Sweet Steelhead Fies

Although we tend to tie our own flies when we go out Steelhead fishing, there are a few commercially available patterns out now that I like to have on me as go-to flies. They look awesome, are tied durable and catch lots of fish! These are just a few of my favorites;

From the right side going counter clockwise; the Blue Charm is an great low water fly as is the Hobit spey tube. The Hoh-bo spey in blue or purple is a very effective pattern on the Bulkley and local waters, as is the heavier Pick yer Pocket. Both Silveys Squid and Silveys Prawn look great and work great on Steelhead and big Chinook too! Check out some more great patterns from Idylwilde (read their blog here!) on our online store, as these are just a few of many sweet patterns we carry

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.

Speycasting Lessons in Whistler and Vancouver

Whistler Flyfishing offers speycasting lessons in a variety of formats. Our classes are taught by FFF certified THCI instructors and predominately focus on modern northwest and skagit spey techniques.We offer hourly private lessons, full day private speyfishing schools as well as group lessons and destination spey schools in a variety of locales.

In 2010 we offered speycasting lessons on the Bow river in Alberta, the Humber river in Newfoundland, the Kanektok river in Alaska as well as the Dean River, Skeena river, Bulkley river, Kalum river and Squamish river here in BC.

We teach private speycasting lessons in Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler throughout the year, including the winter months.Please contact the fly shop at 1-888-822-3474 for more info or to reserve your time.

Lots of Chum Salmon in the Squamish river

Here is a picture of a nice Chum my client caught in the Squamish river last week. Lots of these super strong Salmon around right now making for a great fishery for the salmon angler. Speyfishing is the perfect method to target these fish which range between 7 pounds and 35 pounds. Whistler Flyfishing offers full day and half day guided trips on the Squamish river throughout Salmon season which typically runs through till mid December. Please call the fly shop at 1-888-822-3474 for more info or to book your trip.

Loop Tackle Story

Here is a great video of Loop Tackle owner Christer Sjoberg talking about the company and its' origins.Loop was the originator of the large arbor reel design and continues to lead the pack when it comes to fly tackle innovation.

BC Interior Rivers Bait Ban Petition

There is now a petition posted online for individuals that would like to see the province manage the Thompson and other interior Steelhead stocks in consistency with the same conservation based tackle restrictions that have proven to protect wild Steelhead in other BC regions. This is in keeping with the mandate to harmonize and simplify fishing regulations throughout the province while increasing the quality of the Thompson fishery and the longevity of these important fish.

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To: BC Minister of Environment

To the Honourable Barry Penner, British Columbia Minister of Environment.

We, the undersigned, hereby request that a “bait ban” sport fishing regulation be implemented for Interior Fraser River steelhead prior to the next sport fishing opening. (Interior Fraser steelhead rivers include the Thompson, Chilcotin, Seton, Bridge, Nahatlach and all other rivers in the Interior of BC where steelhead are known to inhabit.)

The principles of a bait ban as outlined in the BC government document “Bait Ban as a Management Tool” (http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/regulations/docs/2001/bait_ban.pdf) demonstrate that such a regulation would be desirable among the angling public.

These steelhead
- are highly accessible;
- are vulnerable to capture; and
- every spawner counts.

Further,
- there is a need to protect juvenile fish;
- the steelhead population is small; and
- there is a need to spread the catchable supply of steelhead over more anglers.

According to the current BC Freshwater Fishing Regulations the definition of bait is: ‘“Bait” is any foodstuff or natural substance used to attract fish, other than wood, cotton, wool, hair, fur or feathers. It does not include fin fish, other than roe. It includes roe, worms and other edible substances, as well as scents and flavourings containing natural substances or nutrients.”

Dean River Chinook Salmon

Here is some video from a hot fish I caught on the Dean river in June. We chased it all the way from the island at Tony's to tidewater

Metal Detector two handed Skagit rod

A sneak peak at Peiroway;'s Metal Detector series rods designed specifically with Skagit casting in mind. The rod is available in 470, 510 and 720 grain line weight sizes to fill in the niche. The big 720 is perfect big water or Chinook rod, the 510 is an excellent light Steelhead rod and the 470 is perfectly suited for anything Trout/Char. They will be available later in the season

Fly Fishing catching on with women

An article for the Chronicle Herald
By DENE MOORE The Canadian Press

When April Vokey was a girl, her dad would sometimes take her out on a lake with a worm on a hook but he was far from an avid fisherman.

At 16, on a whim really, she decided to give salmon fishing a try. She packed up her little trout spinning rod and headed for the Chilliwack River.

It wasn’t exactly a scene from A River Runs Through It, since she broke her rod, lost the fish and went home empty-handed, but she was hooked — even if the fish wasn’t.

"It’s so romantic. If you can break away from the crowd . . . if you get away from the people and you’re alone on the river, it’s so cleansing," says Vokey, now 27 and the owner-operator of Fly Gal Ventures, a fishing school that takes her across Canada and around the world teaching fly fishing to women.

Vokey compares her hours on the river to yoga.

"You cannot believe the comparison of how much Zen and how much peace there is in fishing," she says. "You know how you get home from a hike and you just feel cleansed and refreshed and you feel at ease with yourself and at peace, because you listened and you appreciated nature all day long? It’s like that with fishing, except you actually have the excitement of getting a huge fish."

Vokey is not alone. A growing number of women are taking up fishing and a growing number of guides, suppliers and resorts are trying to reel them in.

There are pink fishing reels, pretty boots and a plenty of fishing classes for the lasses. What has traditionally been the beer-friendly domain of men is getting in touch with its feminine side.

At Whistler Flyfishing, owner Brian Niska says women now make up about 10 to 15 per cent of his clientele. He has had three female guides working at his shop and one of their classes this August, on the Skeena River in northern B.C., will combine learning to SPEY fish with yoga.

They’ve had female-specific camps for about five years.

"They’re growing in popularity," Niska says. "And I think we’re probably on the leading edge of that, just being based in Whistler where there’s a lot of outdoorsy girls and just being a younger shop."

And it’s not just British Columbia. New Brunswick was one of the first provinces to see outfitters cater specifically to women and students who learned to fish at Pond’s Resort in Ludlow, N.B., quickly dubbed the school "Broads with Rods." Ontario also has several resorts and guides who offer lessons specifically for women.

Vokey is finalizing details on a fly fishing school in Ontario in June, and she’ll be teaching classes on the Bow River in Alberta in August. In August she’ll host a three-day school at the Nicholas Dean Lodge in northern B.C., her favourite place to cast.

The B.C. Wildlife Federation is doing all it can to encourage more women to get out on the westernmost province’s lakes and ocean, and into its vast wilderness.

The conservationist group offers fly fishing, basic angling and float tube fishing as part of its popular Becoming an Outdoors-Woman retreats, to be held this year in Winfield, B.C., and Mission, B.C.

The three-day courses also include instruction in shooting, archery, canoeing, orienteering and wild game cooking, among other things.

Vokey is a "catch-and-release" fisherwoman, meaning she releases a fish back into the water alive, after she’s reeled it in. For her, it’s not about the catch but spending a peaceful day on the river.

"A man will walk right by a waterfall when fishing. He’ll look at it, but he’s fishing. A woman will reel in her line and go and check out the waterfall because it’s about appreciating it. The guys are all about ‘we’ve got to get the fish,’ whereas the women are a lot more easy going," she says.

For the two years she’s been offering courses, Vokey has taught about 200 women how to fly fish. Recently, she was in Salt Lake City, Utah, teaching and last year she was in Iceland doing the same.

She’s amazed at the number of women taking up the sport. It keeps her going in what hasn’t always been an easy career choice.

"I get a lot of grief because I’m a woman. I get picked on a lot. People think it’s smooth sailing because of being a young woman but it is not easy," she says. "There’s a lot of men who don’t like me here and there’s a lot of men who do like me here."

While Vokey admits she has a pink fly and reel, which she bought because they raised money for breast cancer, she urges women who want to take up the sport not to show up in pink hip waders — and, yes, apparently there are pink hip waders out there.

"(Marketers) think the answer to everything is if you make it pink they will come," she says with a sigh. "No. Pink waders are awful. They’ll scare away the fish."

Spring Chinook on the fly in Whistler

Chinook fishing is a bit like Steelhead fishing except everything is bigger, the water, the gear and the fish are all jumbo sized. We are lucky here in Whistler to have some awesome fishing for chrome Spring Salmon right on our doorstep. The Springs we have are some of the earliest returning Chinooks on the coast.They enter fresh water in the early spring and will not start spawning until late summer, making them a very unique Salmon.
At this time of year they are Chrome and take to the fly very well. Gear of choice is anything around a 9/10 weight with a 600+ grain skagit is an appropriate rig to be able to toss some of the very heavy tungsten tips and giant flies used for these fish. Me, Brian and a couple good friends Pete and Mike took a trip and risked dirty water conditions to see if there were any around. Water clarity was decent and there was a huge salmon fly hatch going on which was pretty interesting.

Thousands of hummingbird sized bugs like this.

I got lucky and got into a nice high teen Spring. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not, and if they are around, big intruders work well.

Like this

A good day on the lower river

Alta lake Cutthroat

As soon as the ice comes off Alta lake sometime in late march (new regs say the lake is open for fishing on April 1st), there is good fishing to be had for a few months for some of the largest Cutthroat trout you will find in the corridor. Originally Alta lake was stocked a few years ago with sterile Cutthroat trout to control the local stickleback population. With the release of new Cutthroat trout in the lake every year or two and a single barbless/catch and release restriction on the lake, the fish have grown to an impressive size. Fishing for these Cutties can be quite good with some of the larger specimens surpassing the 24" size bracket.

Very nice Alta Cuttie

Rainbow trout also exist in the lake with the occasional one reaching larger proportions, but there are alot of them around. The weed beds at the north end of the lake were the River Of Golden Dreams outflows and Scotia creek inflow across from lakeside park are the best spots to fish, but any of the docks on the lake make great casting platforms and good spots to catch these fish as well. Streamers are the norm, but these fish have what you would call a "see food" diet... they see food, and then they eat it, everything from midges/Chronnies to deceivers seem to work for these fish, but micro leeches, buggers and Muddlers are your best bet with full intermediate lines.

Rainbow trout looking deceiver patterns apparently work too

Womens' learn to Flyfish in a day course

Whistler fishing guide Terry Macdonnell is doing a one day 'Learn to Fly fish' course for Women only. This Womens's Learn to Flyfish in a day course is a fun and Comprehensive introduction into the dynamic world of Flyfishing, all in our own Whistler back yard! At completion, you will have the skills and know-how to go out chucking flies and fooling fish on your own.

The course includes;

-Approx. 1.5hrs at the flyshop covering such thin gs as knots, gear, lines, flies and accessories. Fish and bug identification (entomology) are covered as well.

-Approx. 1.5hrs of casting instruction were you learn 3 basic casts, accuracy, presentation, distance, etc.

-Approx. 2hrs of fishing on a local lake or river where you learn how to read water, learn proper fishing techniques, etiquette and proper fish handling

There are Lessons on May17th and the 25th. The cost is $99 + tax. All gear is provided Except for your fishing license. If you would like to find out more, give the shop a call at (604)-932-7221 or call Terry-Anne at (604)967-1475.

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

Haida Gwaii Steelhead

A few weeks back I took a trip with some friends to the Haida Gwaii to go fish for some Bc winter Steelies. The water conditions were extremely low with seals in the river (25km+ up from the salt water) but there were still a few fish to be caught. Check it out!

Birthday Steelie

A quality team photo from the other day at a birthday barbeque on the river. The fish was a sweet bonus. Happy Birthday Yos, and nice fish Scott

Olympic Pictures week #2

Here are some photos from the second week of the Olympics and yes, a loop yellow 9132 doubles as a fantastic flagpole

Creative castings wildlife pins

Some of our most popular Olympic souvenirs are the hand painted fish and wildlife pins created for us by the fine folks at Creative Castings. The pins are an accurate representation of the plentiful fish and wildlife you can find in the Whistler area. The pins are manufactured and painted in the United States and come in a nice presentation case. They make a neat decorative piece for your clothing or to be displayed in their wooden case. From Steelhead to Elk, we have pins representing most of the critters you can find in the Whistler area.

Olympic Whistler photos

Here are some photos from the first week of the games here in Whistler

Whistler Flyfishing story in the Drake

Check out the Drake for a story about Whistler Flyfishing. The Drake is by far the most legit fishing magazine out there. The printed version of the Drake is published 3 times per year and is by far the most legit fly fishing magazine going. We just got in extra copies of the new issue,get yours today.

2010 Olympic Bronze medalist goes flyfishing in Whistler

After getting Bronze in the Whistler 2010 2 man Luge, Patric-Fritz Leitner had another dream to finish the games in whistler, with a day of flyfishing in BC Canada before he went home to Germany. Armed with a camera Crew and whistler fly fishing head guide, Pat Beahen, Pat had a great sunny day out on the water and even got into some Bulltrout! The trip was briefly featured on a German TV news station. Here are some pics of the day, taken in the upper Squamish valley.

Whistler winter fishing during the 2010 Olympics

The most common misconception people have about fishing the Whistler area is that fishing is non existent in the winter... its quite the contrary actually!
Generally winters here tend to be mild, which makes for some nicer fishing conditions usually starting in February. The weather we have been having for the last few weeks is quite exceptional, with warmer average temperatures and light amounts of rain in the Valley, the Rivers around whistler have been fishing quite well for the last few weeks and should fish great Into the upcoming 2010 Olympic games.
Sea-Run Bulltrout, Rainbow, Cutthroat and the odd Steelhead are around right now with plenty of char being taken in the 24"+ size bracket.

One of those Big Bulls, fat N' silver and full of Coho eggs

With The temperatures this warm, the Salmon Alevin/Fry migration should be happening soon, and when this does happen (with a little rain to help as well), you can expect fishing to get really good in almost any local river that had Salmon spawning in it.
Bring your 7wt switch or small Spey if you can, or a single hander can work too. Olive Zonkers and Muddlers work quite well during that time, as do flesh patterns, Alevin, Glo-bugs and good ol ESL's. No Need to switch up flies for Steelhead either as they are consistently taken on swung Egg suckers and olive Zonkers fishing for Trout!

Pat and Stuart with a beauty Rainbow

Good News for Wild Salmon and Steelhead

Here is a cut and paste from an email that I received from wild fish advocate
Alexandra Morton. It features some good news in her fight to rid BC's coast of the fish farms that are endangering wild fish with their sea lice infestation:

Today BC Supreme Court ruled in our favor once again. Justice Hinkson granted the federal government a suspension order until December 18, 2010 so that Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) can further prepare to assume control of regulating salmon farms. However, Justice Hinkson forbade any expansion of aquaculture during that period. Specifically, the province cannot issue any new fish farm licences and cannot expand the size of any tenure. He recognized the First Nation interest in this matter by granting the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council intervenor status, which is essential as this case is based in their territory.

On the matter pursued by Marine Harvest at the Court of Appeal and sent back to Justice Hinkson to reconsider (that is whether the fish in the farms are privately owned by the companies and whether the Farm Practices Protection Act (FPPA) is still in force), Hinkson confirmed that the FPPA, will no longer apply to finfish aquaculture and thus no longer protect farms from nuisance claims.

On the question, does Marine Harvest own the fish in their pens? Justice Hinkson found that this was not the place for this decision. Marine Harvest will have to bring this before the courts themselves. For now, we know that the aquaculture fish are now part of the fisheries of Canada.

Today’s decision is met by the unrelated announcement by US box store chain “Target” that they have eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen, and smoked seafood offerings in its stores across the United States, because of farm salmon environmental impact on native salmon.

There is an enormous amount of work ahead to translate any of this into better survival of our wild salmon, but the courts seem consistently interested in bringing reason, the constitution and the law to bear on the Norwegian fish farm industry in British Columbia.

While I am truly sorry that jobs will be lost in ocean fish farming, bear in mind the industry is in deep trouble with mother nature herself in the fish farming strongholds of Chile and Norway. Trying to hold this nomadic fish in pens is never going to work, because it causes epidemics, unnatural sea lice infestations and drug resistance. Salmon farming is not sustainable and ultimately we are better served by our wild fish.

Alexandra Morton

Scandi Casting with Francois Blanchet January 10th 2010

Whistler Flyfishing is proud to present another day of free speycasting instruction. On Sunday January 10th join Whistler Flyfishing guide and Loop tackle pro staffer Francois Blanchet for a FREE day of underhand casting instruction. Francois i9s well known for his mastery of the scandinavian aka underhand technique. Meet at 10am at the Mamquam bar in Squamish. For more info or to pre register please contact the fly shop at 604-932-7221.

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.

Last Minute Gift Ideas from Whistler Flyfishing

just a reminder for anyone looking for a last minute holiday gifts

Whistler flyfishing offers mail order gift certificates for shop sales.

Can't find the perfect gift for that special angler or angler to be? Give the gift of knowledge this holiday season, Whistler Flyfishing has gift certificates for the following courses taught by FFF certified pros

-Learn to Flyfish in a day class

-Private casting lessons(spey or single hand)

-Steelhead speyfishing course

-Womens only flyfishing camps

-on the water winter trout fishing schools

-fly tying instruction

Please call Whistler Flyfishing at 1-888-822-3474 or 604-932-7221 for more information.