Manny and Bozi had a great chance to try out some awesome Pink Salmon fishing on the Mamquam River. By late afternoon the Squamish winds had really kicked up so casting a fly was a challenge as the line would often pile up on the back cast. Bozi was a quick study and after a few lessons graduated to hooking and landing his own fish in short order.
Manny got the feel of casting a sink tip and soon both were landing fish with even a double header to make things interesting. Click here to see Manny's Tilt with a feisty Pink. A fast sinking tip with a weighted chartreuse fly was the formula which works so well for Pinks.
By the end of the afternoon, we had some great fish for the barbeque. Bozi talked about some family recipee that would use pink roe, seasoning and other things in a blender to make a type of patee.......haven't tried it yet but with the great roe from the females it looked like he was going to have something to put on crackers.
While the Squamish is open, the pink run is maturing and there are noticeably fewer silver fish, but with two high tides in the afternoon there are fish in the water that will take a fly. With the continued dry weather, the Mamquam has dropped again considerably and as of today August 22nd, 2015 THE MAMQUAM is CLOSED TO FISHING TILL FURTHER NOTICE.
This means, it is only the main stem of the Squamish River which is still open to pinks. So, bottom line, check your regulations and fisheries notices as this drought continues.
The Fraser on the other hand has gone into full closure for salmon fishing. With the high temperatures, low flows and very low Sockeye numbers the Department of Fisheries shut down all the salmon fishing. This was likely due to the drop in numbers and the insistence on lots of fisherman to use the bottom bouncing technique. This doesn't discriminate between species and so the risks to Sockeye were too great. As you can see in the graph below, the green line shows the sockeye numbers are way below 2010 or 2014.
This means, it is only the main stem of the Squamish River which is still open to pinks. So, bottom line, check your regulations and fisheries notices as this drought continues.
The Fraser on the other hand has gone into full closure for salmon fishing. With the high temperatures, low flows and very low Sockeye numbers the Department of Fisheries shut down all the salmon fishing. This was likely due to the drop in numbers and the insistence on lots of fisherman to use the bottom bouncing technique. This doesn't discriminate between species and so the risks to Sockeye were too great. As you can see in the graph below, the green line shows the sockeye numbers are way below 2010 or 2014.
With the closure on salmon, the impact on Chinook this year and four years from now could be very great. This year's Chinook numbers seem to be peaking well above last year and if they survive the run upstream with no sport or first nation food/ceremonial catch, there might be a good survival this year.
So as we head into the end of August, it looks like with the continuing hot weather, the rivers are continuing to drop and the number of fish under stress are increasing. Therefore, with a week to go till people start thinking about the labor day weekend, unless it rains, it will be salt water fishing and perhaps just the main stem Squamish River. Here's hoping it rains soon!
So as we head into the end of August, it looks like with the continuing hot weather, the rivers are continuing to drop and the number of fish under stress are increasing. Therefore, with a week to go till people start thinking about the labor day weekend, unless it rains, it will be salt water fishing and perhaps just the main stem Squamish River. Here's hoping it rains soon!
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