In the last couple of weeks before the rains begin,
you might consider getting out to fly fish for cutthroat. Typically, our island
rivers receive a large push of searun trout in the last couple of weeks of
August. They come in before the salmon, in systems that are short of water.
Pink salmon can rise up in four inches of water, while
chinook, the largest, need more than ten inches to torpedo up. Late in the
summer season, many Island rivers have sections of only two inches, enough
water for cutts, dollies, and, if there are any, searun browns.
The trout come in because they follow the salmon to
spawning and the feed on salmon eggs is their largest, single-source feed in
the year. A good fat belly is a fine thing to have as winter sets in. On your
thinking of going after them, do note that many south Van Isle rivers are
closed to fishing at this time, in this dry year. You need to check the regs
for the river you wish to fish. The Stamp is open, for example.
We are indeed fortunate that we fish in rivers mostly
for anadromous fish, meaning ones that live in saltwater and come into
freshwater for feeding and/or breeding. It should be remembered that when
trout, and steelhead are trout, too, come into freshwater, they do not know
what food looks like for a couple of weeks before they make the transition from
food found only in saltwater, and food found only in freshwater. That is why we
most often use attractor patterns.
We have very few resident fish – most of these are on
systems with lakes in them – that want a strict regimen of flies that look like
the hatches. The rest of BC, and most of Canada, has to tie good representations
of nymphs, Caddis, Mayflies and so on, while, here, catching the attention of
an anadromous fish that may well be hungry, something very visible and generic
does the deed.
For example, my favourite fly for steelhead is a Size
2 black salmon hook, with the wire bent around to form an elegant up-turned
eye, with gold bead eyes (silver for winter) along with red over orange over
yellow marabou. Very easy to see, and because there are contrasting colours (my
favourite bunny fly for instance is a garish, red over chartreuse over black
bunny, with chartreuse or gold eyes), the ‘segmentation’ is simply there to make
it easy for the fish to see the fly.
Your best bet is a nymph pattern in black with wriggly
legs, with a gold, cyclops, bead eye, or any of the stonefly variations in
colour and pattern. The latter fly does not do well in very shallow water, less
than knee deep, as it is heavy and sinks to the bottom – this late in the year,
you may be picking algae off your fly on almost every cast, which is annoying,
and slow. Another caveat is that smaller fish sometimes miss stoneflies, and
flies with legs/wings beyond the curve and point of the fly.
Variations on Doc Spratleys, usually in black with
dark red, and much fatter than usual nymphs find good use. Cast them as far
across as you can, aiming to be within a foot of the opposite bank. One of my
fishing beliefs (meaning superstitions) is that cutthroat like to see a fly go
across in front of both eyes – for binocular vision reasons – and as they key in
on vegetation and woody debris, that is mostly on the other side of our rivers.
So, do use a flyline cleaner before you go out as,
without doubt, it allows you to make longer casts. And at this time of year,
rivers are at their lowest, slowest and smallest, which means you are more
likely to reach the other side than in any other season. Aim to be within one
foot of where you are casting. It pays to be bold in the year or so it takes to
get your distance down, because, if you don’t, you will never be able to do so.
You just need to waste a few flies along the way.
It makes sense to carry two reels, one with a sink tip
and one with a full float line. Add some new leader of ten feet, so that it is
a quick reel-change on the river. The full float comes in handy in shallow
water, and when putting on a dry fly. The sink tip allows you to penetrate
deeper water, and to try different levels in large pools.
Where there are large numbers of cutthroat, cuttbows
and steelhead smolts are passing out (these can reach 14 inches, and so be
realistic targets, in, for example, the Stamp, when July is the peak of their
egress), some trout will be rising, and some inhabiting different levels. For
example, use that full float to run through the pool first time, with a nymph,
with a dry fly on the second (provided you see some fish). Then follow up with
the sink tip line and nymph. On your fourth pass through a big pool – say 15
feet deep – count that tip go down a full thirty seconds before stripping.
At this time of year, water is very slow, so counting
down is a real possibility. If your water is not so slow, consider a heavier
tip, or add one of those poly-tips out in front for added sink. You will find
that in a pool with lots of anadromous trout, that they do segregate out so
that you may find as many as four different fish zones.
Also do a run-through with those gaudy summer
steelhead popsicle flies because fish that have not bitten on, say, a nymph,
may well be looking for a different silhouette in the fly, or a different level
of visibility. The marabou fly I have described vaguely resembles a standard
Mickey Finn, and that may be why it works, as the Finn doesn’t look like
natural food whatsoever.
I suggest putting this amount of work into only one
pool of the day. When you have found lots of fish, it makes sense to work it
well with all the alternatives. If you catch only a fish or two, move on. But,
for example, if after you have walked through with one fly type and depth, you
still see fish jumping or swirling, it tells you there are fish there that will
still bite.
Typically, once you have pricked or caught a fish, it
is unlikely you will catch that one again. This means that swirlers, jumpers
and flashers, have not yet bitten on your fly, for whatever reason, but it
makes sense to run through again with a different type of fly/fly line
configuration.
Also, this time of year, with low/slow water, you will
find it the easiest of times to wade and cover ground. Gravel beds will be
exposed, and you will have less need to bushwhack, something that also makes
this amble a worthwhile thing to do.
It also makes sense to have fished your river many
times, so that you know very well the stretches you may want to fish. Thus you
can estimate the number of good possibilities in the distance you may want to
cover. For example, if there are three really good spots, but a mile between
each of them, it may be better to consider another part of your river to fish. Finally,
if time is a problem, fish your way down to the bottom and walk the entire
distance back to the car, rather than plumb the same waters again. Also
finally, it makes sense to target those areas that are closer to saltwater, as
trout that come in for a salmon egg feed are more likely to stop and wait for
salmon than migrate all the way up to distant spawning beds.
***
Please
go to the Fin Donnelly, NDP, Petition e-463 and sign it.
He is going to introduce a bill to get fish farms out of the water and put them
on land, and every salmon fisher – and all his/her friends – should sign: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-463.
