Kelly: I have a wedding in Nanaimo Aug. 18, and can't resist getting a day of fly fishing in. Suggestions?
Answer: Try the beach fishing for pink salmon. There are about a dozen streams from Nanaimo Harbour north to the Campbell/Quinsam. Phone Nile Creek Fly Shop for information. You can find their number on their site.
Marvin Gruger: Do you provide open ocean fishing instruction? I have your How to Catch Salmon and Maximum Salmon. I would like to learn how to properly choose, rig the various lures and bait strip, verify that they have the appropriate action and effectively fish.
Answer: Sure, we can work something out. But first what gear do you have on your boat, and are you also interested in fly fishing, and fresh water gear fishing? I ask as your note says you will be at Pacific Playgrounds in late August. This is on the Oyster River estuary, one of the most well subscribed beach pink salmon/searun cutthroat fisheries on the Island.
Linda Coates: To clear an estate, our family is looking to donate a few salmon/ocean fishing rods and tackle to a south Vancouver Island non-profit organization. Do you know of some contacts I might approach?
Answer: Big Brothers and Sisters could probably use them. Also the Canadian Diabetes Association looks for such things. If they are new, the Freshwater Fisheries Society may want them. Check for numbers on the web.
Laura Jensen [sa国际传媒 Aug. 4, regarding the destroy fish order on Millar Channel, shortly after their Dixon Bay site fish had to be destroyed]: "Migrating wild salmon are natural carries of the IHN virus and are the most likely source of the infection at both farms."
Answer: Well, the World Organization for Animal Health says: "The reservoirs of IHNV are clinically infected fish and covert carriers among cultured, feral or wild fish." And the real point is that fish farm losses to diseases - there are several dozen - are so high the obvious solution to save money is to put the weaker, foreign fish in closed containers on land so they don't get sick and are not lost to the economy.
Bruce: What flies should I use for pinks on the beach?
Answer: My two hotties this year are both on size 6 hooks: pearlescent Krystal Flash tail, pink Lazer Wrap body, medium silver bead eyes, and pink Chenille figureeighted around the eyes; and, small pink bead eyes followed by some pink tubing (the latter typically used for the shafts of trolling spoons in saltwater) and that's all. But also pick up some of River Sportsman's sparse pink Muddler's in pink, size 8.
The hot colour this year has been purple on northern beaches. I have seen flies in colours ranging from the translucent Purple Haze found in trolling hootchies, all the way to Lazer Wrap flies in burgundy or claret. These are tied in the Cathy's Coat style, but without the throat and wing fibres, leaving a thread head in chartreuse. See A Compendium of Canadian Fly Patterns for photos and tying materials.
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