Newsman's sport fishing column & report

Sport fishing column for Sept 5 to 12, 2011

"More trout are caught on flies that are poor imitations of their food or no imitation at all than on perfect imitations. To us these attractors are wild and beautiful, but in the trout's mind they may simply look good to eat, or he may take them for some other reason, perhaps, as a challenge.

Picture a trout lying contentedly in his feeding position, fins and tail fanning slowly, looking up at the sky. Along comes a dry fly. As it approaches, he thinks: Ah! Wings like vanilla ice-cream; legs like rich chocolate syrup; a strawberry body with a touch of green mint fore and aft, and finally a coffee-cream tail. Never saw anything like that before. I wonder what it tastes like…and …if don't grab it now it will drift out of range and I will never know." Passage taken from a discussion with Lee Wulff on fly design.

Too often I have heard others criticize the flies tied by both novice and innovative
fly tiers. I have a different approach; I let the fish be the judge. If it works, it is good enough. After all it is the fish we want to impress; not the person with all the answers and an empty creel.


The report

Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is fair. For wet (sinking) fly fishing try: Coachman, American Coachman, Professor, Wooly Bugger, Micro Leach, Sixpack, Dragonfly Nymph, Halfback, Doc Spratley, Baggy Shrimp, or Zulu. For dry (floating) fly action try: Tom Thumb, Irresistible, Black Gnat, Griffith Gnat, Royal Coachman, or Renegade.

Our Lower mainland bass and panfish are active again. For bass try Wooly Bugger, Big Black, Clouser's Deep Minnow, Zonker, Bucktail, Dolly Whacker, Frog, Popping Bug, or Crayfish in sizes 8 to 4. For Crappie or Pumpkinseed try: Wooly Bugger, Big Black, Micro Leach, Bucktail, Dolly whacker, Clouser's deep minnow, or Popping Bug.

Fishing on our interior lakes is good. For better success try early mornings and evenings with, Wooly Bugger, Micro Leach, Egg Sucking Leach, Pumpkinhead, Dragonfly Nymph, Halfback Nymph, 52 Buick, Doc Spratley, Green Spratley, Souboo, or Baggy Shrimp for wet fly fishing. For dry fly try: Irresistible, Black Gnat, Griffith Gnat, Tom Thumb, Renegade, Double Hackled Peacock, Goddard Caddis, or Elk Hair Caddis.

The Fraser River is fishing well for sockeye and spring, with some cutthroat, pink, and dolly Varden in the mix. For spring try: Popsicle, Big Black, Stonefly Nymph, Squamish Poacher, or Eggo. For sockeye try: patterns in lime green or Chartreuse. For pink try: Happy Hooker, pink Bunny Leach, Pink Eve, or Cathy's Coat. For cutthroat try: Eggo, Rolled Muddler, Tied Down Minnow, Mickey Finn, Stonefly Nymph, or American Coachman. For dolly Varden try: Zonker, Eggo, Clouser's Deep Minnow, dolly Whacker, or Bucktail.

The Stave River is fair for rainbow and cutthroat. For rainbow try: Elk Hair Caddis, Tom Thumb, Golden Stonefly Nymph, Irresistible, Stimulator, Coachman, Zulu, or Lioness.

The Vedder River is good for Spring and pink.

The Harrison River is good for sockeye, pink, cutthroat, and rainbow.

The Thompson and Nicola Rivers are good for sockeye, rainbow and spring.