The river salmon fishing season is winding down. But trout and Steelhead fishing is just starting. There are still opportunities for Coho in local rivers for now, but this will dry up soon. The trout are feeding on old salmon eggs right now, so washed out colours of soft beads like BnR North West Steelheader in 12mm will work. And the the winter Steelhead are just starting to make their way into Vancouver Island rivers, so get ready for steel season!

Spinners like Vibrax Blue Fox in Chartres with black flake and very small worms like Luhr-Jensen Mini Probes in milky white have also been hot for trout locally.

Another interesting recent local catch was a nice plump Dolly Varden out of Cowichan Lake. A customer showed me a picture of it last weekend, and it was clearly a Char of some type. It was a very beautiful fish. If anyone has tips for Dolly fishing feel free to email me as I'm not up to speed on them.

In the ocean it's been a bit slow for winter Springs around Nanaimo. There are fish, but it's not been as productive as we have been accustomed to. However, the fishermen that are out trying are generally getting at least one keeper. Pink Sink has been the top lure, paired with chartreuse squiggle flasher.

French Creek  up to Comox has had much better salmon reports for the week. They seem to have a good amount of nice feeder Chinook in their area. Best lures have been T-Rex Hoochie and Glow Cop Car Flashers.

We also finally have the very popular West Coast Fishing Tackle Electro Mirror flashers. These sold out in the summer and were the top flashers series of the year. If you want them, get them while you can.

steve@harbourchandler.ca

Tips up!