Weekly Fraser Valley Sport fishing column; March 24 to 31, 2014


I curled up on the shore at the foot of the falls and observed some fish I?d never seen before. They were a beautiful fish-red striped and black dotted-and looked to weigh an average of about four pounds.

I had been fishing for carp in the Missouri from?the day I?d arrived in Montana?

So I looked at these rainbows and itched. Man did I want to fish those beauties? And within a week I was back? as excited as a robin in a fresh-plowed garden.

Never mind a snap or a swivel or those fancy gadgets. I had a cane pole? along with some regular chalk line? For bait I caught a bunch of big yellow grasshoppers?

No sooner had I put the line into the water than I nearly lost it. I?d hooked an enormous rainbow-at six or seven pounds. And he was doing tricks I?d never seen before? Let me tell you, friend, a cane pole is no fly rod. But somehow I horsed that old rainbow onto the bank and had the prize of my life?

In no time at all, I caught three more? I paraded home that night as proud as a peacock? I was an honest-to-goodness trout fisherman. The words of Gadabout Gaddis, describing his first encounter with rainbow trout, near Great Fall Montana, around 1910.

Do you remember your first big trout? I remember mine; it was 5:00 AM, on a cold May morning, at Pinaus Lake. I was all of fourteen years old and it was my first time wielding a fly rod. The fish took my fly beside the boat in plain view. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. That fish was the biggest I had ever seen in a lake, and was all of about seven pounds. To me it looked like a shark; and that is exactly what I yelled ?Shark!? When my mind finally caught up to me, and realizing it was not a shark, and would likely be the biggest fish caught all weekend; it was gone.

Though he was gone that fish hooked me for life. What about you? What is your story?


The Report

Our lower mainland lakes are fishing slowly to fair. A good week of warm weather is now needed to get the fish moving again. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Chironomid, Bloodworm, Pumpkinhead, Wooly Bugger, Big Black, Micro Leach, Zulu, Baggy Shrimp, Dragonfly Nymph, or Halfback Nymph. For dry (floating) fly action try: Lady McConnel, Griffith Gnat, Black Gnat, Renegade, Elk hair Caddis, Tom Thumb, or Irresistible.

The Fraser River back waters and sloughs are fishing are fair to good for cutthroat, rainbow, and Dolly Varden. For Cutthroat try: Alevin, Professor, Anderson Stone, American Coachman, Rolled Muddler, or Tied Down Minnow. For dolly varden try: Zonker, Flat Black, Big Black, Clouser's Deep Minnow, or Lefty's Deceiver.

The Vedder River is fair to good for rainbow, and steelhead. For rainbow try: Czech nymph, Kaufmann Stone, Hares Ear, Big Black, Zulu, Soubou, or Irresistible. For steelhead try: Steelhead Nightmare, Flat Black, GP, Kaufman Stone, Steelhead Spratley, Irresistible, or Stimulator.

The Harrison River is fair for cutthroat and rainbow.