Weekly Fraser Valley Sport fishing column; April 21 to 28, 2014


We were hours into our road trip up the west side of the Williston, headed for the Nation River, when I asked; ?How much farther is it to the Nation??

?I Don?t Know,? replied Dennis. ?There is map in the glove box, have a look for yourself.?

The original plan was to go fishing for trophy bull trout, guided by my brother-in-law?s friend. The problem was our guide had fallen down a flight of stairs and broken his leg, two days before I arrived in at my brother-in-law?s place in Prince George. According to my brother-in-law Dennis; this was not a problem, since his friend had told him where to go and how to get there. Ya Right!

I looked at the map to do the first real homework of the trip so far. It took less than a minute before I said to my brother, ?Do you realize the Nation is almost on the Yukon border? I doubt we could make it before dark and that?s if we have the gas. Where did you learn to plan a trip??

?Plan,? echoed my brother-in-law?s voice! ?I?m an Engineer; Everything we do runs on rails, why would I look at a map for??

Now repeat after me ?Some of us get it the first time around?

Well we turned the show around and caught dozens small trout in the feeder streams entering the Williston, while feeding twice that many black flies, on our way back to PG.

Back in town I planned the next trip, which found us on the waters of the Stellako.
That story next week.





The Report

Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is good. With Good Friday falling on the third day after a full moon the weekend looks good. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Chironomid, Bloodworm, Pumpkinhead, Wooly Bugger, Big Black, Micro Leach, Zulu, Baggy Shrimp, Dragonfly Nymph, Doc Spratley, or Halfback Nymph. For dry (floating) fly action try: Lady McConnel, Griffith Gnat, Black Gnat, Renegade, Elk hair Caddis, Tom Thumb, or Irresistible.

Our lower mainland bass and pan fish lakes are performing well. For bass try: Big Black, Clouser?s Deep Minnow, Lefty?s Deceiver, Dolly Whacker, Wooly Bugger, Pumpkinhead, Gomphus Bug, Popin Bug, Foam Frog, Chernobyl Ant, or Stimulator. For Pan fish try: Wooly Bugger, Bloodworm, Chironomid, Micro Leach, Pumpkinhead, Halfback, Dolly Whacker, Tied Down Minnow, Popin Bug, or Chernobyl Ant.

The ice is off a good number of interior lakes. No reports yet; early season tactics are the order of the day.

The Fraser River is up and dirty. To achieve better success try working the color change at confluences of the big rivers feeder streams. 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, Dolly Whacker, or Lefty's Deceiver.

The Vedder River is fair to 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, Squamish Poacher, GP, Kaufman Stone, Steelhead Spratley, Irresistible, or Stimulator.

The Harrison River is good for cutthroat and rainbow.