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Fly Fishing for Spring-Run Steelhead
The early signs of spring’s arrival on the North Coast of British Columbia start in March, when the days noticeably lengthen and the sun regains some of it’s warmth that helps peel away the coat of snow that blankets the valley floors. The rivers open up as the ice breaks up. The steelhead migrate from their winter feeding grounds further off shore to the mouth of the Skeena system. Here, they sense the outflow of the river and, when the time and conditions are right, start their migration up the river for their spring spawning in May.
Most rivers at this time of year will be low and clear and the fish that enter the river are fresh and bright silver. These two factors mostly dictate our fishing methods. The steelhead have a small window of opportunity for successful spawning. If they enter the river too early there will be danger from heavy ice flows and lack of water, if they enter the river too late they will be affected by heavy freshets. So timing is everything for a lower drainage, spring-run steelhead. Because of the limited availability of spawning grounds on the lower drainage compared to the upper drainage, the spring run of steelhead is relatively small. When we add up the fast migration, short window of opportunity and small runs then it becomes clear that spring steelhead fishing is not as productive or reliable as the fall fishery. For local fishermen this is not so much of a problem since they are fortunate to be able to try their luck at different times during this period. For the visiting angler it becomes a bit more a game of chance. However, when the timing is right the rewards can be very nice.
Let’s review spring steelhead tactics and techniques. Steelhead entering our rivers in the spring are on the move most of the time; no time to waste! This means we will find them predominantly in what I call “moving water” or “traveling water” and “temporary lies”. The fish will travel just inside of the fast main channel and hold temporarily in shallow tail-outs and at the heads of pools. The typical tank-like slow pools, that fish good in the fall, will not be very productive. This means that our fly rigging should be tuned to fish shallow lies. Usually a shooting head of a scandi type and light 15′ sinking tips are the norm. We want to keep the flies moving relatively fast to entice aggressive fish. Often I will use air-borne casts in the spring, since they suit this type of presentation well; snake-rolls or single speys. The spring steelhead fishing lends itself well for “swinging” flies, and you can sometimes see fish chase the fly over long distances. When the lies are very shallow a dry fly that is fished in the same way will also produce fish.
During the staging period in the late winter and early spring, just prior to entering the river, the steelhead will feed heavily in the ocean. Their diet is quite varied: squid, shrimp and small fish are the main staples, with gonatid squid being the dominant food source. For this reason squid, prawn and shrimp patterns tend to be successful for spring run steelhead. Many coastal and lower Skeena drainage tributaries will have a slight brownish, peat colour to the water during the spring. The best fly colour for these conditions is orange. Black is a good second, and for clearer rivers, especially with slight glacial sedimentation, pink is a good colour.
Some of the more successful patterns from our production flies are: Pink Rhea Stinger, Black Tube Leech, Pink Tube Leech, Formula 1, Pattegrisen, FnS “Skeena” on aluminum tube, Derek’s Black and Blue, Derek’s Pink Fly, Winter Squid, Blue Runner, Orange and Pink Runner, Pink Pusher, Orange Pusher, Black and Blue Fox Tube, Greasy Fox Green, Greasy Fox Blue, Black and Blue Magnum Opossum.
Pattegrisen (Skeena River Lodge variant)
Pink Rhea Stingers
Hobo Speys on tubes
Winter Squid
Spring time in Northern British Columbia is a beautiful time of year. The rich smell of the snow melt in the coastal rain forest, the crisp blue skies, the sounds of early arriving summer birds like Robins, Canada Geese, Trumpeter Swans and Sandhill Cranes. The fiddle heads are starting to pop up and the mating calls of Barred Owls can be heard on most rivers. It is a time of year that makes you feel alive and in deep respect of nature’s ever lasting cycles of regeneration. And, if we are lucky, the experience will be topped off with a brilliant flash of leaping silver at the end of our line.
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