BC Sportfishing

Last Saturday night all of our guides and their ladies met us at Mavericks Tap house and grill for and evening of dinner, drinks and dancing…..with plenty of fish stories as well.
A great time was had by all, thanks to all of our guides for making this a successful season; we’re looking forward to next year. Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Merry Christmas from Dave, Randy, Rod and Bill

Tight Lines,
Randy & Trish Beck
www.bcfishingguides.com

My day started late with a multitude of snooze button clicks, but I managed to get myself vertical and headed to the kitchen for a nice hot cup of java, grabbed a granola bar and an apple then headed for the river to test drive a new Spey rod combo I received from our tackle rep at Okuma Fishing products. The rod is a “Guide Select” 13’-8” 8wt. IM8 4 piece matched with an SLV 10/11 reel loaded with Rio 35 lb. slick shooter and a Rio 500gr. Skagit head with 10’ of T-14 to get the big intruder fly down fast. I was a little skeptical at first knowing that Okuma is mainly known as a “Gear” company and that they may not pay as much attention to their fly stuff, boy was I wrong. Now I don’t profess to be a Spey casting god, but my chuck and duck method was seeing effortless casts in the 60-70 foot range with the odd cast reaching 80 ft. (even I shock myself sometimes). I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that this set up casted beautifully. I can’t comment on the reel drag system as the lack of cooperative steelhead made this test difficult. This Spey combo is perfect for the beginner to intermediate caster who doesn’t want to break the bank or anyone looking to get their first Spey set up and enter into the world of Spey fishing. These Spey combos will be in all of our boats for the 2012 season and I'm sure our guests will love using them.

Cheers & Tight Lines,
Randy & Trish Beck
www.bcfishingguides.com
http://www.facebook.com/ultimatesportfishing

Well, the day has finally arrived, the day that every fishing guide dreads, the last day of sturgeon season, It’s late November and the water temperatures have dropped and the bites have slowed, so the rods have been stored and the boats have had their annual winter servicing, it’s a time to reflect on all the great sturgeon that were caught by our guests from all over the world. The season started out a little slower than normal seasons as many of the days would see only a half dozen fish to the boat, and then the high water arrived, some say it was the highest the Fraser River has been in over 80 years, but we still managed to find fish. There were plenty of fish in the 3-6 foot range and a handful of trophy fish in the 7-9 foot range but only one fish can claim top spot this year and that was a 10’-7” goliath that was caught by our guide Captain Dave Donaldson with our guests from Alberta Dwayne and Randy with their lovely ladies Rae and Joyce.I’m sure the fish stories are still flying over that fish of a lifetime.

The one great thing about sturgeon fishing is knowing that those giant sturgeon are still there to get caught on another day by a lucky angler next year, I can’t wait!

Cheers & Tight Lines,
Randy & Trish Beck
www.bcfishingguides.com
www.facebook.com/ultimatesportfishing

Still plenty of Scaaarrrrry Chum salmon to be caught right now in a few of our local rivers, spin fishing and fly fishing, don't be frightened.....give us a call, and we'll hook you up with one of these goolish salmon or Frankenfish (sturgeon)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Cheers,
Randy & Trish Beck
www.bcfishingguides.com

1- Keep that hook sharp, I know it sounds like a no brainer, but I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people reel up their line clear off any debris and cast it back out there without even looking at their hook. Sturgeon have very hard mouths, so you’ll need a razor sharp hook to make it stick. Try and use the best quality hooks that you can afford and check the hook for sharpness by running the point across your thumb nail, it should be sticky sharp, if not, touch up the point with a file. I prefer Gamakatsu 9/0 hooks for all my sturgeon fishing.

2- Just like prime real estate it’s all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, let’s face it, sturgeon are a lazy lethargic fish that like their meals delivered to them. So that means your chances increase by locating deep slow moving waters that sturgeon tend to hold in, and once you have found that honey hole, chances are that there will always be a hungry sturgeon home. Link a bunch of these honey holes together into a circuit and you should consistently be hooking sturgeon. Also, if you drop anchor into your favorite honey hole and don’t hook a sturgeon within ½ an hour, move on, chances are there’s nobody home. (Tip: When arriving at your favorite honey hole, don’t drive your boat directly over the spot you will be casting your line onto, you’ll have spooked the fish out)

3- Use the lightest weight possible, just enough weight is needed to keep your bait on the bottom of the river without it bouncing in the current. The last thing you need is Mr. Sturgeon feeling any resistance when he takes your bait. Quite often I get a situation where the fish will pick up the bait then quickly drop it, when this happens I will lighten the weight a bit and the fish will stay on the bait long enough to get a good hook set.

4- Leader length is critical, sturgeon are strictly bottom feeders so you don’t need your bait floating 3 feet over their heads, you need that bait lying flat on the river bottom for the fish to smell and find. I have seen sturgeon fishers with leaders over 5 feet! I use no longer than 30” of 100lb. Maxima Chameleon or 100lb Dacron leader materials. Leader material are cheap compared to that lost trophy sturgeon of a lifetime, so buy the best leader material you can afford and change it at the first sign of wear.

5- Good bait….. Much like fly fishers “match the hatch” by imitating insects that are present in the river, the sturgeon fisher must use the best baits that are “in season”. In the spring I like to use eels, eulachons (small smelt bait fish also known as Candle fish), and dew worms, as these baits are available in the river and the sturgeon key in on these baits early in the year, later in the season I switch to salmon bellies and roe (salmon eggs) later in the fall after the salmon have spawned and died I will use “stink bait” which is rotten salmon flesh, this stuff smells terrible, but the sturgeon love it. Then in late fall I use fresh Chum salmon roe tied into small golf ball size nylon bags, and this bait is like sturgeon candy as they go crazy over it. (Tip: try to only use fresh roe) , I’ve seen sturgeon fishers using old brown freezer burned roe and wondering why they’re not getting fish, use good bait!

I hope these tips will help increase your sturgeon fishing experience.

Cheers & Tight Lines,
Randy & Trish Beck
www.bcfishingguides.com