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Cascade Fishing Adventures          Fraser River Undercurrents           Newsletter

 

 

Look, NEW T-shirts, HATS,  BLUE MARLIN from Ascension Island, 350 POUND sturgeon and STEELHEAD!,
a small CONTEST that may interest you,  not to mention current fishing information and more.

 Thankfully, winter seems to be losing its grip and moments of true spring, although fleeting, bring us a smile and some golden warmth on our faces. The fishing season is upon us, some really good fishing! This year, we thought it was time for a change and with a little doodling, this is what we have come up with - some new shirts, hats and a completely different logo! The shirts will be available in light blue, royal blue and gold, with either short sleeve or long sleeve. These shirts are available in ladies sizes and cuts, too. We are also experimenting with quick dry sport performance shirts. The new hats are an ultra light brushed cotton with a full wrap inside band. We thought we'd start off the new logo on black hats. If you are interested in ordering, send us an email and we'll fill you in on the details and get them sent out to you.


We will continue to produce our existing shirts, hoodies and our new Simms camo hats with the traditional Cascade Fishing Adventures logo.  The new camo hats fit extremely well and come in the "trucker style" (middle) - (the attitude of this lid is a combination of Redman and Desert Storm!), the left hat is the saltwater camo hat, while the hat on the right is the olive/brown camo.

We are prone to having the odd skill testing question on our Face Book page with the first person to correctly answer winning a hat or shirt!  Sign up to our Cascade Fishing Adventure page http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/CASCADE-FISHING-ADVENTURES-INC/332918314396  so you can be aware of your chance to receive one of these hats free in the mail!  Christopher Silke of England won the first Simms camo hat by correctly answering the question "what are the three species of sturgeon found in Western Canada?"  The answer is lake sturgeon, white sturgeon and green sturgeon!


 

A Special Trip to a Special Place

I had the opportunity to travel to Ascension Island in February due to the true generosity of two friends, Phil Riley and Andy Thomas. These two gentlemen are guests of ours and have fished with me for a long time - Phil's first fishing trip with me was in 1997 - so long ago, he had hair back then! Andy and Phil never knew each other until sturgeon fishing on the Fraser river in Chilliwack brought them to meet, and they now travel around the world searching for the best in blue marlin fishing. Well they found it on Ascension Island, a small 49 sq. mile island 500 miles south of the equator between northern Brazil and Angola (African continent) - they've been visiting this island for 6 years. Being asked to participate on their trip was an extremely gracious gesture that I couldn't resist and I soon found myself flying to Liverpool, England to meet Phil. After a few days of catching up and picking a few fish out of Phil's pond, the two of us met Andy at Brize Norton Airfield for the nine hour flight south to Ascension. Being a military installation, Ascension Island can only be accessed by military flights and upon receiving a clearance permit prior to your flight. While it is a lengthy journey for a Canadian to get there, it was well worth it - 18 days of 30 degrees and sunshine, not to mention sailfish, wahoo, yellow fin tuna (these fish are machines!), and blue marlin!

 

This is my second Blue Marlin, a 750 pound that gave me its all

To make a long story short, we did not see or raise a blue marlin in the first six days!  We did however enjoy catching other species including Atlantic sailfish, tuna, wahoo and various bottom fish such as amberjacks and black jacks while jigging.  Phil also made certain that I fish for a 6 gill shark so I admit that yes, I caught an 800lb pink slug (Olaf was so... proud).  Anyway, back to fish with pointy noses - the blues had been there, but perhaps moved on and others had not moved in.  Maybe the fish were there but due to a waxing gibbous moon, they did not want to bite.  In any event, we were nil for blues.  

Through the first six days of our trips,  discussions centered on the marlin eventually showing up for us - you have to believe!  Fishing for blue marlin is about covering the water - basically driving over them.  When you are the only guide boat on the island, you can only be in one place at a time, and you don't know if you are behind the fish or in front of the fish, somewhat like the proverbial saying  "we zigged and they zagged".  However, in the backs of our minds, and in discussion, we kept positive that the marlin would show and I truly believed that the best was yet to come.  If nothing else, at night we could head out to the beach and cast for eager black jacks that would pull like trains after crashing the lures (buzz bombs were the bomb on these fish, although surface poppers and my  KwikFish salmon plugs worked well).  Large green turtles could be seen at sunset cruising offshore waiting for dark to crawl ashore and bury their eggs in the coarse sand - we saw many of them while fishing along the beach searching for shore fish.  Supper at night was spectacular, especially when Colin and Olaf would join us at the bungalow and we'd cook up what we caught inshore during the day - the dorado was probably the finest fish I've ever eaten, however Olafs sesame seed yellow fin tuna was incredible and so was the sashimi (fresh raw tuna) that Olaf expertly whittled up with his special sinus clearing wasabi!  After dinner, a short walk often found us at the hotel bar checking up on email, and then the walk back to the bungalow meant a "traditional" detour to the Saints Club where we would shut the bar down drinking as many shipwrecks as we had dollars in our pockets, or until the gates over the bar closed down. 

On day 7, the day of the full moon incidentally,  I Ianded our first blue of the trip - a modest 300lb fish.  They are certainly one spectacular looking fish!  After that first marlin, we went 10 for 10 in eight days of fishing!  The next fish was Phil's 800lb blue, and after seeing that fish tear the water up, my trip was made - I didn't care if I caught another marlin - I had seen and experienced what I thought I needed to see.  The battle was spectacular and Phil played the fish expertly.

 

Phil's 800 pounds fish that did it all

While Phil would sleep away the day on "his" lounger on the Harmattan, Andy and I would watch the lures for hours on end, talking about the fishing, and life in general.   Andy rarely closes his eyes while on the boat, preferring to savor every detail.  He enjoys keeping watch over the lures, waiting for the bite so that when it does happen, he can enjoy the entire process of watching the fish move in, chase the lures and eventually crash one. True to fishing fate we hooked at least one blue every day after our first blue marlin encounter.  On the final day, I was on rods - Phil and Andy had their fish on the previous days, so the next fish was mine.  It was 12:25, I was talking to Andy with my back to the lures when Andy shouts "FISH"!  I spun around to see just yards behind the boat and in the wash, a large dark object and part of a dorsal fin, inspecting the lures.  The next moments were a blur but I distinctly remember the fish making two large sweeping "S" turns before it hammered the Blue Breakfast lure on the short right line - the sharp snap of the outrigger meant fish on and the reel began to scream.  It takes some effort to get to the rod in the rocking boat, grab the 130lb class rod and reel out of the rod holder and work your way to the chair, all the while hearing the line disappear off the reel.  By this time, the blue was airborne, turning the cobalt Ascension Island water into a foaming white sea.  I will never forget the incredible speed and power of these fish, nor the distance these fish cover on the surface in mere seconds.  While impressive in pictures or on the television, it is completely out of this world in real life.  Once in the chair you lock up the drag and the excitement and adrenaline continues.  Halfway through the one hour battle, we were into full drag of 65lbs.  Between the boat captain and my best efforts on the reel, we were able to close the distance and allow wireman Colin to leader the fish - this means it is technically landed in the marlin world.  Colin had the fish three times to the side of the boat, but we're talking about a human being valiantly hanging on for dear life to an apex predator and a wild mare of the sea.  Eventually the leader broke, sending the Blue Breakfast lure to the bottom.  Olaf the captain, who sits high up on the tower estimated the fish to be between 1100 and 1200lbs.  Not a bad showing for a Canadian!  Believe it or not, Phil had a 650lb blue to round off the trip 2 hours later!

Here is a moment in time of the biggest blue marlin of the trip (1100 + pounds), all "lit up", doing what they do - what you don't see is the foam and spray nearly 75 metres behind it.

We all enjoyed 14 days in a row in each other's company, telling stories, playing pranks and sometimes just quietly sitting there, staring out at the compelling emptiness of the far distant horizon of the Atlantic Ocean.  Colin, a South African native residing in Britain, is part man, part fish, and the deckhand.  Colin's humorous good nature kept us plenty entertained with incredible stories of diving and spear fishing among sharks and even blue marlin.  Colin is a top, if not "the" top diver in Britain and it showed as he would effortlessly free dive down 35 feet of water to collect some "bugs" or crayfish for dinner!  Olaf is from Germany and travels around the central Atlantic like a gun for hire, following the giant blue marlin.  Where blue marlin fishing is the hottest, you will find Olaf skippering a marlin boat.  Olaf is a big barrel chested man that you would not want to mess with - his straightforwardness and his unique way with words had me giggling the whole time - watching him work the gear at the back when we were rigging up for swordfish had my attention - you could see the intention and desire.  Known as the "human cleat" for his feats of strength during his days as a deckhand, Olaf now expertly skippers the 36' twin diesel Rampage express - he knows every tic of the boat and his knowledge and fastidious nature regarding maintaining the boat is impressive.  Interestingly enough, despite the ruggedness of this man, he has a unique talent - the most incredible ability to whistle and warble a variety of "golden oldies".  Good times, and tunes, on the tuna tower!

Thank you Andy and Phil, and my new friends Olaf and Colin!  I sure hope we can do that again, somewhere, someday.

 

Andy and I with our double header of wahoo.  Both of these fish were eaten and enjoyed by many, including ourselves.  Andy got his spin casting!!  These fish are aptly named may I add!

Current Conditions

Typical spring weather rolls in and out of the valley of late. Last week was cool weather with the snowline only a few hundred feet above the valley floor. The latter part of the week ended in sunny weather and balmy temperatures.  We're currently back to some overcast weather and showers in the next few days.  The Fraser has colored up (it browned out mid March) and warmed slightly, however you can still feels its icy edge when you reach over to release a fish.  With some warming weather trends extending to the central regions of the province, we'll start seeing the Fraser rise moderately.
 
Snow pillow data for the Fraser watershed show an average snowpack with the mainstem Fraser
normal.  Assuming we see normal weather patterns throughout the province in May and June, our freshet should be just average - perfect.
 
Sturgeon
 
The sturgeon fishing season is just beginning and the fish seem to be somewhat responsive.  While the takes are slow, they are definitely interested in feeding - the slow takes will change once the river warms up a bit more and the eulachon migration peaks in the last week of April. Eulachons are an important early season food item for sturgeon.  Eulachons are rich in nutrition and they are in abundance.  A few fish will still be taken on eels and roe, but as we move further into April and May, eulachons will be the number one bait.
 
With current low river flows, many fish are still stacked up at or near the deeper winter locations.  With some warming weather, the river will bump up and these fish will start to disperse.  It is then that we can get into hunting mode - you will find these fish in strange and obscure places, offerring an opportunity that is challenging and rewarding, not to mention away from the crowd. 
 
Most of the anglers will be fishing below the Mission bridge in the tidal waters as it is assumed by many that the sturgeon will swim down to meet the incoming eulachon run.  I "like" this thinking.
 
 

Pictured above is Mark (L) Marc (R) with a 160lb 6'5" sturgeon landed last week. Mark is a military veteran who comes out with family and friends every year at this time. I love this guy's enthusiasm while fishing for either steelhead or sturgeon. Finally, I think I may have met someone who just might walk my legs off in search of fish on the river

 
After the 160lb fish, Mark landed a 180lb 85 inch fish, which was followed by this fish some time later - 8'6" and 350 pounds!  All the fish appeared to be in great condition after another cool winter.  That's great to see!
 
Salmon
 
There are early chinooks moving through the system at this time of year - some are heading up the Lillooet river, while others are moving further up the Fraser.  It is too early to say what chinook opportunities we'll have this year, so we will have to wait and avoid speculation.
 
Of note is that this year is our peak pink salmon run - I have heard some numbers regarding the pink salmon and they are incredulous.  A normal run would be 15 million fish, but I have heard numbers that exceed that by a wide margin!  As we move closer to August, we will probably have some more accurate real time numbers to report.  In any event, we can probably expect the pinks to show up in their usual numbers and provide consistent fishing opportunities throughout the lower Fraser to gear and fly anglers of all ages and expertise.
 
Trout and Steelhead
 
Steelhead fishing in March and particularly April is some of the best steelheading to be found locally.  Warmer temperatures, longer daylight hours and incredibly, less anglers, offer excellent opportunities to catch steelhead on traditional float fishing gear or on the fly.  With warming water temperatures, steelhead are more apt to move to the fly than in the colder winter months when you literally have to bang them on the nose.  Plenty of new fish move in the latter part of the steelhead season - they are fresh and eager.
 
 
 
 
Here's Joe with his first landed Steelhead
That's all for now!

We wish you all the best in your fishing adventures!!