News From The North re: Springs

[IronNoggin]

Just received this from a commercial troll colleague (Good Buddy) this morning:

"Greetings from southeast Alaska. I think the high abundance prediction for returning kings is true! Many trollers had their personal best day shattered. What's scary, is the bite continues! Be ready, my friend... A wall of fish is headed your way! Eagerly anticipating to use your spoons. Snake size needlefish are around!"

Apparently the southeast Alaskan troll fleet in smack in the middle of some of The Best fishing for springs they've ever seen!
Uber Abundance!!
And in following conversations he notes they are "Very Good Sized" ranging well up into the 40's!

Most likely suggests we will see one hell of an interesting August Folks! :-D
Time to sharpen your hooks and make some plans methinks!!

Thought I'd share some of the Good News... :wink:

Cheers,
Nog

[B-rad]

Wooohooooo,,,am stoked,,,,,already lubed the bait caster!!!

[luckofthedraw]

[QUOTE=IronNoggin;1514694]Just received this from a commercial troll colleague (Good Buddy) this morning:

"Greetings from southeast Alaska. I think the high abundance prediction for returning kings is true! Many trollers had their personal best day shattered. What's scary, is the bite continues! Be ready, my friend... A wall of fish is headed your way! Eagerly anticipating to use your spoons. Snake size needlefish are around!"

"A wall of fish is headed your way" just sounds so good to me. Thanks for sharing the news.

[.264winmag]

I picked the worst year to quit guiding! Might have to start the business back up after all!

[pnbrock]

heading to ukee next week woo hoo!!!

[Moe.JKU]

yeah it looks to be a good year forsure. 10 times the amount of fish in the albion test nets as well, compared to last couple of years. Going to be a good year to be switching to using the fly rod for salmon i think.

[IronNoggin]

I picked the worst year to quit guiding!

LOL! Took this season OFF myself. Lot's of "raised eyebrows" and self - questioning alright.
I'll get my "Fix" though :wink:

And right Back Into The Saddle again next year... :-D

Cheers,
Nog

[HarryToolips]

Never done river salmon fishin, but very interested in tryin it out, is the salmon tag onto your regular fishin licence all you need extra?? Recommend a 20lb or greater tess line?? What would be the closest area with decent salmon to hit up from Kelowna?? Thanks all...

[albravo2]

That is some great news, thanks for sharing.

Harry, I don't know the interior very well but I seem to recall people talking about good salmon fishing around kamloops

[6 K]

I like it
Going out next weekend for sure

[meesemoot]

Now for a dash of reality...Nothing whatsoever has showed up yet at Moricetown. Springs usually begin to arrive there in mid June. It doesn't sound like much downstream around Terrace, either, so I'm beginning to doubt whether it will be much of a run this year. Maybe sockeye will show up in numbers, though.

[two-feet]

The Tyee test fishery on the lower Skeena is showing yet another disappointing year for Chinook in this watershed although it is still early days. For some reason the commercial guys still get openings even before anybody has any clue what the run is going to look like, dfo has a stellar track record of terrible management. On a bright note, the coho run was in bad shape 10 years ago as well but conservation measures seem to have helped and the coho numbers seem to be rebounding well. The sockeye are starting to enter the system in hoards, river should be polluted with the tasty little buggers within a week.
Hey toolips, I run 40lb test when going after river springs and I still get spooled every year or two!

[Wentrot]

The albion test fishery is showing great Chinook numbers compared to past years-Highest in 10 years or so.

[wiggy]

Just got back from ucleulet. Fishing is good but the numbers aren't there yet. Big bank if you want the numbers but bigger fish on the rocks. Hit the tide changes on the rocks produced some nice 20 lb range fish. The squid fishery just opened and I've never seen so many. Every spring we caught was full of em. Talked with some buds up at the cape and they say there just starting to see some bigger fish. Probably head back up there in a few weeks.

[IronNoggin]

Just got back from ucleulet. Fishing is good but the numbers aren't there yet.

That's been the story since our first opening back in April / May. The fish were coming closest off Esperanza, then wandering back out - basically skirting the Ukee / Tofino areas on the outside (think 100 Fathom Edge :wink:). Columbia & related river counts were and are tracking along as they should - indicating this year will witness a very large return.
Not much longer and methinks that area will be SHINING as the Big Schools wander by on their way South...

The fish the Ladz are catching in Alaska have been determined to be of largely "Southern Origin". And as they are still catching them, it should come as little surprise they aren't showing in BC rivers as of yet (way early for most anyway).

I will not be at all surprised should the Canadian returns come NO-WHERE near what they should / could be. They haven't for years under our current form of Political Mismanagement. :cry:

The US on the other had has witnessed increasing returns for the past several years, and are once again on track to near or top historic records again this season. Gotta Thank them for that, for without them, our saltwater fisheries would SUCK BIG TIME!

Wait for it Ladz. It IS Coming!! :wink:

Cheers,
Nog

[B-rad]

Never done river salmon fishin, but very interested in tryin it out, is the salmon tag onto your regular fishin licence all you need extra?? Recommend a 20lb or greater tess line?? What would be the closest area with decent salmon to hit up from Kelowna?? Thanks all...closest to kelowna,,,,,best fishing would be on Shuswap river,,,,head to enderby and head straight up the river,,,,,,I use 20lb test in there,,,slow moving water,,,,,,2nd would be south Thompson river,,,excellent salmon fishing,,,,,3rd would be the Clearwater river,,,,awesome fishing as well,,,,but I recommend at least 30lb test,,,pretty fast moving water

[HarryToolips]

closest to kelowna,,,,,best fishing would be on Shuswap river,,,,head to enderby and head straight up the river,,,,,,I use 20lb test in there,,,slow moving water,,,,,,2nd would be south Thompson river,,,excellent salmon fishing,,,,,3rd would be the Clearwater river,,,,awesome fishing as well,,,,but I recommend at least 30lb test,,,pretty fast moving water
Wicked thanks...just use a fly with a maggot for a lure?? Worms werk better?? Thanks..

[dougan]

Too bad the rivers are all drying up due to lack of snow pack and rain. Biggest runs ever may be a big disaster

[coach]

Never done river salmon fishin, but very interested in tryin it out, is the salmon tag onto your regular fishin licence all you need extra?? Recommend a 20lb or greater tess line?? What would be the closest area with decent salmon to hit up from Kelowna?? Thanks all...

From the Westside it's 2 hours to Hope.. Under 3 to Aggasiz.. Tons of sand bars to fish in between. Bottom bouncing or bar fishing are the preferred methods in this stretch - pick your poison. For bottom bouncing use 30-50lb fire line and 25 pound leader, a 10-14 foot rod and an Abu 7500 reel (or something similar in size). . For springs you'll want 3-5 ounce bouncing Betty's for weight. For sockeye 1-4 ounces. (Springs tend to move and hold in heavier water). Bar fishing requires 15-24 ounce weights, large spin'n'glows and a bar rig to keep everything off the bottom. You'll probably run 40-50 pound mono leader for this method. Warning - hooking 20 to 40 pound springs in heavy current is extremely addicting! PM me if you need more info..

[coach]

Too bad the rivers are all drying up due to lack of snow pack and rain. Biggest runs ever may be a big disaster

Water temps could be a huge issue.. Hopefully conditions are favourable for fish migration.

[JAYDEE]

I'm heading to Rivers Islet on Saturday to Duncanby Lodge. hope they are there by then.

[bcbooner]

Good to hear.The big springs are starting to show up in port Renfrew.I will be down for 19 days starting Aug.9th.Cant wait it will be a blast

[meesemoot]

Wicked thanks...just use a fly with a maggot for a lure?? Worms werk better?? Thanks..

ROFL!! You're pullin' our legs for sure, now! Maybe try out my yellow perch rig from when I was a kid in Saskatchewan: a snelled #10 mustad with a piece of bacon half the size of a pencil eraser, dangled off a pier in 3 feet of water, and a foot off the bottom. 6 pound line on a closed face spinning reel, or sometimes just a willow stick. You might have a bit of trouble getting it to where the springs hold, though: the deepest, fastest part of the river. Seriously, just about any good fishing shop, and I don't mean Walmart or Canadian Tire, will set you up with the appropriate rig for the species of salmon you are targeting, plus the proper license, which will run you $95.00 once you add the classified waters license, salmon, and steelhead surcharges. Forget about trying to use your lake rig, you need heavier gear, period. And maybe a few tips on how to tell a salmon from a steelhead, which you don't want to be caught keeping, even by mistake.