Fishing with Rod

Planning to fish for salmon on the Vedder River in the next three months? You should be aware of a series of access closures until the end of October. The city will once again be hauling gravel out from the river and here is a map of where work will be done. Is your fishing spot off-limit this season? Follow the closure updates at https://www.chilliwack.com/main/page.cfm?id=3171

Sockeye salmon fishing opens for Babine River on August 1st, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announces. Please see the following notice for details.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada | Fishery Notices Fisheries and Oceans Canada

The Fraser River Panel at Pacific Salmon Commission has released another regulatory announcement this afternoon. Just over 130,000 sockeye salmon have passed through Mission in the Lower Fraser River to date. Current in-season estimate of this year's Fraser River sockeye salmon return is now at just over 7 million fish, as early summer estimate has been reduced by about half a million fish. No openings have been announced.

A solid day recently out with River Titan Pro Anglers! Limits of two salmon species are laid out on the table, can you tell which are which? Saltwater salmon fishing is highly productive at the moment just outside of Vancouver. Our day began at 7:00am from North Arm of Fraser River and back at the dock at 1:00pm. If you are looking for a quick day trip without leaving town, this is a pretty good option in the next couple of months. 🎣

Two char species caught at the same location in Southwestern British Columbia, Canada. One is native in this region, while the other one is invasive. Can you tell which is which? 😉

The top photograph is a bull trout, while the bottom photograph is an Eastern brook trout. In previous posts, some suggested that only one of the two has white edges along its ventral fins, but as you can see both do. Some also suggested that the mouth of bull trout extends beyond the eyes while the mouth of brook trout does not, but you can see both do. The spotting patterns and colours are usually the keys for differentiating the two species. Both were stunning specimens!

Big fins, big mouth, a big native char in the Pacific Northwest! 😁 This is a bull trout, the apex predator in most stream ecosystem across British Columbia. A big specimen like this would engulf an entire rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, kokanee, sculpin and even other juvenile char species. Have you ever caught one?

This photo might make you lose sleep before going back to work tomorrow. 😁 These two very bright silver salmon were caught in the ocean aruond Central BC Coast. They may look similar, but they are in fact two different species of Pacific salmon. Can you identify them?

In the summer, it's not unusual to encounter several different species of Pacific salmon while fishing in the sea. Some can be legally retained, while others have to be released, so it's important to know your fish and identify them while they are still in the water before deciding what you need to do. In thise case, both specimens were legally retained and migrated onto the BBQ. 🤪

There have been hundreds of comments on our brook trout photos this past week, so here's another one to ruffle some more feathers. 😁 What a beautiful, solid Eastern brook trout, but it is still invasive, in the water where this was caught. Eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is a popular gamefish but not endemic (native/indigenous) in watersheds of the Pacific Northwest. They are released into some lakes for recreational fishing. When done right, these fish have no impacts on other species while providing fishing opportunities. When done wrong, they potentially can become a threat for other native fish species. In this case, these brook trout are escapees from a nearby stocked lake, and are displacing native bull trout and rainbow trout by competition and predation. There are no "bad" species, but when they are planted outside their native range and threatening the existence of other species, then they are invasive, regardless how highly you may think of them.

Here are a couple of oinks! 🐷 Our brook trout in BC can get rather large. It's quite amazing that these stocked fish go into the lakes at several grams heavy, and have the potential to grow to this size. And no, these aren't native bull trout, or dolly varden. They are Eastern brook char which are not endemic in the Pacific Northwest, and are introduced into some lakes for anglers' enjoyment. Catch them, release them back if you want, but definitely ok to keep your limit of these delicious specimens.

Here is another update from the Fraser River Panel at Pacific Salmon Commission. Just under 100,000 sockeye salmon have passed through Mission so far. Current in-season estimate of 2026's Fraser River sockeye salmon run size is just over 7.5 million fish. This hot, dry summer has resulted in tougher migratory conditions. Fraser River's water discharge is currently 20% lower than average, and water temperature is 1.5C above average.