Sport fishing column for Nov 21 to 28, 2011
Have you looked at a calendar lately? There is just over a month of shopping days left before Christmas; so I am putting the steelhead flies on hold for awhile, while I render some gift suggestions.
Let’s begin with hand crafted ideas:
A wooden fly box is a welcome gift and not hard to assemble. To make one compile: two: 2.5 cm by 20 cm strips of 3 mm thick strips of balsa wood, two: 2.5 cm by 10 cm strips of 3 mm thick strips of balsa wood, two: 10.6 cm by 20 cm pieces of 2 mm thick balsa wood, one: 2 cm by 9 cm section of piano hinge, and wood glue. Glue the balsa strips together to form a 10 by 20 cm rectangle. Then glue the 10.6 by 20 cm pieces to the rectangle, one on each side, to form a top and bottom. This should give you one solid box. Cut the box in half, down the center of the balsa wood sides. Join the two halves with the piano hinge. Line the inside of the box with closed cell foam. Decorate the outside of the box with folk art and a coat of lacquer. Finish it off with a selection of your favorite flies and you are sure to please.
A high volume fly case can be made with an old brief case and some sheets of closed cell foam. Remove the lining and inner compartments, and replace them with a layer of closed cell foam. Decorate the out side of the case with fishing decals and load the inside with productive flies.
Flies alone can also make unique tree ornaments. Purchase a dozen of plastic or glass bulbs from a craft store and tie an equal number of your favorite flies. Carefully remove the fastening loop from the top of the bulbs and put them aside. Then attach about 10 cm of fine leader (not the tapered kind) to the eye of each fly. Insert each fly into the bulb. Finish by adjusting the leaders so that the flies are suspended in the center of each bulb and replace the fastening loops. These “Real Fly Ornaments” as they are called in The Rouge Angler catalog retail for $15 each. The value of the hand crafted fly box or case; priceless.
The report
Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is slow to fair. Try a slow troll or retrieve with: Coachman, American Coachman, Professor, Wooly Bugger, Micro Leach, Sixpack, Dragonfly Nymph, Halfback, Doc Spratley, Baggy Shrimp, or Zulu.
The Fraser River is fishing fair for spring, and cutthroat. For spring try: Popsicle, Big Black, Flat Black, Stonefly Nymph, Squamish Poacher, or Eggo. For cutthroat try: Eggo, Rolled Muddler, Tied Down Minnow, Mickey Finn, Stonefly Nymph, or American Coachman.
The Stave River is fair to good for coho and cutthroat. For coho try: Christmas Tree, Rolled Muddler, olive Wooly Bugger, Bite Me, or Coho Blue.
The Harrison River is fair to good for spring, coho, and spring.
The Thompson River is good for steelhead and rainbow. Try: Squamish Poacher, Big Black, Flat Black, Popsicle, Kaufmann Stone, Steelhead Spratley, or polar Shrimp.