Hey SS, I pontoon the lower all the time in Jan/Feb, and I would agree that there is just as many fish downstream of the bucket as upstream, bankfisherman can't see the fish holding in the river, unless they are at the falls. It's to bad that more people don't take at least one trip on a jet, just to get to see the steel in those spots. And no we do not need recreational jets on that river.

As far as fishing with ANY guide in the stamp goes, I would have to disagree because 75% of them are just a water taxi that spends more time running around then they do fishing. I'm sure "most" of them know how to get the fish to bite but it seems that more than a few seem to have a hard time recognizing the good water to fish and dont fish long enough when they are in the right spots. Ive even seen guides throwing colorado blades in the upper in november when fish are keying in on single eggs...

As you know SS the most important part about steelhead fishing is to be fishing the right water. Once you can read steelhead water they are not really all that hard to catch. I would even go so far as to say they are the easiest of all anadromous fish to catch without resorting to flossing. The only thing that makes them difficult to catch at times is a lack of numbers of fish in the river or dead low clear water.

A sled gives you easy access to all the water on the lower stamp and with medium to high water conditions the stamp is not what you would call a difficult river to navigate.

As far as the falls pool brigade goes when we were operating jets on the stamp nobody went above the bucket in a power boat. We all fished the lower reaches for fresh run winters. Shore anglers or rafters had one stretch of the river where they could enjoy a peaceful day of fishing.

As far as 65 years of experience on the water, that is an obvious plus but someone who is eager, observant and willing to learn can pick up steelhead fishing in a lot less time than 65 years.

[color=#FF0000]The main point I was trying to make is that with access to the water with a power boat, stamp river steelhead are not that hard to catch in double digit numbers. Any guide worth his salt should be able to drive the boat well enough to put the customer on fish. If he can't do that he has no business being in the guiding business[/color].

As far as the comment about not wanting recreational jet boats on the river that is what SS is doing each time he goes out with Nick. There are a number of people in port that regularly go "recreational jetting" and hide behind their guide license or assistant guide licence to justify "test fishing" the waters.

This test fishing is not really needed on the Stamp as the river has changed very little in the past 30 years as compared to many other rivers on the island and although fish do hold in some areas that they previously did not it is not like learning a newish river each year like the Cowichan for instance.

Yes some people pass by fish and yes sometimes you can even spot fish from the boat and then proceed to catch them but when you really start doing the math what percent of winter Steelhead do you catch sight fishing?

As far as people fishing in the so called wrong spot, well that comes from experience, time on the water and careful observation of where you catch fish and maybe more importantly where other people catch fish. The quickest way to learn how to catch steelhead is to carefully watch guys that know what they are doing. See how they cover the water and what type of water they fish and what they are fishing with and then try your best to incorporate what they are doing into your method of fishing. If you can't clearly see the bottom, and the water is the right speed, and the bottom is not covered in sand make a few casts, even if it seems too shallow.

For all you steelheaders who have not been fishing in a sled it does make steelhead fishing much easier and a whole lot less work than heading down the trail in the pitch black to get "your" spot on shore or lugging in a raft or pontoon boat.

I am not convinced jet boating is more enjoyable with the constant noise in your ear but is the easiest and most efficient method of catching fish!!

Tight lines and happy fishing no matter what your chosen method is

Whoa, to class a guy like Nick as another common or uncommon guide on the stamp tells me your jelous of their production... Sure steelhead can be easy to hook once you learn where they lay year after year, BUT, play in water and weather conditions, and you find yourself scraping like the rest of em.. Go easy on the guides, these guys put in 250 plus days a year seeking out fish and putting in long days.. Dirty

Ah...but what if they're not in the "right" water?? We have been finding a lot of fish really spread out this year. As I said in one of my earlier reports, "fish didn't seem to be holding in all the usual places". We have been finding them in fast pocket water, transition water, shallow ( 1-2 ft ) flat water in the open with no cover & right up under the tree branches in deep fast guts. I would be willing to bet that almost nobody else has even tried these places because Nick hasn't SEEN anyone doing it yet. He is out there almost every day & sees exactly where others are fishing. It is pretty much the same pattern day after day for these guys....run up to the rifle range, fish down to below the power lines, run down to the clay bank, drift down to the big rock, maybe fish a bit of the alligator run & then run down to fish the confluence & Sproat rapids. While true, all of these spots are traditional fish holding areas & we have caught fish in all of these places so far this year, the majority of our fish have come from the type of water I described above. I would surmise it is one of the reasons why we are averaging 10-12 FPD ( fish per day ) & many others only 3-6 FPD. These are the approx. numbers I have seen on the river & by talking to other people fishing from boats.
As for Steelhead being the easiest anadromous fish to catch, I think you have to break that down to circumstances & conditions. You could make a case for all species, except sockeye, dependent on what river, time of year, water height & clarity, fishing method & angler experience. A couple examples that come to mind are coho on the Big Qualicum, back in the day when there were coho in the Big Q, using roe, again back in the day. You could easily hook 50+ fish a day there without much effort for weeks at a time. Chum on the Puntledge are another good example, purple & green wool, especially on a blue gammy, will literally wear you out by the end of the day. Chinook in the Vedder is another. Anything roe or even peach wool will keep these big white brutes biting all day long.




Absolutely it does, BUT that is ALL it does. The guys in the sled still have to know where to find the fish & how to get them to bite. The sled takes you to the promised land, it doesn't open the gate to let you in.





We NEVER fish above the bucket. Blaydon might run up with one of Nick's boats once in awhile, but Nick doesn't like fishing up there & neither do the rest of us. If they closed that section for boats, or permanently for that matter, it wouldn't break my heart at all. There are just as many fresh fish below the bucket as above it, you just have to know where to find them.
25-40 guys pounding the shoreline from both sides ain't my thing. If that's your idea of a peaceful day's fishing, more power to ya





Well, if it's not that hard to do, then how come I only know of ONE boat that is doing it consistently so far this season?? I have been fishing & working on the Stamp for 25 years now, so I know most of the major players & am pretty well connected to the pipeline. If there were other boats hitting double digit fish every day, I'm sure I would have heard about it by now. Like I said before, 3-6 are the numbers I'm hearing, so, either it's not quite that easy, or that 65 years of experience is making just a bit of a difference. That number is split between three guys by the way, & there is a small difference between "picking up" steelhead fishing & being consistent at it.





Whoa...you need to back up a little here. Allow me to explain the nature of my relationship with Nick. First & foremost we are good friends. If he sold his sleds tomorrow & got out of the business, we would still be good friends. As for "recreational jetting", that most certainly NOT what we are doing EVERY time we go out fishing. There is a group of six of us that book regular full price trips with Nick 2-6 times each every year. Nick is an entrepreneur who owns his own small business & we as his friends choose to support him in this endeavor. It would be no different than if he was a hardware store owner or a tradesman. As his friends, we would support him in his business, whatever it was, as he does us in ours. Friends being friends.
Yes, there are some nice perks to having a buddy with a jet boat, especially one who is so addicted to fishing, that on his one day off in September last year, he went trout fishing at a lake for fun. We get more than a few calls saying there has been a last minute cancellation, trip is mostly paid for, do we want to throw in $50 & go fishing?? Gee, there's a tough call And yes, even on the days when we just go fishing as friends, we still chip in for gas at the start & end of the day, fill the propane bottle if it needs it & supply the food & bevvies Again, friends being friends. I don't see anything wrong with it at all. We support Nick's business as his friends & he throws us some cheap trips & "freebies" if you want to call them that.





So far this year, I would say it's close to 50%. We have seen some decent schools of fresh sea lice chromers in the shallows & just hammered on them. My point about sight fishing was, if you don't look, you won't spot any & then the percentage will be zero. We look, alot





Some good advice there. The point I was trying to get across was it seems like too many guys rush around trying to get to a "spot" rather than covering the water thoroughly looking for the fish. As the old saying goes, " The fish are where you find them". Just because this spot or that spot has been good in the past, doesn't mean fish will be holding there now. The clay bank pool is a prime example. In 2006, the last really good year for winter runs, Nick absolutely hammered fish in this pool. Every day was almost like a guarantee of catching fish. The water is classic steelhead holding area & it just looks like you should hammer them here. Lost count of how many were hooked here in '06. Probably in the hundreds. In '07 & '08, I don't think Nick had ONE BITE in this pool. Craziest thing you could imagine. Fished it almost every day, & nothing. This year, we are finally hooking a few fish here again. Make any sense?? I sure can't figure it out Point is, just because fish "should" be in one place, doesn't mean they ARE going to be there.





Actually, it makes the "conditions" for steelhead fishing easier, not the catching. You get much more & better access to places you can't get to from shore, It's easier standing ON the water than IN the water, your vest sits nicely on the bow providing easy access to your gear & the camera for the pics, & it is definitely more relaxing letting the boat move you around than pounding the shore all day. That said, if you are tossing a magnum orange gooey bob with a 2/0 silver Mustad on 18" of 15lb Triple Fish leader, odds are you aren't going to catch very much, boat or no boat. Knowledge is power. If you don't know, ask. There is always someone who can help.





I don't know, that brand new 140 Suzuki is pretty quiet.....even if it wasn't, it would have been drowned out by the sound of screamin' reels anyways

Well I would agree with most of what is being said here... most of the jet operators are pretty considerate. I think one day soon, the jets will be a thing of the past and the DFO will move to non-motorized drifting of the river for guided trips. I think that is the natural progression of VI river guiding due to conservation and fishing pressure. All they have to do is make a boat launch at the falls, I think that would be a very cool way of fishing the stamp, almost like getting guided on the Gold or the Cow.

I agree there's a bunch of fish around the lower right now and the usual spots are giving up a few. It sure helps when your using bait and feeding it to them out of a jetboat. Your forgetting a certain somebody that has been fishing the river longer from a jet than anybody and been putting up big #'s above the falls. Double digits are a thing of the norm above the bucket and lots of freshys shoot right up and hold up there. There is some beautiful water up there, the big aluminum's can only get up there in high water and if the guy on the tillers got big enough balls to go for it. Forget about the bucket, eagle rocks where u'll run into real trouble in a 18 foot boat with a 400 pound motor. That section splits up the boats a bit witch is also nice. The falls pool is a gonshow but theres lots of other spots above to fish. The lower can be a bit of a parking lot at times. With 4 of daves boats down there, 2 of Nicks and whoever else happens to be out for the days. We choose to look around and get away from the crowds. If the fish are down low, fish low. If there up and over thats where i"ll be..

you mean the fish myster http://www.fishmyster.com/ Bags? I always wonder why he doesn't get mentioned online often if ever at all.

Fishmyster?! I'll be honest, I never even knew this guys business existed, I always thought he worked for someone else! He gave me back my DNE float I lost on Tuesday... lol! I'll add his site to my blog, sorry about that Kenny!

fished the falls pool this afternoon with about thirty other guys. There was still room though. People averaged about 2 fish each....fun day


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