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The previous entries will remain in this section, until I figure out how, or become motivated enough, to move them to the new blog home. See you over there!
It was yet another great weekend to catch up with friends and meet new faces at this year’s Fraser Valley Boat & Sportsmen’s Show.
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.
The Fraser Valley Boat & Sportsmen’s Show is happening this weekend (March 7th - 9th) and we look forward to meet and talk to some of the readers! I will be stationing at the DNE Fishing booth most of the weekend, so please drop by for a chat. For more information about the show, please visit:
Rodney Hsu
Webmaster, Fishing with Rod Production
A couple of weeks ago we spent several hours filming Steve at the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery spawning some coastal cutthroat trout. I’ve put together a ten minute video on the process. This is actually our March subscribers’ video but we usually release one per year for public viewing. I’ve put this one up for all to view as it is quite informative.
Each month, we feature a 10 minute video diary in our subscribers section. Subscription is $20.00/year or $35.00/two years. If you would like to subscribe, please go to:
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/shop/subscription.html
Enjoy!
Rodney Hsu
Webmaster
The last coho salmon of 2007 was hooked up after a heavy snowfall in late November. At first it appeared to be a coho jack, but it turned out to be a small and rather bright adult after closer examination. This is a segment of February 2008’s video diary “Late Season Coho Tactics” for subscribers.
Can’t catch steelhead but still want to touch them? Then a job at the local hatchery is perfect for you! Today we spent several hours at the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery in Abbotsford to capture some footages for an upcoming video feature. Operated by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC, this hatchery does not only produce rainbow trout for lakes but is also responsible for the steelhead brood program of several rivers across the Lower Mainland. Our objective today was to film the cutthroat trout spawning process, but the hatchery staff also demonstrated some steelhead spawning. Here are some photos for a preview.
While the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery is exclusively operated by paid staffs, there are many community hatcheries in the Lower Mainland that are constantly looking for volunteers to perform spawning, egg sorting, fish feeding and general cleaning duties. For more information, please contact your DFO community advisor and ask him or her to provide you some contacts.
http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/community/contacts/ca_e.htm
My friend Orla Bertram-Nielsen recently did a short article on my Danish fishing ventures in a Danish angling website. If you can read it, the link to the article is:
http://www.sportsfiskeren.dk/nyheder/Nyheder_2008/Februar/Rod_Hu/
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC has just released its Lower Mainland Feature Lake Guide. This comprehensive guide is a 24-page PDF file that is free for download. It covers the fishing season, methods, map and directions of many productive lakes in the Lower Mainland.
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC is a non-profit organization who works in partnership with the provincial government to deliver the fish stocking program as well as providing conservation fish culture services that support steelhead and sturgeon recovery programs.
Lower Mainland lakes are typically stocked by the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery between late March and early June, and again between late September and early December. Most of the rainbow trout stocked are between 12 and 16 inches in length. Due to high catch rates, It is a fantastic urban fishery for everyone, especially young, entry level, disabled and retired anglers.
Natalie West from the society will be talking about this fishery and answering your questions at this year’s Fraser Valley Boats and Sportsmen’s Show. For stocking updates, we will once again be hosting the trout stocking database so be sure to check back in late March. Here are some related video clips.
That ain’t no bull trout! Nina finds her biggest coho salmon on the end of her line. This is a segment of February 2008’s video diary “Late Season Coho Tactics” for our subscribers.
YouTube has a tendency to downgrade the video quality. We have the same video on our website at higher quality, please click here to view.
February’s video diary has now been uploaded to our subscribers section! This month features “Late season coho tactics” with Marco and I attempting to explain and demonstrate how to entice some silvers in November. We actually succeeded and have a few fish to show!
Subscribers, go straight to the videos…
Here is a preview!
I hope you will enjoy this one!
Rodney Hsu
Webmaster, Fishing with Rod Production
Boat show tickets give-away
Vancouver International Boat Show is back at BC Place and False Creek Yacht Club on February 6th to 10th, 2008. We have at least five pairs of show tickets to give away to our subscribers. If you are a subscriber and are interested in the tickets, please send an email to info@fishingwithrod.com with the phrase “Vancouver Boat Show tickets” in the subject field. Ticket winners will be notified by email on January 30th, 2008.
STS Guiding Service’s winter seminars
This year STS Guiding Service is offering 3 scheduled seminars; these seminars are our most popular seminars that sell out year after year.
Our first seminar is the Jet Boat Clinic, we are offering two dates: March 22nd & 23rd. More information…
Our second seminar is the Sturgeon workshop, come learn from the pros how to catch sturgeon on a consistent basis. There are 2 classes to choose from: April 5th & 12th. More information…
Our 3rd and final seminar is our popular fly-casting lessons; this is a 3-day seminar with two dates to choose from. More information…
Vedder winter steelhead seminars
STS Guide Gerry Dewar has been doing well and reports his 14th fish this season, a 11 lb buck that was dinner last night. Gerry says the crowds on the weekend were pretty bad but that has cleared up a bit.
We are not offering our 3-day steelhead seminar this winter but instead we are offering a 1-day steelhead seminar with Gerry. The cost this 1-day on the river seminar with one of the Vedder’s top steelhead anglers is $250 for 1 person or $375 for 2 anglers.
To sign up for any of the above seminars, please contact Vic Carrao.
Pacific Angler Spey Course with Dana Sturn
Pacific Angler is pleased to announce its 3rd Pacific Angler Spey Course with FFF certified instructor Dana Sturn accompanied by Jason Tonelli. This two-part course is designed with the beginner to intermediate spey caster in mind.
The first part of the course is from 7:00pm - 9:30pm at Pacific Angler. During this time we will discuss the different rods, reels, and lines available today, proper gear set up, and different casting strokes. This will be followed by a question and answer period.
The second part of the course is on the water casting instruction for 8 hours. We will travel by jet boat to a location where we will practice river left and river right casts. All the major casting styles will be covered. You will learn Spey casts that will allow you to go out and fish with two-handed rods.
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.
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.
With the steelhead season in full swing, your chance of having the winning catch is rather big this weekend. This Sunday, January 20th, will be the second annual Fundraising Steelhead Derby in Chilliwack. The money raised will be donated to the Sportfishing Defence Alliance, which actively ensures that your sportfishing opportunities are preserved on the political field.
If you plan to attend and have not done so, please email organizer Rick Lewis. There will be a post-derby BBQ at 1:30pm, where awards and prizes will be presented. Frank Kwak from the Sportfishing Defence Alliance will also be on site to receive the donation raised. The BBQ is a potluck, so please check with Rick what food or drink items he still needs. There is an ongoing discussion about this derby in our discussion forum too if interested.
Event name: 2nd Annual Fundraising Steelhead Derby
Date: Sunday, January 20th, 2008
Derby cost: $25.00 (includes one draw prize ticket and Derby baseball hat)
Additional draw ticket cost: $5.00
Sign-up time and location: 6:00am - 7:00am at Reaction Fly and Tackle
Weigh-in, prizes, BBQ time and location: 1:30pm at Cedar Run (approximately 5 minute drive from the Tamahi Bridge)
Here is the prize list:
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One Fenwick Canadian Methods centerpin rod with one Okuma Aventa VT 1000 centerpin reel
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One pair of Grizzly Creek neoprene waders (with boot attachment)
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Two Fishing with Rod annual subscriptions
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Two assorted river fishing terminal tackle packages
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Two assorted spinner packages
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One Daiwa spinning rod and reel combo
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Five packages of spinners (8 in each pack - 2 red, 2 gold, 2 blue and 2 green)
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Three sets of DNE balsa floats and float stoppers.
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Stealth Fishing floats
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Nine copies of “Knotty Girls - A fisherman’s guide to tying knots”
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Pioneer Dryking 3 in 1 fishing vest/jacket
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One high end centerpin blank and rod building labour cost of the blank
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Six $25.00 service gift certificates to Express Reel Service (reel service,wader repair,felt sole replacement)
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T-shirts
This event is always generously supported by local businesses:
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Allwaysfishin Custom Rod Building
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Campbell Distributors
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Hatch Match’r Fly and Tackle
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High Tide Hunter Fishing Adventures
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Highwater Tackle
Good luck on Sunday! Here are some photographs from last year’s derby.
Broodstock collection begins
The Chilliwack River steelhead broodstock collection program will be starting today. With some good catches being reported lately, a few volunteer anglers should be able to bring some fish to the hatchery today, as long as the river holds. This broodstock collection involves a large number of angling hours. Volunteers are chosen based on their years of experience, which translates into catch success. 70 wild steelhead need to be collected between now and April to keep the hatchery program going. You can read more about this by going to this article.
Flood control or profit making?
On a less positive note, gravel extraction in the Fraser River is also scheduled to begin this week. The official intent of this operation is to minimize flood threat, which many anglers, river stewards, hydrologists, biologists do not buy into. The public seems to have been made to believe that gravel is building up in the Lower Fraser River, where in fact the gravel is shifting downstream as it has for millions of years. Gravel bars maybe building up at new locations, but people seem to forget that the gravel bars existing in previous years are either shrinking or have disappeared. If flood is truly a great concern, why isn’t there an intense focus on protecting headwaters and forests further upstream where water should be absorbed to keep the discharge steady? I guess the most visible, profitable solution is always the best solution.
Gravel is a key component to most freshwater fish’s spawning habitat. Take it away, we shall see less salmon and sturgeon in the river. Poor gravel extraction practice could also lead to ecological disasters such as a massive fish kill. Most of the juvenile salmon are just starting to hatch from their eggs in the gravel right now. Any change in their environment could easily jeopardize their survival. In February 2006, a similar operation, monitored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, did just that. Millions of eggs and alevins were killed due to dewatering of a section of the Fraser River.
You want to catch salmon in the future? Be proactive now and stop what is taking place. Thankfully, there are dedicated individuals who are pressing on to fight against these operations. Chris Gadsden and his colleagues from the Fraser Valley Salmon Society and the Sportfishing Defence Alliance will be once again monitoring these operations as they take place. They will document by photographs and videos. If you wish to join him to lessen the work load, please email him at gadsden@shaw.ca. There are also other ways you can help. By joining the Fraser Valley Salmon Society, you can voice your opposition more strongly. Letters to your local MLAs and MPs should also be written. You can follow this year’s gravel extraction progress on this page.
Classes in session!
The fishing is generally slower in Southern British Columbia between January and April. Many tacklestores usually use this period as an opportunity to offer classes to both entry-level and experienced anglers who wish to improve. In the next two months, there are many flyfishing related classes that you can attend. These classes will help you in the upcoming stillwater trout season in May and June. To find out more, please go to this page.
Berry’s Bait and Tackle is hosting two steelhead fishing clinics in February. These clinics are taught by one of the best instructors you can ask for, Peter MacPherson. Peter is a Chilliwack local who has decades of steelhead fishing experience on the Chilliwack River. If you are interested in attending, please go to this page.
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!
I just finished updating the 2008 event calendar. If your sportfishing/conservation/stewardship-related community event is not listed, please email us at info@fishingwithrod.com with the following information:
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Event name
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Date and location
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Brief description of activities hosted at the event
I am always interested in sponsoring a worthy event as well, in the form of website design and hosting. If your event does not have a permanent website and needs more publicity, please feel free to email me and we can discuss further.
Rodney Hsu
Webmaster, Fishing with Rod Production
Enjoy stuffing yourself with the turkey and the stuffings tonight!
Welcome! This is simply my attempt to keep our readers more updated on new additions of our website, as well as sharing some interesting stories that take place at our trips in the future. I’m still playing around with its layout and deciding what content I wish to include in here, so please stay tuned.
Rodney Hsu
Webmaster - Fishing with Rod
