Sweet Steelhead and Chinook flies

A good friend of ours Stuart Foxall Is an excellent tier, and when at home in the UK he ties like mad until its time for Steelhead and Spring season here. Big Chartreause and Blue work well for the Chinook, and smaller Purple, Blue Black and Pink are great for the ocean fresh Steelhead here. All the flies seen here were tied on tubes and regular style Steelhead hooks.

A Surprising place to Speyfish for Chrome Salmon

It would be understandable for you to expect that the big Salmon in this picture was caught floating a remote river somewhere on the coast of British Columbia or Alaska. In fact it looks lot like the Chinook Salmon we catch speyfishing BC rivers like the Dean, Kalum, Lillooet and Skeena. It also looks pretty similar to the King Salmon we catch every summer on the Kanektok river in Alaska. In fact, it wasn't even caught in North America. In Chile, guides and few guests have been experimenting with the emerging Chinook fishery in some of the rivers in Chile. Though most have been caught on gear, they have been taken on flies and are fished the same cast and swing style we do up here. These fish however have no real competition for spawning beds, no nets or commercial fishery's to worry about and few fish actively feed on their eggs or fry. Their numbers grow more year to year, relatively unimpeded and seem to have a large average size.

Chile west guide Trevor Covich hoists a hog

Whistler fly fishing has started booking destination trips to Chile west in 2012. Chile West is on the edge of an emerging king fishery while still boasting some of the finest Brown trout and Rainbow trout fishing as well. Email the shop at info@whistlerflyfishing.com or call the shop 604-932-7221 for any info on Chile West or Chinook fishing

Nice Chilean Brown Trout

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

Really Big Chinook Salmon on the Fly

Filed in the category of really big Chinook Salmon on the fly or King Salmon you will never forget. Nice work Mr. Matt you fishmeister you.

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.

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

Loop Classic reels

Tradition with an attitude" Loops Classic series of reels are a great choice for the 2 hander. These reels will put up with the abuse that a hardcore steelhead/salmon fisher can dish out, and have a drag big enough to handle the biggest ocean fresh Salmonoids. Using the same waterproof Power Matrix Drag incorperated in all other loop reels, it is silky smooth "with a pronounced 'click' that signals “fish on” through your ears"... Meaning it absolutly screams when that big fish smashes your fly and starts taking line. It comes in 5 sizes, from a trout 4/6 to a king sized 10/13.

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.

Tommy Tyee, lover of BC Steelhead and Chinook Salmon

Here is an article written by Michel Beaudry about my good buddy Tom Thomson. It appeared in this weeks edition of the Pique Newsmagazine, a local Whistler newspaper published each Thursday. Tommy is a true Whistler kid having actually grown up here. Despite his young age Tom is a seasoned saltwater guide with over 10 years saltwater guiding experience, most recently at Peregrine Lodge and the last two seasons at Langara Island Lodge in BC's Queen Charlotte Islands. Tom got pretty heavy into Steelhead flyfishing a couple of seasons ago and quickly became one of my favourite peoiple to Steelhead with. I think it took all of 5 minutes to get Tom casting the speyrod like a champ. Honestly catching Steelhead consistantly didn't take too long either. Aside from working at Langara Tom helps Whistler Flyfishing guide Yos Gladstone promote Chromer Sportfishing, a company specializing in west cost angling adventures. The pic above shows Yos and Tom pretty excited with the Queen Charolottes Chinook salmon they are about to release. Here are a couple of Steelhead pics from the Cheakamus, Bulkley, Fraser and Thompson rivers as well. It is no surprise that Tom is such the angler as it runs in his blood. Toms' dad, Whistler town council member and local legend, Tom SR used to do the CKNW Sea Watch report on Vancouver radio station CKNW, spending his weekends on the ocean keeping tabs on local fishing conditions.










Tommy Thomson: It's all about the positive
By Michel Beaudry Thursday January 29,2009

It's not often that a 24 year old starts a conversation with: "My dad recommended that I..." But that's exactly how Tommy Thomson started ours. The only son of Whistler's most popular citizen (see Pique Dec. 31, 2008), the younger Thomson confided to me over coffee last week that his council-member father had suggested he keep our conversation as positive as possible. I nodded in agreement. That was fine with me, I said. As long as he didn't mouth platitudes and clichés.

I needn't have worried. After a two-hour exchange that flew by like the ragged remnants of a storm before an Arctic high, I came away convinced that his dad's counsel was largely unnecessary. Why? Because Tommy is about as honest and naturally-positive a young man as I've ever had the pleasure to speak with.

And once again I was thoroughly impressed with the community's success in raising its children....

But I'm getting ahead of myself. A thoughtful, articulate kid with an open-faced smile that is as guileless as it is friendly, the younger Thomson's discourse is animated by an engaging streak of exuberance that seems to be characteristic of those raised in this valley. Hip, happy - and seemingly without a care in the world - he nonetheless displays a social sensitivity that is startling for a guy his age.

"I have a real thing about keeping the local flavour alive at Whistler," says the long and lanky fly-fishing guide they call 'Tommy Tyee'. "I travel a lot. I get out of the Whistler bubble often. But I always look forward to coming home." Why, I ask. "Because I love the people here," he says simply. He pauses for a moment. "You know, being a kid in this valley gave me the opportunity to grow up with people who are really unique and cool individuals. You'll never find people like that anywhere else."

And then he reels off a list of names - Tyler Massey, Nick Vagelatos, Robby Dixon, Matt Friesen, Andreas Morel, Tim and Alex Orr. "These are just some of the guys I grew up with," he says. "When we get out riding on the mountain together now, it's just as real and cool as it's always been. It all comes down to that special Whistler buzz, you know. And it's definitely been a big part of our success as a destination. I mean, if tourists see how excited the locals are about playing on the mountain, then they get excited too."

But there's a caveat, he says. "Sure, Whistler is way more Disney-like than it was when I was growing up. It's stupidly expensive to live here and the gap between the folks who are already established and the seasonal workers who come here to live their dreams is growing every year. But at the end of the day, you can get what you seek from Whistler."

He smiles and his blue eyes crinkle with pleasure. "It's not about the lifts or the chain stores or the Peak-2-Peak gondola," he says. "It's about the mountains. If you want to go for a walk or a hike or even a ride - it's all there. And it's all free!" Now he's laughing. "Heck, I'm totally okay with climbing to earn your turns..."

It's not just talk. "Who at my age can afford a $93 lift ticket?" he asks rhetorically. And then he addresses one of the biggest issues for his generation. "It's definitely tough to make ends meet if you're a young person living at Whistler. After all, these are expensive sports we're involved in. When all is said and done - after you've paid for your bike and your board and all the other equipment you might need at Whistler - there's not a lot of money left over." Another smile, but this one is tinged with the sad reality of what he's about to say. "That's why so many of us have to leave Whistler, to make enough money to come back here and play." A long pause. "You see, for me, being a waiter or a bartender at Whistler just doesn't make it anymore..."

Fortunately for Thomson, an early infatuation with fly-fishing combined with strong people skills (once again the apple didn't fall far from the tree) led him to the kind of job that most people can only dream about. "I've had a passion for fishing since I was a kid," he explains. "Freshwater, saltwater, it doesn't matter. As long as I'm outside with a fly on my line, I'm happy." Thomson's first fishing job was at a lodge on the west coast of Vancouver Island called Roger's Tyee Camp. He was 14 years old. And although he spent that first summer washing dishes, by the next year he was ready to guide clients on his own. "I guided at Roger's for four years," he says. "And then I moved up to the Queen Charlotte Islands."

His eyes light up the moment he mentions B.C.'s legendary northern archipelago. "It's a hugely magical spot," he says. "Big water; amazing salmon fishing. And the marine wildlife is out of this world. In one day you might come across a handful of big humpbacks, or a couple of Minke whales or even a pod of Orca." Another happy smile. "And the old growth forests there - totally impressive. You can really feel the spirit of the place." He then tells me of his Haida friend, renowned artist Frank Williams, who has filled him in on what it was like to grow up in this enchanting environment. "He's got an incredible number of tales," Tommy says. "And it really puts island life in perspective."

For the last few years, Thomson has been guiding at Langara Island Lodge, widely considered to be the benchmark operation in the business. "It's so cool to have climbed the ladder and to be doing something I love so much at such a high-quality operation," he explains. "I can't say enough about that place. Langara is not so much a business as it is a family. I've met more great people there than I've met anywhere else in the world." He stops speaking. Looks at me to make sure I'm following. 'This is important,' his eyes tell me. He continues speaking. "You know, I consider myself very lucky to be working there. In fact, it's something I look forward to every year. From May to October I'm a happy guy..."

It's fortunate too, he says, that his Whistler buddies, Yos Gladstone and Jord Dunstan, also work at Langara. Indeed, Thomson has even embarked on a business venture with Gladstone. "We organize customized fishing trips throughout B.C. and the company is called Chromer Sports Fishing," he explains. (For those not up on the fishing lingo, "chrome" alludes to the silvery hue of fish scales.) "I want to be as much a part of the business as I can," he adds. And laughs. "But it's definitely Yos's thing. He's a wizard when it comes to organizing things. Compared to him, I'm just the PR hack..."

While guiding does a great job of paying the bills, salt- and freshwater fishing are certainly not Thomson's only aquatic passions. Like so many other Whistler-raised kids - Tyler Massey, Claire Daniels, Johnny Burgess and Manny Osborne-Paradis immediately come to mind - Tommy Thomson is mad for surfing. "I feel so at home on the ocean," he explains. "Just the feeling of being on the water; catching that first wave..." He laughs. His eyes shine again. "I'm getting excited now just thinking about it."

And Thomson hasn't been afraid to indulge his love for the demanding sport. "Over the years," he says, "I've travelled to a lot of amazing surf destinations: Hawaii, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, Peru and Brazil. And no matter where I go, surfing continues to humble me." Another burst of laughter. "For example, I got totally worked on this last trip to Hawaii. I mean, the ocean can really put you in your place. There's no room for posers in the waves. Unless you're ready to pay your dues, you'll never get good at it."

Still, he says, like big-mountain riding, big-wave surfing is more about community than anything else. "It's all about sharing the magic of the waves with your friends," he explains. "When you've been out on the water with buddies on a big day, you come home just buzzing. And nobody else gets it but the people who were out there with you..."

Which brings us to our final subject. And it's a theme tinged with a certain amount of regret for the young world traveller. "Whistler is still a long shot for me as a place to settle down in," admits Thomson. "And I hate to say that. But it's the truth..." Another long pause. "I'm sad right now thinking about it. It's really tough. I mean, what better place than Whistler to raise kids? As somebody who grew up here, I know just how great this community can be. It's the best. But I have to be realistic. Is there really a place for me here? I don't know. Right now I just can't see myself being able to afford to raise a family at Whistler."

It's a sensitive subject for many living in the valley. And yet one that I believe is vital to Whistler's sustainability as a bona fide community. After all, if there's no room for its young, homegrown citizens, what does Whistler really stand for? "Exactly," says Tommy.

But his buoyant personality refuses to stay down for long. "You know," he says, "this conversation has really got me thinking. Maybe I need to raise these issues with my friends more. What are the challenges that my generation needs to take up now? What do we want Whistler to look like in 20 years? These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves if we're really serious about making a home for ourselves here."

Before we part, Tommy wants to make sure I understand how valuable our morning chat was. "You know, I realize you can't just keep taking in this life," he says. "I realize now that it's time for young locals to start giving something back to the community. Now I just have to figure out exactly what that might be..."

South American Brown Trout

Here is an old photo taken sometime in the early or mid '90's on the Futaleufu river in Chile,check out the first generation pair of Simms breathables. I spent a season back in the day guiding on the beautiful Futaleufu River in the northern Patagonia region of Chile. It was a dream job as the Futa is paradise and I was working for legendary angler, writer and photographer Jim Repine. Jim has since sold his operation but at one time Jim and his wife Sonja operated one of the finest fishing lodges in all of Patagonia.

Jim is a huge fan of Hexagraph fly rods and had invited the owners of Hexagraph down to fish the Futa. Hexagraph fly rods are a unique concept in fly rod design, they look and feel like bamboo but are made of modern materials. Almost identical in action and construction to bamboo, Hexagraph rods are incredibly durable yet fairly lightweight.This is how I found myself drifting the Futuleufu one beautiful sunny spring day with Jim Repine and Hexagraph owner Harry Briscoe.

If my memory serves Harry was in the bow of the raft casting a rabbit strip sculpin pattern toward the bank. As I rowed the raft in to the lunch spot Harry hooked up with a heavy fish that immediatly ran for the far side of the river. Since we were close to shore I pulled the boat in to the lunch spot and let Harry get out and play the fish from shore. After securing the raft, I looked over to see that Hexagraph bent right down to the cork. As hard as Harry pulled he didn't seem to be able to gain any line on this mystery fish.The Futaleufu river has a small run of Chinook Salmon aka King Salmon which apparrantly originated from fish farming escapees.To see that flyline stretched across the river and that rod bent to the cork, Jim and I started to wonder if Harry had hooked into a Chinook.

The Futa is a wide clear river and in this section the river rocks were coated in a thick heavy moss. It started to become clear that the line had gotten stuck in the mossy rocks after that long initial run. Though we were doubtful that the fish was still on, Harry waded out managed to get the line off the rocks just as the big Brown Trout surfaced on the other side of the Futaleufu river. After that the fish came in pretty easy and we got this nice picture of Harry, myself and the mystery fish. Too bad I'm too busy checking out the beautiful Hexagraph rod to look at the camera. I had a good laugh last year when I noticed that the Drake magazine had a Hexagraph ad featuring Harry, myself and this very same Futaleufu Brown Trout.