Salmon and Steelhead Fishing on Vancouver Island
Canada is world renowned for the quality of its fishing, whether for native rainbow trout on river and lake; Atlantic salmon on the famous east coast rivers such as the Miramichi, Grand Cascapedia, Bonaventure, Moise, Eagle and Restigouche; lake trout and steelhead of the Great Lakes; or the various species of Pacific salmon (Chinook, Coho, Chum, Pink and Sockeye) and steelhead which run the many rivers of the British Columbian coast – famous rivers like the Dean, Skeena, Kalum, Kitimat, Squamish, to name but a few on the B.C. mainland. But I want to focus here on the great fishing on the rivers of Vancouver island, most well known of which are probably Cowichan, Stamp, Campbell, Nimpkish, Englishman, Big Qualicum, Somass, Gold and Salmon river. First an insight into some of the wonderful fishing on the Campbell River, once a favourite haunt of Roderick Haig-Brown, as described so evocatively in his book, “A River Never Sleeps”.
Chris Tucker recently made the move from Scotland to Vancouver Island – why wouldn’t you! – and is making the most of the wonderful opportunities locally. I will record here some of Chris’s fishing adventures in the Pacific North West, in the main on Vancouver Island.
2022 Season
Campbell River Pink Salmon
While awaiting much needed rain here in early August, 2022 to bring some summer salmon into our Scottish rivers, I was delighted to receive the following report, along with some lovely photographs, from my nephew Chris, who is most fortunate to live on Vancouver Island – or perhaps he just makes good choices! I was particularly pleased to hear that the Canadian salmon approve of the needle tubes ….. Envious? …. moi?
Chris writes:
“Had a few hours to spare this afternoon so headed down to the Campbell. It was 27 degrees with not a cloud in the sky, so small, sparse flies were the order of the day. I opted for one of your tube flies that you gave me for the Tay.
Fish were holding bottom so I needed t17 tip to get the fly down and swinging in the right zone. Fished from 2-5pm and had 5 on the bank, with plenty lost. Largest was probably 4lb, but they were fresh fish and were extremely hot when hooked. Made the Marquis sing!”
click photos to enlarge
Fish on in the Campell River!
Tube Flies for Pacific Salmon?
Pacific salmon and steelhead seem to be partial to brightly coloured flies! Shown below is a selection of Needle Tube Flies tied Scottish Shrimp Style on stainless steel needle tubes (tube length 15mm, tube outside diameter 1.5mm) a few of which have recently proven effective on the rivers of British Columbia (see below).
Campbell River Chinook Salmon
Following on from the above report on Pink Salmon, I received another from Chris in early September ….
I drove up to Campbell River on Saturday feeling optimistic. Once again I was met with bright and warm conditions, with the river sitting at around 3.5ft in depth at low tide. On the far bank, a black bear was patrolling the shallows in search of its quarry. I was hoping there would be enough salmon to go around for the both of us. It’s difficult to run in waders.
The Campbell generally runs very clear, and with the locals saying that the chinook were being ‘tight-lipped’, I started to think I might be in for a tough day. The pinks seemed to react well to the needle flies a few weeks earlier in similar conditions, so I grabbed a green/orange/yellow Spey Shrimp from the box. Knowing that the fish will generally always sit in the bottom column of water, I paired it with 15ft of T14 sink tip so that the needle fly would skirt gracefully over the rocky bed. That was the hope anyway!
For the next 5 hours, I can say without hyperbole, that I enjoyed some of the best fishing of my life. Four fish on the bank, with the biggest being what I am guessing was a mid-twenty (maybe more!). I lost three other good fish – one of which snapped my rod in two and sent the top section down to the ocean. (it’s going to be tough submitting a warranty replacement request with only 25% of the rod left!) To compound my misfortunes, I had a brief ‘sit-down’ in the river while trying to wade back to the bank….. twice! I did not care one iota. It was a red letter day and one I will never forget. Looking forward to that batch of needle tubes you sent me as the coho and chum will be coming up the river next!
A Final Fling on the Little Qualicum River
Report from Chris, October 30th ….
It’s been a tough end to the salmon season on the island. By mid-October, only 5 rivers remained open in our region due to low water levels. Even the dam controlled Campbell River shut its banks to anglers. Both my trips to the Sooke and Oyster had been cancelled, and so I realistically only had one last chance to hit my target of catching all 5 pacific salmon in a season. With options being limited, we opted to drive 2 hours north to the Little Qualicum River. This time of year it’s a fly only river and so we wouldn’t have to compete with those who chose to fish a little more ‘creatively’. Upon arrival, we were met with a low river with little sign of fish. To our frustration, the 5 days of rain appeared to make little impact.
I lined up my 7wt switch rod with a light 5ips sink tip. I was keen to see if your needle tube Scottish Shrimps would still ride upright despite the hook facing upwards – you were right! Being able to fish the fly this way is key here in BC. The pacific salmon generally sit along the bottom and so its important you get your fly down and running along the river bed. The danger in doing this is it is prone to snagging the bottom, or even worse, a fish. With the hook riding upwards, I was confident that any little tug was going to be an obliging fish.
The first three pools didn’t produce a single pluck of the fly line. All three had produced fish during my trip 2 years ago and so my doubt started to grow. I thought back to a novelty coffee mat that my friend received as a gift. It had a picture an angler and bore the caption ‘there’s a fine line between fishing and standing by a river like an idiot.’ After wading up river I managed to spot a fish holding on the far bank under an overhanging tree. On the 4th cast I swung the Scottish Shrimp right in front of it and bang, it struck at it. To my delight, it was a coho salmon of around 4lbs – one of the targeted species! The Little Qualicum is dominated by chum salmon at this time of year and so I was delighted to pick out this fish. 4 out of 5 species complete.
I continued to wander upstream, hoping to stumble across a quiet pool that was packed with fish. Unfortunately it was not to be. It was at this point that my fishing friend, also named Chris, decided to call a local tackle shop to see if he could suggest somewhere that might hold fish. We were really struggling. We started heading back down river towards the car, casting again in the pools we tried on the way up – not a sniff! We reached the final run where our day started, but something had changed. The high tide had brought in a new batch of fish and suddenly the river was alive!
The final hour saw 4 fish on the bank, three of them on the needle tube Scottish Shrimps and one on a blue Wee Monkey. The largest was a fresh female chum at around 6lbs, marking the completion of all 5 species of Pacific Salmon. The needle fly was responsible for 4 out of the 5 and so you can consider me converted! What had started off as a tough day had turned into a perfect way to cap off the salmon season.
Next up, winter trout on the Cowichan!
For the next installment, see Vancouver Island Fishing 2023 Season
Needle Tubes are now available online at Grays of Kilsyth for the fly tyer in lengths from 10 mm to 40 mm in two diameters – 1.5 mm and 1.8 mm. Boxed selections of sea trout and salmon needle tube flies are also available.