Bill E Goat and Bulls on the Squamish

The first full day of spring on the Squamish proved to be just what the Dr. ordered as the day dawned crisp and bright and the coffee picked up on the way to the river hit the spot.  While we didn't hear of any Steelhead in the lower end, today was a day to head to the upper end.  Last week in the mid section of the river the pink fry were starting to hatch but not in great numbers and there weren't any mergansers out chasing them yet.  This week the mergansers were out on the mid section but we were heading up to the headwaters.  A check of the river level showed we are heading into what is traditionally the lowest and clearest flow period of the year.  In other words, the best conditions for fishing the Squamish in the winter/spring transition.

(To check river levels, just click on the links on the from page and then enter the dates to see what your river is doing)

The first order of the day was to see if the mountain goats had come down to their winter range on the lower canyon cliffs.  To our delight we were not disappointed and the spotting scope picked up this fabulous billy goat in his finest winter apparel.  He looked just stunning with the long horns, big beard and beautiful shaggy leggings.  He was pretty comfortable on his rocky craig and not too worried about us.

In the upper reaches of the river, there were no salmon fry to be seen.  As I was not up here in the fall, I couldn't be sure if the salmon had really spawned in this section.  The first pool of the day did not produce but a nice run further upstream proved to be the days bonanza as far as bull trout were concerned.  I switched from a small pink fly pattern to my larger trout/salmon smolt pattern and the first fish of the day proved to be a feisty one.

I was pleasantly surprised when he didn't exactly fit into the net but after a few quick pics he took off back into the pool like he knew exactly where he was going.  ​Shortly after the first fish, another hit the minnow hard but I missed setting the hook and was more than a little upset with myself at having possibly poked the fish and spooked it.

  However, I re-looped the fly line and let it rip out into the current and as it drifted by the same spot the line stopped as if hooked on a snag.  I set the hook and the snag took flight, bending the rod and making the reel sing my favorite song.  The battle was a worthy one and I finally got him to the bank and Gabe to a few pics for posterity.  This turned out to be the biggest fishof the day.  I moved out of the stream and let Gabe have at her.  After a few casts, his rod arched and the battles resumed in earnest.

After a couple of nice bulls, Gabe gave up the spot to go wander into the bush to find another run where he encountered two more fish.  I stepped back into my spot and three more nice fish gave my rod a work out!

These bull trout are just beautiful with the white and salmon colored spots, white strips on their pectoral fins and they are so shiny they blank out the camera as the light reflects off their silver sides.  Eventually I made it to the end of the run and it didn't disappoint as the second largest fish of the day hammered the minnow pattern.

This fish used his weight to good use and bent the rod for a few minutes and refused to come in.  He was just not quite as large as my second fish of the day but still had a lot of trouble fitting into the net.  However the day was not done yet.

We were starting to run late as we hadn't even come down to the run we had originally intended to fish.  So I gave Gabe some casting room and stepped in about 50 yards downstream of him.  Again, the first cast proved to be in the money as this time instead of yanking down in classic bull trout fashion a nice silver bullet shot out of the water and I could see the flash of the red rainbow along its side.   While not breaking any weight records it was nice to get a rainbow in the mix.  Hefting my daypack onto my back we headed downstream towards the jeep.  I couldn't by pass a delicious looking strip right beside a fast moving ripple and two of the three casts hit fish that managed to spit the hook before I could see them.   With the fish above average in size and two, at 22 and 23 inches it was, another great spring day on the Squamish.....Tight lines!