Vedder-Chilliwack River Fall Salmon Fishery

The Vedder/Chilliwack River is one of BC’s top producing salmon fisheries. Located just over 1 hour East of Vancouver, this system offers endless kilometers of easily accessible river front, suitable for all levels of fishing. Anglers of all techniques (and we mean getting fish to bite your presentation) can fish on this system and be highly successful as it offers various water types. Between the times of late August to early December, fall salmon can be caught throughout the entire river as thousands of fish pour into the river as their final stop of their migration.

During the fall, on every odd numbered year (not including this year as it is a non-Pink salmon year), you may encounter any of the 5 salmon species. In this blog post we have included fish timing, behavior, habits, description, as well as daily quotas in the Chilliwack/Vedder River.

Chinook Salmon

The largest of the Pacific Salmon species, they average 6-20lbs, with fish easily upwards of 50lbs being caught every year. Chinook Salmon will sit in any water type, although they are commonly found in deep pools or fast troughs. They are a very aggressive fish and respond well to a variety of presentations and baits.

Species I.D. – Black Mouth, black gums, large sporadic spots on back, and round spots on both lobes of tail.

Baits & Lures – Bright wool combinations soaked in scent, Pro-Cured roe, #4 or #5 Blue Fox Vibrax Spinner, Colorado blade

Flies – Popsicles or “intruder” style flies of bright colours tied with materials that have lots of movement ie. rabbit or marabou

Daily Quota – Be sure to check the current regulations for daily quota.

Coho Salmon

Generally averaging 2-14lbs, with fish upwards of 18lbs not uncommon. They are known for being easily spooked, which means they can be quite shy when they enter the river, but with the right water conditions and presentation you can trigger their aggressive ocean nature. They tend to hang out in slow deep pools or under log jams, or in faster flows traveling close to shore. They are enticed by yarn combos, jigs (float fished or twitched), flies and they absolutely love spinners and roe.

Species I.D. – White Mouth with a possible black edge, white gums, black tongue, and a few round spots on upper lobe of tail.

Baits & Lures – Variety of wool colours, Pro-Cured Roe, Shrimp, Blue Fox Vibrax Spinner, Gibbs Koho Spoon, Colorado Blade, Twitching Jigs

Flies: Blue Demon Salmon Fly, UV Copper Coho Spanker, The Pink and Purple Polar Bear Coho Punisher, The Green Fox Coho Crusher, UV Blue Egg Sucking Coho Spanker

Daily Quota – Be sure to check the current regulations for daily quota.

Chum Salmon

One of the larger of the Pacific Salmon species, the Chum Salmon are an underrated game fish. They can sometimes turn colour quite quickly or become ferocious looking even though they haven’t been in freshwater for very long. They can be super aggressive and pull hard. Chum Salmon will generally rest in any water type. Chum Salmon respond very well to jigs.

I.D. – (Varying in condition) Either chrome with faint purple bars, or greenish colour with purple bars, no spots.

Baits / Lures: Sea-Run Custom Chum Jigs, Variety of Wool Colours, Flash Glo Hootchie Spinner

Flies: Popsicle, Clouser Minnows in Pink and Chartreuse

Daily Quota – Be sure to check the current regulations for daily quota.

Pink Salmon (Odd numbered years only)

Although small, these fish show up in plentiful numbers every odd year, and are a blast to hook up. They tend to hang out in slower moving water in large schools and are quite aggressive to a variety of lures and flies.

I.D. – White mouth, black gums, tiny scales, large oval spots on back and tail. Spawning males with have a large humped back.

Baits / Lures: Gibbs Mega Watt, Gibbs, Kodiak, Blue Fox Vibrax Size 3 Pink, Grub Tail Jigs

Flies:  Handlebar, Wooly Bugger, Pink Muddler, Pink Clouser

Daily Quota – Be sure to check the current regulations for daily quota.

Sockeye Salmon

These fish are strictly catch and release on the river and should be handled with extreme care and attention. Sockeye returning to the Vedder/Chilliwack during the fall months will most likely be adipose fin clipped, meaning they are Cultus Lake stock. They can be easily mistaken for a hatchery coho, so make sure you do not accidently retain one of these rare fish.

I.D. – Large scales, small black speckles or no spots, no spots on tail. Spawning colours will turn from chrome into a light pink with green head.

Sockeye should not be targeted.

Daily Quota: NO RETENTION

Scents

Scents can play a major role in triggering a bite from a Salmon that has stopped feeding. Scenting your roe, wool, artificial eggs, jigs, and lures can give you the upper hand on other anglers while other things may not be working.

Good  Scents for Salmon fishing:

• Pro-Cure Ghost Shrimp Oil/Gel
• Pro-Cure Shrimp Oil/Gel
• Pro-Cure Garlic Oil/Gel
• Smelly Jelly Shrimp
• Smelly Jelly Anchovy
• Smelly Jelly Herring

Effective Methods of Fishing

Float Fishing / Drift Fishing:

Rods: 9’6″ – 11’3″ Medium or Medium Heavy Action

•     Fenwick HMX Medium Action
•     Trophy XL Medium-Light Action
•     St Croix Wild River Medium-Light Action

Reels: Levelwind-Baitcasting or Centrepin

•     Abu Garcia BCX6600
•     Abu Garcia 6500C3
•     Daiwa Luna 253 or 300

Mainline: 15-20lb Monofilament or 20-50lb Braided Line

Leader Line: Seaguar 12-20lb Fluorocarbon

Floats: Cleardrift 20-35gram or DNE 20-35gram

Weights: Hollow Pencil Lead or Split Shot

Swivels: Size 7-12 Barrel or Crane

Hooks: Size 2 – 2/0 Owner or Gamakatsu Octopus

Baits / Presentations: Cured Roe, Cured Shrimp, Wool Combinations, Colorado Blades

Spinner / Spoon Fishing for Fall BC Salmon:

Rods: 8’6″ – 10′ Medium Light or Medium Action

Reels: Levelwind-Baitcasting or Spinning

Mainline: 12-14lb Monofilament or 20-40lb Braided Line

Leader line (if necessary): 12-14lb Monofilament

Swivels (if necessary): Size 7-12 Barrel

Lures/Spinners (depending on species): Blue Fox Vibrax, Gibbs Croc, Gibbs Coho, Gibbs Kodiak, Flash Glo w/ Hootchie

Twitching Jigs:

Rods: 8’6″ – 10′ Medium Light or Medium Action

Reels: Levelwind-Baitcasting or Spinning

Mainline: 12-14lb Monofilament or 20-40lb Braided Line

Leader line (if necessary): 12-14lb Monofilament

Swivels (if necessary): Size 7-12 Barrel

Jigs: Marabou Jigs, Grub Tail Jigs

Fly Fishing:

Rods: 9′-12’6″ Single Hand, Switch, or Spey

Reels: Large Arbor 7-10wt Reel suitable for proper line and targeted species

Lines: Floating Line, Floating line w/ Sink Tip, or Full Clear Intermediate Sink Line

Leader: 12-20lb Seaguar Fluorocarbon

Well that concludes this blog post. I hope you find this information useful. If you have any questions give us a call at 604-931-5044 or email searun2013@gmail.com or stop by the shop #110-1140 Austin Avenue, Coquitlam BC.

Tight Lines and Safe Fishing,

Cody “Coho” Sojka