Fraser River Visverslagen

**Fishing Report – Knuckle Busters & Winter Chinook** After a long stretch of freezing weather, it felt great to finally get back out on the water for some winter Chinook action. The forecast wasn’t looking too promising—calling for wind and rain—but we showed up anyway and were rewarded with a calm, glassy start to the day. With the conditions in our favour, we made the call to cross the Strait and hit one of our favourite spots, hoping to find some bait balls. With herring getting ready to school up for the spawn, we knew the salmon wouldn’t be far behind. The plan worked. Within minutes of dropping our gear, we were into our first fish. My new friends from Manitoba were buzzing when they saw it come up—looked like a solid one! A quick look and I knew it was just a bit too small, so we let it off the line. Now they were hooked (figuratively, of course). High fives all around, and it was time to find the big ones. It didn’t take long before Peter, the youngest in the group, saw a rod bounce and was on his feet like a pro. He reeled down, popped the clip, and set the hook solidly. “Fish On!” Then, like a true team player, he handed the rod to his buddy Adam—who was about to learn why we call mooching reels "knuckle busters." Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! The reel screamed. I told Adam to let it run, and just as he started to reel it in—WHACK! The reel handle smacked his knuckles hard, a not-so-subtle reminder of who was really in charge. After a quick lesson on how to palm the arbour, Adam started to get the upper hand, fighting the fish like a natural. If you don’t think three minutes is a long time, ask a boxer. When that fish finally hit the net, the look on his face was priceless—pure joy. A beautiful 21lb Chinook, and trust me, that's a great fish. It takes a mountain of a man like Adam to make that fish look medium-sized. The rest of the morning kept us busy with more Chinook landed and one particularly angry fish lost after a strong fight. All in all, an incredible day on the water—good company, plenty of action, and some well-earned sore knuckles. The winter season is quickly coming to an end so there's no better time to book your adventure. Chinook retention will most likely close March 31st so take advantage of this spring fishery and herring spawn while it lasts. See you on the water. Gear Used: -Chartreuse Flasher with G-Force No Bananas Spoon - White Hoochie with Black Onion Flasher - No Bananas Skinny G Spoon with No Bananas Flasher - Tomic Plugs - Westcoast Tackle Plugs Looking forward to the next round—bring on the big ones! ??

Terrific Winter Fishing and 2025 Outlook! So far, the winter salmon fishing and weather in the Vancouver area has been terrific this season with abundant chinook salmon, clear skies and calm waters! Catches of spot prawns and dungeness crabs, a winter bonus, have also been strong. The 2025 fishing outlook from the Department of Fisheries has also just been released and we are again expecting spectacular chinook and coho salmon returns to this area as the year progresses. As if that weren’t enough, 2025 is also a peak return year for Pink Salmon, which means millions of these scrappy fish will be keeping us busy as well. In short, it’s a terrific time to book your fishing trip in the Vancouver area in 2025! Let’s go fishing!

With the fantastic weather we have been having, we decided to kick off our season a bit early and that decision couldn't have been any better. Winter Chinook salmon tend to be aggressive feeders, building up energy reserves for their future migrations. This means big fights and great table fare. As soon as we found them, our reels were hard at work with regular action and a couple of double headers. Spoons and flashers were the winning ticket with fish also taking some plugs which we fished at the end of the day. All bites were deep, below 200ft and we had no problem filling out limits for Chinook. We finished our day pulling traps, getting a few crabs and prawns to sweeten the deal. Top producers were skinny G and G-Force spoons in a no banana's pattern. If you javn't tried fiahing for winter Springs, now is the time so book now! See you all on the water.

On January 15th Jer came out with me for a gorgeous sunny day to tag some nice sturgeon and celebrate the day of uninterrupted fishing by barbecuing some great Fraser Valley Farmer Sausage and buns with the onboard BBQ. The sturgeon bite was quite steady even though the water temperature had dropped. Ahead of us, February will be the coldest month and then the warmer weather of March will start bringing the water temperature up and the sturgeon will come out of their semi-hibernation slumber with big appetites. March and April are some of the best fishing months as the sturgeon break their winter fast and start looking to feed on the bait fish entering the Fraser River to spawn. That will bring on the best sturgeon fishing of the year when the bait run peaks in April and early May. So, log on, book a trip and hope to hear from you soon. Tight lines!

We have been enjoying some of the best chinook fishing we have ever seen this past month. We are expecting more of the same for several more weeks. Book now for the best salmon fishing of the year.

What better way to bring in the 2025 Years Celebration than spending a beautiful day on the river, barbecuing Mennonite Farmer Sausage and pulling in sturgeon for tagging and scientific measurement. Pete an George joined me on the river and they brought in 8 fish on the day. To keep their strength up, they brought some Mennonite Farmer Sausage, BBQ sauce and buns so I tossed the boat BBQ on board so we didn't have to take a break for going for lunch. Everyone's energy and sprits were high and the day was a bright start to the 2025 season.