Well, we are on the move again. Kali and I were unexpectedly presented with the opportunity to move to Campbell River, and we jumped at it. The wife is delighted at being closer to family, and I will have one of the best salmon fishing rivers on my doorstep! Win-win.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the move has landed right in the middle of the pink and Chinook run, so evenings and weekends have been spent packing and painting, rather than wetting a line.<\/em><\/p>\n Rather than trust the moving company with my rod collection, I decided to drive them up to the in-laws house for safe storage.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n However, I just couldn\u2019t resist a little detour before dropping them off\u2026\u00a0The river was just too tempting.<\/em><\/p>\n I lined up my 8WT spey rod and grabbed a couple of my \u2018three-ingredient\u2019 needle flies: fur, marabou and a piece of flash. I have learned that it doesn\u2019t need to be anymore complicated than that.<\/em><\/p>\n My usual run was lined up with anglers so I decided to head a little up river to find some space. I fished for about 2 hours with not so much as a piece of weed. It was a pleasant temperature with some lovely fly water, so I wasn\u2019t too bothered. With my trip to the Conuma River coming up, it didn\u2019t really matter to me whether I caught or not.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Just when I thought I really should be getting back to help pack up the crockery, I felt that unmistakable thud.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The fish roared up river and ripped off line. After about a 10\u00a0 minute battle, it accepted its fate and slipped in the net. A Chinook of about 20lbs. As ridiculous as this may sound to many, it\u2019s one of the babies. Still, I didn\u2019t care.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n 19th October<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In case you were wondering where all the fly fishing reports are, there hasn\u2019t been much to report!<\/p>\n We arrived at the Conuma to find very low water levels. We found a few small pockets of slightly deeper water with holding fish. One of them obliged when I put a three ingredient needle fly in front of them, a coloured up chinook of about 8lbs.<\/p>\n However, we felt that it was best not to disturb these fish in difficult conditions, and called it a day. On the second day, we opted to hire a boat and take it on the ocean. We enjoyed some good sport right at the estuary using spoons, hooking two 9lb chrome coho and a chinook of similar size. We even did a bit of jigging and caught some lingcod in deeper water.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I spent the next 6 weeks targeting coho on the beach while I waited for the rain to come. Plenty of anglers on the beaches but not a lot of fish being caught. All I had to show was two tales of hooked and lost fish.October came and the beaches remained quiet. They must all be in the river, right? I headed to the Campbell last weekend expecting some action but alas no. All I found were old pinks on their last legs. I decided to throw a spoon to some sections of the river I couldn\u2019t reach with the fly rod. A bonus sea run cutthroat came out from hiding and smashed it.<\/p>\n This past weekend I headed back to the Campbell hoping some fish had finally shown up. I initially showed poor judgment however, heading down to the river on my own before the sun was fully up. I walked down the wooded trail and cut through an opening in the trees to towards the river. However, a bear had had the same idea, and we gave each other a tremendous fright. I quickly turned and headed back to the car, and waited for it to move on.<\/p>\n After 20 mins of waiting, I was able to fish. I saw a few fish jumping this time so I was more optimistic. I only had to run a spey shrimp \u00a0down the river a few times before it was met with a thud. After a short battle, a chum of about 8lbs came to the bank. Strangely, it was quite coloured up (not photo worthy), as if it had been in the river a while. It didn\u2019t make sense. Usually early October is the start of the run.<\/p>\n After a fruitless couple of hours of casting, I decided to pick up the 5wt and see what else might be patrolling these runs. The cutthroat and rainbows love to sit behind the spawning salmon and gorge on eggs. I threw a few casts behind some holding fish and hooked a lovely fat cutthroat. I was just as happy catching this fish as I was a fresh salmon. They don\u2019t all need to be 30lbs to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.trout-salmon-fishing.com\/flyfishing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_2935-Copy-scaled.jpeg\")
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