Lake Stocking begins in BC Regions 1 and  2 (FFSBC)

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The Steelheader
 Fraser Valley angling is generally good during the 2022-23 seasons despite high temperatures and lack of water. Vedder River salmon returns were strong with low water levels last fall (Mid-October '22).  Salmon follow similar cycles when returning to their natal streams every year.
  Refer to current Vedder/Chilliwack River conditions at GOBC Updates..or at Fred's Fishing Reports  Tight Lines!

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Watershed Watch (Vancouver,BC)
Wild Salmon in Chilliwack
Impacts of Alaska interception fisheries on Canadian ... (RCF)
West Coast Environmental Law
Fraser Valley Watersheds Coalition
September Angling is Here (FFSBC)
Drought Impact on Sportfishing in BC (FFSBC)
Summer Fishing Challenges for Kids (Go Fish BC)
Fishing the Fraser Valley (Google)
Introduction to Trolling Large Lakes (GoFishBC)
BCFISHN (BCFISHIN)
Fishing and Aquaculture (BCGOV)
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Fly Tying for Beginners (GearJunkie)
Flyfishing Steelhead and Salmon (Fly Fisherman)
Flyfishing for Coho (Sea-Run FT)
Match the Hatch on BC Lakes (gofishbc)
A Beginner's Guide to Fly Fishing Equipment (BC Outdoors)
Read the River: How to Located Trout in a Stream (FIX)
Trolling for Trout with Downriggers (Fishing Blueprint)
Floatfishing Setup (BC Fishing Journal)
How to Spincast (BC Anglers)
Intro to Bow Fishing (BC Outdoors)

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The Steelheader
Terry Hanson
   The 2021 fall salmon season has been quite spectacular. Thousands of anglers border the fast waters of the Chilliwack River hoping to catch table fare.
   Unfortunately this scenario is not what true sports anglers look forward to as spawning salmon rarely take bait while in the "spawn mode". The majority of anglers are snagging these spawners. By snagging we mean hooking fish in any part of their body other than their mouth. Snagging is an offense punishable by a fine if an angler is caught using this method by a fisheries officer.
   Traditional sportfishing ethics are gone and a great deal of the anglers we observed were first generation practitioners with little influence from the great sports anglers of previous
generations. A true sportsman will not conduct him or herself in illegal behavior and will respect the environment and laws
related to their sportsman-like activities. In simple terms this means not snagging fish, not exceeding allotted quotas, not crowding other anglers, not camping on the river banks, not littering or defecating on or near the riverbanks, and not retaining foul hooked or snagged fish.
   Moreover, the staggering number of anglers on the riverbanks creates two health concerns. The first concern is the spread of the Delta variant of covid virus. Fall reports from health officials of the ministry of health indicate drastic increase of covid viral infections. As you can see anglers are so obsessed with fishing they appear to be infringing on the 6 foot
spacing principle of avoiding spread of covid. Furthermore no angler of the thousands crowding the riverbank wore a mask or any type of protection against the Delta covid variant. Second, with snagging a salmon in fast water comes the danger of the sling shot effect related to hook line and sinker breaking away from a foul-hooked fish. Often when a salmon is foul hooked it will bolt to fast water and the anglers hook will tear from the body or scale portion of the salmon. When the hook breaks free the anglers hook and weight portion of his fishing line shoot from the current at tremendous speed and could injure the body or eyes of surrounding anglers.
   Overall however we applaud DFO and the Ministry of Environment programs with respect to large numbers of returning salmon. We also applaud those sport anglers that uphold good sportsmanship and ethical behavior.

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The Steelheader
  The years 2020 - 2021 have presented western civilization with an overwhelming array of dire circumstances. The sport fishing world as well has witnessed staggering conditions.
  Aside from obvious environmental threats anglers have had to contend with closures of sport fishing opportunities particularly with respect to non tidal rivers, streams and returning fish species. You often hear experienced anglers asking the question "where are the fish?"
  As time progresses and civilization seeps into the fabric of the natural world more natural species have been and will be adversely affected; consequently, more sport anglers seek recreation in BC Lakes.

Christmas is the time for Steelhead
Terry Hanson
www.steelheadermag.com
The river never sleeps as it whispers down the Rocky trenches.
 Little dippers fly in pairs just above the swirling currents. Seagulls appear patrolling the river banks competing for spawned out salmon.
 All the leaves have fallen from deciduous trees leaving stick skeletons of what was flourishing green life.
 The salmon are in and they appear in good numbers.
 White Chinook, coho, and chum salmon stripped like zebras orchestrating war for a spawning Mate.
 It’s the pacific salmons last struggle in life. They return to the river after a 4 year sojourn to the Pacific ocean and back. Their last dying effort is to find a mate, spawn and ... die ... replenishing minerals in the eco-system.
 It's Christmas Time and the King of sportfish now enters the River. We are blessed having The Steelhead.
 During the next 3-4 months Steelhead will enter the Vedder/Chilliwack system and several BC coastal rivers to spawn. The major difference between The Steelhead and Pacific Salmon is that The Steelhead do not die after spawning. All arguments aside, the main consensus is the Steelhead is a Rainbow Trout that journeys to the ocean and back in a 4 year cycle reaching formidable sizes.The Steelhead is considered by many sport anglers to be "The King" of sportfish owing to its fierce fighting tendency. (above) Doris Dixon in photo with steelhead '20. www.steelheadermag.com

We are heading for the last part of August here on the Pacific Northwest. The days are getting shorter and the Sun has an altered angle with less intensity. While taking a day off and angling on the river we start to realize how blessed we are in the Fraser Valley to have such a prodigious river here literally at our fingertips. For those of us living in Chilliwack, which in First Nations means "paddle up the river as far as you can go", our luck has it that we can visit the Great Outdoors within minutes of the town. Here a whole new world opens up to our senses.
  During the last part of August it seems that mother nature's balance starts to waiver. One starts to notice the gradual change or shift in the nature's great prescence. The corn fields near their harvest time, leaves begin to fall from deciduous trees into the river and the salmon make their last appearance. The pacific salmon, looking for their final life-death mate, now start to change colour from shiny silver to shades of red displaying a prelude to the shades of Autumn.
  The pacific salmon follow their life cycle with vehemence. They have one purpose: propogation of their species. It's curious indeed that the pacific salmon die after spawning as if it were their life achievement. Their dead carcasses lay strewn throughout the river eventually providing nutrients to bolster the ecosystem.
  Sport anglers here in The Pacific Northwest witness this miracle first hand and are fortunate enough to provide their families salmon as table fare. We honour and cherish our Pacific Salmon and The Great Outdoors. www.steelheadermag.com (note: photo from time when there was a legal sportfishery for chinook on the Fraser)