I got up at the ridiculous hour of 4:15am yesterday to go try the estuary and beach of one of the local rivers for some staging pink and chinook salmon. Sitting on the beach for two hours waiting for a fish to show seemed like forever. Patience is a virtue. Finally at around 6:30am I saw my first salmon of the year jump clean out of the water, a Chinook. A jolt of energy got me up off the log I was sitting on and down to the water I went. Cast after cast I attempted to offer the fly to the area I thought the fish might be. Nothing. Then, like clockwork, salmon started to show about every half an hour until I left at 8:45…but alas none were interested in my flies. Two other fly anglers also showed up but not one of us bent a rod. Nest time I’ll get ’em.
Later in the evening I went to the Squamish river to see what I could see…and fish of course. The only excitement to be had was watching the helicopters working to put out a forest fire at Alice Lake. Although we saw no fish, the one seal we did see makes me think there is a trickle of fish heading into the river and today the fish might arrive in some better numbers. Optimism is a fly fishers best friend.
Remember that there is ZERO retention of pink salmon for 2009 in the Squamish river. For the official DFO Fisheries notice visit this link.
Also Note that there is a daily limit of 2 pink salmon in the tidal waters. For the official DFO notice visit this link.
Tight lines
-CG