Harrison River Chum Salmon Fishing 2010

After a one year hiatus of salmon fishing Jake Jacobson and I made a trip up to the Harrison River to fish for salmon on Tuesday, October 19th. It makes for a long day fishing the Harrison River with me jumping out of bed at 3:15 am and meeting Jake at Hagen’s parking lot at 4:30 am for the 270 mile round trip to the river and back. I arrived home at 6:15 pm tired from a very successful day of salmon fishing.

When we arrived I wasn’t sure that the salmon run was in full swing but after arriving at “Buron’s Bar”, as Bob Banks calls it, I began to see fish working in the river. Jake and I quickly strung up our rods and began fishing. Jake had never done this type of fishing before but quickly got the hang of it. In fact he out fished me early and continued to do so all day! He found a “honey-hole” and dynamite couldn’t move him from his cherished spot on the river. Every once in awhile he would have to move to land a fish and I’d sneak in and catch a fish before he’d return and run be off again.

Jake and I hooked and/or landed so many fish we decided that at about 2:00 pm we’d quit. Both arms and my back were tired from battling these tremendous fighting fish.
Jake and I hooked and/or landed so many fish we decided that at about 2:00 pm we’d quit. Both arms and my back were tired from battling these tremendous fighting fish.

The weather was gorgeous with both of us fishing in our shirt sleeves after the sun came up. For those of you who know Jake ask him about his porpoise move while fishing. He made two spectacular ones today. At first I thought I heard a walrus in the water but it was only Jake doing his porpoise move.

Fall Fishing Report from Dragon Lake, B.C.

I recently returned from my two week yearly fishing trip to Dragon Lake, in beautiful Central British Columbia in what is know as the Caribou Region of BC.

Fishing this fall had both its good and bad elements! While the fishing was slow for good numbers the good news was the size of many of the fish taken. I was able to take a number of large Dragon Lake rainbows up to 9 lbs. with my 5 wtg. fly rod. Fish this size are not common in most lakes anywhere where the public has access without paying to fish there.

As always it was nice to see fly fishing friends and share in this experience. I had the pleasure of fishing with longtime friends, Windy Way, Rick Mathias, Del Thideman, Fred Moll, Neil Westover, Jerry Harris, and Neil Cummings.

I was surprised to not take any fish this fall on dragon fly nymphs. Just about all of my fish were taken on “micro-leeches” and a couple on scuds (freshwater shrimp). The most effective micros were in size 12 with burgundy, olive, and light olive providing the best action. All fish taken and released were on a floating line with an indicator in 15 feet of water or less. In fact, one morning, I was able to take three nice fish in about 3’ to 4’ of water just out from the shoreline weed beds.

The weather was most cooperative this fall with only one day of any significant rain. We did have to put up with some unpleasant winds and early morning fog. One morning I got to try out my GPS system to get to the south end of the lake in fog so thick you could only see about 20’ in front of you. The GPS took me right to my “way-point” which was almost two miles away with little trouble.

My largest fish was right at 9 lbs. and was 27” x 15” in size. I have a photo showing this fish and another large fish.