Weekly Fraser Valley Sport Fishing Column for Jan 18 to 25, 2016

Another of the individuals, who turned the eyes of the sport fishing world toward British Columbia, was Arthur Bryan Williams. Recruited from managing the productivity a gold dredge and crew in Atlin, to the office of B C?s first Provincial Game and Forest Warden in 1905, Williams was prolific in recording the productivity of fisheries he oversaw. During his twenty nine year career as chief game warden of British Columbia, he wrote many columns for the (Vancouver) Province newspaper, created the; ?William?s Brown, Green, Grey, Yellow and Dark Bodied Sedge,? fly patterns, along with authoring two books: ?Rod & Creel in British Columbia? and ?Game Trails of British Columbia.?

?The Skagit River rises in the Cascade Mountains in British Columbia, but after running for about thirty miles, crosses the boundary line into the United States. The last twenty miles of river in this province is one of the best streams in southern British Columbia for the fly fisherman, and anybody wanting a ten days or a fortnight?s fishing trip cannot do better than pay this stream a visit any time after the first week of July.

To get there you go to Hope and engage a man with pack horses to take you in, unless you feel like doing the thirty miles with a pack on your back. There is no accommodation after you leave Hope and you have to camp out.

From Hope the trail follows up Nicolum Creek to the divide at Lake House, a distance of fourteen miles. Small fish can be caught here? and you better keep on going down stream until you get within four or five miles of the boundary line. Here you will catch fish on the fly of all sizes up to three or four pounds in weight, more than you know what to do with?? A Bryan Williams, 1919, from his book, Rod & Creel in British Columbia.






The Report

Thankfully things have warmed up here in the lower mainland, and our local lakes are fishable again. The minor warming trend has the fish moving and fishing is rated at fair to good for winter conditions. For better success, focus you?re fishing from late morning through early afternoon, close to shore, and in the north east sections of your favorite lake. Try: Chironomid, Bloodworm, Wooly Bugger, Doc Spratley, Halfback, Micro Leach, Pumpkinhead, or Baggy Shrimp. For ice fishing at our higher elevation lakes, try: Shrimp, Baggy Shrimp, Ice Flies, and Crappie Jigs.


The Fraser River along with its backwaters and sloughs are fishing well for whitefish, cutthroat, rainbow, dolly Varden, and early steelhead. For cutthroat try: Rolled Muddler, Flesh Fly, Eggo, Professor, Silver Doctor, Borden Special, Zulu, or small black Stone Nymph. For dolly varden try: large Clouser?s Deep Minnow. Zonker, Eggo, Flesh Fly, Dolly Whacker, or Kauffman Stone. For rainbow try: Czech nymph, Cased Caddis, Coachman, Rolled Muddler, Mico Leach, or Zulu. For whitefish try: Czech Nymph, Cased Caddis, Eggo, Hairs Ear nymph, or Mico Leach. For steelhead try: Big Black, Flat Black, Squamish Poacher, Polar Shrimp, Popsicle, GP, Steelhead Nightmare, or Kauffman Stone.

The Harrison River is fair for cutthroat and rainbow.

The Vedder River is fair for rainbow and the odd steelhead.