glueman
Well-known member
Sh1t happens been thereCould be worse, my mate took his wife fishing at Ullapool pier on their honeymoon.....they are divorced now.
Next year - ferox and charr on the fly.
Next Year
- Thread starter mackiia1
- Start date
Dingbat
Well-known member
Could be worse, my mate took his wife fishing at Ullapool pier on their honeymoon.....they are divorced now.
Next year - ferox and charr on the fly.
Did she catch more than him?
I need some more kit - I'm thinking of buying a boat for Lough Derg.
sean freeman
Well-known member
Would like to know how you get on with the char, have a few places in mind next year. I’ve had far greater success with non native char than native!Could be worse, my mate took his wife fishing at Ullapool pier on their honeymoon.....they are divorced now.
Next year - ferox and charr on the fly.
eddleston123
Well-known member
With the way my left knee is going - I just hope to be able to walk next year!
Douglas
Douglas
3lbgrayling
Well-known member
I would just like a repeat of 2020.I managed to salvage a great year from the lockdown..Only missing out on my week up north.But I still managed 8 Salmon on the Fly and had some tremendous trout fishing..I will try to get another week organised, but time is running short in many ways..Roll on the vacine.
Jim
Jim
JohnH
Well-known member
As with Jim, I managed to salvage some good sport and good fish from after we were able to return in May to now. Chalkstream and small stillwater fly fishing, and also coarse fishing on still and running water. More of the same would be welcome next year. What I lost out on was reservoir bank fishing in the spring, which is something I look forward to each year. I did get out on a ressie in June and July, 1 trip each bank and boat. But while I caught a few fish, if honest I wasn't really on my game either time. So more reservoir fishing in 2021 please !
I had to cancel a trip to Avon/Vail Colorado with my best friend and we were both gutted. We hoped to do it next year however with reports of overcrowding on the rivers we are looking at a split trip taking in Missoula and Great Falls in late September, however with my eldest daughters wedding and my friends business being severely impacted by Covid we may need to reconsider in which case we'll look at Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
On a local basis I won't be re-joining SDFFA as I managed to get into Salisbury after being on the game waiting list for 5 yrs so I'll have new waters to explore. Other haunts will be Merthyr Tydfil waters on the Usk and Taff and more boat trips to Wimbleball and Blagdon if I can fit it in.
On a local basis I won't be re-joining SDFFA as I managed to get into Salisbury after being on the game waiting list for 5 yrs so I'll have new waters to explore. Other haunts will be Merthyr Tydfil waters on the Usk and Taff and more boat trips to Wimbleball and Blagdon if I can fit it in.
Hi guys. As mentioned before let’s hope we can all get back to some kind of normal. Let’s all enjoy the freedom when we get it and never waste a day again whatever the weather to all stay safe healthy and enjoy next year all the best for the future tight lines
JayP
Well-known member
But don't you pay for that please, how much are the tolls now to Bourg?
glueman
Well-known member
About 100 euro
Last Year when we were in Vancouver (prior to flying North to the Terrace area to fish the Skeena system) our flights from Manchester were delayed from 8.00am in the morning until 5.00pm in the later afternoon. Then the flight time is considerable. By the time the taxi dropped us off at our hotel in Vancouver I was dead. But some of my mates said let's just have a couple of drinks in the hotel bar. But that turned out to be shut. So we walked for a minute or two up the road and there was an Irish Bar. This was about 7.00pm Canada/Vancouver time on a Friday night - goodness knows how many hours we had been up for.
I have never experienced such a brilliant atmosphere in any hostelry in my life. We listened to fantastic live music and enjoyed some brilliant craic with the ever so friendly locals and many wonderful Irish, drank God knows how much beer and went to bed about 1.00am in the morning still singing. I would recommend any visitor to to seek out that bar. My lasting memory is when everyone in that Bar and all my mates sang along at the top of our voices with a great band playing the Proclaimers "I Gonna Be (500 miles)."
BTW the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park is also worth a visit - very interesting and the park is lovely.
Enjoy that lovely city and its very welcoming people.
Mick
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mackiia1
Well-known member
Sounds like a good practice session for the main event on Saturday night.
Was the fishing any good ?
As it happens, my wife and I spent part of our honeymoon in Ullapool. One day I hired a small boat for us to go out mackerel fishing! But we are still married 47 years later.Could be worse, my mate took his wife fishing at Ullapool pier on their honeymoon.....they are divorced now.
Next year - ferox and charr on the fly.
HarrisonSounds like a good practice session for the main event on Saturday night.
Was the fishing any good ?
Hi there,
This is where I bring everything down to earth. NO the fishing was very disappointing. This was September, 2019 and we were staying in a top lodge on the lower Skeena system (about an hour or so's flight north of Vancouver) with great guides. The target fish were steelhead and coho. We were a party of 10 and we had access to great stretches of many different and contrasting rivers, with great jet boats and guides and with many very experienced anglers in the party. BUT the fish were not there. Two steelhead were caught and a small number lost after a fight. Two coho landed some lost. I lost one coho and had three steelhead on briefly (of course everything is single barbless or de-barbed hooks). So to say disappointing is massive understatement given the cost of the trip.
My favourite sessions when the salmon were not there or taking was to fish for trout with a single hander with egg patterns amongst the spawning chum or kings and I had some lovely cutthroat, rainbows, brook and bull trout - BUT that's not why I went!!!
When we had our Irish Bar bonanza some of the guys went to the Fraser to fish for sturgeon and had a good time - I'd done that before so opted for Vancouver.
My best Canada trip was the Fraser/Harrison where we filled our boots with chum (fresh off the tide) and coho - we were based in Chilliwack. I also fished the Pitt River Island for sockeye and kings but I wouldn't go there again.
Ironically, when we were on the Skeena a friend was fishing on Vancouver Island and had a great time with lots of fish - of course he didn't hesitate to rub salt into my wounds!
Just shows how luck will always play a big part in fishing. Also you can book a sub-tropical or tropical trip, or salmon fishing abroad and bad weather can take days off your fishing. No different to things at home in that way.
But to finish on a positive - I love Canada and Canadians and have been privileged to visit BC a few times.
Mick
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sean freeman
Well-known member
Main species I want to fish for are the bulls and cutties. Brook trout and rainbows would be a bonus! Life is too short to be a steelhead or salmon fisherman!
Sean you are so right and I would dearly like spend a month or so in BC just fishing for trout.Main species I want to fish for are the bulls and cutties. Brook trout and rainbows would be a bonus! Life is too short to be a steelhead or salmon fisherman!
In the Pitt River (I was at the Pitt River Lodge in August four years ago) they have a run of sea run bull trout in May/June) these fish run to an enormous size and are fished for with mouse patterns and big tandem lures and by all accounts fight better than steelhead. There's loads of trout in the rivers around the lower Skeena (of course some are really char species) and I tried to persuade my mates on that trip to have a day just focusing on the trout but I was overruled. When fishing for the salmon/steelead you catch some big bull trout/Dolly Varden/Brook Trout but on that heavy tackle you simply don't get the best sport as you can imagine but with a single handed you will have a beano! What beautiful looking fish too.
Mick
mackiia1
Well-known member
Hi Mick - I fished the Fraser / Harrison/ Vedder and Stave Rivers in 2009. We stayed in Mission but were in Chilliwack a few times.
When we arrived the Rivers were low and not many fish were running. We were a bit deflated for the first day or two as we were thinking that it was going to be a disaster of a trip. On day 3 the Guide told us that he had been on to the Fishing Agency and had been told by them that there were Millions of fish in the harbour waiting to run but reluctant due to the low water . He said that there were so many fish building up in the harbour that they would eventually push up the rivers . We thought this was just a tale to keep us interested but on day 4 we witnessed it on the Harrison - waves of running Salmon. We had a ball for the rest of the trip. Never in my life seen so many Salmon. We caught Pinks, Chum , Sockeye and a few Coho. Didn't catch any Kings but I saw some huge ones running up the middle of the Fraser River - too far out to have a chance of getting any. We were all fishing 10ft 8 or 9 weight rods.
We had a day Fishing for Sturgeon too.
Stunning part of the world.
Ian
glueman
Well-known member
When my one son was in Canada he was told not to climb a tree to escape a bear as they can climb faster than you can
Hi Ian,
Many thanks for that, sounds like you had a great time. On that first trip based in Chilliwack when we were on the Harrison on our second day we caught many fish BUT as you say the big Kings run through the deepest water and the fastest current and out of casting range. But on that occasion I waded as deeply as I could and without being big headed I'm not a bad caster and I timed a cast perfectly to get my fly out there and before it could be swept away by the intervening currents a king salmon took it. It wasn't huge (I know this is all relative when you are catching chums to 24lb) but he took me on some runs and I thought I had lost him but the guide said "reel in quickly he's running towards you - they often do that". I reeled in like hell and low and behold he was still on. He took another couple of short runs close in and then the bloody hook came away. My language was choice!
Some of my friends were going to return to the Skeena system this year but in July/early August to target the big kings (Covid putting the mockers on it) but I saw some spawning in Skeena tributaries that were gargantuan and some of the guides said when you hook into them they will just sit on the bottom and sulk. And when fish to over 40lb do this on a fly rod there's not much you can do and it aint fun.
On the Pitt we were told the Sockeye would be free taking - they were NOT though we had some. Technically we should not have fished for kings BUT you had to to get sport and my mates had them to 30lb but I only got them to about 18lb. These are quite bright fish BTW.
On the subject of bears I had never seen one until last year. They banned (black) bear hunting on Pitt Island after some ***** guide and his clients killed so many on one trip. But last year when we were on a small river some distance from our lodge with a Native Canadian name I cannot recall, we were fishing for coho when a grizzly came through the woods on the opposite bank and stared at us. The guide told us to get out of the river. He said it was a young one but to me it looked bloody big and was likely to cross over! It adopted the posture of an excited dog just about to retrieve a stick. The guide then waded into the river and set off his "Bear Banger". Jesus Christ it frightened the hell out of all of us, not just one bang but one really Big Bang and then a whole array of bangs. Louder than any firework I'd ever heard. The bear looked terrified and hot footed it back into the trees.
Some nights in the lodge, which was right on the banks of the Skeena, Andrew, the owner and our guide on some days, said look boys, no walks to get fresh air after dinner tonight. There's a black bear out their nosing into my bins. The mess it left next morning was unbelievable.
The standard joke the guides told about the bears was that if you saw one you didn't have to be able to run fast to escape it, just faster than your mates!
Mick
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mackiia1
Well-known member
On the last day of our trip myself and my buddy were walking about 1 mile back to the boat through low tress and scrub .
Buddy say's to me ' Thank God we didn't meet any Bears during the trip , I was a bit worried about it - imagine if we meet one around the next corner , what would you do ?'
I told him ' I'd run like fcuk!!'
Buddy say's - ' Were you not listening to the Guides ? They said never to run'
'I know ' I replied ' but that's what I'd do ' .
'You'd be wasting your time', say's the Buddy - ' apparently they can run as fast as a Racehorse , you'd never outrun it'
'I wouldn't be trying to outrun the Bear' , I replied, - I 'd only be trying to outrun You'.
