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We took advantage of the intense sunshine that we had last Wednesday by visiting Kawkawa Lake for some kokanee fishing. As the days get longer, sunnier and warmer, lake fishing will continue heating up. There are many lake fishing opportunities in the Lower Mainland, get out there and enjoy it whenever you can! The Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery has begun stocking lakes this week, click here to find out where rainbow trout have been stocked.
After hearing several banner days from Chris since last week, it was only a matter of time before I am lured back to the Vedder again. This morning I hopped out of bed at 4:38am, seven minutes before the alarm went off! After a quick bite in the kitchen, I was on the road to the valley. I arrived on the river bank at dawn and was delighted to find not a single soul around. Knowing that I would be the first one to dangle a few roe bags through some very fishy run, I was quite certain that there would be a connection this morning.
A few casts later, a parade of cars emerged on the other side of the river. They speedily made their way downstream, perhaps to where the fish really were. Chris’ car pulled over once the parade moved on. He made his way down to the river, waded across and took a look upstream at me. He made his way downstream, probably so I could fished the first run alone. It turned out that he thought it was not me standing by the river, apparently “he looked too tall to be Rodney.”
Once I felt that I had fished through the first run thoroughly, I made my way down to catch up with Chris. As I walked down and took a peek at him, I saw a silver fish flopping beside him on the river bank. Fifteen minutes into the morning, he was already done! A local fisher who scouts the river daily indeed has the advantage on the hook-up ratio. He almost felt bad once he found out I was upstream from him. He said that he would have let me drift through first, but I doubt that the result would be any different.
This female steelhead was approximately 7 to 8lb and one of the freshest fish that we have seen so far this season. Of course, I was glad to snap some photographs for Chris once he marked the catch on his license.
The rest of the morning was rather uneventful for me again. Other nearby anglers also reported the same result. Nevertheless, it was a splendid day as we were able to soak in plenty of sunshine. Water has been dropping and clearing steadily. The expected showers may bring in some fresh fish for the weekend. The hatchery is now holding 52 adult steelhead for its broodstock program. With over two months of steelhead season remaining, the 70 fish target will be reached quite easily.
Spring is here! Well almost… After a brief visit to Berry’s Bait and Tackle today, I headed down to the Tidal Fraser River to see if a bull trout or two maybe interested in my new lures. It is just slightly too early. Most bull trout should still be in tributaries, waiting for baby salmon to emerge and feast on them. This doesn’t mean that there are no bull trout in the mainstem Fraser River of course. There should be some patrolling the channels and filling their stomach up with lazy sculpins. No fish were harmed today, but like every other Vancouverite, I soaked in some warm ray. On the way home I spotted these two sitting high above so I quickly hopped out of the car and took a photo.
After another Vedder outing on Wednesday with dismal result, it could only get worse when the old timers rub it in by catching a few on the next day. Yesterday Chris managed to connect with a couple, donating one wild fish to the hatchery broodstock program. The second fish was quite forgiving, you can find out more about what happened by reading “A Valentine Fish, A Suicidal One Too, The Journal From The Vedder, Feb.14“
This morning, another email that was attached with photos came in as expected. Retirement continues to pay off for Chris, with another hatchery steelhead beached. It sure makes working in front of this screen rather frustrated but entertaining at times.
We are expecting multiple days of sunshine in Southern BC starting tomorrow, which should make some good fishing days for the weekend warriors. Have a great weekend everyone!
Winter steelhead fishing, particularly on a heavily used river such as the Chilliwack River, can be both loved and hated by some (me). The sudden burial of that bright float is an instant rush, yet it happens so seldomly. The wait can be so agonizing, especially when the temperature goes subzero. Sometimes the wait lasts all day and when it finally happens, the worst that can happen is the dreadful missed hookset.
Today I ventured out to the Chilliwack River for the second time this season. The plan was to fish with either Chris or Nick, who both are currently fishing for broodstocks for the Chilliwack River Hatchery (Please click here to read about the broodstock collection program). The phone rang as I made the drive out from Vancouver.
“Where are you?”, asked Chris.
“Stuck in traffic!”
“Oh… I’m almost at the river, will check back later.”
Before I even reached Chilliwack, the phone rang again.
“Well, I’m done after six casts.”
“Arg!”
I decided to focus on an area where Nick and I fished on Monday, but it did not produce a bite for two hours. I wandered further away from my car to seek for new spots, then the phone rang at 10:00am.
“We just tubed a wild fish from Lew.”
When a wild fish is collected for the hatchery, it is kept in a tube where river water would run through it freely to keep the oxygen flowing until the hatchery truck arrives for pickup.
Excited, I began making my way to where Chris and Lew were. It was a ten minute sprint to the car then a short drive to their spot. I wanted to get some video footages when the fish was being picked up.
Upon my arrival, Chris proudly showed me his catch of the day.
Peter and Bob from the hatchery arrived soon after me. We gathered and discussed how the season has been before they left with the fish.
Here is a video of transporting this solid wild fish, which will hopefully produce many offsprings for this year’s hatchery program.
In the afternoon, Chris followed me around while I looked for my chromer. Apparently my roe chunks were not approved by the guide, who brought me some of his prawns and roe sacs.
At 3:30pm, the float finally took a dive. Somehow I hesitated and set the hook poorly, the result reflected that effort. No fish was going home today.
I arrived back to my car and discovered these broken glasses, which must have been from other cars that recently parked near me. It’s a reminder that all should pay extra attention on suspicious activities in parking lots along the Chilliwack River. Car thefts and break-ins continue to be a problem in this recreational corridor. Solutions?
Yesterday I followed Nick around with the video camera, hoping to capture a couple of chromers on film. It was also my first steelhead outing of the season. We managed to be pulled around by one massive fish, which Nick estimated to be around 18lb, for a minute before it spat the hook near shore. The river bank was still covered in thick snow. My toes were still purple when I hopped into the bath tub.
The milder and wetter weather in the next few days may either improve the fishing or turn the river unfishable. Good luck to all!
Today’s announcements
Lower Fraser Coho Conservation and Enhancement Initiative Recovery Plan Workshop
What is happening to wild salmon? Fort Langley (March 3rd) & Sechelt (March 5th)
Here is the second video clip that we have finished editing for STS Guiding Service. This video was filmed by my friend Svend, while I hauled in a smaller sturgeon of the day. Even though it was a foot shorter than the other fish that we connected that day, it was still quite stubborn and stayed down for a fair amount of time. If you are interested in the Fraser River Canyon whitewater jetboating and sturgeon fishing trip, then please email Vic Carrao. I highly recommend it! I will be adding this video to our video section in a day or two. YouTube has a tendency to compress our uploaded video so the quality offered in our video section is much better.
Well, it took several weeks of learning but either the Baltic sea trout are feeling sorry for me or I am starting to get a hang of it. Today I took advantage of the unusually warm weather once again and spent two hours at the harbour. Ten minutes before I had to end my trip, I felt that tug once again! This was not a silver fish like the one I caught two days ago, but a coloured fish that is still recovering from the late fall spawning. It was a rather large fish. What’s more interesting is how extended the lower jaw is compared to the top jaw. The lower jaw hook also seems worn out or broken. Judging by its size, Stig believes this was the same fish that he caught last week. He also believes that the lower hook in fact broke off because the fish he caught had a lower jaw that is so hooked that it was touching the nostrils. My thanks to Magic for taking the following photographs for me.
Last night we cooked up two pieces of the silver sea trout from Saturday. The taste was slightly different to pacific salmon, but it was very delicious. I seasoned the fillets with salt, pepper and lemon. They are baked at 200C with onion and butter for 20 minutes. These were served with pan fried potato and carrots.
2nd annual Trophy Hunter Steelhead Derby
The Trophy Hunter Steelhead Derby took place on the Chilliwack River yesterday (January 20th). 70 anglers participated, 6 hatchery steelhead were weighed in, and more importantly $1,400 was raised for the Sportfishing Defence Alliance. The weight of the winning fish was 13lb 5oz. Congratulations to Rick for organizing the event and everyone else who supported it.
Yesterday while fishing briefly down at the local harbour just before dusk, we saw at least 15 risers in front of us with no takers. Frustrated, I was lured back to the water once again this afternoon. The overnight wind storm has changed the water condition completely. Wind has brought a large volume of water into the narrow channel between the two islands around Copenhagen, causing a sudden surge of strong current. Water visibility was also reduced to about two feet, making fishing even more challenging than what it already has been. The tidal difference in the Baltic Sea is only around 0.5m. Amazingly, current in fjords and narrows are primarily caused by the wind.
As I walked from the bus stop to the harbour, Stig raced by me on his bicycle, he was quite energetic as usual. My fishing companions Lars and Alan were also there. This is a typical hangout for many anglers, who enjoy either doing a bit of fishing, practicing casting after work or simply socializing with friends. Having a viable fishery in this urbanized region benefits the community tremendously. Young anglers can access it with their bikes after school and improve their skills and knowledge on fishing under adult anglers guidance. The facility is set up so older anglers can access it without jeopardizing their own safety. Fish species commonly caught include sea trout, garfish, mackerel, cod and herring. Such productivity did not exist once when the harbour was void of life due to pollution, but cleanups done in recent years have finally drawn both fish and anglers back.
The work of course does not end here. While conversing with the locals the other day, Stig and Ryan informed me that the group has proposed to the City for a permanent floating dock and club house where it can be used as both a fishing platform and a casting pool by everyone. Urban projects such as this are truly inspiring, which make me wonder if the same can be done in the Tidal Fraser River where public access for fishing is becoming more limited due to the surge of development in Metro Vancouver.
Seeing how milky the water was, I decided to make some casts anyway. I made my way to the other side of the channel where Stig has had success last week, so I could cast into this pocket of slower water. Perhaps, just perhaps, a large sea trout would be avoiding the fast main channel and resting here. I detected a light bump on the first retrieve but came up empty when I set the hook. It was possibly a patch of seaweed. The rest of the guys continue socializing back at the usual spot on the other side of the channel. I spent the next twenty minutes or so casting and retrieving with some optimism.
Finally I felt another light tug. I yanked the rod back reluctantly, thinking that it was yet another clump of weed. It was definitely not a clump of weed, because the weight on the other end had sped away into the current! My brain immediately turned off from sleep to fighting mode. I pointed the rod back to keep it from entering the fast flow. The 9ft long light spinning rod was bent to the cork, indicating that it was a rather large fish. Thinking that it was yet another coloured sea trout that we have been catching, I was in shock when this massive silver body made its first of three leaps in front of me. By this point, the hands were already shaking from both the cold and excitement. I began screaming as loud as possible at the gang across from me, hoping someone would come over to lend a hand. Of course, being such a light talker, no one heard a word. Finally one person spotted the second leap, Ryan and Alan started running over. Stig was also on his way from the other side of the bridge after hearing the commotion. I held on carefully and kept the line tight as the fish surfaced and approached shoreline. Once Stig arrived, he proceeded to reach down to the rocks and found a good landing spot. With one firm grab, my first solid silver sea trout was beached. At last, after hours of trips across Denmark and Sweden, I managed to catch what I have been seeking for just ten minutes bus ride from our apartment.
The boys wanted me to keep my fine catch. There are many large spawning trout to produce the next generation after all, so the odd harvest is well appreciated. At first I was not so sure, because hauling this beast during the bus ride on the way home would not make me so popular. I was then convinced when Alan was kind enough to offer me a car ride back. The cameras came out to capture the moment. Ryan informed me that they only connect with a fish in this size several times each year. We estimated it to be between 8 and 10lb.
This fish exhibited all the classic physical features found on a sea trout - The longer lower jaw, the extended jaw to the back of its eyes, the square tail and of course black spots on its gill plates and silvery body.
While cleaning the fish, I opened up its stomach and found three partially digested sculpins in the four inch range, two sticklebacks, two shrimps and two sandworms that were still wiggling. Sea trout are such greedy predators, it’s no wonder that the hook is often swallowed when they are caught.
The big silver finally showed itself with only one more week of my stay left in Denmark. Persistence, or obsession, has once again been rewarded. Maybe there will be one more for me next week? I better not ask for more…
No more crabby nights
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has issued a night closure for crabbing in Area 28 (Burrard Inlet, Port Moody Arm and Indian Arm). Crab poaching has always been a problem in the saltwaters around Vancouver due to the popularity of this fishery. There are three common violations:
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Keeping undersized crabs
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Taking more crabs than you are allowed
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Keeping female crabs
By having night closures, it should make enforcement much easier since traps and fishermen are harder to spot in the dark. When you witness a violation, you should always call the ORR (observe, record, report) line at 1-800-465-4336. Remember, poaching is stealing from you because the resource belongs to every person in Canada.
A short bus ride to hungry trout
The weather was quite reasonable today in Copenhagen. Surprisingly, it has not gone sub-zero for many days as I had anticipated, which is a relief. Today’s wind was light with occasional sun peeks so I decided to take a ride down to the local harbour and make a few casts. Busses and trains are incredibly convenient in Copenhagen. People are forced to rely on them since cars are expensive (180% sale tax). The bus beside our apartment goes by once every ten minutes. Once I get on, I would be at the harbour in less than ten minutes, so it is in fact faster than driving as you have to consider the amount of time used to seek for a parking spot.
The locals have been taunting me with some emails about fish that were caught in the harbour last week. One of the regular hardcores, Stig, was into some of his biggest sea trout in his lifetime. The biggest one landed, was measured at 88cm long. That’s 35 inches! The estimated weight for this fish is 24lb.
Armed with some heavy flashy lures that I had just purchased, I too was hoping to connect with beasts similar in size. Stig was already hunting for more fish when I arrived. Ryan arrived soon after to practice his spey casts. It wasn’t long before Stig whistled from a fair distance away. We looked up. He waved his hand frantically while walking backward with a rather bent rod. A good size male sea trout he had on. Most of these fish are now starting to transform back to their ocean phase, losing the spawning colours.
I was able to hook one fish around the same size later on, but landing it was not to be today. The hook popped off near shore just as Ryan pulled out the camera for some action shots. Perhaps tomorrow, the weather looks fairly tolerable once again. Big hungry trout are only a short bus trip away, not many places can offer that.
It was untypical because there was a fish involved! Nina and I took advantage of the unusually warm weather and went back to one of Lars’ favorite spots today. It took us awhile to find it actually. We darted in and out of these small sleepy Danish towns and farms, until I eventually recognized the road where we were supposed to be on.
The sweetness was short lived. The fish grabbed the lure during the first ten minutes of this outing. I thought perhaps we were about to have a sensational day since these fish tend to travel in a school. That was not the case. We spent the next three hours doing the usual casting practice and sightseeing.
This fish followed the lure until it was just several feet away from my rod tip. As I was lifting the lure up, it decided to went for a greedy bite, causing a big swirl on the surface as my rod was pulled down. This also happened last weekend, making me think that I must have been missing quite a few fish by not paying attention when the lure made its way into the shallows.
The fight was brief but rather intense for a little fish. This was my first silver Danish sea trout from the beach, finally after around 30 hours of fishing since early December.
I had intended to release this fish at first, because we usually don’t keep fish over here to save the hassle of cleaning in a small apartment. Unfortunately a closer examination just after the first photo showed that the fish had taken the lure quite deeply, and blood was gushing out in great amount. I quickly took a measurement. It was just over 40cm, which is the legal size limit for sea trout in Denmark, so I decided to dispatch it.
Not only we were able to enjoy a fine meal out of it. I got some good ID photos because this fish exhibited these large dark spots that a silver sea trout typically has across its entire body. I guess now I have to wait 30 more fishing hours for sea trout number two?
I recently finished this video clip for STS Guiding Service. This is a rather large white sturgeon caught by my friend Magda from Denmark. It was from a trip to the Fraser Canyon that we took with Vic Carrao back in September 2007. This was in fact Magda’s first fish on a fishing rod! You can read more about this trip by going to this report. Sometimes this month, we’ll be putting up the full length video of the second part of this trip in our subscribers section. Please stay tuned!
Sunday January 6th marked the second 2008 fishing outing and my 6th Danish outing since my arrival several weeks ago. As usual, the FFFD gang picked me up at the doorstep just after first light. Such convenient service is really appreciated in a foreign country when you do not have vehicle access most of the time. We made our way to another favorite spot of theirs just one hour drive from Copenhagen.
Finally witnessing a beached fish on New Year Day has lifted my spirit and confidence. Perhaps there is a hope after all. The boys began joking about not being able to connect me with some fish so far, since apparently “the fishing has been fantastic here every year, you should have been here.” Perhaps this is one big practical joke that the Danes are playing on a Canadian fisherman? “Rod, there are only so few fish left in Denmark, so we have actually been taking you to all the spots that don’t have fish and save the rest of the fish for ourselves.”, Lars jokingly remarked when we arrived at the spot.
It was yet another lovely location. The elevated green field behind the beach provided a breathtaking lookout as we made our way down. A couple of farm houses gave me some good photographic opportunities.
The locals must be baffled everytime when I started snapping photos of their houses. Why on earth is this oriental man so fascinated with buildings? The truth is that you simply do not see structures like these in Canada, where we are so accommodated to tearing down poorly built housings after a couple of decades so we could erect bigger poorly built housings. Most of the houses here are several decades old, if not centuries, so each one has its own charm.
The four of us split up once we reached the beach and covered a large stretch of waters. An hour later, Jerk reported one rainbow trout being hooked, while Lars also spotted a couple of rainbow trout milling about. Svend and I got some fresh air.
Rainbow trout? You would think fjords of Denmark are the last places where these North American natives would be found. These are actually escapees from nearby trout farms. Just like Atlantic salmon farms on the coast of British Columbia, these escaped trout can be a problem. Invasive species are never good news. Beside transmitting diseases, predating and competing with native species, they can really spoil the fishing experience (kind of ironic coming from an angler who has been desperately trying to barb a fish in the last few weeks). Frankly, I believe the quality of a fishing location should be judged by how natural the resource is, otherwise it would be like fishing in a giant aquarium. The Great Lakes is a prime example of such ecological disasters. While British Columbia can be considered as the last natural wonderland, illegal introduction of Atlantic salmon, bass and northern pike could put an end to it without interventions.
We decided to make a move. Again, Jerk jokingly remarked, “Now that we have hooked a fish and know there are fish here, we need to move to keep the fish away from you.” I guess that’s what happens when your guides are not being paid.
The second beach was even longer than the first one. Once again we split up to cover all the spots. Lars took off so far until we could not see him. One has to wonder what was in the coffee to get a such a boost of energy in this harsh Nordic winter.
Today I decided to give a technique commonly used by local beach anglers. They are called Bombarda floats, which are weighted but carefully balanced so it provides good casting distance as well as a controlled sink. These are typically used by spin fishermen who wish to fish with a fly at times. The sliding float is threaded onto the main line, which is tied onto a swivel. A leader up to 8 feet is tied on, followed by the fly.
The floats come in different weights (10, 15, 20, 25, 30 grams) and different densities (float, intermediate, sinking). On any given day, these could be advantageous as they allow the anglers to cover their waters with a fly much more efficiently. For pseudo-flyfishermen such as myself, who can barely reach 40 feet without hitting the back of my head, these are really handy.
My first taste of the presence of fish came around one hour after covering a stretch of weedbed. When my fly reached the shallows during one retrieve, I briefly spotted one fish following behind it. Perhaps it also spotted me, because it turned around, made a swirl and darted away immediately. Excited, I quickly attempted another cast, but I had forgotten to open the bail on the spinning reel so all I could watch was my Bombarda float flying away like an egg after the dreadful snap. Good thing no one around me saw that.
I then decided to give the trusty metal lure a try. Svend stood nearby and watched, probably wondering why I was spending so much time at one spot. Within a couple of casts, I felt a distinct bite and set the hook. The fish made a couple of kicks on my rod and freed itself before I even had a chance to scream, “Fish on!”
That pretty much sums up another beach outing in Denmark, with a couple of brief encounters. Disappointed? Absolutely not, since each trip has allowed me to absorb local knowledge and fine-tune the techniques. A hook-up also suggests this might not be a conspiracy created by the Danes to hide their fish from this Canadian after all.
Of course, we cannot finish this entry without yet another beach shot.
Happy New Year everyone! Today I had the pleasure to fish with a few fine gentlemen from the Federation of Fly Fishers Denmark. The FFFD is an governing body that is close to 1,000 members strong. Not only does it assist those who wish to become better flyfishers, it spends considerable amount of time, effort and money on rebuilding stream habitat.
Henrik gave me a buzz on the phone a few days ago and suggested a trip to the Swedish Coast on New Year Day. Knowing that I would be incredibly tired from the celebration on the night before, I reluctantly agreed. The Swedish Coast is always closed for fishing from late fall until December 31st, so tackling it on opening day is always a good bet since the fish are not hook-shy.
As expected, the sky over Copenhagen lit up just after midnight with fireworks. In no other cities have I seen people who are so obsessed with fireworks. It baffles me that most people here are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a few rockets that take less than a minute to blow up. I, on the other hand, enjoy watching all the explosions without spending a dime. Check out the view from our apartment at 12:30am.
With all the commotion outside, I could not fall asleep until 4:00am. At 7:45am, Henrik was ready to pick me up downstairs. Still recovering from a minor flu since Christmas, as well as lacking some serious sleep hours, fishing was certainly not on my mind for once. Nevertheless, I convinced myself to tag along because an opportunity to fish in Sweden does not come by often.
We met up with Lars, Svend and Jerk (pronounced York, or Yurk, so I have been told) at the usual meeting spot. Five of us squeezed into Lars’ wagon and over the bridge we went. The drive was actually less than one hour long. The Southern Coast of Sweden is just on the other side of the Baltic Sea. We picked a spot that has the high hills behind the beach to block the gusty Northerly wind. Getting ready on top of the windy hill was not fun. Still recovering from the wild parties, everyone sluggishly suited up.
By the time we made it down to the hill, I was feeling worse than when we left Copenhagen. I made a few casts once awhile, spent most of the time sitting and visualizing the warm bed. The section that Henrik, Lars and I picked to fish was rather dirty. Seaweed covered the shoreline and water was fairly coloured. After two hours, Jerk phoned from the other end of the beach and reported connection with one fish. The news of a catch always lifts the spirit. We packed up quickly and headed toward where Jerk, or the fish, was.
Miraculously, I seemed to have fully recovered by the time we reached the other end. Perhaps it was the 20 minute walk, or the fresh cold wind, or the news of a fish being caught, I was just glad that I could finally concentrate on the fishing. The water was much cleaner and the depth change from shore seemed to be bigger too. This is always a good thing because it means little or no wading is required.
To make a long story short, I once again did not connect with a single sea trout. Jerk, on the other hand, was able to get into four fish! He is after all the president of the FFFD. One of them was a big kelt while the other three were bright silver fish. These silver fish, still a year or two away from their first spawn, are known as grønlænders.
He decided to keep one of the fish since it had swallowed the fly completely. I was offered the fish, but I politely declined. I think my first kept sea trout should be the one that I catch, in the meantime pastries, pork and potato will have to do.
Beside Jerk’s sea trout, we also saw a couple of fish taken by two Swedish locals, as well as a 2kg Atlantic cod, which is always a bonus when fishing from the beach.
This winter Baltic sea trout fishing business will most likely take many more years for me to understand and appreciate. It pretty much takes the phrase “that’s fishing, catching is a bonus” to a new level. For an angler who has never experienced it, one would either admire the persistence of those who do it, or simply think they are out of their mind. It’s kind of like steelheading, except there are a gazillion times more water to cover.
Martin Joergensen of Global Flyfisher recently wrote a depressing, yet funny (to his readers), blog entry which pretty much sums up my frustration and curiosity.
“A bunch of good friends and myself have been logging all trips and catches since 2003. This log now contains information about 900 trips (1715 man trips since we were more than one person on most trips) that produced 2688 fish altogether. That’s 3 fish per day and 1.6 fish per person per day - on the average. We had 354 skunked trips in that period - a whole year worth of skunked trips in 5 years! One third of all trips were fishless! Yikes!”
Who on earth would want to wade across several kilometers of frigid water and be battered by strong Arctic wind while waving the feather stick for an extremely slim possibility of one tug? Apparently the Scandinavians would.
It was ridiculously windy over here as usual. We fished briefly just after lunch. This sea trout swallowed the 15 gram lure, cleared the water twice, made a few long runs and kept us scrambling on the rocks to find a good landing spot. It was not exactly the nicest fish. The locals call these “black fish”, which are post spawners. They are pretty common even in fjords and harbours this time of the year. Oh well, I sent it back after a couple of photos. Bring on the silver ones please.
A large high pressure has hovered around Denmark for over a week now. You would think that translates into clear, sunny sky. Instead, we just had dense fog and subzero temperature. The weather is expected to turn in the next few days as the high pressure moves on, meaning we will be back to milder but typically windier weather once again. Ryan, Lars and I took adventage of the last calm day by visiting the local beach.
There are no fish to report once again unfortunately. We spotted some large rainbow trout that escaped from nearby farms as we waded through the weedbeds. A few followed the fly, but none committed.
The photos pretty much sum it up - Foggy, grey, cold and fishless. These almost look black and white.
Today we had a change of scenery. I was guided by two local avid beach fishermen who are constantly chasing sea trout. Sea trout, or migratory brown trout, is a rather fascinating species with a complex life history. As adults, they spend time feeding in the fjords or ocean and return to their natal streams when spawning. This is somewhat similar to pacific salmonids, except the timing of return is irregular. Some may choose to stay in the marine environment for an extra year until condition favours spawning. As a result, the size variation of fish caught on the beach is quite significant throughout the year.
Henrik and Lars decided to take me to a new location where I have not seen in the southern part of Zealand. Apparently the fishing during the week was good for some locals, who managed to land up to 25 fish on spinning gear. It means nothing really, since sea trout are constantly on the move. They follow the food source and seek out pockets of warmer water during the winter months. Well, appparently food and warm baths were further away from the beaches today, because we did not hit a single fish. The key was to cast into the darker weed patches, retrieve, and take one step and repeat the process. This ensures that the entire beach section is thoroughly fished. It’s basically steelhead fishing, except with a million gallons more water.
I managed to take some photos of the coastline, which is quite typical around Denmark. Notice the clay erosion on some of the small cliffs. It is an ongoing process caused by rain, freezing and melting.
Today’s announcement
BERRY’S FLY TYING CLASS 2008
Sign up now, for our 4 week, fly tying class.
Beginner class specializing in trout patterns. All tools and materials are supplied and included in the course fee (tools are on loan). The class fee is $ 100.00 and payable in advance of the class starts date. All students enrolled in the class will be eligible to purchase all fly tying materials at 10% off regular price for the duration of the class.
The next classes are slated to begin on Friday Jan 11th, 2008, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm here at the shop. Class will run through until Feb 1st, 2008 (last class).
This class will focus on Trout flies to get you ready for ice off!
- Class size is generally from 6-10, depending upon enrollment, minimum 5 people.
- Instructor: Matt Suzuki
- Flies covered include:
- Tom Thumb
- Half/ Full Back
- Wooly Bugger
- Doc Spratley
- Hare’ Ear
- Mickey Finn
- Pheasant Tail Nymph
Sign-up by visiting Berry’s Bait and Tackle, phone 604-273-5901 or email support@berrysbait.com.
Well, we ventured out to the fishing ground for the first time since we arrived in Denmark a few days ago. The weather was surprisingly mild, sunny and CALM. Persistent wind can really drive you crazy on this island nation at times. Today, we could cast in all directions without worrying about being blown around. The glassy water surface was also relaxing to look at. We visited a river where we have fished regularly. It produces sea trout, northern pike, european perch and a few other coarse fish species. Today, the target species are the three predatory fish mentioned above. Fishing can be good in the winter. The temperature is low, fish are not as mobile, so only big food items would tempt a strike.
Cost of fishing this river is much higher than what would cost to fish in BC. Beside the CAD$30 annual license, a day card that costs CAD$15 is also required.
Anyway, perhaps it was the nice weather, the fishing was not exactly spectacular. The first few hours were unproductive. Once the river was shaded in the afternoon, I managed to hook a small northern pike, which managed to wiggle itself into the weeds. I was able to pull it out, but the hook popped off when I carelessly horsed it to shore in the end.
We also explored a new section of the river, where I missed a few more good takes. Just when we were about to call it a day, I somehow foul-hooked a poor bream, which gave me some of its snot-like slime before I sent it back to the drink.
Beach fishing for sea trout tomorrow. Perhaps we will have better luck there.
Today’s announcement
Thomas at TNT Marine is looking to see what kind of interest there is in a jet boat association for the Fraser Valley and southwestern BC. As number of jet boaters grows significantly each year, there seems to be guidance needed for newcomers and people who have been boating for years.
Jet boating is becoming more and more popular each year, we have noticed that a lot of people are not only using their boats for fishing but for a little bit of everything. He will be having an open house at TNT MARINE on January 19th 2008 at 3:00pm.
This will be a trial to see how many people are interested in forming an association. You can email Thomas at thomasr@t-n-tmarine.com if you are going to attend, or just show up.
