Steelies

[hookedonblacktails]

Is the Stamp still slow, not hearing good things, was going to take a day off work this week...........Noggin?

[IronNoggin]

Still Dead Slow from the reports I had the past little while. :cry:
Haven't been out myself to prove that, too damn busy with sausage makin' and shootin' the new bow.
Very Strange year it seems!
Hope they eventually make it in!

I'll be checking (most likely) next week. Got another Porkchop to take care of, then put my reel back together.
Letcha know if anything happens worth reporting...

Cheers,
Nog

[blindguy]

Hey Nog any word on where or why the fishings so slow up there this year? i heard it was going to be a banner run this year. i know it's been a bad year for low water conditions but me thinks thats not it

[IronNoggin]

Hey Nog any word on where or why the fishings so slow up there this year? i heard it was going to be a banner run this year. i know it's been a bad year for low water conditions but me thinks thats not it

The low & cold water is part of it, but not all methinks.

For the hatchery clones, the vast majority of brood collection has been occurring in March for several years now. Doesn't take long to skew the run timing (for them) doing this.

Doesn't explain the "wild" component though...
And for them, I am at a bit of a loss as to why... :confused:

Nog

[hookedonblacktails]

Cool thanks Nog, guess I'll follow suit and start shootin my two new toys until they start creepin in a little more.

[proguide66]

I'm stuck in Tofino at the moment..but have a steely rod in my truck with waders , any holding water near here??

[dryflyguy57]

Toquart River , not sure of any new regs as it has been awhile . Caught some while waiting to shake herring in Barkley Sound many moons ago .

[proguide66]

I'm googling earthing the area , might have to go catch perch off the dock , lol...

[Dutch Ppoacher]

Toquart River, this would be your best bet for that area. from tuff city it'll take about an hr ish to drive there.

well worth it, this is the time of yr it produces.

[dryflyguy57]

I'm googling earthing the area , might have to go catch perch off the dock , lol...
Used to jig up juvi herrring at the dock in Comox . Single hook thru the eyes and let out line . They would swim for a good distance inside the breakwater until a winter spring choked them down . Herring loved hanging around under the boats and spring salmon followed . Never tried it with perch . You might get schooled by a bunch of 10 years olds tho .

[proguide66]

Used to jig up juvi herrring at the dock in Comox . Single hook thru the eyes and let out line . They would swim for a good distance inside the breakwater until a winter spring choked them down . Herring loved hanging around under the boats and spring salmon followed . Never tried it with perch . You might get schooled by a bunch of 10 years olds tho .

I have a 6 yr old with me , trying to get a good 'fun' start , I better go get a ball of pile worms off the govt dock and get some good excitement goin...maybe 'earn' an 'escape' in the am for some 'me/steelhead rod' time in the am !

[835]

Crap alot of people now know about that river. Seems i pmd you before finnishing reading...... I fished that river back before it was this well known..
i'll blast you another PM PG about some trout....


If you are going to fish off the dock bring a crab trap too.
Dungies right from the dock in Tuff City

[IronNoggin]

Just a Head's Up, if you do wander over to the Toquart, make sure you stay downstream of the main logging bridge!

From the Regs: "No fishing upstream of the Toquart mainline logging bridge November 4 - May 31. Note: This includes the river above the lake."

Hate to see you get in ka-ka over having a little R&R is all... :wink:

Good Luck! :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Nog

[835]

Crazy Regs Nog,

But I aggree 110% for them. That river has a great winter run in it which unfortunatly is mostly non Fishable because of that Regulation... BUT!
March ish had a huge Kelt content above the bridge. There was a large volume of guys fishing this time of year. Catching 5+ kelts a go. As well hitting it regular. This was really hard on that river.

I have a very close love of that place, i fished it from the mid 90's untill i left Ucluelet. Near the end i boy cotted that time of year. When i started catching kelts at a rate i did not like i stopped. Unfortunatly there was a rush of new guys finding that river in early 2000's due to a magazine article and just plain talking about how good the fishing was. When i started fishing there you would get 15-20 fish Coho/Steel mix in peak summer condition. You had to walk down the river, there was no trail.

This was one of those places that we al have that was paradise.

[proguide66]

Catching kelts is cheatin ! lol

[IronNoggin]

Catching kelts is cheatin ! lol

My sentiments exactly! Leave the Menders to their task, and they just might give you a Much Better Tussle down the road! :wink:

Agreed 835. That place once Very Much Was a form of Paradise for me! It was one of the very first smaller systems I discovered shortly after moving here in the 90's. Then there was but little in the way of pressure, and it was indeed a Great Fishery in a very Beautiful setting. Sad to see what has occurred since then. The intense cutting has made the area almost unrecognizable, and the fish - although still there to some extent - are but a fading semblance to what they once were. Also a tad sad that it had to come down to the regs as noted. Seems Common Sense certainly is an increasingly rare quality these days.

Still may wander down to the Lake for a visit sometime later in the year. Always fun to catch those early run coho in the stillwater, fishing them with trout gear from the canoe!

If you go ProGuide, I'd certainly like to hear what your experience is like. PM is quite fine if you prefer...

Cheers,
Nog

[Dutch Ppoacher]

we fished it the same time as you, i remember that artical!
my little favorite spot was closed this yr for the season for the first time ever!!! made plans to go but checked the reg's due to an unrelated conversation about keeping trout in rivers and streams in BC and found out that it is closed!!!! pays to read them every yr

[BlacktailStalker]

Post some pics, guys that have been out.
Hopefully get out a few times starting next week, pretty pumped.

[hookedonblacktails]

BRUTAL!.....should have figured that when we popped out on the airport side and there was 0 people there, and I mean 0, except for a guy who gave it a go with his coffee grinder for half hour. Would have expected to see at least a guy or two from the PA fishing team, water was beautiful.
Maybe I should be on the Cow

[BlacktailStalker]

Water levels dropped and I struck out yesterday on the N Island as well. Saw 40+ elk and a bull with 6" spikes though.

[steel_ram]

After optomistic predictions for this years run, I decided to primarily fly fish only this year. It's been frustrating, only one fish on in four trips on Cowichan and Stamp. Frustrating in that I doubt there's many fish even there to see my fly. At least I have an excuse.

[Tikka270wsm]

Will be hitting the Stamp tomorrow morning. I'll post up a report of conditions and how I made out.

[IronNoggin]

Will be hitting the Stamp tomorrow morning. I'll post up a report of conditions and how I made out.

Shoot me a PM after you get back! Can't make it tomorrow (baby-sitting the just-spayed dog) but likely can the next. About time we got to it methinks!!!

Good Luck tomorrow! :-D

Cheers,
Nog

[BlacktailStalker]

After optomistic predictions for this years run, I decided to primarily fly fish only this year. It's been frustrating, only one fish on in four trips on Cowichan and Stamp. Frustrating in that I doubt there's many fish even there to see my fly. At least I have an excuse.

Fish of a thousand casts... Two thousand, on a fly (winter runs anyway)

[Dutch Ppoacher]

the rain helped a little here, starting to see a few, but a p*** poor yr in all.
trout fishing has been good in the mean time!

[Tikka270wsm]

Fished from gun range to about a km up from the "Bucket". Put a cast in every nice seam the whole way up without a sniff. Then worked my way down with a Colorado Blade to cover as much of the water as possible and still nothing. The river is high and clear and if it starts dropping here soon, it could get very good. Hopefully it picks up before Monday. Would be nice to get into one before I head back to camp for 6 weeks and miss the rest of the season.

[hookedonblacktails]

The Cow......anybody? Last year was quite good I heard?

[hookedonblacktails]

Good to hear about guys using the Colorada blade there tikka270, that was my secret weapon when I used to fish the vedder, those fish saw enough roe bags , gooey bobs and worms, it gave me great confidence to use something different that they weren't seeing all the time. I knew a guy who worked at the tackle shop in North van where I used to live and he cleaned house on the vedder with blades

[Tikka270wsm]

I've had some really good days with them on the Cowichan. I used to bottom bounce them through the deep (10 ft or more) runs. They also worked good for locating fish in big, wide runs. The runs on the Stamp had a lot of water the other day so I figured it was worth a go. A #4 silver Metric was my favorite steelie blade until I started using Colorado's.