Had two days off and after tossing around a few ideas settled on heading to Squamish. Door to river, if you go outside of rush hour, is 1 hour. Reports were that the river was a little high and colored but improving daily with the recent cold nights. The first day I fished for a few hours at the Mamquam Bar but other than a 30 minute period when a the Chums rolled their way upstream few fish were seen. Not hooking up was not a big deal as my goal for the trip was to learn to Skagit cast. This substained anchor style of casting is better for throwing big flies and heavy sink tips but takes a while to get used to.
The rest of the first day was spent driving to the upper reaches of the Squamish scouting for future Steelhead trips next spring. It has been a while since I fished the upper river and it has changed a lot. I talked to a local fisherman while up there and found out the regular drift from 28.5 mile down to 24 mile is still the best bet.
The next morning I drove up to see Brian Niska at Whistler Fly Shop to talk fishing and in particular Skagit style casting. He mentioned Mamquam Bar fishes best 45 minutes after high tide when the fresh Chums come into the river. That afternoon I parked at Fisherman’s Park, at the end of Judd rd., and walked upstream along the dyke to the confluence of the Cheakamus. This is usually a quiet area as the only access is through the IR down Axen rd. and the locals normally restrict access. Today the confluence had a dozen anglers as the apparent restrictions were not enforced so far this year. I chose to fish downstream of the crowd and that was the best decision I could have made. Lower Chum Island Run is the best piece of fly water I have seen on the Squamish and Chums were rolling through constantly. Still working on my casting technique more than angling I managed to hook 2 Chums and a surprise in the 2 hours I fished there.
Like the recent Olympic games in Whistler most athetes would be happy with winning a Bronze Medal……
Squamish River Chum
but somtimes if you are really lucky you come away with Silver.
Squamish River Coho
By the way, Gold Medal Steelhead are not available til the Spring.
Squamish River level at Brackendale
