I’M GOING NUTS!!!!!!!

I am going absolutely crazy. I have been wanting to go fishing for some time now, but because of the weather (RAIN, RAIN, RAIN) it has been next to impossible. I thought about going to the local little rivers, They are ALL blown out. Then I thought I would go to a local lake, Nope Most of the roads are closed due to being washed out.

Looks like we are going to have some nice weather this coming weekend so I’m going Fishing!!!!!!!

I will post a report on how the fishing was on Sunday night or Monday.

Why to Tie your own fly !!

Fly tying. This is a great way to spend those rainy days. As it has not stopped raining here for the last month you can guess what i have been doing. I need to go and buy a few new fly boxes because i have run out of room in the ones I have with all the new flies I have tied.

Fly tying can be a very relaxing way to spend a day or an evening. Fly tying is a essential part of becoming a better fly fisherman. I still say that the beginner fly fisher should stay away from tying until they have a better grasp of the sport.

If you are new to fly tying, TAKE A CLASS. You will learn all the small things needed to start tying and this will help to keep the frustration level down. This can be very frustrating at first, once you learn the basics and learn to open your mind this will become very relaxing.

I have tied my own flies on and off for the last 14 years and have found that you need to have a open mind. Don’t look at the materials you get with a kit and say, what can i tie, look around at everything in the store and the house and say, What can I tie with that?

I have found that the best flies I have tied are ones that are from materials that are not the normal materials. All that can stop a good fly tier is their imagination, so keep on imagining what you can create.

The last thing I will say on this is, always make sure you take your fly tying kit with you on your fishing trip. I always have mine, you never know what you will need to tie when on the water.

Remember to TAKE A CLASS if you are new at this. I will download some photo’s of some of my flies in a future post so you can see what I mean by imagination is Key.

Will It ever stop Raining?

Living on the west coast of Canada is great. The weather is mild most of the winter and not to hot in the summer. The one HUGE downfall is the RAIN, it has been raining on and off for the past 2 weeks and the rivers are showing it. I have been wanting to go out and fish some of the local rivers, But due to the extremely high water levels it has been next to impossible to Flyfish. The lakes of the interior of BC are only just starting to break up so we will have at least a few more weeks of waiting before we can fish the lakes at lower levels.

I am really starting to HATE the rain. I WANT TO GO AND FISH!!!!!!!

OOHHH well I got that off my chest, I feel better now. Fishing is getting close and i can smell it.

Fly Reels, What should you buy?

I have long believed that the prices of fly reels are getting totally out of hand. I have been Fly fishing for 15+ years and I still use a inexpensive reel.

In the past few days I have been involved in a few heated discussions on this subject on some of the forums I frequent. Some people think that as a fly fisher you need to use a $3-$400 reel, I totally disagree!

As Flyfishers How do we fish? We cast the line and strip the line in by hand. Once we hook up to a fish we fight the fish with the line we have stripped in. Only when the fish is of the LARGE variety do we ever use the reel as it is intended for the drag system. I have caught many small fish and many of the large variety and seldom do I use the reel. I have caught Trout to 6 pounds without the use of the reel and Salmon to 15 pounds in the same way.

This is obviously my personal choice and I cannot justify spending $300 on a reel. I much rather put the extra money into a better float tube or pontoon boat.

The only thing I look for in a reel is the drag system, for those odd occasions when you do hook a fish that will need the use of the reel you will need a good drag system. Try to make sure you buy one with a disk style drag not the click pawl type.

Again Just my opinion, but if you are willing to learn how to fight the fish without the use of the reel you will find that the reel becomes a line storage device and not much else. I have also found that I have much more control fighting a fish without the reel. Even if the fish does get onto the reel, once it has slowed and is not taking line from the reel I automatically start to strip the fish in again, I do not start using the reel. Do you think you could keep up with a 5 pound Trout if it decides to turn your way and run at the Boat, No chance from a reel, but if you strip it in you can.

I have in my Fly fishing life only splurged once on a reel and it was $200  (G-Loomis adventure series) all my other reels are in the $30-$60 range and I have never lost a fish because of the reel.

Just some food for thought.

Early Season Fly fishing

The time is almost here. As the weather starts to warm many of us Flyfishers are starting to get impatient, I know i am. This is a great time to start to get your gear ready and to start making plans as to where you are going to go on your first trip of the year. As many of you know  some of the best fishing of the year come right after ice off. This time is just around the corner and  if you are able to get away  and can catch this magical time of the year you will be rewarded with some great fishing.

I spend most of the “off season” getting some flies tied and getting all my gear in order so there are no surprises in the first real trip of the coming season. Some of the factors I look for in a lake for my first trip of the year are:

1- Elevation, this is obvious if the lake in question is at a high elevation the chance of the winter ice layer being gone is unlikely, so I look for a lake at a lower elevation (under 2500′).

2- I check online for as many reports as I can, this way if the lake that I would like to go to has had a large “winter kill” then I know not to waist my time with going there. Also there are many experienced Flyfishers that will share there knowledge and this will help you out a bit.

3- I try to find out any information I can on the history of the lake I am going to. Find out how the fishing has been in the past “ice off” seasons, find out if there have been any significant “winter kills” in the past few years.

4- Contact local Fly shops and try to find out what the ice situation is like. ask questions like, How thick is the remaining ice? Are there some sections of the ice that are already gone? what is the upcoming weather forecast? what is the usual ice off date of said lake?

These are still some of the things I do and i have been doing this for 15+ years. You need to gather as much info as you can to have a good start to the season.

A few BC links for you to try to get the info you may need.

Anglers Atlas

Fly fish BC forum 

Sharp Hooks 

BC Outdoors 

I hope this will help with having a good first trip of the new fishing season.

Potentially Devistating news for BC,Canada Salmon!!!

Just saw an article in a local rag about a huge problem. It seems like  there may have been a problem with the dam on the Stave river in Mission BC, Canada. Read this articale for more, I hope it is not as bad as it sounds, I fish in this river every year and this would be a huge hit to the Salmon in the area.

This is the Full article:

By Phil Melnychuk
Staff Reporter
Mar 03 2007

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is checking into a possible buildup of nitrogen in the Stave River that may have killed millions of young coho and chum salmon.

A drawdown of B.C. Hydro’s Hayward reservoir Feb. 13 to allow inspection on the Ruskin dam may have been the cause, said Hydro community relations spokesman Charlotte Bemister.

“As a result of lowering the reservoir and the build-up of debris, that may have allowed air to get into the water. Therefore, it’s suspected that that may be the cause, but it’s still very much suspected.”

Lowering the reservoir is a routine practice, but Bemister didn’t know how often a gas buildup results from that.

Hydro sent out a biologist to investigate Feb. 15 and found about 100 dead bullhead, or sculpin, fish.

Angler Troy Halliday was on the river at the time and saw about 30 to 40 dead bullhead washed up on the beach.

“That was three weeks ago, but nobody’s said anything about it,” he said.

Now he’s wondering about the extent of the fish kill, how many eggs have been killed and the effects on steelhead and cutthroat trout.

“It concerns me. In order to have killed some fish it would have to be a pretty big spill.”

Normally, the Stave River runs fairly clearly, but on Feb. 13, it had a greenish tinge, Halliday said.

He saw one steelhead trout thrashing around with bloodshot eyes, bleeding from its gills.

Bemister said Hydro is working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, studying the coho and chum “redds,” or nests, in the river gravel below the dam and checking on the mortality of the alevins, or young salmon, that would have just developed from eggs.

The event happened at the worst time of the year, said Geoff Clayton of the Alouette River Management Society.

Chum and coho are in the alevin stage in February, when the tiny fish have just broken free from their eggs but are still attached to the yolks for nutrition.

The fish at that point are breathing, “so they’re subject to any toxin in the water,” but unable to swim away.

“Their redds, which has been their haven, could have potential to be their coffin,” Clayton said.

In a few weeks, the juveniles would be free from the eggs and the chum would able to swim down the Stave to the Fraser River.

Preliminary results from Fisheries and Oceans Canada testing, after scientists dug up 17 redds, showed a death rate of one in seven, he said. More testing in the coming weeks will show if those deaths were caused by an “event kill,” he added.

Lowering the reservoir level for maintenance is a routine practice, but this occasion might have surprised everyone.

Clayton’s not saying Hydro did anything abnormal or irresponsible. “They really don’t know what happened, but it is assumed that a vortex developed.”

That vortex, similar to what happens when water drains down a sink, may have been caused by debris at the top. That could have entrained air into the water in the spill tunnel and caused higher nitrogen levels in the water and produced effects similar to what happens to a diver who surfaces too quickly with the bends.

“Supersaturated” nitrogen levels don’t dissipate quickly, Clayton said.

“It could be half a mile downstream and still be lethal.”

I hope for good news in the future, this would be devistating.