Villageidiot

Well considering the sheep (eventually) and highwood both flow into the bow and everyone pounds the piss out of those for bulls its no wonder theres some. Surprised that no one really tries to target them at the highwood confluence in early spring. Best chance to intercept fish over wintering before moving up for the late spring/summer. I would reckon there's more of them than most of you think.

I've flipped back and forth. Absolutely no bad things to say about redington warranty though i have had to replace a couple times from seriously using my waders, simms on the other hand, I paid just to have them re-seal my patch jobs. I was a little more than peeved when I got them back. Both myself and girlfriend have actually had no issues in warrantying redingtons a couple months outside of the year warranty they provide, and absolutely no issues with warrantying warranty replacement pairs of waders either, dont know what FlyfishingEMT has experienced, but that certainly hasn't been the case. I like the look of the new hodgmans, I may switch over if i start having issues with redington.

Black vermiculations aren't the for sure tell tale sign of a brook trout. Night pictures aren't helping but fairly certain there are the faint vermiculations on the bottom of its dorsal. Vermiculations on its sides are clearly visible and very square tail give pretty good indication that its a brook trout.

Brook. Vermiculation's along its sides, square tail and overall shape. Bulls, dolly's and arctic char dont exhibit that shape or patterns.

Everyone on here better buck up and band together to get a ton of support for PCR. The AO forum is "vehemently" opposed to changing it. "Lets waste more of the stocking $ to continuously pump the lake full of walleye that do not reproduce, and continue to show poor growth rates" "theres too many trout lakes" Good luck.

Water tension is pretty critical in some spey casts. You can just roll cast a skagit head. Give it a go, sure it will go a fair distance, but nothing like sustained anchor casts. If you lose tension during the sweep, your cast falls apart. Pretty straight forward, but like bcube mentioned in some casts, you wont notice the difference. For most they may not truly notice the difference. I just know I can fish my intermediate heads 30grains lighter and notice no difference between my floating head which is nice, timing really doesn't need to be changed. The same head in the heavier grain window has more stick and definitely bogs down the rod during the sweep. Something I've noticed and also something "pros" in the industry have recommended, a quick google search can back this up Ed ward mentions lining down on line size, I'm sure you can find a few others.

For what its worth, I dont believe the intermediate heads are a marketing gimmick. These lines are great for winter steelheading and I'm sure would be great for winter trout swinging. Intermediate heads cut through surface currents and give you a much slower swing. These paired with Imow tips are deadly and they also help you out by not necessarily needing a very heavy tip to achieve depth. Where you used to use t-11 you can now use t-8 or poly leaders and achieve the same depth, all while swinging much slower, and much more pleasant to cast. I loved using an Ishort for bull trout this fall in BC. Slower swing definitely caught me more fish and I felt like it did a much better job imitating a slowly dying kokanee rolling/drifting across the bottom. Bulls, and big bulls especially like it right in their face for a long as possible. They don't tear across a pool like everyone thinks. Keep in mind, when lining up a skagit intermediate, its best to drop by about 30grains or the next size down from what you'd typically use for a skagit, or if you look at rio/airflo charts, choosing the head in the lower end of the grain window is a good bet. Because these lines sink, their water tension is increased and the result is a lighter head that will cast very well, and I'd argue further that a heavier floating head. Sometimes fish dont want a fly racing above their heads, and especially in cold water are more inclined to eat something not moving as quickly, you're in direct contact with that fly through the swing, there's no hinging/pivot from the floating head to tip.

Can I ask, who would make sure the idiots at the fire department dont come along and close every new access point over time? Why they wont allow access to 17th ave is silly, any actual reasoning behind it?

XL low profile here. Awesome on lakes, Anchor mount on front and back, 25lb pyramid off the front, 15lb pyramid off the back. 85lb thrust minn kota. Trolling sucks.

Sewage outflows are generally pretty warm.

It would be tough to implement regs like that. Although I do believe fly anglers are slowly becoming the majority of steelhead fisherman because its the "in" thing to do. We as fly anglers don't own the fish or the resources, so I feel like any proposal to change things to fly only would be met with severe backlash from locals. I can guarantee that more anglers in terrace who use the watersheds on a regular basis compared to we, the travelling steelheaders, are probably more than likely gear guys. Certainly couldn't hurt to alternate months/ or biweekly fly only etc, or even dedicate one or two systems or even beats, to be fly only. But you'll still see anglers and pressure flock to those systems because anyone with a fly rod would go there just like you and I would. If you're going to make it fly only in the summer/fall, then you would also have to make it dry line only. The fish move far to take flies, and i'll fully admit to fishing tips, in conditions that i probably could've been fishing dries, they simply are not necessary. The only restriction I could see that would put everyone at a fair level would be a weight restriction for gear and fly, that way, those that choose to centre pin can't bonk their gooey bobs and chain of size 5 splits shots off the nose of the maybe, less "aggressive" steelhead. Similar restrictions to fly gear could also be put in place limitations on length/density of sink tips, weight of flies so guys can't floss the fish that simply aren't players. Spoon anglers would still clean up, but even then spoons could be limited to a weight/size. At least with spoons the angler has to know how to swing through productive water, where as centre pins/float fishers just plumb the runs and will literally hook anything in the vicinity when they can get so deep. I mean, surely many CO's probably already have pocket scales at home in BC.... wouldn't take much to bring the things along, and weigh some gear.

This is too good. This fall I pretty much went through exactly that. Hooked up 3 fish, compared to a dozen last year. On the slowest of days i lost my *hit, swore I'd never come back, mostly due to crowding and centre pinners plugging every run available and sticking every fish before 7am every day i was there. Guess where I can't wait to fish again.... A lot of my fishing plans for the season now revolves around steelheading. Gone is the, "man i can't wait to hit the green drake hatch for cutts, or the golden stones". Now its more like "Oooh, this river gets fish in july, gotta try and get in there" Constantly looking for more possibilities for year round steelhead opportunities.

Just another thing that could be placed into a simple angler training course that includes identification/handling/regulation/invasive species/risks course that could be mandatory for getting a fishing license. Similar to hunters education. Most people just wont know.

You can absolutely do DIY. I did my first trip DIY, and hooked and landed my first within 30 minutes stepping into the first run, and then hooked and landed my second 10 minutes after. When the fish are there and conditions are good, they are easier to hook than just about every other salmonid i can think of. Landing them is another story. My success came from hitting a river, after a huge rain, and it was dropping and clearing. This was in the fall and keep in mind that summer run fish are different than winters/spring. It also came from fishing a system that had fish... ie... the skeena. I found that coming from a serious trout fishing background, it really truly helped figure out steelhead. They sit in very similar places you'd expect to find rainbows, they dont always sit in those long "featureless" tailouts most people focus on. They sit in pocket water, pools, seams... all of which are better suited to single hand nymphing/streamer fishing. Where a spey rod truly shines is covering those long broad tailouts and fresh run fish, and if you find yourself staring at a tailout, watch closely for any deflections/upwelling you might see. Sometimes they're hard to pick out in coloured water, but if you start focusing on the areas where these fish can rest, and sit out of the main current, you'll immediately start hooking more steelhead. If I can offer one more piece of advice to you, do not focus/spend too much time on those deep tank pools, that you'd expect to find fish like cutties/bulls in canyon water. While yes, steelhead will sit there, they can be almost impossible to coax with a swung fly, or any fly for that matter. Focus where that pool shallows up, and immediately down stream before the next set of fast water, fresh/aggressive fish will sit in these tailouts before moving in, and settling into the pools.

Getting to know run timing is huge. Especially for winter fish. They spend little time in the rivers, and usually dont venture very far up them. Poking around on google is a good way to find run/sizes and timing if you look hard enough and know how to read a scientific report. Typically studies on a population are done at the height of the their season, and it can really help you clue in on what system/when to find them. The most important thing for steelhead is finding a system with "good" numbers of fish. As far as other resources, i dont think one can actually learn where steelhead hold from a book. Theres also so many other variables at play, especially with winters. Water conditions being one of them. Low and Clear... not good. After a big rain while the river is clearing up and dropping... good. Little things will play into your success. I would not travel to any hatchery based systems (Lower Mainland, vedder, Stamp, etc.) Simply just not worth the experience and hatchery fish seem to be less receptive to swung flies, and less aggressive. Although there are more fish around... and generally much busier rivers. Properly swinging a fly is a whole other thing. Winter fish usually require getting deep... sometimes not entirely necessary. Water temperature is another thing to look at for success in swinging a fly. All that being said, if you've got the cash, i would probably spend a week with a guide in the terrace/kitimat area around Late March/April. You'll get into fish, and more than likely shorten your learning curve by about 5 years if you ask a lot of questions. The fish will do the rest. Vancouver Island gets fish earlier but is so much harder to figure out on your own. Also not very much classic water on the Van Isle systems. I'll throw in that steelhead will surprise the hell out of you. Everything i've mentioned is not the be all and end all of steelheading. They do some funny things some times.