Gord March Gazette
Winter 2015
Freshwater:
Cowichan Lake fishing has picked up. Try trolling creek mouths with three-inch tomic plugs in the new amazing iridescent colours. Also good success with Gang Trolls (the larger the better.) 24-30 inch leader and size five to seven Kwikfish or Flatfish Chrome Blue and Frog patterns best. Try fly casting at creek mouths with wooley buggers or leeches. Remember the bait ban and single barbless hooks until April 15. Cutthroat and Rainbow trout over 50 cm must be released.
Kissinger and Lizard Lakes to the west have good rainbow trout fishing; try corky and single egg rig off the docks and beaches. Trolling can be done with small spratley’s leeches, wooley buggers, flatfish and small spoons.
Fuller Lake, Chemainus Lake, Dougan Lake, Quamichan Lake and Somenos Lake are also producing well. These seven lakes have been recently stocked.
Cowichan River Trout Fishing:
There are mid-river resident rainbow and brown trout. Single egg copies.
Skutz Falls to 70.2 trestle is excellent for browns and rainbows. Use single egg copies and minnow or rolled mudler flies. Greendale trestle to 70.2 trestle is loaded with rainbows that have dropped from the lake to dine on the salmon eggs and prepare for spawning. The largest browns in the river are found in this section. Flys of choice: single egg patterns, rolled mudlers, prince nymphs, hairs ear nymphs, pheasant tail nymphs. Stick to the bead heads and weighted flys, the river is still quite high as it is important to get down deep.
Best flys for Coho are blue rolled mudlers, micky fins or Jim Humphrey’s famous river salmon flies.
Best spinning lures for Coho: Vibrax, gold/orange size 3 or silver/pink in size 3 also Gibbs croc spoons in hammered brass or copper with fire stripe.
Steelhead Fishing:
Cowichan River:
Try Silver Bridge area for early steelhead. Pink worms (we stock 17 shades), blades, spin and glows are your best bets. Mid-river (Riverbottom Road area) try pink worms, blades and smaller roe imitations. December/January yields the largest fish of the season followed by the February/March run of smaller but more plentiful fish.
Nitinat, San Juan, Harris Creek:
These are all excellent rivers for late summer runs and winter steelhead. They are best fished when coming off of high water.
Fly Fishing:
Heavy sink tip lines are necessary when the rivers are running in winter conditions.
Flys of choice: always popular are egg and roe copies, the best of the best are Jim Humphrey’s Intruder Flys that could entice a strike at any time.
Put your time in and as the weather improves the odds of landing a winter steelhead will only get better.
“May your rod bend to the butt and your smile go from ear to ear”
Stop by the store for the current fishing report. View our webpage www.gordsflybox.ca
Gord March is the owner of Gord’s Fly Box & Goodies, 170C Cowichan Lake Rd., Box 1742, Lake Cowichan, B.C., V0R 2G0. Call: 250-932-9309 or email gordsflybox@shaw.ca