A Steelheaders birthday

Just a couple of shots at a birthday fish for our good friend Yos Gladstone a few weeks back. We had some real fun fishing for winter chrome.

Sweet shot of the sticks that we use. Craig Mumby photo

Putting an arc on the Metal detector and no, its not snagged..

A shot of all the boys, look forward to it again next year!

Epoxy minnow fly

When you fish salmon bearing streams at this time of year, you will notice the amount of salmon fry present on shorelines and back eddies. Nothing quite satisfies hungry trout and Steelhead like a protein packed salmon fry, so much that most fish won't even look at anything else.
This fry pattern utilizes Ostrich for the back and Diamond braid for the body with stick on eyes, simple ingredients that make it quick and easy to tie. The epoxy coating insures durability, weight and gives the fly a brilliant sheen, adding an extra touch of realism.

Start off with an appropriate hook for the size of the fry you will imitate. This is a size 4 straight eye 1750 Daiichi. Whatever works for you, though try to avoid down turn eyes. Using White or Grey thread, wrap a strip on lead along the bottom of the shank.

Tie in the diamond braid out the back of the hook and some Olive Ostrich herl out the front.

Wrap the braid forward, overlapping just a little bit and tie off close to the eye of the hook. Tie in some red "string", here I used larva lace, but red wire, yard or thread will work. Wrap a few times for the gill and tie off. Whip finish.

Tie in at the tail of the fly, pull the Ostrich back and tie town. Whip finish. Take a lighter and burn off all the long fibers from the back of the fly (not the tail). Any longer fibers will make the epoxy stick out and look pretty bad.

Pinch the tail about .5" back and rip off the excess Ostrich dangling from the back of the pattern. Ripping rather then cutting gives it a more natural appearance. Add stick on eyes and your pretty much done the fly.

Add your epoxy, it is good to epoxy a bunch at a time rather then just 1 or 2. 5-10 minute epoxy works, though it tends to shatter a little easier then 24hr cure epoxy. A rotating dryer is a great tool for the longer cure stuff. Add the epoxy evenly and don't add more then you need. If you can, try to keep more on the belly of the fly to insure it rides right side up in the water. Done!

A Steelhead family

A well made video of the life of a real Steelhead family, the Clays. Check it out if you haven't already!

Video by Andrew Hardingham

looking forward to Steelhead season

Skiing and Steelhead all in the same day, can it get any better?

With warm weather hopefully on its way soon, the Steelhead season here should start off strong and be in full swing mid March. Considering the amount of fish we have seen in January and February, this year is looking to be one of the better ones on record. If you're up In Whistler for a rip down the mountain, don't forget to bring your Steelhead gear! 7-9 weight short Spey rods like the 510 Metal detector or 8124 Loop Opti are ideal with around 12 feet of type 3-8 (type 6 being the Go-To) for a sink tip. Even t14 in and t11 are useful in cases were the river is deep and fast. If you like the single handers they do the job too, but they are not nearly as versatile as the double handers in our river systems. If you would like to learn to cast the big rod, this is the year to do it! For more info on casting, river conditions or the fishing, give the shop a call 604-932-7221

Lots of snow, good for Skiing, good for the Fish

The view outside the Whistler Fly Shop, lots of snow everywhere

With all the new snow that we have here falling in our area, it's looking a little different then recent years with lower snowpacks. Thank La Nina. The snow is not only good for the skiing among many other things, but great for the glacial runoff rivers we have here as well, as long as it doesn't all melt at once.
The milder and wetter weather create favorable fishing conditions in our rivers during the mid winter. With cloudy overcast days the norm, the valley temperatures stay on the milder side and fishing is generally good. Sunny, dry artic outflows make for less then desirable days on the water, but a few fish will continue to bite until the rivers or your line guides freeze over. Globugs and fleshflies work really well right now, find the spawning salmon and you will find the Char and Trout.

When you start finding Bulltrout Popsicles, It might be a little cold to fish

Great day to fish the Squamish

Bulltrout love the single eggs

Although the Steelhead are not around yet and there is about 2 feet of snow on the road, there are still fish to be caught in the Squamish, and great scenery to go with it. If you find spawning Coho, egg patterns are a good bet for the trout in the area, otherwise Sculpins and ESL's work well enough. Thanks to a phenomenal Coho run, the trout and Eagle numbers are the highest I have seen in a long while at this time of the year.

Snow and fog in the upper valley

Lots of eagles just hanging out, eating the dead fish

Pieroway Metal Detector rods pass the test

Our New Pieroway Metal Detector rods have been put through some extensive testing over the last few months including rivers like the Dean, Kenektok, Skeena, Humber and many others, becoming a favorite stick to alot of fishy people. They are easy to use for beginners but experienced casters can throw some lazer loops with the skagit style lines they were designed for, compact Skandi lines cast equally well too.

Max loading up the 12' butter stick

Instead of designated line weights, they are sized in grain weights so you know the right line to use to get the best out of the rod. The 6ish weight, 400Grain 10'5" mini Skagit is equally good at throwing compact skandi lines both Spey and overhand. A perfect size rod for any trout like creature that resides in rivers. The 510Grain 7-8 weight was designed as a Steely stick and is perfect for most moderate sized Steelhead and salmon bearing rivers. At 12' its ideal for even some of the smaller streams, but loads up super well to chuck t14 and 5" bugs as far as you want, if needed.

Rob and a nice fish on the 510 Metal Detector

The 720 is the Chinook rod of the bunch. At 13'5" It throws the biggest Skagit lines and the heaviest bugs to dredge up some of the largest fish you can find in a river.

Brian and a big Dean Spring on the Metal Detector

If you would like to give one of these sticks a wiggle or to cast one, give us a call or drop by the shop

Tying the Squamish Poacher shank style

The Squamish poacher is a local favorite for fishing the Squamish and Cheakamus rivers. However most people don't seem to know the trick in tying it. In this case I put my own spin on it and it looks a bit different then the original but hey, but its the same technique, and its not like the fish really care. Having the fly on a shank with a trailer hook however is a big advantage to a regular hook, as you tend to loose less fish after hookups and the little gammies used on these flies can be easily swapped out for nice sharp ones once they dull. You will need:

SHANK - Partridge waddington 25-55mm
LOOP - 35# slickshooter or Rio knot-able wire
THREAD - White or Orange G.S.P or stronger type thread
HOOK - octopus #2
TAIL - Red/Orange Polar bear and a few strands of pearl flash
BODY - Orange Chenille
HACKLE - Orange Schlappen
SHELLBACK: Edge Bright/Lazer wrap
EYES: Melted 50 pound monofilament
WEIGHT: lead wire wrapped along the shank, this is very important if you don't want your fly to swim upside down!

Krazy glue optional

Start off wrapping the shank in thread. Feed the slick shooter through the eye of the shank (hook attached) and tie it down on both top and bottom. I like to Krazy glue it after too.

Wrap Some lead wire along the lower portion of the shank. Then wrap the chenille in for the head but don't cut it. Add the Polar bear (or something similar) and some flash. Then tie in the set of eyes. I like to use some more Krazy glue at this point too

Tie in your Schlappen (or similar) by the butt end and wrap the rest of the chenille to the eye of the shank. Then wrap the Hackle up to the eye and tie off.

Cut off a strip of Lazer wrap about the some width as the body of the fly and tie it in starting at the shank eye. The original pattern has the shell back attached at the tail as well but I think this way gives the fly a little more movement. Tie the shellback off in about 3 or 4 sections and make sure to give each segment a few wraps. Tie off the fly right about where your hackle starts. Cut the lazer wrap into a point above the mono eyes, and a V cut out on the other side so the there is room for the line. Krazy glue any thread you see.

Done!

Looks Like Some New Water on the Dean

October 2010 was one of wettest months on record for all of British Columbia. The Dean river was especially hard hit with some major flooding. Here is a photo of the river mouth taken by Wayne Sissons of Bella Coola Air. Looks like some new water to explore as the river has split just above the mouth and this new river left channel looks like it has some great potential. I guess I will have to wait until next June to explore it when I am teaching a Chinook Salmon spey instructional weeks at BC West. If you are interested in joining us for Salmon or Steelhead trips on the Dean please give Whistler Flyfishing a call at 1-888-822-3474.

Squamish area Steelhead

A few pictures of recent Squamish area Steelhead from the last few weeks by staff and friends. Hopefully the fishing here will continue into may as it did last year, but its nice here for now

Ryan and a nice Cheak Chromer

Nice Squamish fish on a sunny day

This fish took some sort of a jungle bug intruder fly

As did this one as well

Chrome Squamish buck, they don't come much nicer

Currie Artworks

Dave Currie is a long term Whistler resident, and all around fantastic individual, who loves to fish, paint and cook(perhaps even in that order). When not busy at work as the head chef at Whistler's popular Dubh Linn Gate Pub,Dave can most likely be found speyfishing for Steelhead on one of the local Whistler rivers or painting in his studio. Here are some examples of Dave's work. We have prints of most of these available at the fly shop as well as our online store. Dave's latest work features the inukshuk from the top of Whistler mountain with Black Tusk in the background. We are honoured to have the original of this piece on display at Whistler Flyfishing. Check out more of Dave's work on his website.

Winter Fly Fishing In Whistler British Columbia

Winter fly fishing is in full swing now in Whistler with good fishing for Bull Trout(Char), Rainbow Trout and Cutthroat Trout in the Squamish and Cheakamus rivers.This is one of my favourite times of year to be on the river as I enjoy the quiet of winter as well as the charm of fishing in the snow. Char fishing is especially productive during the winter months and these fish can reach considerable size in both the Squamish and Cheakamus rivers.

Tying an Intruder

I've been asked a few times to reveal the steps I use to tie our intruder. The Intruder has become more of a style of fly than a specific pattern. The original was tied by legendary Washington Steelhead guide Ed Ward. This variation of an Intruder is tied on a wadington shank with a small octopus style hook rigged in a loop of slickshooter. This set up enables one to change the hook so as to be always be fishing with a sharp hook. Different sizes and colors can enable you to target trout, Steelhead and Salmon, especially Chinook. We have used this fly with great success in the kenektok river Alaska West for Springs, as well as our west coast Steelhead and Chinook. Smaller patterns in olive are great for Bulltrout as well.

SHANK - Partridge waddington 25-55mm
LOOP - 35# slickshooter
THREAD - black
HOOK - octopus #2
TAIL - Polar bear and Arctic Fox on a dubbing loop
BODY - Guidebrod flat braid
HACKLE - Ostrich or Rhea wrapped over spun white polar bear
COLLAR -Mallard, fake spey or Schlappen hackle
HEAD - finish off with a nice set of machined eyes of your preference

First I Slip a hook on a length of slick shooter. Tie the slickshooter, or whatever your using for trailer line, on the top of the shank. Feed it through the eye of the shank and tie it underneith the shank as well. Make sure there is enough room to remove the hook when you need to change it.


Make a dubbing loop out of thin silver wire and put a bit of polar Bear in it. Colors are up to you. I find the softer and shorter fibers work the best. Twist the loop, wrap the Polar Bear and repeat the steps with normal thread and arctic fox right after.
You can either strip your rhea/ostrich and wrap it similar to hackle, or cut the individual fibers off and tye them in. I prefer wrapping, as it wastes less room and material. Tye in your body material, here I used BlueGuidebrod metallic braid, but use whatever you like...



Repeat the first few steps with more polar bear, Arctic Fox and Rhea tied up front. Like I said, colors are optional, pick a favorite fish catching color and work off of it with different shades and similar colors mixed in. I finished off this fly with Chartruese Amherst tied individually, pearl Krystal flash and black fake spey hackle, but Shlappen and large Mallard feathers work great wrapped up front as well. Finish the head with a set of nice dumbell eyes and zap-a-gap.

Rivers are starting to look good...

The weather is warming up, and everyone knows what that means... Fishing is going to get good. The rivers on the coast have been very low and clear. With 4 arctic outflows this year, its no wonder! The rain and warmer weather has been bringing water levels up, so Steelhead and Bulltrout fishing should start picking up in the next few weeks here. The Cheakamus and Squamish rivers are good choices, though the Lower Lillooet Should be producing Steelhead as well as the odd Spring right now as well.
Big flies are a good choice for the Steelies as well as Springs. Fish are few and far between and big flies cover water fast. The fish are quite aggressive and so most favorite patterns will work. Intruders, leeches and prawn/shrimp patterns are all good choices. As with Steelheading anywhere, this is not a numbers fishery and any fish caught should be considered a trophy. Always practice proper catch and release habits, keep the fish off the sand and rocks and fingers out of its gills. Never let the fish go in fast water. Along with treating the fish well, treat your fellow anglers with respect. Proper river etiquette improves everyones day out on the water!
If you would like to check out river levels for the Squamish and Cheakamus, check out this website. For any other info, check out our website, or give the shop a call.

Spring on the Lillooet

While the water is low and clear, and the Steelhead are few and far between in Squamish, there are few better places to catch fish then the upper Lillooet river. Between January and April, when the water can be very low, cold and clear, the Lillooet system can be a rewarding place to fish for the day. Cutthroat, Bulltrout and Rainbow trout can be caught regularly on Salmon fry, Alevin and most Sculpin/Streamer patterns, which are the most common food items available for these fish at this time of year. Although most fish average between 14-18 inches, some larger fish are caught on a regular basis. This river has easy access along most of its stretch from the town of Pemberton to the bridge crossing. A great river to fish for a few hours and still be able to catch a few fish, don't overlook the Lillooet the next time your going out on the water. For current river conditions and reports for the Lillooet, give us a call at the shop anytime at 604-932-7221.