Weekly Fraser Valley Sport fishing column; May 12 to 19, 2014

I took to hanging around? Clemens Book Store. Harry Clemens was a fine man and an excellent fisherman. A lot of the anglers in town hung around his place, and I was in there every chance I got? All winter long we sat around an old pot-belly stove and talked fishing?

Spring finally broke and I was there to greet it. A shoemaker in town was a real fishing buff, and one noon he said to me, ?Tomorrow?s the day Vernon. We?ll leave from my shop at daybreak??

Come daylight the shoemaker didn?t have to call me. I was waiting on him.

The above passage is from the biography of RV Gaddis, in his book, ?The Flying Fisherman.? How many of us can tell our own tales, of waiting for ice-off and not being able to sleep the night before that long awaited fishing trip?

It?s that time again; the May long weekend is finally here! If you are like many anglers in this province, you are counting the hours before you can head out on Friday. Back when I was a teenager it was an adventure just getting to Kamloops, after the crowd left work on Friday afternoon. It took hours to pass the bottleneck at Hope, so you could follow the endless line of tail lights through the Fraser Canyon. It was always worth it though; memories were made, that will never be forgotten.

In the days before the Coquihalla, every caf? from Hope through Cash Creek called in a full staff from dusk to dawn, to meet the needs of the hungry travelers. Almost every table was abuzz with tales of the ones that got away in previous years. Frost biting mornings, sunburns, and trophy trout; memories are made of this stuff. Numerous neighborhood legends will be out there, guiding sleepless kids into their first trophy trout? That?s right, many, and I do mean many, will be doing that this weekend; make the effort, and it could be you too.




The Report

Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is good. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Chironomid, Wooly Bugger, Zulu, Baggy Shrimp, Dragonfly Nymph, Doc Spratley, or Halfback Nymph. For dry (floating) fly fishing try: Griffith Gnat, Renegade, or Elk hair Caddis. For kokanee try: Bloodworm, San Juan Worm, Red Ibis, Red Spratley, or Kokanee killer.

The bass and pan fish are doing well also. 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, Halfback, Pumpkinhead, Dolly Whacker, Tied Down Minnow, Popin Bug, or Chernobyl Ant.

Our interior lakes are fishing fair to good. Try: Bloodworm, Chironomid, Pumpkinhead, Big Black, Micro Leach, 52 Buick, Sixpack, Butlers Bug, Dragon Nymph, Green Spratley, or Baggy Shrimp, for fishing wet. For dry fly action try: Lady McConnel, Big Ugly, Black Gnat, Ton Thumb, or Irresistible.

Our lower mainland creeks and sloughs are fishing very well. For cutthroat and rainbow try: Professor, American Coachman, Mickey Finn, Tied Down Minnow, Rolled Muddler, Borden?s Special, Dolly Whacker, Czech Nymph, Stone Nymph, Big Black, Zulu, Soubou, Hares Ear Nymph, Stimulator, or Irresistible.