PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Brandon Wakita holding an 18' Kitimat River Cutthroat
Brandon was fishing with Ariel Kuppers on Oct 14th 2009
Fishing Report from: Ron Wakita of Reliable Guide and Charters
KITIMAT RIVER: Fall in the North West is visually noticeable by the typical changing of the colour of the leaves and the typical changing of the colour of the Kitimat River Coho. Most of the Coho are noticeably changed to their spawning colours with the exception of some fresh Coho still making their way to the Kitimat River.
Some anglers have changed their focus to fishing for Cutthroat Trout while other anglers are fishing for both.
The Kitimat River was so low this week that Ariel and a few other anglers were calling it "Kitimat Creek".
Oct 14 Ariel Kuppers, Travis James and my son Brandon landed 7 Cutthroat. Two of these Cutthroat were 15" and 18".
Oct 15 Brian Seaby a local angler reports landing 9 Coho, 2 coloured and 7 fairly bright.
Oct 17 Five anglers were speaking to Ariel in our Tackle store who had really good success Coho fishing in the Nalabila Stretch. They reported catching many bright Coho as well as a bunch that were coloured.
Many anglers still out fishing for Coho and Trout on the Kitimat River as evident by the number of vehicles parked along the highway this weekend. Some anglers will fish the upper Kitimat by walking in from the highway and then fish their way down the Kitimat River. They will then walk back out to the highway and walk up the side of the road back up to their truck. It is not common to see anglers with Coho sized rods as well as Trout or Fly rods. Such is the life when fishing the Kitimat this time of year.
The most productive lures this week were still the Gibbs Silver Hex 3/16 Crocs and the Koho 35 Copper, float fishing worms and flyfishing with minnow patterns.
The high number of reports of some bright Coho surprised me a little. Usually there are few bright Coho still migrating in but apparently this year there appears to be more than normal. This is a good thing and with some mild weather Coho fishing on the Kitimat River appears to have been extended.
Special Bulletin:
I had another awesome opportunity to fish with my good friend, Noel Gyger and my son, Brandon on the Kalum on Saturday. We were hoping to catch some Steelhead and Coho on our trip. We rigged up both float rods for Steelhead and Jigging rods for the Coho. I lined up with a sample of Tuff Line's new DuraCast Line that was given to me by Rex Nelson from Western Filament. (Tuff Line's parent company). Tuff Line DuraCast proved to be an excellent line for Jigging for Coho. It made long casts effortlessly and quietly. The perfectly round tri axial construction eliminated line twist and rod tip wrap which is sometimes an issue with some super braided lines.
The feature of Tuf-Line DuraCast that I liked the best was "Instant hook set" and amazing knot strength. 30lb knot strength with 8lb diameter. Wow! Thank You for the sample Rex, it helped create some wonderful memories of fishing with my good friend Noel and my son Brandon.
We didn't hook any Steelhead but we were able to land and release a bunch of Coho with the help of Tuff Line Dura Cast.
Any readers interested in watching a video that Noel produced of our trip please click on the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kyPvojL6rM
Another Special Bulletin
Glen Kilcup reports on one the coastal streams in the North West, "My Vancouver buddy Randy Wereshuck was here for a week and we were real fortunate for the weather to co-operate. With Colorado blades we smacked Coho and Steelhead at a few familiar spots. The Coho were in all the places they were supposed to be and the Steelhead were packed up in deeper pools because of lower waters. Got the jetboat out on some skinny waters and found that a long walk was much easier than the boat..." Congratulations Glen and Randy! Nice Fish!
DOUGLAS CHANNEL: With the high winds this week very few boats ventured out on the waters of the Douglas Channel. Accordingly there is very little to report with regards to fishing the Douglas Channel. Some boaters expressed an interest in trying a little trolling for late Coho or Winter Chinook in the Kitimat Harbour when the wind conditions improve. Other boaters were focused on getting the last fresh crab feed of the year.
Winter Chinook fishing usually starts any time now and will carry on throughout the winter. It is a very difficult fishery to predict as it just happens when ever it happens. The feeder Chinook follow the bait fish and whenever bait fish decide to wonder into the Kitimat Harbour as will the feeder Chinook. When these feeder Chinook are in the Kitimat Harbour in good numbers it is an awesome fishery. Stay Tuned.
Thank You to all the anglers who contributed info and photos to this report.
P.S. We have plenty of booking opportunities for the last part of this season for late Coho and Cutthroat Trout. We are already starting to book for next year. Any interested anglers please contact us at wakita@telus.net
Good Luck and Good Fishing!
Sincerely
Ron Wakita
Reliable Guide and Charters
380 City Centre
Kitimat B.C
V8C 1T6
bus.250 632-3522 cell.250 632-1275
fax. 250 632-3528
wakita@telus.net
www.kitimatfishingguideandcharters.com