Weekly Fraser Valley Sport Fishing Column, July 20 to 27, 2015


?To such of your readers as may condemn the unsportsmanlike practice of fishing with salmon ?roe, meat, or grasshoppers ? to those who no patience with any other mode of trout-fishing, except by the scientific whippings of an artificial fly ? Pog, begs to remark, that he would like to know what else a poor devil of a Piscator is to do, there being no fishing-tackle shops on the Pacific, near the 48th parallel, when his flies are all used up, and his fly-rod most irretrievably broken.? Passage taken from an article titled, Trout Fishing in the Territories of Nebraska, Washington, and Oregon, published in the Spirit of the Times, 1857.?

By the end of the 1860 all the vast expanse of North America had been mapped and every North American species of fish had been discovered and named. Sport fishermen were now looking for the best fishing holes and the best possible equipment to explore them with. Split cane rods were now the first choice of all serious fly anglers.

The 1870?s saw great improvements in the quality and available weights of silk line. These improvements in fly line brought about a demand for stiffer rods. With these stiffer rods and improved fly lines; longer casts and greater casting accuracy was fast becoming the goal of every angler. Striving for these longer casts and greater accuracy brought dry fly fishing forward, to top status among this era of fly fishermen.

?The fly lit lightly on the water, and danced along the surface, with no results. My friend smiled and the standing committee guffawed. Paying no attention, I made a second cast a good distance. My fly had scarcely touched the water before there was a flash, a swirl, and, as I threw up the point of my rod, I felt a weight as if I had hooked a saw log ?? Passage on salmon fishing in California?s Navarro River, taken from, Forest and Stream magazine, 1874.?



The Report

Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is slow to fair. For better success try fishing early mornings and late evenings, concentrating on shadowed areas. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Chironomid, Wooly Bugger, Doc Spratley, Halfback, Micro Leach, Six Pack, Souboo, Pumpkinhead, Damsel Nymph, American Coachman, or Baggy Shrimp. For dry (floating) fly fishing try: Lady McConnell, Big Ugly, Elk Hair Caddis, Griffith Gnat, Irresistible, or Royal Coachman. For kokanee try: Bloodworm, San Juan Worm, Red Spratley, Red Ibis, Double Trude, or small Red Zonker.

Our local bass and panfish waters are fair to good. For bass try: Foam Frog, Poppers, Chernobyl Ant, Stimulator, Adult Damsel, Adult Dragon, Big Black, Wooly Bugger, Dragon Nymph, Pumpkinhead, Dolly Whacker, Lefty?s Deceiver, or Clouser?s Deep Minnow. For Panfish try Bloodworm, Chironomid, Micro Leach, Pumpkinhead, Popper, Black Gnat, Trico, Mosquito, or Royal Coachman.

Fishing on our interior lakes is slow to fair. For wet fly fishing try: Chironomid, Big Black, 52 Buick, Dragon Nymph, Halfback, Butler?s Bug, Doc Spratley, Green Spratley, Pumpkinhead, Green Carey, Damsel Nymph, Dragon Nymph, or Baggy Shrimp. For dry fly fishing try: Tom Thumb, Double Hackled Peacock, Elk hair Caddis, Goddard Caddis, Royal Wulff, or Irresistible.

The Thompson River is good for rainbow. Try: Rolled Muddler, Kaufmann Stone, Stimulator, Joe?s Hopper, Tom Thumb, Irresistible, or Elk Hair Caddis.