Fraser Valley Fishing Report - Adventures With STS

By Vic Carrao - Jun 27, 2003

STS GUIDE BOAT STOLEN

Taken from its mooring in Harrison Bay on the morning of July 9. Paste this link: http://www.guidebc.com/announcement_stolen.asp into your browser for picture and details.

Fraser River

Water levels on the Fraser have now stabilized. It looks as though the bulk of the snow pack has melted and we are now coming into prime river conditions. The Fraser has dropped over 2 feet in the last 4 days and visibility is getting better day by day. Water clarity has improved to the point where bar fishing, plunking, bottom bouncing, or spoon fishing would all be good choices. Salmon fishing has been red hot this past week and should continue now through until late fall.

Salmon

Salmon fishing on the Fraser River this week was excellent. Most bars along the Fraser between Chilliwack and Hope produced good catches, Grassy, Wellington, Queens, Peg Leg are all good locations. Yesterday with 12 anglers fishing near by we seen over 20 Chinook landed and many more lost. Our guests managed to boat three very nice fish in just a few hours of fishing. We expect this great Chinook fishing to continue through until the sockeye begin to enter the river in late July. I am sure we will have some peaks and valleys between now and then but by all accounts, it looks as though this years great salmon fishery is now under way.

Sturgeon

Sturgeon fishing was slow for us this past week, we did see some other boats catching a few smaller fish, but overall we sucked. Not really sure why other than we went from summer like weather with temperatures in the high 80’s to putting on our winter fleece and gortex. The winds were quite strong which made the cold temperatures and rain seem even worse. Maybe those sturgeons are a little smarter than we give them credit, we too should have went south for a few days. Weather patterns for the next week look to be more favorable for sturgeon fishing. The weather station is predicting for sun with a mix of cloud with temperatures in the mid 70’s for most of the week until the weekend when rainstorms are supposed to move in.




STS Clients w/ Beauty Sturgeon

To book your next sturgeon adventure please call us at 604-671-FISH or e-mail us.

Peak fishing for this early run of Chinook is between May 21- July 7. Some of our best days have come in the last two weeks of June. If you are looking to book a guided trip during these prime dates please book early to ensure availability.

Vedder River

The Vedder River re-opens for salmon fishing July 1; we should see some great fishing opportunities, as there has been a good number of fish entering the system over the past few weeks. The entire river will open from the confluence of the Somas all the way up to the boundary at Sleese.




STS Guide Ken, w/ his 25lb Chinook

Harrison River

The Harrison River is dropping fast along with the Fraser. We are estimating 6 inches a day for the past 4 days but that could even be a bit more. There is not a lot to fish for in the Harrison River yet as our main salmon runs don’t appear until late July but there are some Summer Run Steelhead and Chinook migrating through the Harrison on their way up to the Chehalis River. You might try casting spoons and spinners along the west shore near the confluence of the Fraser and Harrison. Gibbs crocs, Ironheads and Koho spoons are all good choices. Remember that this year is a pink year so those Gibbs Ultra lures will be cleared out of the stores early, make sure you don’t wait until September to stock up.

A great way to enjoy the Harrison area is to combine a round of golf at the Sandpiper, 6 hours of sturgeon or salmon fishing on one of our Jet Boats then return to the new River’s Edge Restaurant for dinner and drinks. We call this the full day FINNS & SKINS. The cost is only $330.00 per person and includes all of the above and a catered lunch while out fishing. This is a great way to spend a day, impress a client, or reward an employee. For more information or to book your next guided adventure please call or e-mail us.

As you may well know, Harrison Bay Store has now re-opened under new management. Slowly the store is getting stocked and they now have fuel, interact, groceries and most importantly "fishing tackle". Roger Dornan owner of Hub Sports has leased some wall space and is now in the process of filling the walls with terminal tackle. Be sure to stop in on the way to the Chehalis River, Harrison River, Harrison Lake or if you’re fishing the Fraser Scale bar, lots of Bouncing Betty’s in stock.

Local and Interior Lakes

Reports for this past weekend were quite mixed. The cold weather fronts that hit the lower mainland also hit the interior slowing the fishing. Our 10th annual Bridge lake fishing derby was this past weekend. Mike and Dave Cooper of Coopersrecreation.com were once again the host of this great event. Mike and Dave headed up early to fish Bridge during the week. Good catches of rainbows in the 2 to 3 lb range were being reported with one local angler catching 1 over 6 lbs. By derby day, the storms had moved in and the fishing had slowed. When the fishing was on, Mayflies and Caddis flies were the hot ticket.




We are just weeks away from this great fishing, sunshine and fish on! prime dates are booking up.

If you know Mike or Dave be sure to remind them that this was the 10th anniversary and they still haven’t put their name on the Trophy, maybe next year Mike.

Remember to conserve your catch

Tight lines and hope to see on the water
Vic Carrao
STS Guiding Service
www.guidebc.com

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