By Don Daniels
Growing up on the prairies, when I heard the term old country, it was people talking about Ukraine or Russia.
The month of August is probably the best and busiest time of the year for fishing around Campbell River. Each week I get a chance to walk to the various docks and check up on catch reports and this year has been good for local guides.
A group of anglers were packing up their gear and the car was loading at the storage area for stored salmon and the guests were heading home. Home would be Saskatchewan and the husband and wife were packing up their salmon and the cooler was placed in the back seat. The wife was giving hubby an earfull because of the smell of salmon and they closed the doors and the conversation cooled and the salmon was headed home.
Fishing guides and dock hands also suggest getting the salmon smoked or canned. This year the salmon fishing started to get busy July 15 and will continue well into the month of September.
The local rivers are full of pink salmon and everyone has a chance to catch a small salmon and this year the size seems to be a bit bigger than in previous years. I fished with Ed Cargill and he limited out on a pink bead head fly and from the four caught, three were males. We met a couple of city guys from Vancouver and they inquired about local fishing and they were set up to hit the rivers the next morning.
Before school starts, this time of year, many families will get out and throw out lures, and yes, lose a bunch and head back to the local tackle shops and reload.
We need some rain and when the temperatures start cooling off, the local trout fishing lakes will improve and can be good until the end of October. The hot days are tough to fish when water temperatures are high and fish are deeper. Water temperature is a key to finding fish and early morning or late evening is better. Small lakes that have stumps and logs are good cover for fish and if you can get a small belly or pontoon boat into the area…worms are working at the moment. On the fly, black or green leech patterns and wolly buggers in a size 10 to 12 can be effective this time of year.
For spinning rod fishers, Discovery Pier has seen some big chinooks caught and a landing net is available to use if you hook into a salmon. The pinks will be getting darker and there is still time to get out fishing for this fun fish.
The free fly tying sessions for beginners will be starting up before the winter months and place and times will be announced here in the Fishing Corner. Retired fishing guide Bob Gordon donated fly tying materials and I will be making up packages and giving away materials at the first session.
If you have old feathers or fly tying gear and would donate it to our group, I can be contacted by email at dddon27@yahoo.com.