Archive for October, 2010

Noel Gyger reports.  We had some heavy rain during the week but it mostly stayed in the mountains as snow. Fishin Char using fly, spin and conventional gear was fair. The Skeena River and most of thetributaries are coloured up but still fishable. The Kalum River is in good shape andfishing for Steelhead and Coho is fantastic! The Kitimat River water level had some drastic fluctuations in water levels again this week. The water visibility in the main stem Kitimat River was poor for most of the week but started to clean for the weekend. The anglers who had some success catching Coho fished the upper Kitimat or the confluences of the tributaries and/or in the tributaries. There was very little fishing in the Douglas Channel this week. The recent Halibut closure to recreational sector discouraged many boaters from bottom fishing. Prince Rupert had strong winds and heavy rainfall this past week. There has been no fishing report to issue, although some diehard fishermen have taken to the water for a fresh feed of Crab. Kispiox River; It is raining in the area today and river conditions can change very quickly but as of now the river is holding well. The water is high but the clarity is good. Fishing has been a bit slower in the last week. The Bulkley River has come up with this new rain and is high and coloured. Above Telkwa the clarity is decent but below is a cementy green. As of now it is fishable, but this rain could change things. Steelhead fishing has been good in the last week; fish are there but conditions are not great. The Morice River is high but so far the clarity is good. Fishing has done well for most and yesterday there was 3 feet visibility. The Zymoetz (Copper) River is clean enough to fish and I have many reports of some great Steelhead catches with both fly and spin rods. This week guide reports came from Ron Wakita, Ariel Kuppers and Tracey Hittel.

If you would like to book a guided fishing trip with Noel, you can contact him at, www.noelgyger.ca .

Even though winds were blowing up to 30km per hour yesterday, we thought we would give the lower Niagara River a fish for jumbo perch.  Our daughter Jessica and our two grandchildren, Benjamin and Isabella joined my wife Barbara & I, and of course our pup Mulligan.  First we stopped and caught some emerald shiners with a dip net, then we arrived around 1:30pm at the Queenston Boat launch.  We headed a little south and fished in 18-24′ of water.  The water had become turbid from the strong winds on Lake Erie, but we still managed to catch about a dozen nice-size perch in about an hour and a half.  Benjamin caught several fish on his child’s rod, while our friend Ayden Cuke landed his biggest jumbo perch…well done Hayden!

Greg Klatt reports.  “Wow,  the Lake Simcoe tournament this past weekend was unreal and saw the biggest weights ever weighted in Canadian history,  including a new record broken of over 31lbs for 5 smallies!!!. One team even weighted in a 8.05lb smallie that fetched a $5K cheque!!!… but the team only weighted 23lbs.   We did great getting 28.45lbs and had a 7.1 and 6.6lb smallie in our bag of 5 and could not get rid of 4.8lb dink!!! lol! only in Simcoe man.  If that 8lb did not come in I believe we may have taken the $5K big fish award but will settle for the $2,250.- cheque we got… not a bad day on the water.

The Rapalal R-type rods with matching baitcasting reels with drop-shots and tube jigs did the damage.  Awesome event to be part of for sure and a great way to end the 2010 season!

Attached a couple of pics from Sat… enjoy and take care!

If you would like to book a guided fishing trip with Greg, you can contact him at, www.profishntanglingservices.com .

Like the spinning series, the Rapala engineered Volt Series of casting reels were designed with the everyday angler in mind. The aluminum frame, 6 ball bearing reel casts like a dream, and when the big one strikes the sure-set anti-reverse stops the fish in its tracks. With the lightweight gold anodized spool, magnetic cast control, high speed gear ratio (6.2:1) and soft touch handle knobs, you will think you are using a far more expensive reel. The Volt series of reels make every angler feel like a pro. http://www.rapala.ca/products/rapala/volt_cast.php

Fall Time Bass Fishing

The weather starts getting cooler, the leaves start changing colours and then most people start thinking about putting the boats away and getting ready for ice fishing.  Well, the fall time is a great time of year to catch some monster bass.  Both small and largemouth are active and are strapping on the feed bag for the long winter months.  One of my favourite lakes in Eastern Ontario is Big Rideau Lake.

Big Rideau Lake is part of the Rideau system which runs from Ottawa all the way to Kingston.  The section that I’m talking about in this system is between Portland and Smiths Falls.  This past two weekends (Oct 16^th & 23^rd) I was out, the sun was shining, the lake was calm and the bass didn’t disappoint.  We were fishing in 25- 40 feet of water using 8 lbs fluorocarbon on 6’9” Med action spinning gear.  The technique of choice is a drop shot.  Using ½ oz pencil weights with a 1/0 circle hook made it possible to catch fish like these.

 Water temperatures are in the mid to low 50s right now making the smallmouth rather aggressive.  In a matter of 4 hours we landed over 20 decent size smallmouth. The majority of the smallmouths were coming off rocks with little to no weed cover what so ever.  As we were using our drop shots you can feel the bottom and the minute that we found weeds the bite would stop.  We would continue around the rock hump and you can feel only the bottom the bass were there.  Using a heavy drop shot weight, in our case ½ oz it helped us to keep that weight on the bottom to feel the contours of the structure we were fishing.  The key to a successful drop shot was for the weight to have constant contact with the bottom.  You didn’t want to hop that weight along.  We wanted to only move the bait and not the weight.  When we were able to do that, along with being away from the weeds is when the action got hot. 

However, smallmouth are not the only bass that are getting ready for the winter.  Largemouth bass are feeding as well.  This one was caught on a crawfish type bait on a shakey head.

The 3 lbs largemouth came from 20 feet of water just off a deep weed line.  Once again finesse fishing is what used to catch this one.  3/8 oz shakey jig head on a craw type bait was the ticket.  The slow subtle fall of the bait is what trigger this one the bite.  Also, this time of year the largemouth will be cruising the shallows.  If you can find some weeds, pads etc. don’t be afraid to get in there with a frog or flipping jig to try and get those largemouths out of cover.

For more information about Big Rideau Lake or to book a trip, contact Peter Larmand at www.peterlarmand.com

This Week on TSN, join Italo, his wife Barbara, and his guests, Pat Pagano and Clay Dyer as they take you fishing for White Bass, Detroit River, Michigan, USA.  You will see lot’s of exciting action and also pick up great ultra-light fishing tips on choosing the right fishing outfits, and the right lures.
To view details of show airings please follow this link: http://www.canadian-sportfishing.com/thisweeksepisode.html

I took the morning yesterday to check-out some of the Upper NY, Lake Ontario tributaries with my good friend Aldo Nava of Niagara Fishing Adventures, and my pup Mulligan.  All the tributaries we saw were low and there was little flow.  Eighteen Mile Creek in Olcott, NY had the most concentration of anglers, but conditions were poor.  All of the Chinooks are dark and slugish.  I saw 3-4 anglers with either a rainbow or brown on their stringer.  I hooked about 4-salmon, but all got off using my fly rod.  I am suspect that they were foul-hooked.  Aldo had similar results.

The Oak Orchard is the only tributary worth fishing right now.  Ron Bierstine reports:

“This begin of the week fishing report goes something like good action for Kings with decent numbers of trout and Atlantics also hooked. Most fish and flows and fishermen are concentrated in the Oak Orchard versus the other area smaller tribs. Recent precip may help spread out fish and fishermen. There are still good numbers of Kings around and most are in good shape with just a few white ghosts. Brown trout, steelhead and even Atlantic salmon hook-ups are probably more then might be expected for this early stage of the season – so that angling should only get better. The nights are cold and there have been breezy conditions causing some leaf fall. There are more showers in the forecast later this week. There have been scattered numbers of fish in the smaller waterways, with anglers finding fish usually with a little leg work. Greater flows could bring more fish upstream.

There are salmon and more then a few trout in the Oak Orchard River all the way to the dam, some of those fish migrating straight thru on their kamikazee mission to get to the dam. Fish are still making their way upstream from the lower and middle river, but in smaller numbers then earlier Oct. The greatest concentrations of upstream fish are probably still nearer the dam, but more salmon are beginning to spawn now thanks to colder night time temps and that means they will spread out more. Fish are filling in the fast water gravel sections just downstream of the Waterport dam either directly or from dropping back from the dam. Small pods of fish are on the move at select times. Anglers will also find fish in the last of the frog water areas, yet those fish will linger less there, now being more concerned with finding upstream gravel love. The cooler weather will push fish upstream on a bit faster schedule now differing from the previous slow upstream migration schedule thru the end of Sept. Warm and clear weather may stall some upstream movement.

Gear fishermen are working harder for salmon hook-ups casting at the rivermouth. Catches now include more trout strikes, mainly steelhead/rainbows. Some perch are also being caught. A few fish are still seen porpoising around the Bridges. The cool weather now for the end of Oct will bring the last of the salmon upstream. Look for a mix of both rivermouth/lower river action with now better upstream fast water action as the Kings spawn and populate fast water gravel areas. Rivermouth shorebound casters might still score a few King hookups, but chances are better for trout or perhaps coho. A few small boats are plying the lower and middle River reaches casting, trolling and float fishing.”

If you would like to get more info. on fishing the Oak Orchard, purchasing high quality tributary tackle and gear, or you would like to book accommodations with Ron, you can contact him at, www.orleanoutdoors.com .

R-Type – Plus, Plus, Plus … features that only super high end reels costing twice even 3 times as much .. this series is totally tricked out. We’ve never seen a reel this fast. The main reason is the 10 bearings system that support moving parts and assist in making near frictionless, long-bomb casts. You will see the difference. Tests show that the R-type casts further than comparable reels of other brands. The unique swept handle design actually moves the centre of balance closer to the reel for a much more comfortable feel. The shape also adds fish fighting torque, which, at the end of the day gives the angler less fatigue. The exclusive hard-chrome finish adds durability and a handsome custom look that anglers will find appealing. http://www.rapala.ca/products/rapala/rtype_cast.php

Tracey John Hittel reports.  The last weeks have been Spey-tacular as guests were fortunate to catch the famous Steelhead Trout on the fly. With the rivers up and down in level like a frog in a frying pan the guys prevailed and never gave up. Fishing from the bush as the rivers are so high that finding a gravel bar to cast from is rare. This is the highest water levels I have guided on the Skeena tributaries in the past 10 yrs and at times you feel it is hopeless to fish the river, large logs raging down the river and 80 year old Cottonwood trees snapped off from the 60 MPH winds including heavy rainfalls. Like the one Japanese Doctor said what are we going to do?   I came here to fish. And yes the Doctor did do so.  After many casts he hit pay dirt and took three fish in one pool, attached is a nice Steelhead he fooled on a large Pink Fly.

Also attached is a pic of Takahashi with a nice male Steelhead he took on the Spey, not to mention catching 8 Steelhead in 2 days in high water conditions, the Steelhead are running in nice numbers for sure. Taka was using a new Meiser rod he brought for this trip and river specifically and I can tell you these rods are very nice for smaller rivers and light lines. One Steelhead in particular that is quite memorable for me was when Taka was swinging his fly in a fast riffle with large boulders 100m downstream, this fish took so aggressively and peeled his line then immediately tucked in behind the group of boulders and his line went limp, the fish was off, the 16lb tippet cut above the fly. The day before the same thing happened when he hooked in to a large Steelhead and lost most of his line before the fly pulled out of the Steelhead. Funny thing he asked me minutes before this fish what is the best thing to do when a large Steelhead is pulling all your line off the reel. Each fish is different and I prefer to stay in the same place I hooked the fish, chasing the fish into the fast water will only get you into bigger trouble and further downstream.

Next pic of Darcy from Vancouver, he landed this chrome female on a black leech pattern and a short sink tip, fishing a depth of 3ft, this fish jumped out of the water so many times when it was hooked, so typical of fresh Steelhead.

Repeat clients Ebi and Chiba were also in town for the summer runs and attached is Ebi with a nice pair of fresh ones, and Chiba with a large male taken on a Intruder fly. All the Steelhead lately were approx 32-36 inches long, and recordable good hook-ups with 40 inch Steelhead, estimated to be over 20lbs.

October guests that target Steelhead like to fly-fish as it is the most challenging and rewarding. Our 2011 bookings for April and May Steelhead, June to September Salmon and Halibut are all available. Large groups please book in advance as we have parties of 12-14 booked for June Freshwater/Saltwater Salmon and Halibut.

If you would like to book a guided fishing trip with Tracey you can contact him at,

www.kitimatlodge.com .

My friend Winston Seto who Barb & I fished with last fall along with our good friend Jim Westman just came back from a trip fishing the Big Manistee in Michigan, US.  Unfortunately the fishing was not optimum as you will read from his update.

“Sounds like the entire Great Lakes tributaries could have used a good soaking from typical hurricane systems into the region.  No such luck this year.  Our first trip was “fairly successful”.  We were asked for our input first.  Either if we wanted to go fish behind gravel bars and target the shaker rainbows and browns gobbling up the salmon eggs (JR reported no big #s of adults that far up yet & reported low numbers of kings too), or take a chance at targeting the fresh adult rainbows in the lower portion.  We gambled and hoped for decent pods of fresh adults in the lower sandy sections.  We ended up landing two bright chromies and six fair sized shakers.  I say fair because all the fish were caught by my partner!!  I got skunked big time.  Set ups and drifts were pretty much identical/dialed in, but only his floats went down.  Had both floats drifting within 2-3 feet from each other many times and only his float dunked leaving me shaking my head throughout the day.  Here’s something else, Dave’s first adult fish was taken as he was reeling in to start another drift.  Unbelievable!!!  So yes, they have been trickling in the lower portions but we drifted through tons of water to find the few players.  Had about four other jet boats racing around to the prime lies but did not witness bent rods from their boats.”