Sport fishing column for Jan 3 to 10, 2011

The New Year is here and for many people it brings plans and resolutions. For others it brings retrospection. I come from a long line of preachers and fly fishermen, and with the recent birth of my first grandchild, I have done some retrospecting myself.

What draws a person to fishing? One might say it was those who introduced him or her to the sport. I believe it is more than that. While there is the thrill of catching that first fish, a large number of fish, a trophy sized fish, and then a very elusive fish. There is something much deeper that draws persons to sport fishing. I like to think it is to connect, if only for fleeting moments, with something bigger than themselves. Something uncontainable, that has been gifted to us, to enjoy, appreciate, and then pass on to others. As I thought about what I have enjoyed most in over fifty years of sport fishing; I found it was not the banner fifty to one hundred fish days, the trophy fish, the recognition, or the competitions. No, it has been in fulfilling the dream, I had as an eight year old boy, of sharing my measure of knowledge and joy in sport fishing with others.

We all can get lost at times. Thank you, Charly-rae for encouraging me to put my sport fishing life back into perspective.


The report

Ice is forming on our lower mainland lakes again, putting this fishery on hold.

Our lower mainland beach and estuary fisheries are doing well for sea-run cutthroat. Try: Epoxy Minnow, Tied Down Minnow, Muddler Minnow, Clouser's deep Minnow, Lioness, Grizzly King, Mickey Finn, Coachman, Knudson's Spider, Zulu, Purple Joe, or Borden Special.

The Fraser River and soughs are slow to fair for cutthroat and dolly varden. For cutthroat try: Rolled Muddler, Mickey Finn, Eggo, Tied Down Minnow, Epoxy Minnow, Winter Stone, Flesh Fly, Professor, Lioness, Coachman, Zulu, Chez Nymph. For dolly Varden try: Large (#4 to #1) Eggo, Dolly Whacker, Bucktail, Epoxy Minnow, Big Black, Muddler, or Zunker.

The Vedder River is good for steelhead, dolly varden and rainbow. For steelhead try: big Black, Popsicle, Steelhead Nightmare, Polar shrimp, GP, Thor, Squamish Poacher, Kaufmann Stone, Purple Peril, or Eggo. For rainbow try: Rolled Muddler, Mickey Finn, Eggo, Flesh Fly, Kaufmann Black Stone, Black Gnat, Zulu, Chez Nymph, Big Black, Sixpack, or Renegade.

The Stave River is good for rainbow and cutthroat.

The Chehalis River is slow to fair for steelhead and cutthroat.

The Harrison River is fair to good for cutthroat, and rainbow.

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