covered it, he was almost always successful in hooking up. As the tide flooded in we worked up the River, so did the Dollies. We followed the rises and hooked some fish, mostly Steve and finally I decided to put something with a bead-head on! Well first cast showed me what I was missing... We hooked a few more fish as the tide flooded in, then got pushed out of this great fishing that lasted the morning. On our way Home we stopped at another river where I landed another nice Dolly in a place I had been fishing for years catching everything but, an interesting day for me to say the least! This is one of the main reasons Flyfishing Vancouver Island is for me one of the most incredible places on the planet.

Historic Island flyfishing addition June 18 / 09

2009-06-18T09:42:00.001-07:00

One day several years ago on the Campbell River, I had a good friend from Italy & his friend with me fishing the famous Island pools for trout in June. I happened to bring my Spey Rod along thinking I may fish behind them for my own entertainment but didn't expect to hook anything. The Tsitika Summer Run Steelhead stocking program had been dropped several years prior on the Campbell with no significant returns for the last season or two and it was too early to expect any salmon! I think it was my third cast with the Spey Rod from the raft when I got the tug! What resulted was a huge battle to bring in this large chrome fish that I thought may have been an early Chinook Salmon. It was much larger than any summer steelhead I had ever hooked at the time. I actually passed the rod on to my friend in order to land this fish in the high water that was pushing hard at the time. As it ended up the battle went on for longer with my Italian friend on the rod than when I had it. In this picture you can see the water in which I had to tail this fish rushing through my legs unforgivingly. When I finally tailed this fish I watched my analog cell phone slip out of my waders, fall between my legs and float down stream out of sight! The fish was so much more important that the phone could wait... Carlo's friend Luka who was in the raft still, took a bunch of pictures from a distance and this is what we have. Although the picture doesn't do this fish justice, I recall this fish being in the mid 20lb range. What a great experience for all of us, hope to see those Summer Steelhead in the Campbell River anyday now! I did recover the phone about ten feet downstream from where I tailed the fish, dicected it, let it dry for a day & put it back together. It worked fine until I lost it again picking up clients at a resort and recall leaving it on the rear bumper after driving for 20km:) Good times!

Fishing update June 11 / 09

2009-06-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a fellow come over to the house yesterday who wanted more info regarding a trip for the fall. He said he was only in town for another day & a half but had a bummed out ankle so river fishing was sort of out of the question currently for him. I looked over at my raft and mentioned the casting bars for fishing trout from the boat, with no wading necessary that this could work for him. Well today we spent the day on the upper Campbell fishing all the fast water pockets for trout & had a blast; brushing up on his casting with no shortage of cutthroat pulling on his fly! Although this style of fishing / guiding is a rare occasion for me I had a great time today netting several small trout & most of all assisting one who may not have had an opportunity to hit the river without this style of boat. A great way to spend the day indeed!

Fly of the Week.

2009-06-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

With July not so far away, we will soon be Skating large flies for Steelhead. Over the years we've used all sorts of flies for this style of fishing. Everything from Steelhead Bees to Muddler Minnows. In recent years we've played with different patterns on plastic tubes and have come up with some pretty successful patterns. The ones in this picture are my latest design. Combining a simple pattern on a modified tube has created a skater that I'm certain is the most reliable fly for getting the job done on top in big water! This pattern is hard to sink and skates on the surface so nice that I think it will be the choice patterns for many moons to come. For more info on our skater tubes that makes many different flies skate spectacularly, contact us at flyguide@telus.net

2009-06-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Now is a great time to go fly-fishing on Vancouver island for some great trout action. It is also a great time for learning to fly-fish. Combined, the 2 activities work great together with lot’s of action for beginners getting involved with the sport. If interested in learning the sport of flyfishing call us anytime for we have a promotion going on in June for lessons on fly-casting & fly-fishing in our area for all its great fisheries! The diversity of our fisheries on the Island is incredible, everything from fishing 2 handed rods on our rivers to Saltwater flyfishing the beaches with a 4wt. In the picture is a beautiful wild cutthroat trout ready for release. Contact us at 250 286 8017 for your flyfishing adventure on Vancouver Island!

Historic Vancouver Island Addition #4

2009-06-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Summer Steelhead are on their way! I'm certain that some of them have already poked their heads into fresh water on the island... Our Summer Steelhead arrive throughout the summer months starting early in June. When everything's just right this is the ultimate in westcoast fishing. In this picture, I took a client fishing after a rainy August week making our waters large & slighty colored. This particular day we hooked several fish, landed 4. I remember this day vividly as we were able to skate fish up in tailouts with large muddler minnows & Steelhead Bees, days I often dream about! This day you could see the fish following our skating flies, then turning off them, after a few casts they'd hammer the flies leaping outrageousely out of the water cartwheeling endlessly! Well on that note, must go look for a chromer:)

Fly Of The Week

2009-06-01T17:38:00.001-07:00

This Olive Space Invader did me well this past winter/Spring Steelhead season. This Tube Fly has a Rivet Head on it which adds action to the fly and keep its profile wider when swimming against the current. I'm not overly fond of the rivet head & usually tie these flies with lead eyes. I recommend only fishing a rivet head in slow to medium current, as flies with rivets on them are hard to lift out of the water on the pick up! A well tied & presented fly has all the action it needs to entice any Steelhead I've encountered! I have to say I have overlooked olive for winter fishing over the years but this season it proved to be an awesome choice, I had one particular fish follow & bump it for 15ft on the pick up at the end of the swing before hammering it. Consider this color while fishing any fairly clear water conditions which our Island rivers usually are. If nothing else fishing a fly this color will be a different offering than the usual Pink, hot orange, & purple flies & gear used for winter steelhead fishing. I am well stocked with this color all the time now!

Historical Vancouver Island Flyfishing Addition #3

2009-05-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

My wife Jocelyn fishing the home pool on our property last year in July. Being only 1km upstream from tidal water on the Campbell River we have chrome salmon entering the pool regularly in good numbers. This photo was taken one evening after Joce had dinner & snuck out for a few casts, I don't think she was having any fun:) I've never guided out of my living room window but I have to tell you I'm kinda liking it! We can view the fish in the pool from our living room window well so I often will guide Jocelyn with her casting, where exactly to cast etc. Good times:)

Fly of the Week

2009-05-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

Well I have no idea if there's a name for these flies yet but probably (no I did not invent it). This is by far the nicest looking worm fly I've fished for Steelhead. The polar chenille body wrapped around fire line forms an incredible glowing worm like presence in the water. I use Cotter pins for the head of the fly with groovy eyes which combined gives this fly the weight to be in the zone when fishing cold water for winter fish! The tail is Craft fur which is very life-like in the water, maybe more than marabou tied on a Gamagatsu octopus style #2 hook. I took this picture on my reel which is almost 4inches in diameter to display the length of the flies. Collar is just Shlappen for the final touch of what I would call a work horse flie, not fancy or complicated, but very effective in getting the job done!Please leave a comment for further questions about this pattern:)

Where Wolves Stalk Elk

2009-05-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

Trout fishing is in full force here on the Island. Some of the higher lakes have not quite come on but there's plenty of fishing to be had otherwise. We fished the Elk River the other day, caught some nice Rainbows skating small Dry Flies. These aggressive little rainbows which have come up the river from upper Campbell Lake 12 - 14inches on average and are allot of fun on a light rod. what's better about this fishery is the environment it's in! The scenery's spectacular & the wildlife abundant. In times past I have never encountered any wildlife while being on this river although I have seen the evidence of Elk, bear etc.. The other day we were walking up the river and I asked my friend if he ever see's any wildlife while fishing there. Yes he said, then went on about his experience a couple of weeks ago floating the Salmon River. As he was floating he encountered a Bear on top of a dead Elk. We then discussed what may have killed the Elk with the possibility of it being the Bear, Wolves or just poor health. Not more than 5 minutes later I spotted an Elk along the river bank upstream with a Wolf circling it. The wolf almost seemed playful with the Elk although you cold see the Elk was not enjoying itself. It's not often you get to see Wolves on the island although I know there population is healthy. We may have saved the Elk as the Wolf got wind of us & our dogs and took off! Another great day on a beauty river which once again defines flyfishing for me. It gives you reason to spend allot of time in incredible places, which results in very cool experiences.

Fly of the Week

2009-05-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's not the greatest photo but the simplicity of this fly is what makes it; There Isn't any great details that you can't see in this picture! The Burlap, acclaimed as a great fly by many Old time Steelheaders from the BC coast for both Summer & winter fish! I must say, this is the opposite of what many of us are aiming at these days with Winter Steelhead flies... there's been more than one man that's told me about there great success in the old days fishing this simple pattern, makes you wonder why we approach fishing differently these days for success; is it because larger flies work the same but find the few fish that are around better than the days of Steelhead filling pools in good numbers? When targetting Steelhead these days, I find it's much more like hunting than fishing in winter time on the Island, a style of fishing I have loved for a long time... We use large patterns, cover 4 - 5 steps every cast, swinging flies to "dig them out"!! Using larger flies seems to boost confidence that if there's a fish in that water, he's not going to miss it! I'm not sure I'd feel the same fishing big water, covering ground fishing this pattern. None the less, I love the simplicity of this fly & often get discouraged when people complicate the sport, the flies etc... As I have been guilty of in the past:)

Historical island fly fishing addition #2

2009-05-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Island is a great place to fish smaller mountain streams for Summer Steelhead. This is a fish I guided last fall after some good rain brought this typically gin clear river up & put a tinge of green in it! Yes, that's colored for this particular watershed. We often cast upstream to these fish with small patterns wet or dry. Sight fishing these beautiful wild Summer Steelhead is spectacular and they fight incredibly well! Can't wait to do it again...