Newsman's sport fishing column & report

Sport fishing column for Dec 26, 2011 to Jan 2, 2012

Christmas has passed for another year. Time to get back to my subject of last November; steelhead flies. Coming from the old school I am partial to the old classic patterns:

The Royal Coachman is a pattern not commonly thought of as a Steelhead fly, yet few doubt it's ability to tempt other trout species. One version of this famous fly, that I have found to successful in fooling these large migrant rainbows, is the Bucktail Coachman.

Our BC fly fishing patriarchs; General Nole Money, Roderick Haig-Brown, and Tommy Brayshaw, created a large number of steelhead flies in the classic fly format. Drawing on their British roots, these masters left us with: Rainbow, Black Orange & Junglecock, Black tippet & Yellow, Cliff's Special, dangar's Fly, Grey Fly, Prawn Fly, Golden Girl, Golden Red, Dusk, General Money #1, General Money #2, Coquihalla Orange, Coquihalla Orange-Dark, Coquihalla Orange-light, Coquihalla Red, Coquihalla silver, Quinsam Hackle, and Steelhead Bee.

The challenge is not in fishing these old classic steelhead fly patterns. The challenge is finding a shop that stocks them. While some are available, most have fallen out of favor. This leaves the angler with only one option; learning the anglers art of fly tying. Careful now, learning to tie flies can open the door to another passion; and a new maze begins.

From our house to yours, we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!

The report

Fishing on our lower mainland lakes is slow. For better success concentrate on the northwest sections of your favorite lake, from mid morning, through mid afternoon with: Coachman, American Coachman, Professor, Wooly Bugger, Micro Leach, Sixpack, Dragonfly Nymph, Halfback, Doc Spratley, Baggy Shrimp, or Zulu.

The Fraser River back waters are fishing fair to slow for cutthroat. For cutthroat try: Eggo, Rolled Muddler, Tied Down Minnow, Mickey Finn, Stonefly Nymph, or American Coachman.

The Stave River is fair to slow for coho and cutthroat. For coho try: Christmas Tree, Rolled Muddler, olive Wooly Bugger, Bite Me, or Coho Blue.

The Harrison River is fair for coho, and cutthroat.

The Vedder is fair for steelhead. For try Squamish Poacher, Polar Shrimp, Big Black, Flat Black, Popsicle, Kaufmann Black Stone, Eggo, Thor, or Steelhead Spratley.

The Thompson River is fair to good for steelhead and rainbow. This is your last chance to fish the big T before next June. The Thompson closes to fishing Jan 1.