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September is the time to get out and enjoy fishing

By Don Daniels
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Adam Sprout of Sayward with his second halibut fishing off Kelsey Bay wharf. Photo contributed

By Don Daniels

Those of us who live in Campbell River are fortunate to have fishing opportunities right here on our doorstep.

You can charter a boat to go after salmon in the ocean or walk the local river systems for salmon or catch-and-release trout. Local lakes will fish better as the temperatures cool off and trout are more likely to chase after bait or bugs and get out of the deep water.

With school back in, there will be more elbow room in the fishing zones to fish with spinning gear or on the fly. Gasoline prices are coming down a bit and more people are venturing out to have some fishing fun before the first rains hit us followed by snow flurries in November.

This is also the time of year when tackle shops get hunters ready for deer season and people who live in other provinces will start packing up and heading home to other provinces in Canada. Recently, I had talked with people visiting Campbell River from Ontario and they had picked out their camping spot and were trying the local rivers for pink salmon. There were others from Salmon Arm that came here to river fish and camp out.

When I pulled into my parking spot to go after pinks, the two fellows had their fly gear packed up, showing no results for a few hours on the river. They had showed me the fly pattern that they used and I gave them a fly that outfished other colors, the lime green simple fly was doing its job. It seems that pink was being outfished by the green fly pattern and other fly patterns were a black-bodied fly with red tail, or red and silver on the hook shank followed by a pink wing over top.

Pinks will be darker as we get into late September, then coho will start coming in. The chance to hook into one is quite good if you put in the time and find the pool that fish will strike a fly or lure. Now is the time to have a rod on the river with more pulling power and the 6-weight rod will be put away for the time being, also a 4-weight rod will be brought out to fish local lakes now through October.

In the Tyee Pool, John Bentham got a 40 lb. 14 oz. Tyee on Aug. 23, Karen Hutton got a 34 lb. 8 oz. Tyee Aug. 28, Maegen Dougan hit the scale with her Tyee 30 lb. 14 oz., Ben Campbell landed a 31 lb. 14 oz .Tyee Sept. 2. The season will finish up on Sept. 15.

On the dock at Kelsey Bay in Sayward, two halibut were caught by Adam Sprout and the pinks were a bit slow this year but people got out and caught a few to take home and can. A few sockeye are being caught and they are non-retention.

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