An article by Malcolm Parry.

What would you consider to be a good run of salmon on return to the river of their birth? Would it be 5,000,10,000,  maybe 50,000?

How about 50 million, no that’s not a misprint, but is the average return for the Frazer river system.

It is very difficult to try and explain the volume of fish that are represented by these vast numbers of fish.

You can be standing in the river fishing and there are salmon swimming around, everywhere you look.

They are even bumping into your waders as you cast. Not just once but all the time. That’s what the Fraser River System in British Columbia is like. Besides having the largest runs of salmon of any river in the world this river is situated in one of the most spectacular areas of natural beauty anywhere on this planet. The scenery is truly breathtaking. Snow-capped peaks and forests showing off their Autumn colours. What a wonderful sight.

I and two other club members,  Malcolm Moon and Julian Cruickshank along with a close friend George Adams, a fishing companion of over 30 years made the trip to Vancouver on 10th October 2005.

This date coincided with the peak runs of the 5 different species of salmon that run the Fraser system.

We booked with Great River Fishing Adventures. The company is owned by Dean Werk and he runs the company with fisherman foremost in his mind.

A fanatical angler himself he makes sure you are covering fish no matter where you go. He has a team of top professional guides who look after your every need.

On arrival at Vancouver Airport, we were met by a stretch-limousine to transfer us to the hotel. After a 10 ½ hour flight there was not a more welcome sight.

We stayed at the Rhombus Hotel in Chilliwack. This was to be our base for the next week.

Day 1

After a sleepless night (more to do with excitement and anticipation rather than jet lag) we departed the hotel bound for the Harrison River system.

The Harrison flows into the Fraser just above the town of Chilliwack and is fed from Harrison Lake and runs crystal clear. Everywhere you look there are salmon, some have been in the system for a while and are dark coloured fish. Others are fresh run bright silver beauties. There are many dead or dying fish which have already spawned as nature never puts all its eggs in one basket. Julian on his second cast hooked into a fresh chum salmon, his first-ever. I was like an expectant father giving him advice and help for him to land this most important of fish. Important as you never forget the first salmon caught and landed.

After the obligatory congratulations and photographs, George was into a fish, another nice chum. Minute’s later Malcolm was playing his first-ever salmon. Fifteen minutes of sheer pleasure later he was unhooking the freshest sockeye you could imagine.

Another round of handshakes and photos as this was Malcolm’s first salmon as well. Following all this excitement it was then straight back to the fishing and within minutes I am playing a lovely fresh pink salmon.

These pink salmon only return every 2 years and fortunately, this year (2005) was one of those years. The next year they return will be 2007.

Once we found the right speed to fish our flies it was fish after fish. Sport really picked up later in the day and everyone had their fair share. The majority of the fish being either pinks or chums.

We stopped fishing around 5.15pm and it was back to the hotel for drinks and fishy tales.

Day 2

Yet another sleepless night and today we are off to fish for the mighty sturgeon for which the Fraser is rightly famous. After a 30-minute boat ride downstream, we anchor just upstream of the railway bridge in the town of Mission.

The rods are baited with salmon eggs and it’s not long before the first fish of the day is boated. It’s only a small one of about 5lb, but it creates a lot of excitement for Dean.

These small fish are tagged with an electronic transponder and hopefully will be able to supply data for the next 150 years. This is how long these prehistoric fish reputedly live for. It’s not long before Julian is into something a bit bigger. After a fight to equal any salmon with spectacular leaps and runs we manage to boat a 5 footer. This is followed by several other fish around the 5 ft. mark.

Later in the day, I am lucky enough to boat a fish 6ft. 3ins. long. You cannot imagine catching a creature as big as this in a river. We manage to boat a total of 14 fish for the day. The fishing gods are looking after us.

On the way back upriver we witness the capture of an 8ft. sturgeon. It has to be taken ashore to have the hook removed and for measurements to be taken.

A truly awesome fish.

Some 3 weeks ago a fish of 11ft. 1ins.was captured from the same stretch that we had been fishing. It was estimated to be in excess of 1000lb and had, in fact, it made the columns of the Daily Mirror.

Back to the hotel for yet more drinks and fishy tales. I promise you there is not a pattern showing here.

Day 3

It was back to the Harrison today with the prospect of more salmon on the fly. I never thought I would tire of catching salmon. It was unbelievable sport. Nearly every cast you would hook into a fish.

Not always in the mouth! There were so many salmon swimming in front of you that it was inevitable that one or two would be foul hooked.

Try playing a 20lb. Chum salmon foul hooked in the tail on a single-handed rod. It will certainly test your tackle as I found to my cost with the breakage of my Greys rod.

We lost count of the fish we hooked into that day but between us all, it was well in excess of 100 fish, a truly wonderful experience.

At the end of the day guess what? Back to the hotel for more drinks and yet even more fishy tales.

Day 4

A bit of a change today, we tried bar fishing for King or Chinook salmon, as they are known locally.

The method involves anchoring on a shallow gravel bar over which the salmon are known to travel and you then fish a large lure known as a spin-n-glo. This is attached to a large weight.

Hopefully, the salmon spot the revolving lure and take it. We did manage to land 2 fish that day.

The smaller of the two was an immature king known locally as a jack and the largest was a monster fish, caught by Julian and estimated at about 45lb.

It was truly a magnificent fish. In fact the biggest salmon any of us had ever seen.

The day came to an end all to quickly so for a change it was back to the hotel for more beer and fishy stories.

Day 5

Day 5 was undoubtedly the highlight of the holiday.

After a 5.00 a.m. wake up call we travelled up to the deep blue waters of Harrison Lake.

From here, followed a 1-hour high-speed boat ride through some of the most spectacular scenery on earth until we arrived at the mouth of the Lillouete River situated at the top of the lake.

The river itself was in flood from the snowmelt coming down from the surrounding peaks.

It was the colour of milky tea.

Then came a boat ride like something from a day out at Alton Towers! Pretty hair raising stuff. Thats if you have got any left at our age.

We travelled up the shallow river till we arrived at the confluence with the Slowcat River.

This river thankfully was running gin clear and was given a 10-yard strip of clean water close to the bank where we were planning to fish.

George was into a fish on his first cast, a beautifully marked bull trout of about 2lb. It wasn’t long before we were all experiencing bent rods. Bull trout, Dolly varden and wild rainbows made up most of the catch, with the odd chum salmon thrown in.

Beautiful fish in even more beautiful surroundings.

Always on the lookout for bears and other wild animals the day passed much too quickly.

An even wilder ride followed on the downstream journey. We arrived back at the hotel that night with the knowledge that today had been something special. It was a day never to be forgotten.

Day 6

Our last day of fishing and we decided that we would like another day on the boat, fishing for Sturgeon.

After having a good night out it proved to be a wise decision. Not so busy as our first Sturgeon fishing day but still getting plenty of bites.

They were proving a lot harder to hook than on our previous trip.

 After catching a few small ones George managed to land a fish measuring 6ft. 11ins.long. It was estimated at around 250lb. A monster of a fish.

The Fraser is reputed to hold fish several 1000lb in weight. This is not hard to imagine when you see the size and flow of the river.

Unfortunately, this was our last day and it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes ready to be picked up by the limousine, then off to the airport for our flight home.

As far as fishing holidays go this was one of the best we have had. I would have no hesitation in recommending Great River Fishing Adventures to organise the trip for you.

They were first class.

Should anyone require further information about the holiday please feel free to contact me at marlinman@btopenworld.com or sales@fastmailtackle.co.uk alternatively the Email address of the guiding company is info@greatriverfishing.com (Dean Werk)

Roll on next year!