I fished the Vedder Monday with my son. The trip was part of his birthday present along with a curado reel. He had his best day ever of river fishing. The rain on Monday put some color in the water and got the river rising. I was surprised at how many people were fishing on Monday morning but there was plenty of room for each. We fished the hole at the end of Lickman Rd. Everybody had at least several fish on, though my son had 6 that were 30 + lbs. He lost the first after 45 minutes and a 1/2 mile trek down the river. Though we came within a few feet of getting it into a net, the fish broke off after we could no longer move down river. My son was terribly upset over losing the huge bright fish. Two minutes after getting back to the hole, he had another on. I couldn't believe it. He landed the 30 lb buck after 30 minutes and a 1/4 mile trek down river. He loss the next 3 fish after extended fights with each. His last fish gave him quite a battle though he had a heavier 14 lb leader this time. After 35 minutes and another trek down river I somehow managed to fit the large king in a net. It weighed 39 lbs but looked even bigger. My son was so elated. He made me take a half dozen pictures. I had two fish on breifly but spent most of my day chasing after my son with the net. I did catch a 25 lb king the day before so I wasn't completely shown up by my son. We used a very small pink and white corkie (about pea size)with a small piece of pink yarn. The bottom of this hole is very clean so we just bounced bottom with lead. Other people were fishing just a small piece of peach yarn under floats and doing well also. Though we didn't see any silvers caught, I'm sure they are there now after the rain. Crossing the boarder at Sumas was not a problem in either direction. Saturday afternoon it took 15 minutes for the 8 cars in front of me and being asked 3 times if we had any weapons. Less than 5 minutes coming back and answering mostly fishing questions.
My son has been constantly begging to go back, even for just a day.

Deepwater

I am glad there are not too many Canadians visiting this board otherwise based on what I have seen from some Washingtonians you would have been in DEEP WATER for giving that report. But I should not be generalizing. Canadian fishermen may not mind. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and thanks for the report. This river has been on my list for a long time. It probably takes me as long if not longer (Ferry) to go to Forks so I may give it a try one of these days. I have fished Babin (sp) area and Rivers Inlet salt water years ago. It is great fishing up there. How much is the one day license these days?

How far north of Seattle is this?

It is about 3 hrs from Seattle. A one day license will cost about 50 bucks. You must but an annual salmon permit and a one day license the first time, then on your next trip after that you only need to buy the license since you already have the permit.

A one day fishing license for the rivers is $9.50 US and a 8 day license is $19 US. A salmon conservation stamp cost $13.65 US and is good for the year. The stamp is only required to retain salmon. For catch and release it not required.

DEEPWATER

From my experience while fishing with Canadians on both the Frazier and Vedder rivers is that they freely give out information. Last year on the Vedder I was having no luck and met a local who not only showed me where to fish and what to use, he even let me make a few casts with his rod (in the hole he had been fishing) to help me get the feel right. This year, thanks to the knowledge I had from last year, I did much better, but the locals still gave me any information I asked for.

Us Canadians are not threatened by the publication of his trip to the Vedder. I'll explain why. The "Kings" he's fishing for are a white fleshed spring salmon...they taste like shat and in fact stink like shat when you slice them open. They are not considered a quality fish by most of the guys that fish seriously up here. As for the Vedder, it is the most crowded river in the Lower Mainland. The ethics on the river are appaling, and crowding is horrible. The spot he mention in his report is a confirmed gong show, and there was probably 20 guys standing in that spot, all bottom bouncing wool and hooking fish in the ass, head or on the outside of the mouth. A new type of fisherman has emeged on the Vedder, and some of them are carrying nets

That being said, the Vedder has it's redeeming qualities, but it takes numerous trips to the river to find the enjoyable spots to fish. Anyone who believes fishing the spot he mentions on that river is enjoyable must come from some pretty crowded locations. To each his own though and I imagine Deepwaters son had a great time hooking a couple big Springers.

As for the Salmon tag, you must purchase one if you are targeting any type of Salmon in any freshwater river in BC, even if it's C&R.

Beek,

If that is really the case about the license, Fred's must be steering ALOT of people wrong. When I bought my license, I explicitly asked if I needed a tag (like with steelhead) the guys at Fred's said NO. He said, "If you aren't going to retain the salmon, you DO NOT need a tag." Matt, I've been fishing Washington for salmon and steelhead for many years. I've seen every terminal salmon fishery we have here just about. As far as idiots, snaggers, and total chaos goes, we've got you beat HANDS DOWN! If you would ever like to see what a REAL gong show looks like, I invite you to come on down, and I'll show you some places that make the Vedder look like a convention of elite flyfishers.

Mark,

About the tag, I was always led to believe that you needed a tag anytime you were targeting salmon...although it's never happened before , I must be wrong on this one. Fred's should know the deal better than me.

It's amazing that you guys have the crowding problems that you do.I hate the gongs, and the Vedder is about all I can handle.

ps. how was your return trip?

Matt,

I guess it can be summed up by saying it's all relative. Yes, the Vedder is crowded. I too, HATE "Gong shows". My experience up there this year however, I consider overall, very pleasant. Not that I like fishing around alot of people, but that the people I WAS fishing around were very friendly and polite. I normally would have trekked off on a long hike to find some solitude, but my wife isn't usually up for that when it's rainy and cold. So, like Deepwater, we ended up fishing that area that has a gong show reputation. The two weekends we spent there, we always had about 15 feet on either side of us clear to fish. Since we were fishing the slot right against the bank, we really didn't need much more room than that. I always look around to see what kind of activities are going on around me, and since the Canadian techniques are a bit different than fishing down here, to see how they are putting the floats to use. What I saw was American drift fishing (bottom bouncing) with a float stuck on the line that seemed to serve no real purpose. EVERYONE had their float set high enough above their lead so that the lead was making contact with the bottom just like bottom bouncing. I never saw anyone's float actually go under with a bite. In fact, I couldn't tell you how they knew if there was a fish or not. They would hold the float back against the current so that it was swinging across almost like fly or spoon fishing. Anyway, I didn't see anywhere near the kind of blatant foul-hooking that I've seen down here. And when fish were foul-hooked, they were released (at least the ones that I saw) ethically, with a minimum of mistreatment. Matt, in my opinion, the situation up there, as intolerable as it might seem to you, seems pretty good to us Washingtonians because of the conditions we face down here. Even though white springs are considered second class fish up there, to us down here, the legitimate chance to hook 50lb. chinook is pretty appealing, even if you're not going to keep it to eat.

p.s. we did great on Sat, not so great on Sun.

[ 10-29-2001: Message edited by: 4Salt ]