456 replies to this topic

[Bernard]

James Island Pier at night - interesting.   I have tried crabbing there and have always been skunked,   

 

Sidney Pier, I have never seen anyone shrimp there.   Maybe I need to try there

[Bingo]

Try the wharf at the end of James Island Road. Good for shrimp and you might be able to get some small spot prawns. It's good this time of year at night time.

Just use a dip net and use cat food, sardines, tuna or fish scraps. 

 

Keep the bait in the can and punch a few 3/16 inch holes through the lid and use two of the holes to run some heavy twine through to the center of your trap.

I have had the best luck with sardines, but remove the label first because shrimp are fussy eaters.

If you can't get out shrimping on the next full moon on the 24th, wait until Halloween when the shrimp go bump in the night and into the trap.

[AllseeingEye]

Have a good weekend y'all, heading out to Whistler/Pemberton/Lillooet momentarily; four guys with more than 20 rods and in excess of 30 reels between us, enough fly and spin cast gear to open our own store....I'll be, um....'annoyed' if we don't hook into a few fish.

 

The good weather is a good news bad news scenario, as the sunshine is pleasant enough while standing waist deep in the river, but river levels will be lower due to lack of rain, we'll have to work harder to find the fish and entice them to bite (they normally aren't feeding this time of year), and as snags, logs and deadheads will be more prominent due to shallower water we'll have to be switching gear constantly depending on the local conditions as we move along the system. At least we'll have libations and a nice hot tub to look forward to back at the Whistler pad at the end of each day. Tight lines always......

[Mike K.]

Enjoy!

You best had pre-voted!

[AllseeingEye]

Enjoy!

You best had pre-voted!

Thanks we did in fact enjoy ourselves immensely; bit of  a downer when I saw the election results especially the mayors' races and the CoV council. Made me want to crawl back up to Lillooet...

 

By God we live in a stunning, glorious country. It should be mandatory IMO that people, especially city dwellers, get off their bums and couches, put down their smart phones and get out to the back country of this province to see for themselves how truly fortunate we are.

 

I've been to the Elaho Valley, tramped and fished all through the Squamish and Cheakamus ecosystems but had not fished the Lillooet River ever. "Wow". It takes two hours to get there from Whistler including a 45 click trek down a logging and fire break road that is more like a third world goat trail but the effort, and end result, is beyond spectacular. We encountered elk, deer and from a distance saw a Grizzly. Oh...and we caught 3 coho and several rainbow and dolly varden trout, all released......

Edited by AllseeingEye, 21 October 2018 - 06:57 PM.

[AllseeingEye]

Some pics from the Cheakamus River just north of Squamish and the Lillooet River which we fished on Saturday; I was already very familiar with the Cheakamus ecosystem having fished it for over a decade but had no idea how big the Lillooet River really is, nor how remote much of it remains even today (which is why in part it teems with fish....coho literally stacked up on top of each other in certain narrow portions of the river......... )

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Edited by AllseeingEye, 24 October 2018 - 06:14 PM.

[Mike K.]

Beautiful, ASE. I’ve always wanted to explore that part of the province.

[AllseeingEye]

I could quite happily retire to Squamish and die a happy man Mike: what's not to love for an outdoor enthusiast - 30 minutes to Whistler and world class skiing and all manner of outdoor recreation on one side, less than that to Vancouver to the south to get the "city fix" as needed, less still to the ferries to trek to the island whenever I choose. And all around with Squamish as the starting point a stunning and unparalleled wilderness panorama (of course with plenty of unsurpassed fishing opportunities!). Checks all the boxes for me......

[Mike K.]

Yup, it's a beautiful area, that's for sure. What's it like nowadays? Lots of development? It's been eight years since I last visited that region.

[AllseeingEye]

Lots more residential development for those 'refugees' who work in Whistler or especially Vancouver but can't afford - or simply refuse to pay - the home prices of either market; particularly so on the north end of town where there are large developments of SFH's and townhomes, many of which are obscured literally by wilderness so you wouldn't know they existed unless you turned off Hwy 99. Speaking of which as we know the government dropped $700 million on the Sea to Sky so Squamish and the approaches north to south and vice versa have a highway that Victoria can only dream about.....

 

There are 20,000 people in the immediate area and pressure on available rental stock - gee where have we heard that before - is a very definite problem, especially as younger people from Vancouver slowly move into the area. Overall the downtown is small but growing incrementally and its also very clean and orderly. Its really a young person's town (or a retiree's  ). 

 

Originally Squamish was a supply town for the forestry and mining industries in addition to being a rail head for the old BCR. Mining of course is long gone but 'responsible forestry' is definitely making its presence felt judging by the number of logging trucks we encountered - more on this trip than I've seen in the nearly 20 years I've been regularly going to or through the region.

 

Naturally tourism is key now - the area is a jumping off point and gateway to Whistler, Pemberton and beyond to Lillooet in the north, and of course there are a plethora of natural wonders literally on its doorstep, including Shannon Falls, Mt Garibaldi, Porteau Cove, the Stawamus Chief - a world renowned monolith for climbers - and of course Howe Sound which is becoming a mecca for wind and kite surfing.

 

If you simply must get into your Sunday finest and head out to the opera each weekend while hob-nobbing with the societal upper crust then Squamish is not for you; if OTOH you are active and a nature lover and enjoy being dazzled and surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere then you'll love it, heh.....

[Bingo]

No fish photos. 

[Mike K.]

Nice. So it’s literally like the CRD’s version of Sooke, then? Albeit different in some ways but sounds similar in others.

[AllseeingEye]

No fish photos. 

Here ya go Big Guy....a couple of the 3 coho we caught (we only kept one the others and all the trout were released).

 

I tangled with another salmon but he threw the hook before I could get him into shore; the trout while nice to play and look at - a mature rainbow is one of the most beautiful fish there is - were too small to keep and besides I know from hard won experience not to try juggling my phone cam with a fishing rod while trying to land a struggling fish. I've lost two phones that way and am determined there won't be a third time

 

While we didn't exactly rough it getting to the remote spots in a Porsche it was ideal for tearing up that bad boy of an old BCFS fire road, all 40 kilometers of it

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[Mike K.]

You've made rjag's day

[AllseeingEye]

/\ Great vehicle for the backroads - it literally tore the fire break road up, whereas my Explorer being heavier with less ponies under the hood would've lumbered over it like a tank....

[Mike K.]

Whuuuut? The Porsche beat out the Explorer? What year/motor/tires does your rig have?

[AllseeingEye]

They're both 05's; he has top of the line Pirelli's and about 100 more horses than my Eddie Bauer which has Michelin Defender LTX' (great tires BTW). Also while my beast is strut suspension his has a wishbone configuration which definitely makes a difference negotiating loose gravel surfaces. The difference is mainly driving style; the "Carrera King" is much more of a lead foot than me. I doubt we did anything less than 60-65kph for most of that back road and at times were moving quicker than that. I'm a little more cautious, heh.......

[Mike K.]

Those Michelin's are good, but not for off-road. I had terrible handling with my Explorer until I got proper off-road tires. That made a world of difference.

[Rob Randall]

Victoria Daily Colonist, August 6, 1897

 

[AllseeingEye]

You want to get to the fish especially in this part of the world you need to be prepared to work for them.

 

On a recent recce trip along the Circle Route from Duncan and the Cowichan Valley to Port Renfrew we hit the back country and hiked way in and up off the beaten track to Harris Creek and the Upper Harris, fast becoming one of our go-to fishing gems, particularly where VI steel-head are concerned. It was a lot of work to get this shot but you get the idea of the topography, not to mention why the steelie population is relatively healthy - weekend warrior fishing types generally won't put in the effort to get to the remote sections of this ecosystem.

 

The second image shows the most direct way to access the Harris system from Victoria; head to Pt Renfrew, over the bridge at the mouth of the San Juan River and onto Pacheedaht FN land past the campground and either bear right on the road toward Fairy and Lizard Lake(s) or head north westerly along the general path of the Gordon River if you really want to rough it. The shot here was in the reaches of the Upper Harris along the route beyond Fairy Lake and off the map as shown below.

 

Either way the steel-head are there, you just need to be prepared to get your hands (not to mention your truck or SUV) dirty...

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Edited by AllseeingEye, 03 January 2019 - 09:06 PM.