Salmon Fishing in British Columbia

Spring, Summer...and on into fall...

Now that the Spring rains have swelled our local rivers, various closures have limited opportunities, and the Steelhead season is slowly winding down, fishermen everywhere are beginning to contemplate the warm, beautiful days of the fisheries that are about to start.

From Bar fishing for Chinook Salmon



Plying the depths for monstrous, arm wrenching Sturgeon...



Fishing for Pink Salmon on the fly, or bottom bouncing Sockeye, anglers all over the province will pick up their rods and gear, anxiously awaiting the arrival of a variety of plentiful species of fish.



Many of these anglers will be new to the sport. They may have fished last year or the year before for Sockeye or Pinks, or they may have fished the Vedder or the Capilano a few times during plentiful fall runs of salmon, but they will be new to the sport nonetheless. Yet there is a common thread to all anglers, be they experienced or novice…We all know the fun and good times we have when out on the water, the tense anticipation of the strike, and the exhilaration of having a good strong fish on the end of our line.

What some anglers already know, and many will soon come to realize, is that in time, as our fishing experiences and memories grow, so does how we value the sport. Soon we find ourselves thinking that we know how to catch them on a regular basis. Soon in our “sportfishing career”, an angler begins to take some pride in their skill, and in their catch, expanding their knowledge to other fisheries and methods. Others will take things to another level and begin to fiercely want to protect “their” resource…regardless of all this, the common thread still remains. The thrill of the adventure, the fight and achieving success is trully intoxicating and draws people of all ages and backgrounds to our wonderful sport…

I bring this all up because of something that is a concern to me.

Many anglers may have fished for Sockeye on the Fraser river as their first fishing experience. They may have watched, as more experienced fishermen caught fish after fish, and wondered how they did it…?
Inevitably they would notice extremely long leaders and bouncing betties where what they were “biting” on, or maybe even hear the term Flossing... This is a method used to catch Sockeye salmon on the Fraser, it is reviled and despised by some, tolerated by others and practiced widely during open Sockeye sport fisheries during the summer…. It is a method that is legal, for now, but is not sportsmanlike or representative of the true nature of sportfishing whatsoever…It does not entice the fish to strike, rather it is a way of hooking the fish against its will. In Fact, this method frequently can result in hooking the fish in the tail or other part of the body, regardless of an anglers skill or quality of presentation. Flossing Sockeye on the Fraser river, and variations of this technique on other rivers, is basically snagging a fish by dragging your line along the bottom and pulling the hook into a fish, striking it, not getting it to bite.

What many new anglers don’t realize is, there are many ways to catch fish. From Shortfloating bait or hardware for Salmon & Steelhead, or swinging Spoons or Flies…to float fishing creek mouths or Plunking for Big Springs on the Fraser…Yes, and even “flossing” Sockeye. The true allure of sportfishing involves tricking the fish to strike your presentation…this is the key, and the reward…

Consider the fine art of flyfishing. Applying the science of Entomology, (the study of insects), to the feeding patterns of trout in lakes and streams…. Here a person can fish on ultralight gear, and stand a good chance of hooking into beautiful British Columbia Rainbow trout in one of our many lakes and streams, or even target colorful, aggressive cutthroat, amongst other species.



Then once their interest is piqued, suddenly in choosing a fly based on an understanding of local insect life cycles, an angler can achieve success by “matching the hatch” on any lake and connecting with multiple, and beautiful, big strong FISH!!! Adventures are always to be had when hunting for BC's beautiful rainbows, and having one on the line is like nothing else. A little experience and some effort are definitely required, but as all anglers inevitably realize, once you put the time in, you get the results out….! Just like the common thread all anglers have regarding the addiction of fishing, the subtleties between different types of fisheries also have a commonality.

You wouldn’t go and throw a giant hook in a lake and yank on it till you hooked a fish at all costs would you? You would try varous techniques to get the fish to bite…right?



Why should it be any different for our rivers…? Really when you compare some of the factors involved in enticing fish to bite in both lakes and rivers, you’ll see their subtleties have strikingly similar complexity…

In Lakes you might choose your presentation based on time year, temperature, current insect activity, bottom structure, etc…. While likewise, in rivers, you might factor in a few subtleties that mirror the complexity of other fisheries. You’ll find water levels, clarity, temperature and current speed play a big role in choosing your terminal item, but this is just a cursory list for the sake of making a point.

Whatever you are fishing for, be it in a lake or river, stream, pond or ocean, take the time to think about the way you fish. Experiment a little. Try new baits, new lures. Fish a new body of water…Whatever you do, don’t be “that guy” who just plods along dredging the bottom of a river somewhere snagging fish every second cast. Take the time to do some research, observe how other fishermen ply their trade, ask questions, and above all recognize that there are choices we all can make on how to fish.

The details are all here on this website, and on other sites across the web, Volumes of info are at our disposal…! If you are new to sportfishing, or new to a certain sportfishery, join the club!!! We’ve all been there before, and hopefully we’ll all be there again at some point…it is always exciting to learn new techniques!!!
A multitude of the stories, articles and various other posts we read here can answer all of our questions on fishing.

When you go out fishing this Spring and Summer, or even in the fall or winter, consider your options. Don’t just equate throwing a line in the water to fishing, and please don’t think that the method used to fish sockeye on the fraser is the way to do it for all fisheries…. If you are an angler who fishes sockeye by flossing, please don’t carry over that technique to the other species that run the Fraser and its tributaries…there are far too many reasons why…

Rivers like the Vedder/Chilliwack, and others, are different from fishing the Fraser to a great extent, particularly when you compare fishing for Steelhead and Salmon. You can get them to bite!!!! Consider the various methods used to catch fish in our smaller flowing rivers and adapt to conditions instead of just “striking and hoping”, you might soon find out that tricking them is much more rewarding…



So teach someone to fish, or learn some new techniques yourself. Our fascination with these beautiful fish will continue on through our children and generations to come...it's well worth the effort of investing the time to learn about the sport and how to respect our fish...

My opinions expressed here do not necessarily represent the opinions of the BCFR website, and were solely provided of my own accord as an expression of personal concerns regarding recent trends in our sportfisheries. If an angler chooses to participate in the Fraser Sockeye “Flossery” when openings occur, I make no judgement in that regard, nor do I have the right to. Any fishermen operating within the confines of the law should expect no gripes from me. This is simply a plea to anglers who might not have known otherwise, that such methods need not be applied to other species migrating the Fraser, (not to mention on our smaller flows), in order to be successful…

Also, the pictures shown in this post were taken from the posts of various members of BCFR, if anyone has a problem with a link or picture of theirs being used please let me know by pm and I will make any necessary adjustments.

Thanks for reading,

rib

PS: There are some hidden “links” to other threads in this post, in case you missed them…