Sturgeon Wraslin!

When the weather gets hot and tough, the tough go fishin!  It wasn't crowded on the Fraser and it was a perfect day to get out on the water.

With the hot weather and the Fraser still closed to salmon fishing it doesn't mean there is nuthin to do.  Ernst called up and wanted to know if there was a chance to get out on the water and enjoy the sunshine and maybe some sturgeon fishing.  And a good day it was as Ernst got into some serious wrestling matches most of which he was the eventual winner!  There was consistent breaching of fish throughout the day and some really big ones showed themselves either spy hopping or completely launching themselves into the air. Over the course of the day we had to keep re-positioning as the freshet currents and tides kept things changing.  Once we found the right water depth, current and bait combo we started to get the takes and 8 fish made their way to the boat.

Ernst battled a few nice sized fish and by the smile on his face you can tell he was pretty pumped with his catches.

If you aren't so much into fishing you can just find a comfortable spot to snooze on the front deck and catch some rays.  If you are into a good book, you can read or look at what the eagles, seals and other critters on the river are up to!

The Vedder River is open and my spy Art checked out the lower mouth where trolling for chinook got one fellow into 3 hookups and landed one fish.  The Fraser is still in flood and backs up the water in the Vedder Canal so finding a place to fly fish is tough, though one fellow was enjoying that water in a jet ski.  Up river near the Vedder Crossing bridge the water is looking very good in both color and level, with lots of gravel banks and bars becoming exposed.  The sunbathers and tubing was the most popular river activity but we saw a fellow walk away with a nice 10 lb chrome Chinook.  Drift casting with a float, weight and wool is a good bet.

The Fraser River is still closed to salmon but the Chinook run continues to build with the test fishery showing a very nice increase over the last three days.  The sockeye are showing up and there was a first nation net fishery on the river yesterday.  The run is primarily the early Stuart run which as of this weekend an estimated 50,000 plus have migrated past mission.  Some early summer run sockeye were in with them and that added another 5,000 plus fish.  In the past years the early Stuart run did not have numbers big enough to allow a sport fishery in tidal or non-tidal waters so at present with a run size estimate of close to 190,000 fish the fishery is likely limited to the native food and ceremonial catch.  River temperatures will be the primary issue as this hot weather has already pushed the river water temperature to over 17 C.  The ocean test fisheries are underway and the current forecast is that the Chilko run will peak around August 15.  So no clear indication on run size estimate yet or as to when a Fraser Sockeye salt or fresh water fishery will be available.

The Skeena River will be going from a 2 sockeye per day limit to a 4 sockeye per day limit as that run continues to strengthen.  

So still staying optimistic the main summer run sockeye will show up.   Tight lines and book a trip!

Contact for a sturgeon trip!