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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!
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!!
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