Salmon Behaviour in Salt- and Fresh-water

Salmon behaviour in salt- and fresh-water is remarkably different. In saltwater salmon are actively searching out food and eating. In the period before moving into freshwater for spawning they gorge. That is why coho gain a pound a week as they move through the summer.

If you are miles offshore of, say, Ucluelet, in the summer, you can witness, on a calm day a true wonder of nature. All around the boat, for miles coho will be jumping from the water. In this crazy period, you can whack a flasher on the water beside the boat and a dozen coho will streak in to be the first to the possibility of food. I have seen them whack the flasher and refuse to let go.

While there is a difference between feeder and mature chinook bite and relation to structure, they are always found in a relation with structure. Not so the other species, which tend to swim as schools in a layer of water rather than chinook that tend to be found in the same spot, not because they school, but because they always have a relation with structure, and thus a ‘school’ is a composite of individual fish that are in the same area with identical behaviour.

While we associate daybreak in summer with the best bite, particularly for chinook, tide changes – before a high tide and after a low – also produce bites in the rest of the day. In that period before moving into fresh water, as bite reflex begins to wane, and because salmon tend not to feed at night, that is why daybreak produces the best bite. The salmon, chinook, having not eaten for many hours, are at their ‘hungriest’ first thing in the morning.

Chum are the real exception to other species, in their response to atmospheric pressure. The other four species tend to stop biting as the morning wears on, particularly on sunny days – meaning high pressure days. Chum bite index is highest on sunny days. Try Brown’s Bay on the flood in sun, for example.

Chinook behaviour changes as much as 100 miles from home with the eating reflex declining and them tending to move on shore and follow structure while the other species are found most predictably in tidelines that may be as much as ten miles off shore, for example, in Juan de Fuca Strait.

Chinook have the odd behavioural trait that they will inhabit surf line rock piles a long way from home and then migrate back into offshore waters to move south and east to home. Langara Island in Haida Gwaii, as we now call it, has several behavioural differences. Off Lacy Island on the west side, the chinook are coming on-shore for the first time and can be taken in 250 feet water in a middle layer, as in not structure related.

On Cohoe Point and Andrews on the east side, chinook may be taken a stone’s throw from shore on power-mooched cut plugs. Then, on the flood, a tide line forms off these two points at a 45 degree angle to land, and the chinook will move offshore and continuer migrating south. The same occurs off Vancouver Island. Kain’s Island in Quatsino is a surf line rock pile fishery, with the rat’s Nose, off Ucluelet, some 25 kms off shore, but structure nonetheless, and on the rocks at Wya.

Sooner or later, all salmon come to their estuaries, where behaviour changes again. Over successive tides, salmon are prepared for freshwater that they need time to adjust to breathe the oxygen in water that has very little ionic pressure, unlike the salt ocean they have been breathing in since smoltification some years ago.

When salmon begin to move into freshwater, their behaviour changes a great deal. From freely moving in the water column, they sink to the bottom and stay there. I call this committing to freshwater. In some estuaries, you can, at high tide be presented with the same species but with remarkably different behaviour. Those fish that come in with the tide are in the top layer, perhaps still eating, while those that committed on previous high tides are on the bottom in a school that is not moving, but waiting to move forward into a river proper. All time after that, you will be fishing on the bottom for schools that are essentially stationary in the day.

You will stand in the same place all day long, perfecting the drift with sink tips to find the best spot that produces the most number of bites. And abrupt low pressure can kill such fisheries. The other angle here is what I call managing a school. This works best with chum and chinook. With your casts above, around, on the far side of and below, and your movement around the school, you are aiming to place it in the best spot so that your fly/lure presents itself in front of the most noses in a drift and thus the greatest chance of getting a bite, from a group that only a few percent of will bite.

Most salmon, particularly chinook, spawn at night. Chum spawn in the highest water, whether day or night, and up to 90% of their eggs are wasted when the river level declines. Pinks spawn in the shallowest water, tailouts and riffles where water can barely cover their backs. That water has the highest oxygen level flowing through and around the gravel.

Coho are the real oddballs. Salmon, though no longer eating, still bite in freshwater for one of the following reasons: aggression, territorial, hormonal, passive and curiosity. Coho are the curious salmon and if fishing spinners you can watch a coho turn, aim at the spinner, follow it 25 feet or more, before whacking it. Chum, chinook and pink, are mostly passive biters; this means that if you run a lure or fly at mouth level through a school, typically 5,000 to 10,000 fish, a single fish mouths the offering and lets it go, which is why dink float setups work so well as the float dips under water and you strike before the fish lets go.

Chum, unlike the other species, have a phase, when they are moving in and up, of being snappy. Chinook and pink stop a fly; snappy chum, move to it, bite and turn their heads as the y move off. Coho do the same, though their chase is far more pronounced and they turn away from the lure the quickest and move the farthest, back to where they have been resting. And they rest in the softest part of the deep water. Find such water and you find the coho.

The curiosity bite of coho can be phenomenal on days when it rains two inches, the river rises several feet, and all anglers other than yourself, are watching NFL Sunday football games with Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth. The bite is its highest on such days because coho are side-stream spawners and to get into those streams, the water level has to be high, to get in and to spawn. Thus their most active behaviour occurs in the greatest rain. Many seasonal streams only flow in the winter, and yet they can be high coho producers.

On my last trip fly fishing the North Island, I came across another type of behaviour for pinks I had not seen before. I was idly walking a channel several hundred yards off the main estuary on a falling tide. I happened to see some fish move by me, keeping to the shade – it was a sunny day.

After standing and watching for awhile, I realized that the fish were in saltwater but the tide was dropping and the riffle behind the fish became so shallow that the fish were trapped at the bottom end until the tide rose again. Below me, on what I discovered was a flat less than six inches deep, idle schools drifted about and bolted from time to time when a seagull flew over – salmon see the best straight up. (Incidentally, this means when you are trying to find the zone that being a bit above it is better than being below it. Of course, chinook have a behaviour that is an exception to this rule: they will follow a fly or shiny lure right to the bottom and pick it off the bottom, thus allowing you to strike and get the fish).

Because the fish were moving and changing directions, the chances of getting a fly in front of them was slim, and in shallow water the fly line just spooked them; however, above me, the small stream of salt and freshwater was too shallow for the fish to move up and thus they were indeed trapped.

After following them around for awhile, it came clear that they were spending most of their time in the shade of a large cedar that had branches within three feet of the water, and were in four to six feet of water. It was an awkward place to cast a fly as it required a sidearm cast. This was needed because in a regular ‘over the top’ cast, the fly, when it flips over, hit its highest point and comes to be tangled in low branches. With a flat trajectory, the pop up of the flat happens horizontally, and it went in under the branches and hit the water close to the bank.

Now the fun part. This was hunting at its best. The fish were in an intermediate step prior to committing to fresh water. I spent a couple of hours watching a fish turn, come toward the fly, and bite it. Some missed, and drifted away, which was a real groaner. Some missed and came back. Some returned several times. The hard part was not setting the hook when I could see the mouth close on the fly, and pull it right out of their mouths, but to wait to feel the strike and then set the hook.

Sometimes several fish chased the fly and only one got there. Sometimes it was a lazy follow that could be stimulated by increasing stripping speed. To a predator, a fleeing food object triggers that dash and bite behaviour. In other words this was hunting at its best and many fish were caught and released over the afternoon.

So, what does this mean? It suggests some fish in an intermediate step between salt- and fresh-water and thus, while appearing to be in a river, were actually in saltwater and still feeding, hence the chase and bite. The point was to decipher the attitude and find the spot in the pool where they were feeling safe and bity.

As this was fish in a barrel, I did not fish the spot again, but did go to check whether there were fish in this intermediate step prior to commitment. One day I came upon another angler trying his luck. He told me that was tired of peanut butter sandwiches and was going to catch one of the fish for supper. He was in the ankle-deep water, trying to lay a fly in front of a school.

I asked him if he knew the drill and he said yes. Part of the etiquette of fly fishing is not giving tips because the receiver may not appreciate them. So I said nothing and moseyed on. He remained shuffling about the shallow water. Later, I found out he did not catch anything. That was because he was trying in a circumstance with flighty fish, and needed to move up under the cedar where the much more relaxed fish milled around in the shade, ready to whack a fly.

The more you fish, the more you learn about fish, which is one of the prime things about fishing: there is always something new to learn.

Sorry for going on so long.

Q and As – August

Eric Hvid: I am thinking about taking my older boy to Renfrew for Coho fishing around the end of September but want to avoid the Coho derby Oct 3-4. Would it be advantageous to go later after the derby or the weekend before? I live in Port Alberni so it is a bit of an adventure getting there.

A: I would go the weekend before the derby, for a couple of reasons: if it rains in those two weeks, the coho will shoot up the river; and the San Juan coho, the largest, on average, on the island, do stage in the bay for awhile, presenting themselves for trolling.

In addition, the third week of September is usually the hot time for shore anglers to fish coho on the seaward side of the bridge, as the coho will stop there for quite awhile once crossing the bar before rain begins in earnest. The best time is early in the day, or the high tide as the fish get pretty bombarded with lead all day long.

Do look at the regs because the San Juan area has both pass by and local coho, and DFO usually splits the bay regarding retention and fishing area.

You might want to pick up my Vancouver Island Fishing Guide as it gives a lot of lures for Port Renfrew, and does cover the entire island, for other trips. Also, phone Trailhead Charters as they have accommodation and sell tackle and will know some of the currently hot lures when you will be going. Phone: 250-647-5468 and check out their site: http://www.trailhead-resort.com/.

Try blue/green in hootchies and traditional Cowichan Bay bucktails, and fireplug cutplugs. You can fish, both in the tide lines offshore, or in the open portion of the bay.

Steve Housser: The Nature Trust of BC has completed acquisition of the last slice of the Salmon River estuary, some 165 acres, near Sayward. The purchase of this stunningly beautiful property and important habitat would not have been possible without the enthusiastic support of many conservation organizations.

As in many cooperative conservation initiatives, it takes time and patience to pull together all the components that lead to the successful acquisition of significant habitat. In this case, The Nature Trust of BC, it and its partners have been steadily acquiring Salmon River estuarial and river bank properties since 1978.

For this latest acquisition we were thrilled to have the participation of Habitat Conservation Trust Fund and the BC Hydro Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program, as well as the Steelhead Society of BC, The Kingfisher Rod and Gun Club, The Parksville-Qualicum Fish & Game Association, the Campbell River Salmon Foundation, Islander reels, the Totem Flyfishers Club and dozens of individual donors, including fishing enthusiast and blogger DC Reid.

This new acquisition allows for protection of a larger, contiguous area of Salmon River estuary and its banks. This strategic purchase will enhance critical habitat for numerous species of fish and wildlife including Great Blue Heron, Marbled Murrelet, Northern Pygmy Owl, Roosevelt Elk and all species of Pacific salmon. The area is also home to sea run cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden Char and it boasts the largest steelhead in BC! Throw in the fact that it is an area of exceptional beauty that will allow future generations to enjoy its natural splendour and you have an all-round superb conservation acquisition.

A: Good for The Nature Trust. I suggest all anglers consider making a donation to the Trust and also consider leaving a bequest in wills.

Syd Pallister, Gibbs Delta tackle: Did you get those Coho Killers and flashers?

A: Yes and thanks. I can see why the Madi, Lemon Lime and Purple Onion have been hot flashers in the Victoria area. That Moonjelly pink tone that turns to purple when you rotate the flasher looks very fishy to me.

I found the silver Coho Killer to be the best lure when I fished Constance Bank a few weeks ago. On The Flats in Oak Bay these new spoons have been very effective, I would guess because they are slim profile and thus match the needlefish bait. The Green Spatter Back has been good, and I’ll give the White Lightning a shot soon. It looks good as does the Kitchen Sink; Gold Chrome should be good for coho, particularly on the west coast of Van Isle.

Don Ford: I don’t use downriggers and feel the same results can be achieved with a one pound slip weight and putting the engine into neutral every 10 seconds or so. Springs love a slow fluttering bait and many strikes occur as you go back into forward.   Even without a depth sounder this technique has worked very well for me.

A: Yes, motor mooching can produce well, but these days is usually only done at remote sport fishing resorts in the summer. Chinook are in higher numbers in these areas and are also actively feeding. In more urban areas, getting down and up without weights does require downriggers.

Paul Bohun, Costa Rica: Alexandra Morton directed me to your post on land-based fish farms, but I did not get the URL.

A: For the past few years, I have put down the on-land fish farm systems I have found while researching the environmental damage caused by in-ocean fish farms. My list now has 88 different systems, comprising more than 10,000 actual farms around the globe that are on land.

There is no need anymore for the old-tech, dinosaur Norwegian-style fish farms to be in our pristine oceans. They need to be on land.  

See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/01/key-document-34-mostly-on-land-closed.html.   

  

Paul B. Downing, Editor, www.pbdfishreports.com, www.FishingMagazineUS.com:  I am looking into doing a trip to the Island this September or October. I am interested in walk wade fly fishing opportunities for all types of fish. I prefer stream fishing but have never done shore salt fishing for cutts. Also, I have never caught a steelhead. I do love to catch salmon, especially kings, on the fly. I am not opposed to gear fishing if that is best. My idea is to wander around the Island sampling the waters listed in your book. However, it is clear I will need some help finding the best places and learning the local techniques. When would be the best time to come and fish salmon, trout and steelhead? I will do a number of articles for my online magazine based on the trip.

A: My Vancouver Island Fishing Guide lists many fisheries. The other book you should pick up is a Backroad Mapbook from Mussio Ventures as it has all the logging/gravel roads on the Island and the paved as well. They have a GPS chip, too.

September or October should work, although this year it looks like a real drought and so fishing the bigger rivers is a better bet for September when you will find chinook in several of them. October is chum and coho month, particularly once it has rained. But, if not, then they will be on the beaches and in estuaries. Typically searuns and Dollies are a secondary target taken while doing other fisheries.

I have caught summer steelhead in every month of the year. They are in short supply as they are all wild runs composed of 100 to 700 fish. So, catching one is a real treat. Please treat them well.

Fly Fishing for Pinks – North Island

We should hope that this climate change summer we have been having is not repeated. Our local rivers are devoid of water, so much so that even the smallest of salmon, pinks, are having difficulty moving into and up, and they require only a few inches to move and spawn.

Climate change will result in lower, warmer, oxygen-depleted water in summer, lack of spawning habitat until fall rain comes and then flood rains in late fall that wipe out or bury spawned eggs. The only rivers open for fishing at this time are controlled flow with dams above for water release, like the Campbell, Puntledge and Big Qualicum.

In addition, the arrival of pinks has been much slower than the norm. They arrived only last week in the Salmon, and into the Campbell, a month late for both. Volunteer hatcheries, like the well-subscribed Nile Creek fishery haven’t seen much to date.

I hesitate to suggest some headwater dams are needed to control flow because the current BC government hears: run of river power companies. The Toba Inlet desecration of 15 streams is a stark reminder that we need public – not private – dams for salmon, not power. See the image link at the bottom of this article.

And if salmon cannot get into rivers, they don’t spawn, and it’s a good question how long they will survive in saltwater before hormonal maturation kills them. In Port Alberni, there is another problem. On the good news side: 1.8 million sockeye in the Inlet. On the bad news side: the Stamp/Somass/Sproat water temperature is higher than these most sensitive of salmon can take. Those that go into the system, begin dying at 20 Degrees C.

The confluence pool of the Stamp/Sproat can be littered with dead sockeye in warm years. They look like bars of silver on the bottom, but represent a bad outcome for salmon. In addition, Qualark Creek, on the Fraser, has in the last week been 18.7 Degrees C, with the Fraser flow down 36% to 2530 cubic metres per second. Sockeye begin dying at 20 degrees C.

There is no estimate of Fraser pink run size at present, but judging by the outstanding fishing we have been having in the Victoria area, it should meet or exceed 15 million fish. DFO estimates are a week away. Locally, we seldom take these fish fly fishing, but shore anglers take some with gear in Ross Bay as well as the Victoria Golf Club (in Oak Bay) where Enterprise Channel gives way to the Flats. As well, many chinook have been taken off the corner point this year.

On my annual camping/pink fly fishing trip, I fished the estuaries of rivers north of Campbell River. The fly fishing was good, surprisingly so because two years previously (pink are two-year life-cycle fish) the fishing was abysmal. Also, the odd-year run is the poorer of the odd/even alternative, unlike the Fraser which peaks in odd years, as in 2015.

I had the great negative fortune to have my camp blow over in the daily 20 to 30 knot winds that make Johnstone Strait almost frigidly cold to stand out in for more than a few hours at a time. My Snowbee ZR2 ended up broken under my table, stove and other heavy things. Then my antediluvian All American Diamondback splintered on the shaft, rather than the more likely ferrule.

After some electrician’s tape medication (I did not have any Red-Green duct tape with me), I made a long, heavy, slow switch rod of the remaining, unbroken pieces. It cast the line a mile but I was sure happy I also had a light, responsive, Mystic, 11.5 foot, 7-8 weight switch rod with me. What a superb little rod, particularly for a wrong shoulder single Spey cast. I am left handed and the Johnstone St. wind always blows into my left side. To avoid being hooked in the face, I have cast so much off my wrong (right) shoulder, that I am better at it than off my correct (left) shoulder sans the wind.

And in cross winds, to avoid your cast blowing up and back over your shoulder, you will find that a diagonal forward stroke to the windward side will send your line out and onto the water somewhat true. Without a wind, a diagonal trajectory for your tip – bad technique – just results in an open cast with a balloon to the side and little distance.

I am told there is a video of me landing a pink on the Mystic site, but I can’t find it. See Nile Creek Fly Shop for the rods (Note 2 below). To keep from breaking the tip of your rod while releasing a fish, take a tip: when the pink has been played out, get its head on the surface and surf the fish into you by extending your rod to the side opposite the fish. When the leader comes within the grasp of your stripping hand, in the same moment, release the line from your rod hand, and the rod will straighten without breaking the tip.

Finally, please release all fish in the water. Don’t drag them up onto the gravel, remove the hook, and kick them back into the water. It breaks their slime, they may pick up a disease, their bodies are not meant to lie on shore rather than be supported by water and it may kill them.

And one final thing: one day, as we stood on the bar before deep water, a mid-size female killer whale came up in front of the guy next to me about five feet from him. He promptly turned his pants brown. And he and I released a lot of expletives.  A minute later, the same, I think, killer whale came up five feet from him, 15 from me, and we both had heart attacks.

Which leaves some interesting questions: was it the same killer whale? It sure looked like the same female of the same size. And why would it go underwater, turn a circle and come up again? Does a killer whale have a sense of humour? This implies great intelligence. Do killer whales like to scare the pants off humans? I don’t know, but they have to be really smart to appreciate their own actions.

Notes:

1.      Plutonic Power, Toba Inlet images: https://www.google.ca/search?q=toba+inlet+run+of+river+power+photos&espv=2&biw=979&bih=400&tbm=isch&imgil=IxLcxKN5cC8tgM%253A%253BAN5EZEfGdfN3jM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.sqwalk.com%25252Fbc2009%25252F001651.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=IxLcxKN5cC8tgM%253A%252CAN5EZEfGdfN3jM%252C_&dpr=1&usg=__RLyVZIGZkreg4YV1Fvwde_DDcH8%3D&ved=0CDAQyjdqFQoTCIimhtTYnMcCFQEtiAodyK8BTg&ei=SKTHVYjiF4HaoATI34bwBA#imgrc=IxLcxKN5cC8tgM%3A&usg=__RLyVZIGZkreg4YV1Fvwde_DDcH8%3D.

2.      Nile Creek Fly Shop:  http://www.nilecreekflyshop.com/. 

More Pinks

I went out yesterday as the low tide in Victoria was 11.30 AM and I wanted to fish from Constance Bank as it pushed across Royal Roads to the east. Pink fishing is often better on the flood. I had some new gear in from Gibbs to try out. Their Madi and Lemon Lime flashers have been hot in the Victoria area – Cadboro Point to Sheringham Point – for several months this spring and summer.

My intention was to run through some of their Coho Killer spoon colours along with the Yamashita N224R squirt with a silver mylar insert and clear bead I put in. This squirt has a predominant pink stripe set in a pattern of clear, glow frons (the hue of Purple Haze fronds).

Four miles south of Trial, I assigned the gear to 61 to 71 feet for ball depth, with clips five feet up, in the only tideline for miles. The line petered out and I pushed my rpm up to 800 to cover, with the ebb, the distance to Constance Bank. While I did get a double header at one point, it was clear that the featureless water, meaning without tide lines, held few fish in highly localized, easily seen spots. By speeding up, I was rocketing along as high as 5.8 knots over ground.

As pointed out last week, it is speed over water that is the important consideration – and GPSs don’t measure that speed – engine rpm becomes a proxy for how fast you are moving. Leader length on the squirt was 34 inches; on the silver Coho Killer, 36.

Tidal action became clear on the west edge of Constance where it drops from about 70 feet to as deep as 348 feet. Within the currents caused by several hundred feet of water column compressed to only 70 feet, water must speed up, and change direction. The upwelling causes surface currents, along with a vertical eddy on the west side of the bank. Note that that eddy is more important to fishing chinook on the 140 foot ledge and halibut. Fish unrelated to bottom structure, but only to surface structure, i.e. tide lines, are unlikely to be in the vertical eddy; this means coho, pinks, sockeye and chum.

From thence forth, it was constant action in the tide lines at the tide change. When one fish was played and released, and rod put back out, then a fish was on the other rod. One unlucky fish got to come home with me for dinner because it came in completely wrapped in leader, with both singles embedded in the fish, and a big tangle. I would likely be wearing those hooks in my fingers, and opted to bonk the unlucky fish.

I released fifteen pinks, with, surprisingly, nine on the silver Coho Killer, and six on the N224R squirt. One would expect more fish on the pink lure, rather than straight silver spoon. Also, my speed over ground, showed clearly that the tide was still ebbing to the west. I assumed that the Race Rocks current reached low later than the Victoria tide, and the table, once home, confirmed that the current change was 1:08 PM. So a major bite, even before the flood started pushing the fish east. Good to know on another trip.

I should add that I opted to stop fishing to avoid harassing them any longer. In other words, the bite would likely have extended for many hours after I quit. Another unlucky fish came in with big chunks of flesh ripped out of its side. The size of the mouth suggested a harbour seal. I was surprised that a fish with such a serious wound would still be willing to bite at something, and interested in feeding.

All three flashers have a bluey, pinky hue that changes as you turn the flasher. This is the same as a Roadrunner spoon that I use in more remote spots, and I am betting it is a good reason why they are hot. Gibbs calls it Moonjelly and the Madi shows it off well. The third was Purple Onion.

It should be added, that like any quality flasher, each comes with a sound ball bearing swivel on both ends, something that is very important in a bait set up. When you add a large quality ball bearing swivel to the mainline and the top end of the bait leader, that makes four such swivels in the tackle; four being the best insurance for a consistent, fishy spiral on the bait. In addition, once gear has been used in saltwater and salt gets into the inner workings, it is better practice to err on the side of more rather than fewer ball bearing swivels.

On hootchies, on the other hand, it is flasher snap transmitted to the plastic bait that gives it a yanked figure eight pattern that stimulates fish to chase. In other words, a quick changer, or a figure eight knot is all that is required. Note that you should be using split ring pliers to open the quick changer, so that leader knot is slipped on without being frayed. The point being: you want your killer hootchies to last as long as possible, before they break off. As mentioned last week, you do not change a killer plastic bait’s leader because that normally eliminates the chemistry that makes the one a killer in a tackle box of ho hum producers.

If the stars align, I will be on my annual fly fishing camping trip to the North Isle for pinks for the next two weeks, and hence, no columns. On my return, I will try out more of those Coho Killer spoons. I am told the green splatterback has been good on the Oak Bay Flats for chinook – where there are needlefish rather than herring.

The Pinks are In

The time has arrived for all anglers to get out and catch those pink salmon that muscle through Victoria in ‘odd’ years, bound for the Fraser. The run is predicted at the highest level: 4; meaning a run of 15,000,000 or more. These are eager fish and the most fumble-fingered and persecuted by the gods angler can catch his/her limit. If not it is time to give up fishing.

Tom Vaida’s Island Outfitters area report notes pinks have been in Sooke for the past two weeks. It is early for them to show in June and as early fish normally mean a bigger run, it looks like a good year. He points out it is time not to use bait, unless you are right on shore for chinook, because the pinks just keep shredding it. Best to use plastics. Closer to Victoria, I found the same to be true yesterday. My boat is moored at Oak Bay Marina.

I motored out, noting 25 boats working the Flats for chinook, and kept going south until I was several miles south of Trial Island. My logbook records show pinks as early as July 3 in this spot. When a tide line presented itself, I put out one rod, and before being able to put out the second, I had a pink on the first rod, ball at 65 feet.

My intention was to motor to Constance and give it a try tolling east, as tide lines south of Trial have not really been a hotspot over the decades. It was a slow flood all day with about a six foot difference from early morning low to mid-afternoon high.

My progress toward Constance was slow, as I was motoring into the tide, so I raised my engine rpm to 800. Fishing into a tide is the poorest way to fish because you cover so much less territory than running ‘upstream’, putting your gear in and fishing with the tide until you find fish. I intended to lift the rods and move, but found myself in the middle of a school.

While I tried my second rod at 90 feet, it became clear that 65 for the ball, five feet up for the release clip, was the zone. Over the next hour and a half, I retained three, released a dozen by turning the hook at the boat, had another half dozen on, and finally quit, to avoid harassing the fish anymore.

The short blank periods occurred when I was not in or crossing a tide line. And all the fish releasing, and going in circles meant the tide was carrying me east and I finished several miles south of Discovery Island rather than Trial. Hence I ended up fishing with or across the tide rather than into it.

There is nothing like so much action to put a smile on your face for the rest of the day. But there is more: useful fishing information for records – you should have a logbook to record all catches and other information – and to consider over the years in planning other outings. The best plastic was a Bubblegum squirt on a 34 inch leader. I tried a Fireplug which is pink with silver sprinkles in both a hootchy and squirt, catching nothing. A Bubblegum hootchy received a few bites, but the squirt of the same colour took 80% of the fish.

It is my practice to have two of every lure because, if you lose the hot one, your luck may be over for the day. Of course, I found I did not have another of the same squirt, hence, moving to the hootchy of the same pattern.

On the last hook turn of the morning, the hook broke and the squirt slid off the leader and I waved goodbye to an old friend. It is good practice to remember that you will find certain lures, particularly bait heads and plastics that out-fish others of apparently identical pattern and rigging.

It is best practice not to change these special lures, but t5o keep them as is, thank them for the hundred fish they catch for you over the years, and just accept you are going to lose them some day. The alternative – rerigging for hooks and sound leader – should be avoided. I have found that rerigged lures of these types invariably lose their magic and become just another also ran in the box. Best to keep them as best bets for as long as they stay attached to you.

The other thing to remember is that you will find other lures that catch fish at higher percentages and that they improve with age. It is good strategy to bring these lures along, as they improve with age. I know they are inanimate objects and what I have just said should not be true, but, darned if it isn’t. Pay attention to bringing your ‘team’ along and you will catch many more fish in the long run.

I also mentioned speeding up the engine. You pay attention to the RPM, not the speed-over-ground as read on your GPS. It is water speed you want to know. Speeding up allows you to fish more territory in less time, and find the fish.

The other thing, is that in summer, when coho, sockeye and pinks may intermingle, each species will take faster trolled lures, than on their own because there is more competition for food. And we all know that tide lines are two currents coming together. In the middle is where all the weed and baitfish get carried and kept. Find the food and find the fish.

Fish the moving side of the tide line as that is where the fish are coming from. If that doesn’t work, criss-cross the tide line because the fish will be in contact with food. Doing so, results in more work taking weed off the lines, but it also results, in much higher numbers of bites. You don’t have to jump to the lines on the first piece of weed. That is because with release clips attached to downrigger cable (rather than slip weights on the mainline), much of the weed that goes down the mainline, comes to rest on the clip at the cable, and so the lure is still working properly for some time, unfouled.

I then made a trip to Trotac to pick up some Radiant Bubblegum squirts, only to find they did not stock them anymore. According to them, Radiant is out of business – so I put an email into Radiant, as their website is still up. The closest alternative from Golden Bait, made by Yamashita, is the N224R Hopefully one of these will become my next hot baby.

The other useful item that got picked up is a split ring tool from P-Line. You may have noticed that these days, stainless steel from China, Korea and so on is anything but stainless. The split rings you use on flashers are heavy duty, along with quick-changers, and you must use a tool with a good quality alligator tooth on the tip end, particularly when these items have been in saltwater for awhile and need extra strength to open.

One final thing: the best flasher was a Glow Metallic Super Betsy from O’Ki. Check out their ‘green’ line on their site, as I am told the 925 Lemon Lime has been the ticket this summer. The thing about the Betsy, is that this is one of O’Ki’s flashers with built in electrical potential. The flasher sets up an electric charge with saltwater, set to a voltage, like a Black Box, that fish find appealing. You will find this useful, particularly if you have made the switch to braided line that does not have the electrical potential of stainless cable, to which you must add a Black Box to sweeten the electrical aura around the cable and tackle.

One final thing: every time you put out a hootchy or squirt, check to make sure the fronds are not fouled in the hook, slid up inside the plastic or whatever. Hold the lure in the air and inspect every single frond, unfouling every single one. Once you assign the lure to the water, check its action at the side of the boat. It regularly happens that the hooks rotate inside the lure head and thus the hooks foul the fronds. Rejig until you are satisfied the fronds are unfouled. This trick will catch you scores more fish in your fishing ‘career’.

Catch many pinks.

Oak Bay Flats

I you fish Victoria saltwater, you might want to give the Oak Bay Flats a try. In the past two months it has had periods of good fishing for chinook, something that in the past, has been uncommon in June. The traditional pattern for trolling is to fish in a square from 100 to 140 feet in front of the Great Chain Islets and the small islets to the east. Each tack of the square is finished by making a left turn, and in completing the square, a fourth left turn.

Boats were not fishing this pattern the other day when I fished, but on diagonal tacks following a bottom contour, east then west. I put my lines out in 130 feet, heading south, and the ebb quickly moved me into 175. When I turned back north, it took a half hour to make little distance up Trial Island.

A small note: if you have a land feature close to you, with another behind it, if the background gains on the foreground, you are moving forward over the bottom under you. If the background falls behind the foreground, you are going backward. This is a way to check the speed over ground reading on your GPS. Any time you are going, say, 1.5 knots or lower, give this a try, because you could be going backward and backward is taking you away from where you want to be.

After a half hour inching up Trial, I lifted my balls, and motored to 100 feet, where I let my gear out again. Precisely on the low low tide change, I got my first bite. After a really good tussle and a gong show netting, I boated a nice 10 lb hatchery chinook, who I decided to take home as a guest of honor.

It turned out to be a good morning. The second chinook I got was a mirror image of the first and, so, I had two hatchery fish of 67 cm, and pretty chuffed. I had been told by Steve Sinclair of Oak Bay Marina that Coho Killer spoons had been the recent ticket. He pointed out the silver, a deep holographic green, and what we would call a Cop Car pattern as the hot ones, and I had taken the silver, his first choice.

I had noticed in the weekly information from Tom Vaida, in the Island Outfitters weekly round-up, that Coho Killers, have, indeed been prominent in taking fish in the past months from Cadboro Point, to Sheringham. And gym buddy, Jeff Betts, also gave a nod to the Coho Killer on his Flats fishing, although I couldn’t quite prise the colour out of him.

I can see why the Killers work on the Flats. They are slim tin spoons with an unusual diamond shaped hook. And the predominant bait is needlefish, so the spoons are the same size. My spoons followed four feet behind a green glow flasher. The other rod – my Port rod, which is most easily seen from the captain’s chair – had bait. The bait was small anchovy, to mimic the needlefish, in a glow 602 teaser head, behind a glow green Farr Better flasher.

The bait also received two bites. The first I got close enough to see it was a chinook, and the second was a wild coho of five pounds that got released. This is early for coho, which is usually a sign that the main part of the run will be larger than usual.

I was fishing the 115 foot contour, with other boats fishing about 130. As there were two weedy tide lines on the flats, I spent most of my time, cleaning lines and dealing with fish, for the two hours I was on the water. Hence I did not see how other boats were doing. And there were several bait balls, which I assumed were herring blown through Enterprise Channel.

Note that using small anchovy presents a difficulty when using wire-rigged teaser heads because it is hard to keep the wire inside the bait until past the dorsal fin, the purpose of which is to put most of the bend, for a better spiral, in the tail end of the fish. Also, breaking the skin with the wire, presents the fish with a piece of metal, so less likely to get cleanly hooked.

The alternative of cutting the wire, means that when you want to use the teaser for larger bait, the wire is not long enough to put the bend behind the dorsal fin, which results in the best tail after head spiral. It is not a spin because a tail outside head spiral does not catch fish. Hence, unless you are willing to rig an awful lot of teasers for different sized baits, the best option is to be careful with small bait, and try to keep the wire inside the body from gill plate to as far as you can thread it on.

One final thing: fish the bait, or Port line deeper, on the bottom, because it is the easiest to see and thus lift when the water depth becomes shallower. The other rod, should be ten or more feet above the bottom. That is the ball depth, with the release snaps 5 feet above to take into account the diameter of the flasher spin.

Back at the dock, I spoke with one angler who had gotten skunked. The previous day, however, his boat caught eight chinook, the best lure being an Army Truck squirt, with the Coho Killer taking the rest. Time to buy some Coho Killers.

Think Rainbows, Think June, Think Vancouver Island

The Concept

If you haven’t fished Van Isle in June you need to put it in your fishing itinerary. That’s because it is one of the best months for trout. The concept is this: rainbows spawn in June on Vancouver Island. That means they are in rivers May, June and into July in big numbers. There are 123 watersheds and that’s a lot of opportunity. The best place to fish is in an outlet stream from, or inlet stream into, a lake. Vancouver Island has hundreds of lakes so there are hundreds of streams/rivers/places to ply your fly.

Pick up a copy of the Backroads Mapbook and find the lakes. As the Island is 500 km long and as much as 150 km wide there are oodles of lakes. Often you will be on your own in beautiful weather – an altogether idyllic day. Another advantage is that most of the rivers and lakes are open for fishing 12 months of the year – but do check the freshwater regulations for specific closures. This contrasts with many main-land rivers and lakes that typically open June 1, and some even later.

The most well-subscribed fishery that demonstrates the concept, and one that is no longer a well-kept secret, is the Elk River west of Campbell River on the Highway to Gold River. The Campbell Lakes, Buttle and John Hart all join and there is an impassable falls that becomes the Campbell River at the lower end along with a hydro facility. No fish is getting in, no fish is getting out.

So there is no outlet stream that rainbows can investigate on the bottom end, but as you drive west and find the upper end of Upper Campbell Lake you will find a long flat valley where over the eons gravel has been pushed out of the mountains and resulted in several miles of easy access, easy fish and highly useful spawning gravel – the Elk River.

The rainbows come gravid to the Elk, rather chunky males in their fighting colours and the females of their interest. It is best to scout the river the day before you fish, then rise early and go directly to the section you wish to fish. One example, would be the Cervus Creek access where this stream passes under Highway 28. The stream itself will be full of fish and it is a five minute walk to the Elk River into which Cervus flows.

But there are many other places to stop and access the Elk as the highway drives along the river until, at the upper end, it passes into its canyon section where one finds Dolly Varden char in the deep pools – but a much more difficult fish.

The reason for getting to the river early is that many anglers and guided anglers will fish in the day, and so you want to be the first person to the section you wish to fish. Do plan for the eventuality that later in the day fly fishers may start fishing below you, and hence, pick a section that passes some distance from the highway. You will have more time on your own with your fish.

One final concept. It’s an easy one: rig your rod and reel, nymphing tip and tie a fly to the tippet the night before finding your beat on the river. There is nothing more annoying than getting up in the dark, being the first to the river, and then already rigged arrivees snag the best water you had savoured for yourself.

It has to be kept in mind that while the Elk is good for the June nymphing concept, there are many, many others and you will find the same fishing, but not the crowds. Often you will be alone.

Other Lakes

The concept of taking rainbows on the fly in June in outlet/inlet streams is not limited to the Elk. Other examples include the well-known Cowichan River. And, in this, as well as other rivers, you will find other species of trout, including, below Lake Cowichan, lake cutthroat and brown trout.

The entire Cowichan has trails on one or both sides. At the top, the first section is from Greendale Road, an easy place to find. It presents a lovely June day with a half mile section of turned on trout. A mile or so below, the road gives walking access to the Spring Pool. Trails by the river take you up or down stream. In fact, the upper section is from Skutz Falls, and if you are on foot, a couple of days of angling. In between, the railway grade gives a long flat walk into roughly half way between lake and falls.

Above the trestle is fly only, but with most fly guys on the north side. This means drifting the Cow from Greendale to Skutz, which requires two cars, gives you access to the other side of the river that is seldom targeted.

And there are more lakes with rivers. Horne Lake’s inlet stream, the Big Qualicum River, bears lots of bows in June, as does Cameron bear cutthroat on the way to Port Alberni. Note that Cameron’s brown trout, and all those on the Island, spawn in November. Same concept, but swung fly and different flies.

One that I am in the process of nailing down is where the Nimpkish River, the Island’s largest, empties into the lake of the same name. Downstream, after 20 km of windy lake, the Nimpkish River flows out the bottom for five kms to the ocean – but does not suit this kind of fishery, as it is half a mile wide. The obvious water for rising rainbows is at the upper end.

It will take you some time to figure out the access to the easy half mile walk to where the river empties into the lake. The best day I was there, the river was too high and, although I waded out, it was clear it was taking my life in my hands, as the dropoff into the lake is precipitous and drowning a likely event.

But, on that day, there was an otter at the outlet, and also a seal. That seal had swum up more than 25 km from saltwater. So that means the opportunity must be pretty great for it to use that much energy just to swim up and wait.

To close, find the lakes and their streams. A good bunch that will give you many years of learning and high return are the lakes of the Somass River. It is formed by the Stamp and Sproat, two rivers with large lakes. So, as they say, fill your boots and get out there.

Technique

June is high-stick nymphing time. The drill is a 4- or 6-weight fly rod, floating line, poly tip ending in light tippet, and bead-head nymphs for flies. In nymphing, the intention is to make the fly float dead-drifted past the fish with as little drag as possible.

First you surreptitiously find the fish, then quietly stand beside them. The fly is cast slightly above the fish, rod tip high in the air. The rod tip follows the fly as it naturally tumbles, like a larval/pupal insect that has come loose from the rock to which it clings until emerging.

During its tumble, the fly drops in the water, and a firming of the line, or slowing of the drift, indicates a fish has been fooled and touched the fly. Set that hook and the rest is smiling time. Photo only one or two fish, as it is stressful for them, and return them all to carry on their day.

Nymphing is a delightful light method of fly fishing, with short casts so even beginners can be successful. Rod tip high in the air, following the fly, keeping drag off it is essential to make the fly present with the proper motion. And you will catch many fish, most less than 16 inches, but every location will have some larger rainbows, and other species.

The opposite to this style of fly fishing is swung fly where the fly is cast out, quartering downstream, above the lie and then, after an upstream mend, under tension, swung across the river, to directly below you, where the fly sits for a few seconds so a following fish has time to catch up and nip. This is a very common approach for steelhead, and for any anadromous fish, because in their first few weeks into freshwater, they don’t know what the food looks like. So a fly, say a leech, or bunny pattern with contrasting colours is intended to give the fish something easy to see, track and attack.

Other Species of Game Fish

Most of Vancouver Island rivers/streams have more species than rainbow. As noted, there are also browns (meat-eaters that want bigger meals) freshwater cutthroat and resident Dolly Varden. In some northern drainages there are brook trout.

In addition, as rivers are often short, anadromous fish will rise from the ocean: searun cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden Char, summer and winter steelhead, along with early sockeye salmon. I have taken the occasional silvery brown that suggests anadromous browns in a few places. These species are less likely nymphing targets, and this also suits beginning fly fishers as a swung fly is an easier technique to learn. On the other hand, those new to fishing tend to leave their rod tip too high, like in nymphing, and need to be reminded to drop their rod tip into the water, for striking purchase.

Also note where the Freshwater Fisheries Societly of BC has stocked pothole lakes, meaning ones without inlet or outlet streams. An example close to the Elk River, is Echo Lake just west of the town of Campbell River. You could give this a try later in the day on return from your river of choice. The stocked lakes are also a solid bet when planning a several day trip.

The Campbell River itself has stocked sea runs, most earlier than June. I have ended my fishing early, so as not to prick anymore fish – meaning I’d caught more than I thought possible and had to drag myself away with fishing morals. The Campbell’s stocked summers have a split season with a good portion arriving in January – that’s both species.

Helicopter Rainbows

There is nothing cooler than helicopter fly fishing. Getting dropped on a river no one else can get to, with unpressured fish in gorging mentality, is a peak fishing experience to which you should aspire.

Vancouver Island is a wilderness area with some fish only accessed from the air. They are waiting for you. Helicopters open up the mainland inlets where the only access is, well, a helicopter. That says it all. From Gold River and Campbell River the Lodge at Gold River targets such rivers.

On the mainland east of Campbell River, there can be as much as 40 miles of fishing. You hop from run to run and pool to pool. Just you and your fly rod against sea-run cutthroat trout to five pounds and Bull Trout to eleven pounds. Yes, eleven.

The Lodge at Gold River: http://www.thelodgeatgoldriver.ca/.

Flies

Nymphing is about larval stages of freshwater insects, typically caddis and mayflies, but also damsels, stones and dragons. Bead head nymphs are the ticket. In June the rainbows are less picky than at other times of the year. That’s because each one is one mouth among dozens of mouths, and zapping to the food is important.

Try Prince Nymphs, Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ears and Pheasant Tails. Keep your eye on the hatches and follow with dries, also dead drifted. A few that would give you a hand are: PMDs, Elk Hair Caddis and the generic Tom Thumb. The latter is particularly useful should you run into anadromous Dolly Varden char in your day – their flanks are silvery blue. 

I had only one Tom Thumb one day, and it got smacked to smithereens. I kept putting on floatant and the blob the fly became was just as hot as it was on the first mouth it encountered. Another usual suspect to keep your eyes open for, on a particularly warm day is: an ant pattern, a floater. June is too early for termites, and there are next to no grasshoppers on Vancouver Island.

Fly tying books:

Fly Fishing BC,’s Interior, Brian Smith, Caitlin Press. Has a very good 30 page colour section of flies, with tying instructions.

A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns, Robert H. Jones, Paul C. Marriner, Gale’s End Press, 2006. Covers all of the flies used in Canada.

Useful websites:

1.      Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC that stocks lakes: www.gofishbc.com.

2.      Here is the Vancouver Island stocking reports for 2014, updated several times per year, as many lakes are stocked several times from March to October: http://gofishbc.com/fish-stocking-reports/recent-fish-releases/ReportOutputResult.aspx?

StockSpecies=all&StockStrains=all&StockGenotypes=all&FishStages=all&Region=VANCOUVER%20ISLAND&Town=all&Waterbody=all&&DateFrom=12/3/2009&DateTo=12/2/2014.

3.      Here are the stocking reports for all of BC: http://gofishbc.com/fish-stocking-reports/recent-fish-releases.aspx.

4.      Here are the Vancouver Island freshwater regulations: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/regulations/docs/1315/fishing_synopsis_2013-15_region1.pdf.

dcreid@islandnet.com