Archive for December, 2010

Noel Gyger reports.  Mild weather at the beginning of the week but colder on the weekend.  This is excellent weather for winter Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout fishing.  The Skeena River is in good shape but full of ice flows.  Steelheading is over.  There might be some Trout available.  The Kalum River is in good shape and fishing for Steelhead is excellent. The Zymoetz (Copper) River is in good shape and fishing for Steelhead is fair.  The Lakelse River is in good shape and fishing for Steelhead and Trout is good.  Lake ice fishing has started.  Beware of thin ice during the warmer weather. Kitimat River; the river conditions were excellent the latter part of this week and there were lots of Trout being caught.  Please dress warm, the temperature has dropped but the Trout fishing can still be very enjoyable if you are properly dressed for it.  Douglas Channel; Winter Chinook are very unpredictable during this time of year.  The Winter Chinook will roam around looking for baitfish.  The baitfish eventually wander into the Kitimat Harbour and the “Bites back on”.  Stay Tuned!  Prince Rupert has fantastic Winter Chinook fishing.

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

I thought I would take a few hours to personally check-out the conditions of the famous Cataraugus & Eighteen Mile Creek that flow into Lake Erie in Upper NY.  To my surprise, both are iced-up pretty well.  There is limited open water and it is dangerous to try and fish it properly, even in waders.  I headed all the way up to the Springville, NY dam on the Cattaraugus, but conditions were just as bad there.  I let my pup Mulligan walk out on the ice, but kept a close watch on her and held her leash tight.  There were no steelheaders out on either tributary so I have a feeling that unless temperatures go above freezing (which I doubt right now), they will freeze over completely.  Maybe it will be time soon for me to get my ice fishing gear out!!

Our friend Bojan Spasojevic emailed us recently from Bosnia-Herzagivina, Europe to let us know that he is still catching lot’s of fish on Rapala lures.  In his own words; “After long time I send you some pictures from the River Neretva  of trophy marbled trout which I caught  5 days ago on a Rapala Flat Rap YP 10. Also, I send another couple of photos from the fish caught on Rapala lures during this fishing season.

Best wishes, Bojan Spasojevic !

Tracey John Hittel reports.  With the Christmas season just around the corner it was only proper that I send out the last report of the 2010 season. My Christmas gift came early this week as Archie Begin and myself spent a couple of days jet boating the local rivers. After guiding clients all year it was my time to wet the line and the Steelhead were as aggressive as ever. One of the pools we call the Mike Graham run produced a dozen Steelhead, one of the Steelhead pushed 20lbs and after half a hour it kissed us goodbye at the shoreline as the hook popped out, oh well, we landed so many that day we just high-fived after is got off.  Steelhead Trout are the freshwater game fish and people travel from around the globe to chase these beautiful creatures and I am fortunate to take them out to catch them.

With the snowfall now knee deep the weather is crisp and clean, the rivers are surrounded by hungry eagles perched in the trees, for a short time only, as they swoop down to capture the small trout that are playing in the shallow rocks.

The 2010 season was our busiest season on record and we thank all our new friends for joining us as well our repeat clients who have enjoyed staying at our lodge and being catered by professional guides and lodge staff.

I have attached a assortment of pictures I have taken the past few days of us on the river and the winter wonderland we live in, enjoy!

During the winter the lodge remains open as usual, arriving guests can enjoy the local Heli-Skiing and awesome Snow mobiling on the local mountains, not to mention winter Steelhead and Trout fishing.

We at the Kitimat Lodge wish you all a happy New Year and see you in 2011.

If you would like to book a guided fishing trip with Tracey John Hittel, you can contact him at, www.kitimatlodge.com .

My wife Barbara, our pup Mulligan and I headed down to Oak Orchard again this morning.  Our first stop was the Slippery Sinker Bait & Tackle shop in Olcott, NY to pick up a non-resident NY fishing licence for my wife, and from there we headed east to the Oak Orchard.  When we arrived there were about 6-cars parked on the side of the road and we knew that the fishing pressure would again be very light.  We packed our gear and headed down to the river and started to fish.  Both Barb & I were rigged with the Rapala Magnum Steelhead drifting rods, Rapala Volt spinning reels and Sufix Titanium Plus 8 lb. test line with Sufix fluorocarbon leaders.  We fished a slip-bobber rig again with 4″ white bunny-strip streamers that have been working so well for the last 2-months.  Within 10 min., Barb hooked here first fish.  It ended up being a spawned-out female about 28″ in length.  For the next 2 1/2 hrs. we missed a few fish each and landed about 1/2 dozen nice browns and rainbows.  Tomorrow I’m planning on fishing the Cattaraugus River that flows into Lake Erie in Upper NY state.

Our good friend Joe Kubassek ventured out to check the Lake Erie, ON tributaries that flow south of Simcoe, ON and reports that the water was low and clear.  Joe worked hard drifting spawn sacks and caught a trophy 12 lb. male rainbow.

For years now I have had more confidence fishing a streamer fly or in some cases what I call a jig/fly (weighted streamer), either by fly fishing, or by gently jigging these under a slip-bobber.  In my case, I am convinced that even when trout “shut-down” and don’t take spawn-sacks, or imitation eggs, they can be made to “inhale” a properly presented weighted-fly.  The key is to use the right size fly and to make it look alive in front of fish  (not dead-drifting it like you would a spawn-sack or imitation egg).

I have found that the most productive length for this fly is 4″.  Some of you may think this is kind of big, but I tell you it works!!  All you need is a #2 jig hook, a 4″ strip of white rabbit fur, a silver 1/16 oz. silver bead, a pin (I like to use ones that have a color coated head), a small amount of marabou, your favorite fly tying thread, and some head-cement.

Place your jig hook, hook down in your vise and wrap your tread around the hook from the bend to the eye.  Next use some head cement to adhear the thread to the hook.  Next, take your silver bead and place a pin through it so that the head of the pin holds the bead in place outside of the eye of the jig hook.  Next, continue to wrap your thread over the pin which is laying on top of the hook until it is firm.  Add a bit of cement to create a good bond with the thread and the pin.  Next, take your 4″ strip of rabbit fur and place it half-way down on the shaft of the hook with the fur facing down (towards the point).  Wrap thread around the first 1/16″ of the rabbit fur strip and than add some cement.  Next, add some marabou by wrapping it near the eye of the hook.  Now turn the hook over and place another section of maribou on the inside of the hook and wrap it.  That’s it.  Finish with 2-3 layers of head-cement and allow to dry.  Remember when you are fishing this fly under a slip-bobber, pretend that the slip-bobber is a “surface lure” and work it on the surface so that it gently pops in and out of the water (about 2″ pops).  This will produce a tantalizing action migratory trout can’t resist.  When a fish takes it the float will disappear in a split second…just set the hook and the fight is on…enjoy!

I thought I would take a drive to check-out the tributaries that flow into Lake Ontario in Upper NY today.  My first stop was Eighteen Mile Creek in Newfane, NY.  When I arrived there were about 6-vehicles in the parking lot, air temperature was around -6C, and the water was normal level, but very turbid.  A couple of fly fishermen walked town to the river and started fishing right beside me.  One gentleman hooked a trout on his first cast but lost it just before being netted.  I had take the two Rapala Magnum Steelhead Rods with me loaded with Rapala & Volt spinning reels and 8 lb. test Sufix Titanium Plus line/slip-bobbers to fish 4″ streamers again.  I hooked one male rainbow and after about an hour I decided to head over to Oak Orchard to see what the water conditions were like there.  I arrived there around 11am and the water clarity looked perfect (12″ visibility).  I started fishing by slip-bobber/white streamer rig and on my second drift hooked a nice male rainbow.  Well, for the next 1 1/2 hr. I virtually hooked either a trophy rainbow or brown trout on every drift.  There was only one other angler fishing on the river with me named Bill and he was kind enough to take the photos of my pup Mulligan and I with our catches.  Thee action was non-stop and I left around 12:45 pm to head back to Ontario.  I am hoping the weather will continue to hold so that my wife Barbara, myself and Mulligan can have the same success there again on Sunday.  Guess what I’m doing tonight?  Tying more 4″ long, white bunny-strip streamers!!

The water level was up quite a bit today and the color was stained, but that did not keep the trophy browns from hitting.  On my first drift I hooked a nice female brown trout that was still full of eggs.  About one hour later I caught another beautiful male brown trout.  Both fish hit my 4″ long, hand-tied bunny-fir streamer fished under a slip-bobber rig.  I tested two of the Rapala Magnum Steelhead rods today, the 10′ and 12′ model both paired up with the Rapala Volt spinning reel and loaded with 8 lb. test Sufix Titanium Plus yellow monofilament.  I also used a 24″ section of Sufix fluorocarbon leader connected with a small swivel.  Both outfits performed extremely well even with -4C air temperatures.  I had no problems with freezing guides and landed both fish that I hooked!  Tomorrow I’m planning on checking out the Upper NY tributaries that flow into Lake Ontario.

Even though I’ve been meaning to fish Upper NY tributaries this week, I just can’t stop fishing the Niagara Whirlpool.  I have been down there every day this week.  In heavy show, in -10C, just for an hour and a half, and each time I have caught nice browns!!  This morning I headed down with my good friends Bob McGeowen, Kam Anderson and his brother-in-law and within 10 min. I had my first fish on.  The weather was cold and my wife Barbara had made our puppy Mulligan a water-proof blanket to lay on if she wanted a rest, and she used it!  White 4″ flies fished 8-10′ down produced all of the fish.  In total I had 6-fish on and landed four.  All of them were beautiful browns.  Water clarity was about 12″ and I will be back down tomorrow.