The photo of the week shows Nelson Furtado with an estimated 55-pound plus Chinook (King) Salmon landed on the Skeena River last week. The young fellow Josh Buck netted the fish for him. Photo by Greg Buck.
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Noel Gyger – Guided Fishing Adventures and Weekly Fishing Report
4012 Best Street, Terrace BC V8G 5R8, Canada
Tel/Fax: (250) 635-2568
Cell: (250) 631-2678
E-mail: noel@noelgyger.ca
Home Page: www.noelgyger.ca
Fishing Reports: www.noelgyger.ca/past-fishing-reports.htm
RECORD SALMON & STEELHEAD Spin or fly-fishing
RIVER, LAKE, STREAM or OCEAN!!!
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Home Page: www.noelgyger.ca
Noel Gyger - WEEKLY FISHING REPORT dated July 27 – August 3, 2008
(Number 82)
Dear Fishing Friends:
SUMMARY: The weather was good all week. All rivers are in very good shape. Skeena River has been dropping and is in perfect shape…very, very clean. Not only are the guides catching some very BIG Chinook (King) Salmon they are starting to catch more and more summer-run Steelhead, especially in the lower section. The Sockeye fishing is excellent and the Pinks are starting to show up. The Kitimat River Chinook fishing is over as of July 31. Now is the time for Chum and Pink…and the Coho are coming in. Be sure to check out the Ron Wakita detailed report and photos below. Also, check my report of a days fishing on the Skeena River with photo and video mayhem! I managed to shoot three video clips but only had time to edit and post one.
GOOD NEWS – DFO raised its estimate for the size of the Skeena River Sockeye run from 1.2 million to 2.8 million.
GOOD NEWS – Skeena River Coho are expected to be larger then first predicted and the following changes to regulations should be noted:
Effective July 23 to August 31 the following waters are open for coho angling with daily limits of 4 coho of which 2 may be over 50cm.
- Skeena Mainstem downstream of the CNR Bridge at Terrace
For all the details cast to:
http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice〈=en&DOC_ID=110914&ID=recreational
BAD NEWS – the commercial fishing fleet will start up at the mouth of the Skeena River (area 4) and will intercept Steelhead as they seine and gill net for Sockeye. The selective gill net fishery is restricted to ˝ length of normal and can set for only 20 minutes. As of July 29 commercial fishing is half way over – 2 more weeks to go.
LIST OF "New" ITEMS POSTED ON THE WEBSITE THIS WEEK:
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- July 24/08 one item posted on "Conservation" http://www.noelgyger.ca/conservation.htm
- July 30/08 one item posted on "News Bulletin" http://www.noelgyger.ca/news-bulletin.htm
- August 2/08 one video clip posted on "Video Clips" http://www.noelgyger.ca/video-clips-web.htm
NOW BOOKING FOR 2008 Let me know if I can be of service to book you with the "best" fishing guide and/or fishing lodges for both river and ocean. There are NO extra charges to book through me, just a lot of free information and advice from a person with years and years of fishing and fish guiding experience. It is like hiring two guides for the price of one. I will promptly answer your questions and concerns. Cast here http://noelgyger.ca/special-guided.htm to read more of what I have to offer.
Don't be disappointed - BOOK your preferred dates for fall Steelhead and Coho now.
Many people book three trips per year to our area; one trip in the spring (March-April-May), one trip in the summer (June-July-August) and one trip in the fall (September-October-November). They love having the same guide but fishing for different fish in different areas.
Be sure to check out my website at www.noelgyger.ca for news bulletins, mid week fishing updates, conservation, my history, quality waters strategy, special guided fishing trips, video clips, scenic river photos, wildlife photos and others, comments from past guests, informational articles, archived fishing reports from 1996 through 2002 and a sportfishing market place. I hope it meets with your entire satisfaction.
FISHING GUIDE REPORTS FOR THIS WEEK ARE FROM:
Ron Wakita
Randy Marshall
Gill McKean
Craig Murray
Todd Haynes
Tracey Hittel
Andrew Rushton
PLUS – Guest photos, reports and testimonials.
CURRENT REPORT and summary for Skeena and Tributaries:
TYPE OF FISH CAUGHT: Chinook, Sockeye, Chum, Pink, Steelhead and Trout for river. Chinook, Coho, Halibut, Bottom Fish and Dungeness Crab for ocean.
Thank you for using barbless hooks.
FISHING THIS WEEK: EXCELLENT***
LARGEST FISH OF THE WEEK: Specie: 55-pound Chinook Where: Skeena River Angler: Nelson Furtado
WEATHER: A mix of sun and cloud. High 24. UV index 6 or high. Region normal: Max. Temp. 23 degrees C. Min. Temp. 11 degrees C. Sunrise 5:50 AM Sunset 9:31 PM
WEATHER REPORTS VIA TELEPHONE: Environment Canada taped messages constantly updated, giving current conditions and three-day forecasts. Terrace 250-635-4192 Kitimat 250-632-7864 Prince Rupert 250-627-1155 Smithers 250-847-1958.
For current Terrace weather information please cast on:
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cities/can/pages/CABC0292.htm?ref=wxbtnold
WATER CONDITIONS: Skeena, lower Kalum, Kitimat and smaller coastal streams are in good shape.
CURRENT WATER HEIGHTS FOR:
SKEENA RIVER:
http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/fullgraph.asp?stnid=08EF001
KITIMAT RIVER:
http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/fullgraph.asp?stnid=08FF002
SKEENA RIVER: The water heights have been up and down but stayed in fishable condition. Fishing for Chinook and Sockeye are excellent. I also have numerous reports of summer-run Steelhead being caught.
I went fishing on the Skeena with my friends, Robby, Jason and Kevin. We stayed out for only three hours and we all landed a Chinook. Fishing was absolutely fabulous. I managed to take some photos and shoot three video clips. Cast here http://www.noelgyger.ca/video-clips-web.htm
to view one of the clips (Chinook Video Clip #0008). I had time to edit only one video.
KALUM RIVER: The water in the low end is fishable and I have had reports of Chinook being caught. Angling pressure on this river is low as most of the boats are fishing on the mainstream Skeena River. The water is very clean.
This is a Classified River year round and can be guided from March 15 through October 15 only. The Steelhead record is 32-pounds. To see a photo of this fish cast to: http://noelgyger.ca/records/Record003.jpg The angler is Dennis Therrien.
KASIKS RIVER: It is now possible to fish for Chinook at the mouth, in the clean seam, where it joins the Skeena. Sometimes the Chinook come out of the Skeena and into the clean water in search for scent of their home river.
EXCHAMSIKS RIVER: Same as above, it is now possible to fish for Chinook in the clean seam.
EXSTEW RIVER: Same as above, it is now possible to fish for Chinook in the clean seam.
Note: the above three rivers are closed to angling for Chinook except at the very low end. Please check 2007 – 2009 BC Freshwater Salmon Supplement (fancy name for regulations) at: www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish for details.
ZYMOETZ (COPPER) RIVER: The water is clean and fishing at the mouth is excellent. Fishing for Chinook closed upstream of Highway 16 bridge on July 23rd.
AREA RIVER RECORDS: Chinook Salmon: Skeena River, 92.5-pounds; Kalum River, 85-pounds; Kitimat River, 74-pounds; Steelhead: Skeena River, 45-pounds; Coho Salmon: Skeena River, 27-pounds.
CURRENT REPORT and summary for Northern Coastal Rivers:
Fishing Report from: Ron Wakita of Reliable Guide and Charters
KITIMAT RIVER:
Multi Level Care Fishing Trip These are the names of the group from left to right:
Front Row: Ron Wakita, Marc Girard. Second Row: Emil Langegger, Ed Trach, Walter Schmidt, Marjorie Mott, Gert Crockart, Manuel Cabral Jenny Tashco. Third Row: O.B, Louie Malo, Myrna Cromack, Dianne Plante, Mary Hampton, Paul Dodd, Bonnie Girard. Volunteers not in photo: Al Smith, Dianne Reid
"Where are all the Chum?" This was the question that was asked many times by anglers fishing the lower Kitimat but now it is being asked by anglers fishing the middle and upper sections of the Kitimat. At first, it was thought that the lots of Chum were not holding in the lower Kitimat and were moving through the lower section into the middle and upper sections of the Kitimat. Our guide boats were able to find five or six holes in the middle sections with good concentrations of Chum and Pinks for our clients this week but there but normally there should twenty different spots with really good numbers. The fish are with out question migrating up river without holding in the lower holes. What seems to be the issue now is "How many Chum and Pinks are moving through".
Early in the week the quirky trend continued with of most of the fish moving through the lower Kitimat on the tides. I witnessed prime examples of this on Monday morning while I was working in our Mobile Tackle Van. Under the Haisla bridge on the Radley Park side I watched twenty pinks hooked with a dozen landed on the Radley side and ten hooked and six landed on the Rod and Gun (R&G) side between 9:30 and 10:30. There were also three Chum and one small Chinook landed on the Radley side and one Chum landed on the R&G side. After 10:30 both sides of the river went dead. The fish moved through on the high tide which was 10:40 that morning and then there was nothing. The Hatchery island and the gravel bar below the Hatchery displayed signs of the same trend as well.
Smart money still says "Fish the lower holes on the incoming high tide", although the latter part of this week the lower holes were holding more fish (see below for a link to the tide charts) The fish holding during the latter part of this week is probably due to the dramatic drop in river water levels.
The brighter stats to date is the increasing number of Coho that have been caught in the river to date. Between our Store Derby Log, our Mobile Tackle Van Log and our Guide logs we have logged over twenty Coho. The norm would be five to ten logged in July. This may be signs of better things to come.
July 31. Clients: Zdenek Smola, Ales Sloupensky, Jiri Vrbka. Jiri Vrbka Jr., Miroslav Lorenc
Hook and landed 2 chinook 28lbs and 15lbs. Hooked 19 chum landed 12. Hooked 6 pinks landed 4. Hooked 3 Coho landed 2. Guides Ron Wakita, Pat Oliver
August 1. Clients Dana Svendson and Jim Mackow. Hooked seven Chum landed four.
Hooked one chinook. Hooked and four pinks and Jim lost lots more :)
August 2. Czech Guys. Hooked over fifty pinks twelve on fly. Hooked twenty chum six on fly
lost one chinook.
Anglers are reminded that Chinook on the Kitimat closed for retention on July 31st.
We had an outstanding Chinook season in our drifts boats. Mike Herzberg, as he usually does had some amazing fish counts. I would like to extend my Thanks and Appreciation to Mike, Marc, Pat, Terence, Areil and Eric for the their hard work and efforts to produce some outstanding memories for our clients. I would like to extend the same appreciation to Todd, Wes, Alain, Sam and John who skipper the Salt water charter boats and Mal and Andi who skipper the jet boats and entire Reliable Guide and Charter Team as well as the all staff in our Tackle Store.
Most importantly I would like to Thank our valued clients and customers who have make the Fishing Industry viable and enjoyable to be involved in.
I would also like to acknowledge Mr. Noel Gyger's efforts in producing this Fishing Report. This report can help anglers book trips on almost every river in the Northwest, Salt water trips out of Prince Rupert and Kitimat or simply fish from shore. I am proud to be associated with Noel and help contribute to Noel's Report which will help enhance the Fishing experience in the Northwest for so many anglers. Noel possesses a quiet almost humble disposition and he his true passion towards fishing that is seldom displayed openly unless you listen to him tell a fish story, watch him hook a fish or watch him eat crab. (crap:))
DOUGLAS CHANNEL: Halibut and bottom fishing continues to be the glowing light in the Douglas particularly the outer waters with Coho catches also being really good at times.
Sam Avila of Ocean Breeze Charters reports five halibut on his last trip and a full limit of rock cod, snapper and grey cod. Sam also boated 20 Coho and 5 chinook.
Todd of Nautical West is on the water at the time of writing this report but will have some impressive catch results to share when he returns Sunday evening.
John Eckstein of Blue Heron Charters reports chartering Verl, Lawrence, and Jerry out for a second day of halibut fishing today and Verl (the gentleman with the blond hair) landed a big 92 pound halibut. Laurence landed a smaller 10 pound chicken. Jerry caught some cod. They were very pleased with this second day after their first day ended with the 50 and 20 pound catch (both caught by Lawrence). The 50 actually turned out to be a 60 once we measured it. A good day all around.
Halibut fishing in closer halibut spots such as Fish Trap and Money Point are showing good catch numbers. As the Chum, Chinook and Pinks starts to spawn and their carcasses wash out of the river mouths the halibut holes even closer to the Kitimat harbour will improve as well.
The Kitimat Harbour Coho fishery should start to heat up especially with the Kitimat River being so low right now. As the boaters who participated in this fishery two and three years will tell you that when this fishery gets hot it can be "outstanding". Where else can a boater leave the marina and drop the lines and catch Coho almost right of the dock. It is an outstanding fishery and at times almost a "freak of nature".
Stay tuned because when it happens my plan is to be in the thick of the bite, take my lap top and write this report in between landing fish.
Tight Lines! Big Smiles! Ron Wakita
Cast to this link for Kitimat tide tables http://www.waterlevels.gc.ca/cgi-bin/tide-shc.cgi?queryType=showRegion&language=english®ion=1
Fishing Report and Photos from: Steelhead Heaven
July 31 2008
Skeena River Report BC
The Biologists were wrong! 1.2 Million Sockeye, and still running, arrives unpredicted, with Chinooks in large numbers and I mean large, Steelhead very promising for the 2008 summer run. How we wonder as Mother Nature turns our predictions into rainbows. The Skeena DFO have some of the best in the field monitoring the cycles of our fishery and scratching their heads as another tidal wave of Salmon enter Skeena country.
Today we fished for thousands of Sockeye on the fly as other guests watched in amazement as Chinook Salmon of 50lbs or better break the surface of the water, with a pull like a CN locomotive tailing 100 cars of coal destined for Prince Rupert. This is a small fish, as local tackle shops display pics of 65-73lb Salmon and not just one! As we pulled off the river, I chatted with two fellas from Oregon who had a slab 60lbs, the second fish of the day well over 60, tipping the scales at 72lbs. For strangers as we were, we all had the same desire, and a high five was in order as we parted our ways for the evening.
Attached are some of our clients fishing the Skeena region, the mountain views in the background and a tight line say it all, as the past week has been incredible and water levels are prime. Tony Clements fished a Grand Slam with all 5 Salmon Species landed as well Steelhead on the fly, ya Tony!
Guests arriving this week are from Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Alberta, BC, Ontario, Switzerland, wow what a week! Photos and report from Tracey Hittel
Fishing Report and Photos from: Westcoast Fishing Adventures
Hello Noel here are some photos of the week from the Skeena River. It has been incredible fishing for a year when DFO forecasted doom and gloom? I have also been spending a lot of time on the ocean, it has been excellent fishing the Halibut and the Salmon bite is red hot! We have been having a blast catching Coho buck tailing just behind the boat on the fly rods. This is the most sporting way to catch such an acrobatic silver animal!
Sockeye fishing on the Skeena has been the best we have seen in years and the summer run Steelhead are starting to show up in great numbers as well.
That's all for now ! Tight Lines. Gill McKean
Fishing Report and Photos from: Kalum River Lodge
Steve landed this huge Chinook while spey fly fishing on the Skeena River. The fish was estimated to weigh 42-pounds and on the fly rod it was quite a tussle. Photo sent to my by Andrews Rushton.
Fishing Report and Photos from: Randy's River Guiding
Randy reports absolutely fantastic fishing on the mainstream Skeena River. One can catch just about all of the five Salmon species PLUS chrome silver summer-run Steelhead.
Fishing Report and Photos from: Nautical West Sport Fishing
Fishing Report for July 20 – 26
Hi Noel, We have been very busy out on the Ocean this week and have had great success with the Halibut fishery. This week we saw a good number of halibut - this trip we hooked & boated 12 Halibut and released a half dozen more. We had very good catches of coho @ the south end of Gil Island with some fish in the mid teens sizes. Best baits have been anchovy as always with small spoons and green glow hootchies for the coho. Chinook have tapered off a bit but I do expect to see some fish caught in August on the outside waters. The river has seen some good number of Pinks and Chum arriving which will provide some excitement for fly fishing. Thanks Noel. Report and photo by Todd Haynes
FISHING REGULATION WEBSITES:
2007-2009 BC tidal waters and freshwater Salmon fishing information:
www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish
Effective April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2009
2008-2009 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis:
www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish
Effective April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009
NOTE: For In-season Regulation Changes posted on the web check the above URL's
GUEST FISHING PHOTOS:
*** If any of you have special fishing photos, testimonials, scenic river photos, wildlife photos or articles I would love to see them.
Testimonial: "Skeena Chinook Fishing - July 25 and 27th. Noel, Just got back from 2 great days of fishing with Guide Cam from Nicholas Dean Lodge. The 3 of us landed 6 very large and dime bright Chinooks ranging from 35 to 20 pounds. The last one was the most beautiful bright chrome chinook that I have ever witnessed. Cam had to work the holes and runs fairly hard the second day but the fish finally came up river in a thick wave and every one with a line in the water for a good 45 minutes had more on than they could handle. There were also several on that we did not see, the trick was to get the line re-rigged and baited as fast as you can say "FISH ON!" Needless to say we had a blast! Chad and Dustin were most hospitable and saw to it that our fish were vacuum packed, labeled and ready for the freezer before we could finish our stories from the day around the cleaning station. Thanks and best regards, Cam Bateman"
CATCH & RELEASE FORMULA: Chinook: girth squared x length x 1.54 divided by 1000 (inches) Steelhead: girth squared x length x 1.33 divided by 1000 (inches)
MARKETPLACE (Sportfishing related items only please) Contact me anytime to list your items
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To view the items currently listed please cast to: http://www.noelgyger.ca/market-place.htm
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GOOD LUCK and GOOD FISHING!
Yours sincerely,
Noel F. Gyger
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Home page: www.noelgyger.ca
