NCOUVER COAST & MOUNTAINS By David Y. Wei And Suzanne L. Clouthier
Finding the fish from the Fraser River Valley and Coast Mountains, to Metro Vancouver, to the Sunshine Coast and Powell River
Fraser River Valley and Coast Mountains
At almost 1,400 kilometres, the powerful Fraser is British Columbia’s longest river. From its headwaters at Fraser Pass in the Rocky Mountains, its expansive watershed drains some 231,500 square kilometres — an area nearly as large as the entire United Kingdom, and larger than the whole state of Washington. The Fraser is home to the world’s most formidable salmon runs, with numbers of returning salmon in the tens of millions (including a near-record 30 million sockeye during the summer of 2010, and pink salmon runs during odd-numbered years that can top 10 million fish). In addition, you will find that the Fraser holds steelhead, resident rainbow trout, sea-run cutthroat trout, largemouth bass, black crappie, and white sturgeon – the world’s largest freshwater game fish. From the Coast Mountains at Hope, the Fraser River flows through the broad Lower Fraser Valley to metropolitan Vancouver – home to more than two million inhabitants. Some 600 kilometres of dykes shore up the banks of the main river and many of its tributaries, guiding and regulating the velocity of the water flow as it roils through low- lying farmlands to its estuary in the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond, and Delta. Cast a bar- fishing rig, baited with cured salmon
roe or worms, into the slow-moving current on the edge of a sandbar, or bottom-bounce lures, flies, or bait through back eddies or along sections of swifter current. The big river has many easily accessible fishing spots that are suitable for anglers of every age and ability. If you want to fish in peace and tranquillity, head out to Langley or Aldergrove via Highway 1, and take any exit after the 200th Street overpass. Drive north until you reach the banks of the Fraser, and set up for an afternoon or evening fish with a splendid backdrop of snow-topped mountains and verdant farmlands. Do you want to do battle
with the river’s huge, prehistoric sturgeon? This is a quest best done with professionals. Good guides have specialized aluminum jet-drive boats that can navigate the river’s tricky currents — even crossing shallow bars if necessary to reach the deep runs where sturgeon like to lie. With some behemoths that could top three metres in length, and weigh hundreds of kilograms, guides will provide custom-made rods matched to reels with smooth, heavy-duty drags. In this strictly catch-and-release fishery, they have the expertise to safely deal with any truly enormous specimens so that the trophy can swim away unharmed to fight another day. Careful management has allowed the white sturgeon to make an
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