New Boat for Island Outfitters
Written by Nelson Karger of Island Outfitters
A couple more weeks and winter will be officially upon us after a very wet fall. I managed to get away a couple times between deer hunting and working at the store, once on my annual Bulkley River steelhead trip which lasted a week, and a quick trip up to the Stamp to test out some new gear. I will go into detail below and fill you in on some fantastic fishing.
As the rivers start to drop in height from the recent rains the first of the winter steelhead should start entering their home streams. When the fish first enter the river and are ocean bright they can be extremely aggressive. This is my favorite time to target them, it is also when they are the strongest and some fights can last over twenty minutes. A chase down river is always fun and sometimes is a real test! When the fish tries its hardest to go into a log jam and break the line or run down a series of rapids and following the prized fish is almost impossible. This is the stuff I live for, and hopefully will be able to enjoy this upcoming season.
With ocean survival at an all time high with most salmon stocks we should see a good return this winter of steelhead. There are many ways of targeting these fish. Most people tend to fish with drift gear, which consists of a float, pencil lead, swivel and a natural (where permitted) or an artificial bait offering. My favorite being pink worms, corkies, spin n' glo's, artificial eggs, and jigs. On a recent trip up to the Stamp River we arrived to high water. Pink worms dominated that day, with jigs being a close second. We were fishing the new(to us) Mad River worms.
The Stamp even in high water runs pretty clear. The nail polish pink, and cerise worms were the favorite that day, probably because of their transparent not too gaudy appearance in the water. In past trips to the Stamp I have done well with white worms in clear water as well. Not sure why, perhaps it is something different or it may imitate a washed out looking worm that has been flushed into the river and died. Rod and reel combos that are most popular for drift fishing consist of a level wind reel (usually a Shimano Calcutta or Abu Garcia Ambassador) paired with a trigger rod in the ten foot six to eleven foot three length, or a centre-pin reel (Islander, Milner, Silex) paired with a float rod.
A good float fishing rod should be flexible throughout its entire length, especially when using a centre-pin reel, this enables the rod to load correctly and allows you to have a good cast. The best centre-pin rods are the Sage 3113M and 3113B, and 3106L, and the new Trophy XL Titan's in 3113, 3106 and 2106. The problem with the Sage rods is that they no longer offer gear rods and if you want one you will have to get a blank and have it custom tied. Other good rods for centre pin float fishing are Gloomis and Fenwick. The above mentioned brands all make great rods for bait casting set-ups as well. If jig fishing is up your alley a spinning rod combo is a must. Jigs are very light in weight and to properly fish them you need a spinning outfit that can cast them the easiest with little or no weight added. Jigs are best fished under a float, dead drifted in slow, deep runs. Because the weight is fixed to the head of the jig you do not want to have them drag along the bottom and snag up. Instead you want them suspended just off bottom so that the current can work the marabou and give the jig its best action.
Good colors to use are pinks, purples, whites, and black, mixed together or on their own. When selecting a jig you want to make sure it is tied with a high quality hook from Owner or Gamakatsu, the best jigs are those made by Wardens and feature Owner hooks, bodies made from beads, and marabou tails. Get out on the islands many rivers and learn them, the more you go the better you will become at reading water and you will increase your chances of hooking these hard fighting beautiful sea run fish. Remember handle them with respect and if they are wild keep them in the water for pictures, this will give them the best chance of reviving and swimming away to spawn and will keep these magnificent fish returning year after year.
My annual Smithers trip to the Bulkley River this year with some buddies went really well. We had the pleasure of fishing some new spey rods, and since this was a spey only trip we gave them a good workout. Two of the four of us were brand new to spey fishing and with a few lessons in the weeks prior, were off to a great start hooking multiple fish in the first couple days. This gave them the confidence they needed to continue to pursue steelhead, and further enhanced there spey casting. The rods we used were LOOP Classic and Yellow Line 9 weights, and the new Sage One spey rods in 8 weights. All the rods were paired with Skagit Flight heads in there appropriate line grains.
Because the weather was so cold we stuck with type 6 sink tips, and small black intruder style flies. All rods performed very well but the One's by Sage are the nicest. They are light, flexible, and throw the Skagit heads flawlessly across almost any run on the Bulkley. The rods played fish nicely and one could enjoy the fight of the fish without feeling over or underpowered. I think this rod will be a real hit in the spey community. If you have any questions and would like to learn more about this fun way to pursue steelhead, come into the store and I would gladly help you out.