The salmon are late….up to 20 day in some areas…according to guides from Tasis, BC on Vancouver Island to other guide services in the Lower Mainland….but they are showing up. Like other locations in BC, the pinks have arrived in the Squamish river for 2007. In fact, we caught our first fish on the 20th of July, but to our dismay, the rivers blew on the night of the 20th….to the highest in recent memory, and we couldn’t fish the rivers for 7 days.
Anxious to get out fishing, a few of my friends and I hit the beach off Furry Creek for some saltwater fly fishing on the night of the 25th but did not see much except a few seals and baitfish breaking the surface. After taking a few casts we left the beach fishless, but knowing one more thing about the area…..no fish yet.
The night of the 26th was spent scouting the Squamish and to my surprise I saw a fish roll 100 meters downstream of where I was standing. Immediately I hailed my friend who was upstream to come and watch what I was seeing. Again, another rolled. That was it; we dashed off through the forest to get a better position on the fish. Upon positioning on the river about 40 ft upstream of the last position I saw the fish roll I took my first cast…..nothing. Then I saw a log in the water and realigned so that my fly swung out just downstream of the log and SLAM..the drag on my SAGE 3200, already worn down by the previous years fishing, spun out of control and bird nested! Rats! Luckily the fish ran upstream directly at me and I could strip the line in to get some more slack. I tried to deal with the bird nest on my own but it was completely fowled. I just laughed and hollered at my friend to come up and grab the rod and fish while I worked on the mess. While he fought the fish for a while I popped the spool out and picked away at the line. Alas the fish was gone just as I got it all sorted out. Thus ended the first promising evening since the 20th!
The 28th and 29th were more eventful days with some hook-ups on the 28th and we actually landed 7 fish on the 29th. The fish are arriving daily and the fishing will only get better! See you on the river!
Tight lines,
-Clint
PS Sparse pink flies with silver bodies seem to be working best….weighted and size 6.