Riseform Flyfishing Ventures BLOG

March and April 2012 Presentations and Seminars

Brian Chan — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:02:58 +0000

Winter arrived again in kamloops, -14C this morning!! Cross country skiing has been great but we are certainly not getting too much closer to spring ice off on the local lakes. I have a few speaking engagements coming up in the next 2 months and then it is time to go fishing. I will be presenting at the Fraser Valley Boat & Sportsman’s Show in Abbotsford, BC form March 2 – 4. At 4:30 Pm on Friday I will be giving a free talk on the Biology of Productive Trout Lakes and at 10 AM on the Saturday will be covering Fall Stillwater Tactics, both presentations are in the seminar room to your left just as you enter the Tradex building. I will also be doing tying demonstrations at 2 PM on both the Friday and Saturday.

I will also be in Hamilton, Ontario March 31 and April 1 and presenting at the Canadian Fly Fishing Forum hosted by the Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club from Toronto. The forum is being held at the Hamilton Convention Centre. This is my first opportunity to talk at this annual event. I will be giving presenations on Favourite BC Waters and How to Fish Chironomids in Stillwaters. There are many other well known speakers giving presentations at this event. This event also features many expert fly tiers showcasing their innovative tying techniques. More information on this event can be found at the club website www.iwffc.ca

I will also be attending the East Idaho Fly Tying & fly Fishing Expo held April 20 & 21 at the Shilo Inn in Idaho Falls, Idaho. I will be conducting a paid 4 hr tying seminar as well as tying in the fly tying theatre and doing a presentation on chironomid fishing tactics. This event is one of the largest fly tying expositions put on by volunteers!! I am looking forward to meeting up with more people from our fly fishing community.

On April 28 & 29th I will be in Kelowna, BC along with Phil Rowley as we host a BC Outdoors Sportfishing Magazine Learning with the Pros weekend. On the Saturday Phil and I will be presenting a variety of talks on stillwater tactics, lake biology, knots and leaders, How to fish chironomids. Sunday will be a hands on fly tying workshop where students will tie along with Phil and I as we demonstrate our favourite chironomids, mayflies, damselflies, leeches, dragonflies, scuds and Caddis pupae. More information on this “Spring Tuneup” weekend can be found at the BC Outdoors Magazine website www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com

Big Red Day on the Water

Brian Chan — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:03:00 +0000

My last day on the lakes this season was on Nov 10th. It was actually not that cold but still cool enough for me to bring “Big Red” out of the closet, my heavy duty down jacket that makes me look like the Michelin Man!! Whatever makes it comfortable to get the last few days on the water before freezeup. We went to Stump lake and it was windy so it confined us to fishing a couple of the side bays that are fishable even in a strong southeast wind. It was a great few hours on the water, catching some very nice rainbows on small leeches suspended under an indicator. Here is one of the fish caught and released that day. Time to put the boat away until next April!!

Our Stillwater Fly Fishing Season is coming to an end

Brian Chan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 05:02:40 +0000

Stillwater season coming to an end

A throat pump from an actively feeding spring fish

It’s time to catch up on my blog after a very hectic season of guiding, fliming TV shows and seminars. Our fall season is coming to an end as ice is forming on many lower elevation lakes. This was a very unusual fishing year on the lakes around Kamloops and I suspect on lakes throughout the interior of BC and perhaps into Alberta and eastern Washington. We started out with a late ice off, followed by a cold and windy spring. I did not experience great chironomid fishing this past spring. What was typical were light emergences and short bites versus what we normally experince : extended emergences lasting several or more hours plus equally long bite periods. Summer arrived in early August and went to the end of September, We had 2 months of hot weather but still found some good fishing. Like the spring fishing, the fall activity was very spotty. While we had some good fishing it was hard to get two good days in a row. I guess the best news of the year was the amount of spring runoff we had. Many lakes filled, some for the first time in 10 years. Perhaps the water table has recharged and next spring will see good surface flows into those lakes that need a bit of flushing and topping up with water. Here are a few images of this years fishing season,

enjoy!!

2011 Wellesley Lake Trip Report

Brian Chan — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:43:01 +0000

The fly fishing at Wellesley Lake was as good as expected during my recent trip during the 3rd week of June. The ice had been off for about 8 days and already the vast shoal areas were warming up to 52F to 56 F. Perfect for chironomid hatches. Heavy emergences provided superb pupal fishing for lake trout and lake whitefish in shallow water. Much of our chironomid fishing was done in water less than 10 feet deep. Lakers to 10 pounds and whitefish to 5 pounds really liked gunmetal grey chromies with maroon rib in #10 and #12′s that were suspended under strike indicators. We also caught a lot of fish on maroon, black and green leeches on both floating lines and intermediate sinkers.

lake trout really like chironomid pupa

Lake whitefish are also a great fish on light tackle. They are very strong fighters and love to eat chironomid pupa, mayfly nymphs, caddis pupa, scuds and leeches in shallow water. The water in Wellesley is very clear and there is a lot of marl covered shoals so you can stalk individual whitefish and lake trout. I also spent some time trying to catch one of those big lake trout that reside in this lake. That meant fishing in 50 to 70 feet of water and presenting baitfish patterns right on the bottom. I used a droque or wind sock to allow a very slow. controlled drift of the boat and fished a Rio Deep 7 full sinking line. I cast ahead of the drifting boat and allowed the fly line to sink to the lake bottom and then twitched the fly up off the bottom. I got lucky and hooked and landed a nice fish of about 25 pounds. After landing that one I hooked another one that I played for 20 minutes before the hook fell out. I am pretty sure it was a really big fish as I never got the fish more than 10 feet off the bottom during the time I had it on. That was an exciting afternoon. Here is a picture of the one I did land on the Purple Clouser!!

A chunky laker that took a Purple Clouser Minnow pattern in 55 ft of water

Pike fishing was also good with all the guests that week catching and releasing a lot of Pike. The biggest caught during our week was just under 40 inches in length. Floating Pike lines and patterns with green, white, black and red in them all produced very aggressive strikes. Some fish were also taken on poppers. Our group of 8 fly fishers enjoyed a great week of fishing and all left the lodge with a lot of fishing memories. Some of group had more memories than others because they fished well into the early morning hours each day as it did not get dark!!

Overall, a great trip to an incredibly productive fly fishery.

Cheers,

Brian

A Nice Fish to Start the Year Off

Brian Chan — Fri, 20 May 2011 00:37:52 +0000

During the second week of May I spent a couple days filming episodesof BC Outdoors Sportfishing with host Mike Mitchell. The goal of these shows was to feature early spring fly fishing tactics on productive stillwaters. Day 1 was spent on Six Mile lake located approx. 30 km west of Kamloops. This low elevation lake is situated in the rolling grassland, sagebrush country that surrounds the greater kamloops area. We caught a good number of fish on micro leeches and very small (#18) chironomid pupa. The majority of fish we caught were in the 1.5 to 2 pound size range. We had some good discussions on early spring tactics that are applicable to any western stillwater.

Day 2 saw us on my favourite lake, Roche. This is an incredibly productive waterbody and the fisheries management plan for this lake and stocking program is designed to provide a quality fishing experience. Both triploided and reproductive rainbow trout are stocked on an annual basis. The lake supports extensive shallow areas or shoals which are prime feeding areas for trout. The ice had been off the lake for less than a week so it was definitely early spring fishing conditions. We fished floating lines and strike indicators and fished water less than 10 feet in depth. Micro leeches in various colours seemed to be more productive than small chironomid pupa. Near the end of the day I got lucky and hooked a nice fish. It jumped after a few initial head shakes and that is when I got a little more serious about playing the fish. It was big, a lot bigger than I thought it was from the first few head shakes and short runs. In between a couple more jumps it managed to swim under and around the bow anchor twice, just to add a bit more excitement to the fight. We were able to get this fish on camera and I can’t wait to see the footage. We estimated the fish at 10 pounds and close to 30 inches in length. By the fin clip we know it was a triploid all-female Pennask rainbow that was only 6 years old. This fish is going to live at least another couple of years. Hopefully another angler will get to enjoy this quality fish. That is my fishing story of this spring season. Here is an image of the one that did not get away!!

A quality Roche lake Rainbow

The Chironomids are finally emerging!!

Brian Chan — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:09:07 +0000

It has been a really cold and windy spring and ice off is quite late when compared to recent years. In the Kamloops area we have only a handful of waters to fish but within the next 10 t0 14 days we will have a lot of lakes becoming ice free. We are finally seeing some good chironomid emergences on lakes like 6 Mile, Morgan and White. The bugs are small, often best imitated with #18 pupal patterns. I have been tying #18 bodies on # 16 hooks as the slightly bigger hook size is stronger and less susceptable to bending or straightening on a bigger fish. We are definitely in very early spring mode and really rushing the fishing but it is hard to stay off the water after a long winter!! Here is a shot of a throat sample from a fish from 6 Mile lake, the fish are on the pupa despite being very small. I am excited about an another upcoming spring of chironomid fishing.

Starting the Spring Fishing Season off Right

Brian Chan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:37:46 +0000

In early April I had the opportunity to spend a week fly fishing in Cuba with the boys from Sport Fishing on the Fly TV Show and other great guests. We had a great time spending 6tdays on a big boat that moved during the week. We fished a lot of good water for bonefish, tarpon and permit. I am now hooked on tarpon fishing!! Those fish pull but I am worried about the first few trout I set the hook on this spring!! This is definitely a trip I will do again. It was great to get away while the local lakes are still frozen. Here a few images of the fish and fishing action.

Love those Tarpon Jumps!!Our home away from home

2011 Stillwater Seminars

Brian Chan — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:55:27 +0000

I often get asked about seminars I am conducting each fishing season. Here is the rundown of what I have on the books for now. May 27-29 will see Kathy Ruddick and I at our annual spring school at Stoney Lake Lodge on Douglas Lake Ranch. This is a great weekend of learning aimed at beginner to intermediate level anglers. It is an ideal location for couples as well. Kathy and I will cover a wide variety of topics during our classroom sessions. You will learn about lake biology, seasons of a lake, trout food sources, fishing tactics, knots, basic equipment selection, fly casting instruction and lots of time on Stoney and/or Minnie lakes to practice what has been taught. There should be some pretty intense chironomid emergences during our time on the ranch. Check out www.douglaslake.com for more details on this weekend package.

June 3-5 will see myself, Phil Rowley and Mike Mitchell of BC Outdoors Sportfishing Magazine hosting another spring Learning with the Pro’s session. This year we will be at Ruddock’s Dam, a private fishery located just north of Lytton, BC. Ruddock’s Dam supports a healthy population of big rainbow trout which makes it a perfect classroom setting. We should be seeing good emergences of chironomids, mayflies and damselflies during our time at the lake. Learning with the Pro’s weekends feature a mix of lectures and on the water time that will make every participant a more accomplished lake fly fisher. Visit the BC Outdoors website at www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com for further details on this school.

The fall Learning with the Pro’s weekend will see Phil, Mike and I returning to Roche Lake Resort and the big rainbows found in this quality managed fishery. We will be there Oct. 14-16, which is right in the middle of the late fall fishing period. As a bonus the numerous smaller lakes around Roche will be at their best so there will be lots of fishing options. This school will again feature lectures and on the water time. More information can be found at www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com

Send me an email if you have any additional questions about any of these schools.

cheers,

Brian

Time to get serious about tying flies for the 2011 stillwater season

Brian Chan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:02:03 +0000

It’s early Feb and definitely time to spend time at the vice. I always start by replenishing my stock of chironomid pupa. Despite probably having literally thousands of pupal patterns there are always new colour combinations, sizes to tie. Much of the tying ideas come from looking at the real bugs that have been sampled through the use of a throat pump. Here are some images of live pupa to give you some ideas of how diverse they are in terms of colour and size. Time to get back to the vice,

Good luck with your tying!!

Fishing with the Double Hand Rod and Having Fun!!

Brian Chan — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:29:57 +0000

Over the past couple years I have been learning how to cast the spey rod with the intention of fishing it for steelhead, salmon and trout on some of the larger rivers in BC. This has been a lot of fun mixed with enough frustration to keep me coming back for more. I must thank Brian Niska from Whistler Flyfishing who spent a day introducing me to the game and getting me pointed in the right direction. From then on I had the bug. Learning the various casts, what lines work with what rod etc. I have been able to make 2 trips to the Skeena River area during steelhead season and have hooked enough fish to know that I should have started fishing this way much earlier. I find myself out on local rivers practicing the various casts as much as I can, evend uring the winter months. I wish this style of casting was as easy as single hand casting. I can’t wait to chase more summer or winter run steelhead or any other fish species in river systems that are suited to the double hand rods. Here are a few shots from my last trip north.

A beautiful fish and one happy angler!!

Ready for Release

A day on the water with friends Peter Morrison and Rob Vodola