How to catch more Steelhead and Salmon in British Columbia Canada

Recently, Brad Knowles of the Pemberton Fish Finder put together this for a seminar that he held at the BC Outdoor Sportsman Show. The seminar was well received by many and hopefully you will find some or all of these tips useful.

Before you start

• Do your homework – check local fishing reports, water levels, access points, stop in to your local fishing shops.  Check the regs, make sure you have the appropriate licenses and tags for the water you’re fishing.
• Make sure you have a quality landing net, preferably rubber or coated. 
• Get a good selection of gear, floats, weights, colors, sizes…..support local.
• Have a good selection of flies, colors, sizes, weighted or naked. Tubes are great too.  Most salmon flies work for steelhead. So It’s a two for 1 instance. bonus!
• Make sure your stuff is organized, leaders tied, hooks sharp, have a few different tackle boxes.  This will save you time on the river. 
• Waterproof backpack or dry bag.
• Don’t cheap out on waders and boots.  These things keep you safe on the river in the most extreme conditions. I always suggest a rubber sole with studs because you’re gonna be covering ground.  Studs hook up in ice and snow, especially in the Pacific Northwest conditions.  It can literally be snowing 1 sec and raining the next. This makes everything slick.
• Learn proper fish handling. Loads of articles online.
• Find a fishing buddy.  Fishing buddies are important when you are learning.  Double your odds of catching, share tips and push each other to be better.  They also can help land fish quickly so that fish are not overplayed or drug up onto the banks.  Also help capture your special moment in a timely manner.  At the end of the day these fish are precious.

Where do you start

I always tell people when they are starting Salmon or Steelhead fishing, be prepared to cover ground.  Learn a section of river and cover it good before you branch out.  Fish every little bit of it, you’ll be surprised where they’ll hold. Google earth or google maps is also very useful to learn access point and or fishing locations. 

When I first started fishing, I remember sitting back and just watching.  What is that person doing different than I?  You’ll notice on every system there is a handful of fishers that stand out.  They are catching while everyone else is practicing their casting.  There’s a reason for it, just watch you’ll see differences. Watch how they fish, how they cover water, retrieval speeds, how they position themselves in the water. Suddenly you’ll see the differences and apply them to your game.  Here are a few things to look for when picking a good fishing spot:

• Structure
• Transitional places, narrowing or rapids that calm into a run or benches
• Hard bends in river
• Log jams
• Long straight sections with good gravel and a defined deep section with flow.
• If you can see the highway, good chance it has already been pounded.

Cycle Through your gear

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You bought all that new shiny stuff, now use it.  Explore different techniques of Salmon and Steelhead fishing.  Pack a couple of different rods with you, this will help boost your confidence.  It’s funny how many fly guys I’ll see packing a drift rod, well hidden at that.  Different rods give you different options and in turn gives you the upper hand.  After you’ve worked every bead and worm color through a run it’s funny how a spinner will trigger a Steelhead or Salmon. 

If you know there are fish in the run you are fishing keep cycling through your gear or flies.  A supple change can trigger.  You will catch fish again and again in the same area.  You will find that fish tend to hang out in the same zones, each and everyday.  It is funny but I will tell clients to cast right there and boom they catch a fish.  They’re first reaction is, how did you know it was going to be there? Lucky Guess? No, I fish this river everyday, I know where they’re going to be. 

Things to pay attention to while cycling gear through a run:

• Pay attention to where other anglers are fishing, especially the ones catching.
• Cover every bit of water that is at least knee deep.
• Make sure you are steadily checking your float and fly depth. You want your gear or fly within the bottom 10”.  99% of strikes are going to happen within a foot of the bottom.
• In high water conditions, up your lure and fly size
• In low clear conditions you’ll want to drop size and even leader size.
• Spend time learning the water and where its main flows are.  Fish tend to stay in flow or just out of.  The better you can read water, the more likely you’ll be to find fish.
• Fish tend to work their way toward shoreline during high water
• Fish tend to stay in deep pockets during low and clear periods.
• Start at the top of a run and push them back, when they’ve got nowhere to go, that can trigger aggression.
• Fish the boulder runs.

Putting it all Together

Tribute to a Good Friend “Paul Green”

Below is a Steelhead Fly fishing video. The video was filmed by Paul Green, who recently passed away. Paul was a very good friend of mine and we spent numerous days walking rivers in search of the elusive Pacific Northwest Steelhead. As you can tell in the video he was a bubbly chap that had a passion for life and fishing. I miss him dearly, RIP good friend and fellow fisherman.

Fast Track To Success

Our fishing guides will provide a safe, fun, educational and rewarding experience.  I was looking over our fishing reports just before this show and we are sporting a 99.5% success rate this annual year.  That is almost unheard of from a charter company! Obviously, there are hundreds if not thousands of YouTube videos and articles online that will help you become better at fishing. But hands on is always best especially in the waters we work on a daily basis.  A professional fishing guide can pick up on subtle changes that will instantly improve your chances.  Show you exactly where the fish are holding and how to catch them.  Help keep you safe on the river by avoiding dangerous situations, at the same time educating you on why to avoid those areas. The benefits are truly endless.  Look at us as the fishing buddy that everyone wants.

  Right now we’ve got some fantastic pricing on our fishing packages.  Go over and chat up Mellissa.  Finally, I look forward to fishing with you all.  Tight lines.