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I would have posted this blog post last night but I feel asleep at around 8pm because I had been up for 36 hours! We left Nanaimo, BC on the Saturday 1pm ferry and we arrived in Kitimat Sunday at 9am after driving right through the night.  My Toyota Tacoma made it all the way flawlessly after 1400km’s of straight, pulling my boat.

Check out the picture of the world’s largest Fly Rod in Houston, BC:

After we drove into Kitimat we headed to the river and put the boat in the water.

There is a ton of mosquito’s by the river, we were getting eaten alive!

The Kitimat river is a pretty big river, larger than any river on Vancouver island. It’s wide, with very little vertical drop or technical sections to row.  However there is a lot of sweepers and log jams.

The fishing was pretty slow as the water was low and clear, but we did manage to get a couple of fish on plugs.

More to come!

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Everybody loves a road trip, especially me and especially if it means I get to fish! Next week starting Sunday, myself and my father in-law will be heading off Vancouver Island on a Rambling Road Trip with my drift boat in tow, up to the mighty Kitimat river.  The Chinook migratory patterns in the Skeena area are much diffferent than the rivers on the island, the Chinook enter in May thru July in the Kitimat river and the island rivers get the Chinook in mid August.  It will feel kind of weird fishing for Chinook in the Kitimat river in June but according to the Kitimat locals the best time to fish for Springs is mid to late June which is amazing because that is the only time off that I have till September. It must be a sign!

For those of you that want to follow along, I will be posting daily pics and reports of our trip on Facebook and here on my blog. I am going to try to keep my social media really current with some really great details on my experience from the road trip to the fishing details.

I’ve determined that pulling plugs during our time on the Kitimat river will give us the best results, plugs like Lure Jensen Hot Shots and Kwick Fish work the best according to local anglers. For flies I’m bringing some big bright streamers in orange, silver, red and purple. I’m also packing a whole pile of sink tips with 25lb test tippet.

D.F.O. Fishing regulations for the Kitimat river:

Downstream of Hwy 37 bridge: April 1st – July 31st: Chinook 4 per day only 1 over 65cms. April 1st - October 31st: Coho 4 per day only 2 over 50cms. (Before fishing, please read the regulations for yourself at the DFO website).

Heading out on Sunday and we should be on the Kitimat river Monday morning after driving all night!

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350,000 Sockeye are predicted to show up this summer in the Stamp river, expect more as almost every year they predict low.  You can currently keep 2 sockeye per day in parts of the Somass river and 2 Sockeye per day in parts of the Port Alberni inlet (make sure to read the regs for yourself!).

The Sockeye are starting to show up in larger numbers daily on each high tide. Fishing for them has been tricky as most of the Sockeye have been intercepted by ‘in-river commercial fishing”. Ocean fishing for the Sockeye in the Port Alberni Inlet hasn’t really got into full swing yet as the fish haven’t really schooled up in large numbers.  This will change shortly and I think by the 15th or the 20th there should be some good fishing in the inlet for Sockeye.  The river fishing will be great starting this weekend, as we have seen an increasing number of fish going by our boat on the high tides.

Great places to fish for Sockeye in the inlet is just east of Nahmint bay on the north shore and Diplock, just look for the boats!

Here’s a great blog post on what to use in the ocean for Sockeye: http://www.ramblingfisherman.com/2010/05/port-alberni-sockeye-opened-june-1st-how-to-set-up-your-gear-2/

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June Has Great Weather and Great Fishing! – Also book early for fall and winter fishing… It’s looking very busy.

12 months of the year you can enjoy great fishing on Vancouver Island, and June is no exception! This month I will be taking my guests fishing on the Cowichan river for dry fly and wet fly fishing for trout, which has been good even though the last few weeks have been very wet. Check out my new blog post with a great Brown Trout Video – Click Here. The weather for the next 10 days look likes the sun is going to come back out. Combine warm sunny weather with lots of water in the river and you have a recipe for some great hatches and great trout fishing on the Cowichan river. Starting June 15th, the Sockeye will be opening for retention on the Stamp river and I will be there with my power drifter guiding my guests to their limit of Sockeye in the river. Sockeye fishing is a lot of fun as they average around 5-7lbs which are a perfect size sports fish on light tackle or fly gear. I have all the gear and tackle, and this is a great fishery to take your kids out to experience river fishing as any skill level angler can have good success. Also, I will be fishing the Upper Stamp river for Summer Steelhead and Trout in June/July/Aug. There are a few Summer run Steelhead entering the Upper river right now as well as a lot of Cutties and rainbows feeding on the salmon fry. North of Campbell river and West of Port Alberni there are some secret streams that I will also be taking some guests to, for some early run Summer Steelhead as well as Sea-run Cutties. June is such a great month to fish Vancouver Island rivers!

Below are some deals that I am offering, also start thinking about fall and winter river fishing with me because last year my available guide days were booked all fall and winter. I am reducing my total working days per month during the September thru April season from working every single day to having a reasonable amount of time off. This is going to put a lot of pressure on my available guide days during the 2013/2014 season for my clients. Many of my repeat clients have already secured their dates and I strongly suggest that you look at the available deals below and book early. All I need to secure your dates is your credit card # or $50/day deposit. Thanks!

Special Deals for June:

Option 1 = June 1st thru 30th: $750/2 days/2 anglers/jet boat,drift boat. Day 1 – Upper Stamp river fishing for trout, Day 2 – Upper Cowichan river fishing for trout.
Option 2 = June 15th thru July 15th: $700/2 days/2 anglers/jet boat. Day 1 – Lower Stamp river for Sockeye fishing, Day 2 – Upper Stamp river for trout/summer steelhead.
Option 3 = June 15th thru July 15th: $450/1 day/2 anglers/walk and wade for trout and Summer Steelhead on remote rivers north of Campbell River or West of Port Alberni – $450/day/2 anglers.

Excellent riverside accommodation can be provided for $150/night/2 anglers – http://www.cowichanriversidecottage.ca/  or http://www.cedarwood.bc.ca/

I also do single day charters in June/July for salmon or trout as well! Call me or email me for more information: 1-250-218-1087 – Ian

Coho Fishing – September and October Stamp River Coho Fishing, Book now!

$850/2 days of guide fishing/2anglers/jet boat,drift boat – Coho fishing on the Stamp river is exciting and the retention is 2 per day per person. 30,000 Coho made their way up the Stamp river last year and the same is expected this year, making for a great fishery. These dates are booking very quickly, last year my available guide days were 100% booked. International guests have booked large blocks of days already, I have some days available in September and October. I am only taking 2 or more day bookings at this time for fall salmon, I will take single day bookings after July 1st, 2013. Click Here for more info.

Fall Steelhead – Mid October thru Dec. 31st – The very best fall Steelheading on the Stamp River, Book early.

Special – $825/2 days of guided fishing/2 anglers/jet boat,drift boat – The VERY best fall steelheading of the year is during the Coho Spawn in mid October thru December 31st. There were days where we landed 15+ Steelhead in a day during this time period. Please book your days early for this amazing Steelhead fishery as I was booked solid last year. I am only taking 2 or more day bookings for fall steelhead fishing at this time, the days do not need to be consecutive. I will take single day bookings after July 1st, 2013. Click here for more info.

Wild Winter Steelhead – January 2014 thru March 31st 2014 – Cowichan river Steelheading, Book early.

Special – $800 for 2 days of guided fishing/2 anglers/drift boat - This is a very popular fishery and last year, I didn’t have a day off during the Cowichan Steelhead run. This year was a Huge fish year, we caught a couple over 20lbs and multiple 15lb’rs. It’s hard to think that far in advance, but January thru March is a great time to fish for Steelhead and I had no days off from mid January thru March! I’m taking 2 or more day bookings for winter steelhead fishing at this time, the days do not need to be consecutive. I will take single day bookings after July 1st, 2013. Click Here for more info.

Gold/Salmon River Winter Steelheading – January 2014 thru March 31st. Book early.

$900/2 days for 2 days of guided fishing/2 anglers/drift boat - If you like big wild Steelhead and a remote uncrowded world famous river, then you need to fish the Gold and Salmon rivers. Last year we floated these river multiple times and had some fantastic days. I will take single day bookings after July 1st, 2013. Click here for more info.

Cowichan River Fly Fishing – November 2013 thru June 30th.

$800/2 days of guided fly fishing/2 anglers/drift boat - Coho catch and release on the fly in November and During the Coho Spawn; November thru February, the trout fishing is INSANE, plus there are huge Steelhead in the Upper river in February thru April. January and February book a couple days of trout fishing on the Upper Cowichan and you will experience the best trout fishing ever on the wet fly. Starting April 15th thru June 30th the dry fly fishing on the Cowichan river gets into full gear with the massive mayfly and stonefly hatches. This fishery is becoming popular with my guests as most weekends are booked weeks in advance. I will take single day bookings after July 1st, 2013. Click here for more info.

Tight lines,
Ian Barker

1-250-218-1087
RamblingFisherman@gmail.com
www.RamblingFisherman.com
www.facebook.com/ramblingfisherman

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The last few days of flyfishing on the Cowichan river have been wet wet wet! The rain has been incessant most of the days. Thankfully, the fishing has been getting better after the very hot weather we had in early May, which slowed the fishing considerably. The weather for the next few weeks looks like there’s going to be some sunny weather which will bring on the hatch and will make for excellent dry fly fishing.

There is a tremendous amount of salmon fry in the river right now. The trout have been gorging themselves on them, so the patterns of choice are brown muddlers.

I have guide days available in May and June for trout fishing on the Cowichan river or sockeye fishing on the Stamp river. For more information please call 1-250-218-1087 – Ian

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Retention for the stamp river sockeye opens June 15, 2013 In the tidal portion of the Somass River, expected returns of sockeye are 350,000 although DFO sockeye forecasts are always very low estimates.

River water levels are high and if they remain so during the opening of the sockeye fishery the fish will be entering the river in large numbers in mid to late June this would be the best time to fish the river for sockeye. However, snowpacks are not as large as they have been over the last few years and this may keep the fish from flooding the river, giving us a longer fishery.

I am currently taking bookings for sockeye guided river boat trips starting June 15, 2013 through mid July 2013. Prices are $350/day for up to two anglers. For more information call 250-218-1087. All gear and tackle included.

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The Cowichan river Brown Trout have been pretty quiet during that very unusually hot weather we had in early May.  They seemed to have retreated into their little hiding holes and stayed there till the water level came up a little.  We were still getting into them, and thankfully there was lots of rainbows and cutties to keep us busy.  The water has come up the last few days and this is excellent for Brown trout fishing, the fish seem to move further out of their hiding spots making it easier for us to target them without losing tons of flies!  The last few days out my guests have landed some impressive fish including this 21 inch Brown that my guest from LA landed in the pouring rain.

The Dry Fly fishing on the Cowichan river suffered a little during the heavy rains but with sun in the forecast for the next few weeks the hatch is going to be back into full swing!  The bugs that have been hatching are Mayflies, PMD’s and lots of ants.  There’s also, a ton of fry in the river right now and the trout are feeding on them pretty heavily, so make sure you have lots of minnow patterns.

I  have guide day’s available in May and June for fly fishing either the Cowichan or the Stamp river, for more information you can call me at 250-218-1087 or email me at ramblingfisherman@gmail.com or click here.

Also, starting June 15th the Sockeye fishing in the Stamp river opens for a retention of 2/day.  This is a great fishery for fly fishing or gear fishing in the river, the Sockeye not only taste great but they fight hard too! I’m taking booking for this fishery now.

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Sunglasses are one of the most important pieces of my personal safety gear. You’ve probably noticed that in my fishing pictures I am always wearing sunglasses regardless of the time of year or the weather.  The reason is simply because I really like my eye balls just the way they are! Hooks seem to be flying all around me most of the day, and there has been a few times where the hook has bounced off the lenses of my sunglasses.   The second reason I wear sunglasses is to block out the harmful UV rays and to eliminate the glare off the water. Eliminating the glare off the water is what makes it possible to see the Steelhead and trout in the river.

I’ve owned my original pair of Maui Jim Canoes with HCL Bronze lens for 4 years now and worn them daily during every season of the year. I’ve most likely worn them for a total of 1200 days or more. I recently sent them back to the manufacturer to repair the scratched lenses and they were returned fixed within 7 days!

My Maui Jim’s are high quality, well constructed and cut the surface glare off the water like no pair of sunglasses I’ve ever owned. Spotting fish has never been easier. Plus, they fit perfectly and feel very light on the bridge of my nose.  This review is not paid for or sponsored by Maui Jim, this is an honest review of good quality gear.

I’ve acquired 4 new styles this season:

World Cup frames in matt black with Neutral Grey lens

Seawall frames in matt tortoise with HCL Bronze lens

Dorado frames in matt tortoise with HCL Bronze lens

Peahi frames in matt black with HCL Bronze lens

Maui Jim offers two kinds of lens, HCL Bronze and Neutral Grey.  HCL Bronze is my favourite lens as its great for variable light conditions such as the low light of winter and the bright light in the summer.  HCL Bronze also seems to brighten all the colours and makes fish really stand out beneath the water. HCL Bronze cuts out 100% of harmful UV rays and 99.9% of the glare off the water. Neutral grey lens offers the same uv protection and reduction of glare but its mainly to be used on bright sunny days.  Today was 33 degrees celsius on the Stamp river and the sun was very intense so I choose to wear my Maui Jims with the neutral grey and they worked great.

Many fishing stores carry Maui Jim sunglasses, I highly recommend them for all anglers.

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A little hatchery Steelhead taken on the Dry Fly.

I haven’t been fishing the Stamp river in the new year because it was suffering from chronic low water since January 1st. Luckily for me the Cowichan, Gold and Salmon rivers were all fishing well, with lots of big Steelhead and trout for my guests to catch and release, which kept me more than busy rowing my drift boats. However, I have been waiting patiently for the May 1st trout opener on the upper Stamp river because the Stamp river has all the BIG cutties and rainbows. The Stamp river doesn’t have the quantity of trout that the Cowichan has, but what the Stamp lacks in numbers, it makes up for in the average size of its trout.

Dry fly fishing the Stamp river is uncommon. When most local Islanders think dry fly trout fishing, two major rivers come to mind: the Cowichan and the Elk rivers. The Stamp river isn’t on the list of great trout dry fly rivers, not because the dry fly fishing isn’t good but because people just don’t know about it.  The Stamp river has the largest cutties I have seen in any river on the island; in the fall we caught many around 5 lbs and some even larger. The rainbows can get up to 22 inches with regularity, in fact, it takes an experienced eye to judge the difference between a large resident rainbow and a small summer steelhead at times.

May 1st is the trout opener on the Stamp river, when we can legally fish the section of river where the trout live, so one of my fishing partners, Gordon Macdonald, and I were on the river at day break that morning to skate some flies. We had low expectations, as the temperature wasn’t expected to be warm enough for a big hatch. The morning was pretty cool, with temperatures just above zero degrees celsius, and we had to use wet flies for the first couple hours, resultingd in two nice cutties down deep in some pools. We lost a few as well, swinging minnow patterns and egg patterns. At around 11 am the hatch started with PMD’s first, then Mayflies. It was a moderate hatch, but it was enough to see the odd fish popping and sipping here and there.

Gordon and I decided to move from fishing deep pools to dry flying some faster water, which I have found to give better results on the dry fly than slower water. We dead drifted some PMD’s on the surface for a while with no results at all, so we gradually increased the size of our flies until we were chucking huge stimulators with long legs and that is what brought on the bite. We ended up losing a dozen fish and landing an equal amount to the boat; nothing huge but some very nice rainbows, cutties and a little steelhead. By 2 pm we were done; our arms were tired and our appetite for catching trout was full. The weather was perfect and we were the only anglers on the river. A great day to fly fish for trout.

Below are a bunch of photos of some of the fish we caught plus a video of one of the rainbows that Gord caught.

If you would like to get more information about a guided power drifter charter on the Stamp river for trout please call me at 250-218-1087 or email me at rambingfisherman@gmail.com or click here.

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If you haven’t got an official pleasure craft operator card and you plan on driving your boat on the lake or ocean this summer then go to www.BOATERexam.com/canada today to get your license.

A pleasure craft operators license is mandatory for all pleasure craft operators in Canada!

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