02 Apr Vancouver fishing report for April 2017
Well we’re finally coming out of the winter months, that was a heck of a winter we had in British Columbia, lots of snow and cold that extended well into March. Surprising the cold weather hasn’t put a damper on the fishing. It has limited our access a bit for our Vancouver fly fishing trips and has made for some bone cold days out salmon fishing. But, that’s all behind us now and we’re looking forward to a good Spring fishery, both on our freshwater and saltwater trips.
VANCOUVER FLY FISHING REPORT FOR APRIL
We we super busy in March, thanks to all the awesome folks that came and fished with us and put up with the cold and snow! The fishing certainly was’t crazy in March, we put our time in and worked for everything. There was heavy snow in the Squamish Valley, which limited where and what we could do, the road into some of the areas we fish was snowed in. Everything is open now, we have full access to all our rivers for April fly fishing trips which is great. The rivers that we’re fly fishing for trout and steelhead have been in absolutely incredible shape, we haven’t lost any days due to high water, even with the low laying snow starting to melt.
We’ve been doing some drifts on a few remote sections of river, the fishing has been good for bull trout, some beautiful wild rainbows and we’re starting to see a bit more consistency in steelhead. Looks like we’re going to have a really good April in terms of river conditions for our Vancouver fly fishing trips!
Availability is getting a bit slim as I write this report on April 1st, we’re about 60% booked for April already, so not a bad idea if you’re looking for a trip to drop us a line now, toll free is 1-877-902-3393 or email Greg at the office vancouverfishingtrips@gmail.com and we can find you a guided fly fishing day out of Vancouver.
VANCOUVER SALMON FISHING REPORT
Things have been steady on the Vancouver salmon fishing front as well. The early season chinook (king) salmon fishing has been solid since early March, especially with the amount of bait that has been in local waters. As we move into April and May we suggest our full-day Vancouver salmon charters, that gives our guides the ability to run a little further and often get to some more consistent fishing areas.
Most of the recent salmon charters have been taking up in Howe Sound, which has produced well. As we move into April, we’ll be exploring the southern Gulf Islands and Thrasher Rock. These are typically the most productive areas for April salmon fishing near Vancouver. We’ve had a variety of wildlife viewings throughout March as well, pods of killer whales and a humpback whale have greeted some of our guests out on the water, pretty cool how wild it is out there, so close to Vancouver!
You can have a look at our Vancouver salmon fishing trip page here. There is good availability through April and May, both great months to get out on the water and enjoy some local salmon fishing.
FRASER RIVER STURGEON FISHING REPORT
Nice to be moving into April for our sturgeon fishing trips as the Fraser River around Chilliwack and Hope has been a major cold zone all winter with very limited fishing. Now that the our sturgeon fishing spots are thawing out we’ve seen some pretty solid fishing (by early season standards) over the past two weeks. Average of 2-6 fish per trip, most in the 3-5 foot range with the occasional bigger sturgeon in the mix. This will only improve as we move into April and the bigger fish start moving and feeding a bit more consistently.
With the below average temperatures river conditions are still cool and this keeps fish from moving around to much. The sturgeon fishing trips that have been successful so far have found pods of fish schooled up together. Fun thing about this time of year is that once you find ’em then they’re pretty active on the feed and extremely hard fighting.
You can have a look at our Vancouver sturgeon fishing trip page here for more info on what we offer. Right now there’s no Canyon trips, just our day trips from the Chilliwack location.. There is open availability through April, so email us or call Greg at the office toll-free 1-877-902-3393 to book a day of sturgeon fishing.
WHISTLER FISHING REPORT FOR APRIL
It’s almost like the skiing has been too good that lots of people have forgot all the fishing in Whistler that’s happening right now. That’s okay, it’s great to see the amount of snow that Whistler has received this year, it just keeps coming, having made for an incredible season on the slopes. Our Whistler guide team has been busy with a few trips that have seen some really good fishing for rainbow trout and bull trout on some smaller rivers near Whistler.
As we move into April we hope that the skiing in Whistler keeps up, that snow pack is great for local rivers and lakes during the summer months, keeps them cool! For April fishing in Whistler you can count on most of our trips heading down to the Squamish River system, fishing for steelhead and trout. It really is a great time of year for a Whistler fishing trip, so if you’re planning some Spring skiing, maybe consider a day with our Whistler guides on a the river, mix it up a bit!
If you’re planning a later trip to Whistler, in May or June then you can expect our focus to be on local lakes, fishing for rainbow and cutthroat trout. Lakes are still fully frozen, but with some warm weather and longer days that should come off within the next few weeks, making way for our spring lake fishing program. Check out some more info on our Whistler fly fishing trips.
All for now, thanks for having a look at our spring Vancouver fishing report. Keep in touch, you can follow all our social media stuff a the links below, or sign up for our newsletter.
Tight Lines,
The Guide Team at Chromer Sport Fishing