A recent day on the Squamish River proved to be a wildlife viewing day as even the swans were enjoying the weather which reached a balmy 6 Celcius.

The day was perfect as the clouds looked like puffs of cotton balls and the river was just the perfect clarity for fishing.

The day turned out to be a cornucopia of animal tracks near one of my favorite fishing holes.  A herd of four moose were the first set of tracks I came across which cut across the sandbanks and wandered up into the willows.  Next I came across wolf tracks that were large enough for me to not want to be near them.  About 5 km further downstream another set of moose tracks caught my attention and a little further away, two sets of cougar tracks, one as large as my hand.  The story in sand showed that the moose had gone from a walk to a trot and the cougars had obviously gotten excited as their tracks laid out several circles before heading into the willows after the moose.

This  was all watched over by the ubiquitous eagles with some trees holding eleven or more birds.  This fellow had just finished off feeding on a salmon he had lifted to the top of a dead tree.  At the base of the tree about a dozen coho were focused on spawning with the bucks vigorously defending their territory.

Were there any fish?  Well yes, though the number of salmon were down they still hit the fly with surprising aggression.  One pool yielded a few bull trout that chased the fly to the shore.

And like every good day, the fisherman has to ride off into the sunset over Howe Sound!

 What a perfect way to start off the 2014 Fishing season then heading up the Pitt River and landing some sturgeon! Every Year Fraser Legends Fishing donates some trips (See charitable)  Gavin cashed in a trip won by his mother in a bidding auction at North Shore Alliance Church to raise funds for building an orphanage in Mexico.  100% of the bid funds went to building the orphanage and Gavin invited Nicole to join him on today's trip.  Nicole was on deck but Gavin was up to bat first and he very quickly had the first fish of the day (and a good one at that) on the line.  He felt the very strong pull but it managed to spit the hook.  That moved Nicole up to the plate and it didn't take long and she landed the first Fraser Legends Fishing Sturgeon of 2014.

Gavin's second fish broke the leader and he landed his third fish after a good tilt and was ready for more.
Click to see Gavin battle his fish.
Click to see Gavin land his fish.

Nicole was not to be out done and the 5th of 6 fish today was a fine one! Did she beat Gavin? Well you will have to ask Nicole!

A warm sunny day in January on the Pitt River in British Columbia just a half hour away from Vancouver with good friends and the sturgeon were biting. Does it get any better than that?!?