Sport fishing column for Oct 25 to Nov 1, 2010

One of the keys to successful angling is analysis. I tell students in my fly fishing classes to analyze everything from start to finish, both good and bad, on every fishing trip. Analysis brings theory and theories proven or disproven bring future success.

Last Friday while fishing chum salmon at my favorite spot (don't ask), I was witness to a curious phenomenon. The bite which had been mediocre for hours changed to aggressive during a rain shower. Some would pass this off superficially and say "fishing is always better in the rain." My experience has shown me that this common belief does not always hold true, which means there are other factors involved. Rain always comes with darkened skies, which often makes fish feel more comfortable. Rain is always the result of a lowering of barometric pressure; which can have either positive or negative effects on fish feeding depending on the season and the degree of change. Rain drops along with wind can aerate the water surface sparking fish activity. These are the usual suspects but on Friday there was one more added; the water color changed from clear to green. Colored water can work like a color filter on a camera changing the appearance of your presentation (lure, fly, or bait). Was the aggressive bite triggered by one or all of the above? The jury is still out and since the chum fishery is closed for the rest of this year, the research must wait. Oh the wonder of it all; it's just one of the many things that make fishing such a fascinating sport.

The report

The fishing on our lower mainland lakes remains good. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Big Black, Nation's Black, Baggy Shrimp, Coachman, Cased Caddis, Halfback, Dragon Nymph, Carey Special, Zulu, or Doc Spratley. For dry fly fishing try: Tom Thumb, Renegade, Black Gnat, Foam Ant, Griffith Gnat, Royal Coachman, or Elk Hair Caddis.

With snow in the road reports, we need to face the fact that fishing on our interior lakes is fast coming to a close. That being said reports are still good with fall lunkers on the prowl. Try a slow retrieve or troll with Chironomid, Pumpkinhead, Micro Leach, Wooly Bugger, olive Matuka, Butler's Bug, Halfback, Baggy Shrimp, Sooboo, Sixpack, or Doc Spratley.

All streams in the lower mainland are closed to chum salmon fishing.

The Fraser River is good for spring, coho, and cutthroat. For spring try: Kaufmann Stone, Eggo, Popsicle, Squamish Poacher, GP, Big Black or Flat Black. For coho try: Christmas Tree, Rolled Muddler, olive Wooly Bugger, Coho Blue, Blue Christmas, Bite Me, Eggo, or Egg Sucking Leach. For cutthroat try: Rolled Muddler, Mickey Finn, Eggo, Tied down Minnow, Epoxy Minnow, black Stone, Professor, Lioness, Coachman, Zulu, Chez Nymph.

The Vedder River is good for spring and coho.

The Stave River is slow to fair coho, spring, and cutthroat.

The Harrison River is fair to good for spring, coho, cutthroat and rainbow. For rainbow try: Rolled Muddler, Mickey Finn, Eggo, Kaufmann Stone, Black Gnat, Zulu, Chez Nymph, Souboo, Micro Leach, Sixpack, or Renegade.

The Nicola River is fair to good for rainbow.

You can find more at "The Reel Life Press" by Jeff Weltz.