The picture above is of a 48″ sturgeon (122cm).
The season of 2015 seemed to go by in a blur – and suddenly we are looking at December! If you are wondering where things stand in terms of the local fishing opportunities, here are some details.
Sturgeon fishing is over for the season. We do not fish sturgeon in the winter time and prefer to leave these fish be while they are holding up in the deeper holes. Water temperatures for the Fraser river is currently hovering just above freezing (1.5 degrees Celcius) which will certainly slow the Fraser river sturgeon’s interest in feeding. The ensuing hook-up hardly justifies nor exemplifies what sturgeon fishing is like during the peak season of late March to mid November, when the water is warmer.
2015 eventually turned into a good year for sturgeon fishing, particularly the late summer and fall fishery. The early season fishery seemed to fizzle out at times, and you were considered lucky to hook a fish or two – often it was out of sheer effort at times. Once late July came around, the sturgeon started to bite a little more aggressively and by early September, sturgeon fishing was incredible. Once the pink salmon run was over, the sturgeon still managed to stay on the bite for the most part. Weather conditions, mostly outflow winds, hampered some days in October, but overall, it turned into a successful season.
Since the sturgeon fishery is over for us, we can announce Peter Escott won Cascade Fishing Adventures’ “Tuff Enuff” sturgeon derby with a fish of 109.5 inches! Well done, Peter, and well done to Clayton as he guided Peter to this fish. For this fish to be entered into the derby, one of the rules stipulates that the fish has to be landed by one angler – no help.
The chinook salmon season started late, and slow. With an opening of August 3rd, a closure 10 days later, and then a re-opening nearer the end of the month, it was difficult to get into the chinook fishery consistently. However, by early September, there was a large influx of late summer chinooks into the Fraser river and it was some of the best chinook bar fishing I had seen in quite some time. It did not take long to hook up, and on some days we would hook several fish in just a couple of hours’ effort!
The fall chinook fishery was also very good. We enjoyed some great days on the river bar fishing for some beautiful Harrison river chinook. It never ceases to amaze me that for the large numbers of Harrison bound chinooks that go by us, how short and intense the fishery it is. These fish are up and gone in the blink of an eye it seems.
The pink salmon fishery was good as well, however the run size was significantly reduced this year compared to previous years’ pink runs. At the time of the run, the reason for the reduced run size had been attributed by officials to “marine survival”. There are some significant ocean current changes in the Pacific, including temperature changes – the abundance of salmon feed could be affected by changing ocean currents and spell trouble for ocean salmon stocks. Despite the situation, it was last estimated that there would be 6 million pink salmon moving through the Fraser, and it seemed the river giants (sturgeon) took full advantage of them and filled up heartily.
Coho fishing was tough at times – I just didn’t see as many coho kicking around in the usual haunts as I would in previous years. As such, we didn’t spend much time targeting coho as we normally would.
Chum fishing was good this year and we had plenty of action. This can be one of the most reliable salmon fisheries that we have in this area, and we certainly take full advantage of the opportunity.
Our current fishing opportunities include cutthroat trout fishing and steelhead! We should start seeing some early steelhead move into the Vedder river as well as other local tributaries in the Fraser Valley! If you are interested in steelhead fishing, or fly fishing for cutthroat trout, we recommend January through April with particular attention to February and March! Give us a call for more details!
And while it doesn’t quite feel like it yet, Christmas is not far away and its certainly not too early to plan ahead. If you are looking to book for 2016, it is always best to get in early and book to get the dates you like. We are booking up earlier than ever it seems for the next year, with bookings already for 2017! If you wish to give someone a great gift, we have hats, T-shirts and hoodies available, plus we also provide great looking gift cards that you can give to you favourite angler to put towards clothing or a guided fishing trip. Send us an email or call the lovely Maggie for more details on how you get these gift ideas over to you in time for Christmas!
Whether you are looking for a day trip fishing or you want to stay longer, we can arrange everything from your pickup at the airport in a limo, to your hotel accommodation and the best guided fishing tours in the Fraser Valley. Please contact Marc or Maggie on Toll Free: 1-877-887-4366 or use our contact form.