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More clear skies are in the forecast. This is not great for river fishing but with reasonably light wind in the forecast, it makes for beautiful winter chinook weather! |
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We have a report on both the Squamish and the Chilliwack. They are at record lows but scouting in these conditions are actually very valuable. The most successful anglers are the ones who scout now and save that knowledge for when we finally get a bump of water.
With this in mind, Matt shares his top 5 scouting tips in an article that will help you get the right mindset for making tough condition days count. We also look at water levels and the long-term forecasts for both Chilliwack and Squamish systems. Check that out in the river sections below.
On the Saltwater front, we just held our winter chinook course at the store. Thank you to all that attended. It was a ton of fun and everyone walked away learning a bunch. For those who missed it, you are in luck! Due to overwhelming demand we have added another date for the course . It will be held on February 5th. Check out the details here and sign up fast as we expect it to sell out again!
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On the Winter Chinook fishing front, the fishing has picked back up after the full moon. Fishing in the harbour has slowed down a bit compared to before the full moon, but we are hearing solid reports up Howe Sound and across the strait. Jason has details below in the Saltwater section.
Onto the report!
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January is almost wrapped up! Check out some of our great February courses below that have a few spaces in them. If you’re looking for other course offerings be sure to check out the full course listing here and sign up today!
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Winter Chinook Fishing with Jason Tonelli
Did you know there is excellent chinook fishing in local Vancouver waters from Oct to March? This is the winter chinook season and fishing the last few seasons has been excellent and this season is no different!
Learn the secrets on how to catch these hard fighting chinook, which are prized for their table fare as well. Your instructor, Jason Tonelli, will cover all aspects of what it takes to be a successful winter chinook angler. Jason has been honing his winter chinook skills out of Vancouver for close to two decades and is Pro-Staff for Gibbs Delta Tackle.
You will learn the top producing areas, including how to fish them productively and what tides, correct speed, how to fish close to the bottom, the most productive fishing tackle setups depending on conditions, how to use your sonar effectively to catch more fish, what weather patterns to avoid for boating safety, and many more winter chinook secrets.
Seminar Cost: $100+GST
Dates: February 5 & December 10, 2025
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
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Tying Intruder Fly Patterns
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In this one-night course you will learn about the specifics techniques and unique materials used to tie Intruder style flies. At the end of this course, you will have the skills needed to tie a variety of Intruder style flies from multistage, monster flies for high water, average sized flies for everyday conditions, down to small, mini intruders for low water. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A detailed list of what materials are needed will be supplied in advance of the course. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.
This course is suitable for intermediate to advanced tyers.
Cost: $85.00+GST
Class Size: 7
Date: Feb 12
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
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Introduction to Spey Casting
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This 2-part course is designed to introduce you to the art of Spey fishing and establish the fundamental techniques required for basic Spey casts used on our local rivers. In the seminar portion of the course Matt Sharp goes over the history of Spey casting and gives students a great fundamental understanding of the gear and casting concepts. In the on water portion of the course we hit the Squamish River for a full day of casting were we look at different casts for specific fishing scenarios. Student will need waders and boots for the cast postion of the course and will need to cordinate transportation to Squamish. We can provide spey rods upon request.
Cost: $275.00+GST
Dates: Seminar: Feb 19 (At the Store) Casting: Feb 23 (In Squamish)
Seminar Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm | Casting Time: 10AM - 4PM, Squamish
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
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FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS
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Chilliwack/Vedder River Fishing Report
Another cold, dry week means that the C/V system is continuing to drop; it’s now the lowest It’s been in two years. Yet again, a complete lack of rain in the forecast for at least the next week means that things won’t be changing for a while. Angling conditions will be very challenging due to how low and clear the system is, though there are still fish in the system and fish are indeed still being caught. |
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| Yikes! |
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As I’ve said in my past few reports, now is the time to downsize your presentations. Fluorocarbon leaders and delicate presentations are pretty much a must at the moment, so make sure you have some small beads, micro worms, jigs, small blades and bait leaders tied up with smaller hooks and fluoro leader material. Cover water and pay extra attention to areas that will make fish feel “safe”- choppy riffles, deep water or physical cover such as logs.
With it being late January, there’s still plenty of time left in the season; this is normally when the run really starts ramping up. I’m expecting a very significant push of fish when we see a change in the weather and the river comes up a bit, so while things are a bit grim at the moment, there’s lots to look forward to!
Taylor Nakatani
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Squamish River Fishing Report - Winter Update
The river Hit 1.6 meters on the main graph. For perspective that is the lowest it has registered since the winter of 2022. We won’t try to sugar coat it. These conditions are challenging. We did hear a couple reports of anglers picking up the odd bulltrout and we are still hearing reports of coho in the system. We should not target the coho, but the late numbers speak to the good run we saw this Fall.
If you are heading out, fish with confidence and make the time on the water count. Read Matt’s article on his Top 5 Scouting Tips and learn more about the system.
Use the site casting / scouting strategy he talks about above and look for those coho. Do not harass or target the coho but look behind them for egg eaters.
If you are out, nymphing beads is the go-to method right now and pale coloured egg imitations are key. Our favorite for these types of conditions are 8mm Peach Fuzz and 8mm Cotton Candy, whether you are fly fishing or gear fishing.
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| Trout Beads - 8mm Peach Fuzz |
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| Drop down to 5lb fluorocarbon tippet and use your eyes. It is common you can spot bull trout in these conditions and though they will be picky, a well-presented bead or egg imitation right in front of them will produce strikes. Scouting hard and looking for sight casting opportunities can be tons of fun. |
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For the long term forecast we have some rain coming next weekend. It may not be enough rain to get the river up, but any rain will help right now. Remember the longer it goes without rain the better the fishing will be when a good bump finally comes.
Good Luck!
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Top 5 Low Water Scouting Secrets - How to Make Bad Fishing Conditions Pay Off
The two sayings “there is no bad day of fishing” or “they call it fishing not catching” are two sayings as a guide that I hate. I have been known to give my good clients the gears when they utter one of these statements.
Why? It is not that I disagree with the sentiment. Quite the opposite. In the article below, I lay out how to make sure there is no “bad day” on the water. It is just that I have seen too many anglers proudly announce one of the above statements and then zone out and give up. They resign themselves to the bad conditions or the lack of fish and don’t utilize the time they have out on the water effectively.
What we do when we are not “catching” really separates average anglers from great anglers.
When we look at this week’s report, the conditions are not good. We are seeing the lowest water levels of the season, and they are close to the lowest I have seen them in the last 5 years. Don’t worry. That is normal for this time of year. It will change and there are things we can do on the water right now to actually catch more fish when the conditions get good again.
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Use the clear water to learn to see fish. It’s a skill that needs practice. There are 3 bulltrout hiding under this log.
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Tip 1 – Go Sight Scouting/Fishing
Do not spend all your time pounding your favorite run or pool. Hit all your favorite pieces of water. Hit them fast and with a mission. The mission is not to catch a fish. The mission is to learn the water. Spend the majority of your time mapping out the structure, depths and holding spots. In clear conditions you will see everything. Things you can use later when the conditions improve. Note: I recommend taking some notes. The river may look totally different when we get good conditions but those structure points you see in the low water will still be there, but you will not remember it all. Take a second and jot the reference points down on your phone or in a note pad.
The side benefit from this is if you cover water and really focus on “looking” at the bottom of the river, it is very common you will see fish. When you know the conditions are at the extreme end of the clear spectrum you can learn more and you will be surprised that you might actually hook more fish by spending more time moving and looking than you would just pounding water.
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| Crawl through that log jam, bushwack that thicket, cross that channel and see what’s on the other side. |
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Tip 2 – One More Corner
After you have scouted your favorite pieces of water fast use the extra time to “go around the next corner”. What do I mean by this? Push father “around the next corner” from where you have explored in the past. I build “circuits” where I can hit multiple spots in a loop on the river. On bad condition days, push the circuit farther. You never know. There might be an A+ piece of water just around that bend, over that log jam, across that channel. In the low clear water, access is usually easier, and you can get a clear picture of what the run looks like under the water. You might not catch a fish on the day you find the “new” spot but having it in your back pocket for the next trip when conditions improve could pay off big time.
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Tip 3 – You Starve in the Desert
In a standard walking speed river, if the middle of the run has a sandy bottom, it is the kiss of death. Fish rarely hold on sandy bottoms, in walking speed water, because there is no broken water for them to hang out in. I won’t go into details here about the hydrology but if your “spot”, in normal conditions, is a classic walking speed run, you can use the clear water to identify where in the run there are patches of sand (deserts) and nice patches of head sized boulders. Mark them with references on shore. When you come back in higher water conditions, when you can no longer see the bottom, you can skip over these spots or at least fish them faster as to not waist time.
There are entire runs on the Squamish that have sand bottoms, and you might not know it. I have wasted many hours fishing them, wondering “why do we never catch fish here?” On these cold clear days, I scout and find out why. It is usually because of sand, strange structure or irregular currents that you can see in the low conditions.
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Tip 4 – Don’t Be an Eggs Squasher
This is more of a conservation issue when covering ground and especially important in low water in the winter/early spring. Think about where the salmon spawned in the Fall. In these low conditions, you will have walking access to more areas where salmon might have laid eggs. Try to avoid walking on any water covered with gravel, especially in side channels, even if there is only a trickle of water over the gravel. Remember two months ago there could have been a foot or two of water on the same gravel and a bunch of salmon eggs could be hiding just under the gravel. They can survive in even damp gravel, but they can’t survive a boot stomp. Note: Sand is very poor spawning habitat. Be careful of soft sand for walking but hard sand is a great thing to walk on and know you are not squashing salmon eggs.
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Tip 5 - When Mother Nature is Mean Don’t Go Home
Get in the Truck and Go Exploring + A Secret Weapon
Learning a river system is key. Having multiple access points that you know and can use depending on the conditions is worth its weight in gold.
On days when the conditions are poor, I spend a lot of time in the truck finding access points. I am not going to give away any spots, but I am going to talk about a secret weapon I use to E - scout these access points.
I know there are online services and online land ownership maps you can buy but, in my experience, they are a little complicated and not all that user friendly. My hunting friends put me on to a couple of hunting apps that have done the leg work to overlay all the land use types and combined the mapping information with 3D satellite maps that you can use in the car or when hiking. You can download the data so you can use it out of cell range and with it I have found countless “secret” access points not to mention I can find the private land boundaries to I know I am not breaking Trespassing Laws.
The apps are mostly free and the public land map overlays cost a few dollars a month. I am using I Hunter right now. I just looked at my subscription. It is $14.99 a year for the most detailed land use maps for the entire province of BC. So, for the price of a gas station snack and coffee you can avoid trespassing and find great access points.
I hope this gives you a strategy and mentality to enjoy those tough condition days. Great fisherman don’t let bad conditions stop them. They put boots to the ground and make the time on the water count.
Good luck on your next scouting mission!
Matt Sharp
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SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS
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Vancouver Winter Chinook Fishing Report
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Fishing has been good this past week and it looks like the winds and weather will be decent locally, across the Strait of Georgia, and up in Howe Sound. If you are thinking of heading out, that’s good news and it looks like it will be nice and sunny as well.
Where are the fish? We are still finding some fish in Vancouver Harbour around the freighters and along the Mile Markers up to the Bell. The bite isn’t as hot as it was a few weeks ago, but if you are looking for an option close to home, it is definitely worth fishing this area. PA guide Dezai was on a charter yesterday and hooked some good fish there as well as lower Howe Sound later in the trip.
If you are looking for a change of pace, and some of us are after spending a month in the harbour, lower Howe Sound has been productive as mentioned above. There are also fish in upper Howe Sound, and I know a few people who have fished Entrance and Thrasher this past week. Guess what, there are a bunch of fish over there too. This comes as no surprise as the amount of winter chinook around the lower Strait of Georgia has been excellent since late October. In short, pick your favourite spot and get out there.
A perfect winter chinook from a trip on Thursday.
There is so much bait around and that is definitely providing some excellent conditions for winter chinook to flourish. We have also encountered some juvenile coho this past week and that is a very good sign for our summer coho fishing. So far it looks like the coho will stay on the inside again this year. It’s too early to know for sure, but I’ve never seen coho this size, this early, and in the harbour nonetheless. So, I will take that as a very strong sign we are going to have another good coho summer in 2025.
No shortage of food out there! The chinook pictured above had a squid, herring, and anchovy in its stomach!
In the meantime, get out there winter chinook fishing. Now is a great time to book a trip as the fishing and prawning has been solid. Give us a call at 778-788-8582 or visit us online at Vancouver Salmon Fishing.
