The photo of the week shows an extremely big, wild Steelhead landed and released on the Skeena River by Yvonne Williams. After going fishless the first day, Yvonne hooked into a very large fish with her Spey rod, and after a reel-burning fight, her guide Sky Richard tailed the Spring buck in the shallows. As you can see by the look on her face, Yvonne was ecstatic, and for good reason – the fish was estimated conservatively at 26-27-pounds! Not only was this a giant Steelhead, but it was also her first Steelhead on the fly, and having been on three winter Steelhead trips without much success, it's safe to assume that she paid her dues! More detail below. Photo credit goes to Nicholas Dean Lodge
There are two New video clips posted on the website this week, both showing large wild Steelhead, in particular a very, very large doe, the biggest one we have seen so far this season.
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Noel Gyger - Guided Fishing Adventures and Weekly Fishing Report
4012 Best Street, Terrace, B.C. 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 April 8 – April 15, 2007
(Number 014)
Dear Fishing Friends:
The weather has been "fair" with cool day time temperatures, helping to keep most rivers in fishable shape. The upper Kalum has risen a little bit but is still in excellent shape. The lower Copper and Skeena are coloured up. In addition to the Kalum River, fishing on the Kitimat River and Douglas Channel has started. The Central Coast Steelhead fishing has started! I have updates this week for northern coastal and central coast waters. Spring Steelheading is in full swing now. Come and join us for some of the fun!
If I can be of service to find you the "best" guided fishing adventure let me know. Cast here to check out more of what I have to offer: http://noelgyger.ca/special-guided.htm
Be sure to check out my website at www.noelgyger.ca for more info on my history, Quality Waters Strategy, special guided fishing trips, video clips, scenic river photos, wildlife photos and others, comments from past guests, informational articles and archived fishing reports from 1996 through 2002. I hope it meets with your entire satisfaction.
CURRENT REPORT and summary for Skeena and Tributaries:
TYPE OF FISH CAUGHT: Steelhead, Rainbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Dolly Varden and Bull Trout.
Thank you for using barbless hooks.
FISHING THIS WEEK: Great
LARGEST FISH OF THE WEEK: Specie: (estimate) 27-pound buck Steelhead Where: Skeena River Angler: Yvonne Williams
WEATHER: Cloudy with showers and the odd sunny breaks. Highs to 8 degree C. Region normal: Max. Temp. 12 degree C. Min. Temp. 2 degree C. Sunrise 6:33 am Sunset 8:36 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: fair on most rivers
SNOW CONDITIONS: very little snow left
FOR CURRENT WATER HEIGHTS ON THE SKEENA RIVER PLEASE CAST ON:
http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/water/StnFrame.asp?stnID=08EF001
NOTE: this site usually works best in-season.
FISHING REPORT FROM NICHOLAS DEAN LODGE FOR THIS WEEK:
Finally, it appears that Spring has arrived in Terrace and the Skeena Region. Although we did have some wet snow earlier in the week, daytime temperatures have been mild (in the 9-10 degrees C range), with light to moderate rain. As such, the Skeena and some of the tributaries have become a little elevated - the Skeena in Terrace is running the colour of chocolate brown, due to muddy water coming from the Bulkley and Copper Rivers. Although the Skeena has not yet reached its high springtime flows, there is some reason for concern, as the 200% snow pack on the mountainsides still has a lot of melting to do. Still, the fishing on the Skeena Tribs near Terrace has been fantastic. One of our regular guests, Julian Smith, had the best trip he's ever experienced (and he often comes to the lodge multiple times each year, and has been fishing with us for the last 5 seasons), having landed 8 fish on the fly in 4 days, with an incredible 22 lb fish being the largest.
And for Michael Kenyon and Yvonne Williams, their trip will likely be one to remember for a long time coming. After going fishless the first day, Yvonne hooked into a very large fish on the Skeena with her Spey rod, and after a reel-burning fight, her guide Sky Richard tailed the Spring buck in the shallows. As you can see by the look on her face, Yvonne was ecstatic, and for good reason – the fish was estimated conservatively at 26-27 lbs! Not only was this a giant Steelhead, but it was also her first Steelhead on the fly, and having been on 3 winter Steelhead trips without much success, it's safe to assume that she paid her dues! Needless to say, when Michael landed another Wild Steelhead of 18-20 lbs, it just didn't have the same effect. Congrats Yvonne and Michael on your big Steelhead!
It really has been an incredible Spring season here at Nicholas Dean Lodge, with quite a few fish at 20 lbs and over being caught, not to mention the numerous fish between 15 and 18 lbs. And just a few days ago, one of our guests hooked into a giant fish that fought very much like a Spring Chinook, signifying that these big Salmon are likely in the rivers already. The building Chinook run, in combination with the big Steelhead of the Skeena system, should make for some very interesting fishing in the coming weeks, and there is one fish story that I would like to tell, but will hold off on until next week…
Until then, tight lines and screaming reels.
Chad Black
Operations Manager
Nicholas Dean Lodge
SKEENA RIVER: is now fishable for early run Steelhead. The water is in borderline shape, with some colour to it.
KALUM RIVER: has an "excellent" run of Steelhead. These fish are wintering over and will spawn in late spring. The water is rising but is still very clean and fishable. Having a large lake at the headwaters is helpful. Unless the lake gets dirty the river stays in shape. 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.
The Kalum River has "all" four runs of "wild" Steelhead: spring, summer, fall and winter. Other than the spring run, these fish stay in the river all winter and spawn in the late spring around late April, May and June. There is no hatchery Steelhead in the Kalum River.
Both spin and fly fishing work well on this river.
April 11: My two friends and I hooked five Steelhead and landed four. We only had time to fish for five hours. The biggest was a large buck estimated to weigh between 18 and 20-pounds. Video clips of two of these fish will be posted on the website soon.
April 13: My two friends and I hooked five Steelhead and landed three. Another big buck estimated to weigh around 15-pounds. I am in the process of editing the three video clips that will be posted on the website soon. We only had time to fish for three hours so I think the time spent was rather productive!
KASIKS RIVER: fishing for Coho will start again next fall. This is the river where a 27-pound record Coho was landed.
ZYMOETZ (COPPER) RIVER: is closed now for angling (as of December 31, 2006 above the lower canyon) to protect the "wintering over" wild Steelhead. Winter fishing is still available on the lower end below the canyon.
NOTE: additional rivers will be added "in season" when the fishing begins in the spring.
OCEAN FISHING PRINCE RUPERT: Hello Noel: Just a quick note to let ya know that the fishing in Prince Rupert is heating up!!, a fellow charter fisherman was out yesterday April 8 and landed 13 ling cod up to 40 lbs, 6 red snapper, and 5 springs all in the high 20's. There were also 3 other boats fishing Tugwell Island and out of the three they landed 14 springs ranging from 15 to 30 lbs, must be Cedar river fish!!........Calm waters..... UNREEL CHARTERS ..........Randy
A summary of what is available year round can be read in the Archived Fishing Report dated April 13, 1997. For a direct link cast here: http://noelgyger.ca/archived-fishing-reports/Old%20Fishing%20Reports%201997.doc
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:
KITIMAT RIVER: Although we have experienced some late and unwanted snow falls we have had some spring like weather for steelheaders to get out and fish the Kitimat. Steelhead have been spotty through out the system with more being caught in the lower end.
One of these fortunate anglers is Bonnie Kilcup who caught and released a 15lb.wild buck on Sunday. She also lost another the same day in the hatchery run in the lower Kitimat. The catch rates are typical for this time of year but as the temperature warms and more steelhead migrate into the system we looking forward to a good steelhead season. Report and photo courtesy of Ron Wakita.
NOTE: additional rivers will be added "in season" when the fishing begins in the spring.
OCEAN FISHING KITIMAT DOUGLAS CHANNEL:
With the extended winter weather conditions and opportunities to fish for winter chinook has been limited. Most boaters are now focused on crabbing for Dungeness or Alaskan King crab. After a long winter a feed of fresh Dungeness crab is a delicious harvest that most sport fishers are eager to go out and catch. There are also some Alaskan King crab being harvested with the use of the traditional hoop traps. There are some new box traps on the market that have larger gates to allow King crab to be caught in the same traps as the Dungeness crab. These traps allow crabbers to leave the traps down fishing longer than hoop traps which need to be pulled more often. There have also been some reports of a few halibut been caught in the Douglas Channel. Nothing of any size has been caught yet but it is nice to see sport fishers starting to harvest the bounties the salt waters of the Douglas Channel. We are indeed fortunate to live where we do. Report by Ron Wakita
CURRENT REPORT and summary for Central Coast/North Van Island Wilderness Rivers:
April 12, 2007
Fishing report from Nimmo
The season has started. The rivers were in perfect shape until perhaps tonight, when it started to rain. Hopefully it won't rain too heavily. Clearing by morning or so the forecasters say.
6 anglers, all eager to cast the fly, climb to the top of a mountain, eat lunch in a restaurant that is never crowded and perhaps jump a Steelhead. Tomorrow morning, weather permitting we will start to do all of the above. It's the season opener.
10 systems lie in wait of our flies. The helicopters are serviced and ready to fly anglers to places where dreams are made. The Hardy rods and reels are lined and ready for the fight of their lives. The underwater digital cameras are poised to get some great shots of our guests, which they will have forever as memories of this Temporal Nexus.
The chefs have prepared a spectacular fare, leaving nothing to the imagination. The beds are turned down, the hot tubs are ready and the masseuse is plying her craft as we speak. Everything has been gone over fourteen times at least, just so things will be perfect for this the beginning of our 27th season. How blessed are we.
Perhaps in our next report, we will have some pics and stories to go with them. It is great to be on this side of heaven, especially catching fish.
Craig Murray, Owner
Nimmo Bay Resort
FISHING REGULATION WEBSITES:
2005/2007 BC tidal waters and freshwater Salmon fishing information:
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish
Effective April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2007
2006/2007 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/regulations/intro.html
Effective April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007
NOTE: For In-season Regulation Changes posted on the web check the above URL's
2007 TV SHOW SCHEDULE FOR SPORTFISHING BC with host Mark Pendlington
CHANNEL Friday Saturday Sunday
Sportsnet Pacific 6:30 AM PST
(9:30 AM EST)
Knowledge Network 1:30 PM PST
(4:30 PM EST) 1:30 PM PS
(4:30 PM EST) 11:30 PM PST
(2:30 PM EST)
A Channel 7:00 AM PST
(10:00 AM EST)
World Fishing Network Check local listings
CATCH & RELEASE FORMULA: Chinook: girth squared x length x 1.54 divided by
1000. Steelhead: Steelhead: girth squared x length x 1.33 divided by 1000 (inches)
To receive my WEEKLY FISHING REPORT and PHOTO via e-mail please send your name and e-mail address to: Noel Gyger noel@noelgyger.ca
GOOD LUCK and GOOD FISHING!
Yours sincerely,
Noel F. Gyger
Back to: http://noelgyger.ca/past-fishing-reports.htm
Home page: www.noelgyger.ca
