Welcome to a wet start to Sept! This year, there was no doubt about the end of summer. Even late yesterday afternoon the rolling thunder following the frequent lightening we could see outside the store was a reminder of what we have enjoyed AND what is coming.

That being said, fishing has been AMAZING. Fresh pinks being caught off Furry Creek, Birkenhead fishing well (when not hit by flash floods). Fraser river opening after being closed to protect the precious sockeye run. Lake fishing coming back into the picture! The local salt from W. Van down to the Sandheads has been consistently producing good numbers of Chinook from low teens to 30+lb!

September is AMAZING local fishing. We have had a great start to the month as you will see in our saltwater report. Call Bryce at 778-788-8582 to book your charter now!!

Pictured Above: Nothing like kissing your first salmon!

Labour Day Chinook Classic was AGAIN an amazing success!! While I do work for Jason Tonelli I have no shame in tipping my hat to a man that works harder than most people I have met in my life and successfully was the driving force behind another successful event!

Photo #1: Ken Bowden with his winning check for $25!!

The winning fish weighed in at just over 38lb! That works out to about $650 per pound!

The DFO sent out another updated Fraser River Opening allowing anglers to fish for Chinook, pink, chum etc. We implore all anglers to respect the fragility of the current sockeye run and REFRAIN from fishing the Fraser River with methods that are known to hook sockeye as well. You can successfully target the species open for retention while minimizing the chances of hooking sockeye. Do not be selfish or naïve. Ask, fish properly and legally and help to protect fisheries that we want to flourish for years to come.

Stillwater Report:
The fall weather is here. Colder nights, cooler days and the lake fishing should be getting more consistent. I stopped by Courtney Lake on the way home from Penticton last Sunday and while I was there I saw several nice size rises and boils of trout. Fall patterns that are popular are leeches, damsels, dragon fly and yes, chironomids! A quick read of a Brian Chan Fall Lake Fishing article to prep you is found on BC Adventure website.

River Reports:

Skagit:
The water has been dropping but we are forecast for solid rain over the weekend and the river is expected to rise. We had a number of reports this last week with anglers hitting bull trout and rainbows, though it seems that the rainbow reports are father and farther between. With changing weather patterns, we expect the green drake hatch to kick into gear soon. We will have to watch the water levels but we expect good things this next week. For the green drake hatch, I love parachute style flies in olive fished with a light 10 ft 5 lb leader. For the bull trout we use 10-12 ft fast sink tip with olive, brown and or white streamer patterns from 2-4 inches long. Fish these guys with a 5 ft leader of 8-10 lb.

Birkenhead River:
The Birk is up from last week and fairly coloured up, which has made wading and fishing more tough. The bulls are very aggressive and so are the rainbows. Fishing egg patterns behind the spawning Sockeye and Chinook is a very effective method to target these fish. The bulls also like flashy streamers when the water is coloured up like it is now. Expect the rainbow fishing to pick up when the water clears and more salmon start to spawn. Make sure to carry bear spray and make lots of noise while walking from spot to spot.

Fraser River:(courtesy Brian McKinlay)
Sturgeon:
As the Pink salmon flood the Fraser river so the Big Sturgeon go on their feeding frenzy and thus we have experienced some incredible days on the river recently! This trend should continue over the next few weeks. Fish of 500 lbs have been encountered and those monsters of 1,000 are in the river!

Salmon
The most recent forecast for Fraser Pink salmon is over 20 million and climbing daily! We are seeing fish a bit bigger than normal, many are 6-8 lbs with a few 10's thrown in. Lots and lots of pinks is meaning really good catches and people going home with limits of 4/day. Take up home canning and enjoy them over the next year or so. Chinooks should open any day now in the non-tidal and we are eager to start hooking those hogs of later September-early October, the ones that reach 50+ lbs.

Photo #2: Fraser Pink
A note about bottom bouncing: there is no need to BB, Pinks and Chinook are excellent biters. BB is the ONLY fishing method that can catch a Fraser Sockeye and that is why DFO was forced to close the river for 2 weeks and punish those who make a living by using selective sport fishing techniques. When there is no retention for Sockeye then one should be putting away the BB gear and learning to fish selectively and using true sport fishing methods that get fish to bite if you want these river closures to go away.

Be safe on the water and be friendly.

Brian McKinlay: owner/head guide since 1996
Silversides Fishing Adventures

Chilliwack River:
Farewell to the summer and its sunny days. We are here with the rain, thunder and lightning. With a blast of early water this season, some fish poked their noses into the lower reaches of the river.

Photo #3: Vedder BBQ
Pink salmon, adult and jack chinook and a hand full of coho were likely to have entered the system. As the month grows older and the rain pounds harder, the higher water levels with the peak migration of the salmon bio mass will likely show up the last 2 weeks of September. Millions of pinks and thousands of coho, chinook, and chum salmon will charge their way into the river.

Photo #4: Dimitri sawing logs on the Vedder
Adjusting your terminal tackle as well as your presentation to the conditions will make all the difference in your success this fall. First and foremost the key to catching fish comes down to being out and on the water. All the other small technicalities fall in behind at a close second.

Signing out,
Dimitri

Thompson River:
The fishing for rainbows has slowed down significantly since we fished it a few weeks ago. Still got about 8-10 fish on Cali blondes through the mid morning- afternoon. Saw a few sockeye pushing through, so no doubt the rainbows are following them up the river.

The took the smaller patterns more easily and had limited success with golden stone nymphs.

On a different note we fished the Canim river yesterday and Hooked at least 30 fish on dry flies in about 3 hours. AWEsome fishery, great easy wading river with no pressure.

Over and out
Peter Kaal