Spring! Sort of... How it's been and how it's going.

Although this may be an unpopular opinion lately, it's been a great Spring! Not the Spring we're typically used to but a great one for fish, and the fisherman on the Cowichan. Consistent rains and cool temperatures although not great if you're looking to get that summer tan started are a wonderful combination for a trout river, the trout in it, and everything that depends on that ecosystem for survival. As a fisherman and someone who understands this, it's hard to not appreciate what this weather does for the ecosystem we love so much. Everything is healthy and happy. That's a good thing!

So how's it been? We're almost 2 months in now so it's pretty easy to look back and reflect on everything. The first thing I'd like to reflect on is all the great guests I've had the pleasure of having in my boat this spring. Without getting too sappy I do want to give a sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart! I guide for a lot of reasons but one of the main ones is the great people I get to meet and spend my days with. So thank you all for helping me support my dreams and trusting me with your day. In short it's been a wonderful spring of fishing and guiding. But of course we all need a little more detail to satisfy us. So let's go over this on a monthly basis.

End of March was typical. The rainbows were in full spawn. Browns were relatively active. The temperatures were average but it never warmed up much. The salmon fry were starting to hatch but not significantly. There were some BWO hatches but very few trout looking up to greet them. We also seen some stoneflies hatching. Once again the water level and temperature just weren't quite there to have trout really looking up. Although you'd see the odd rise. This is typical for March on any year. We did have a few rockstar streamer days. But fewer than usual. Of course nymphing produced well whenever utilized. 

April was a weird month. We had every kind of weather nature could throw at us. It even snowed a few times! Despite this fact the fishing very good! The rainbows were post spawn and eager to eat and the browns were very active as well. We had the start of our major hatches. In particular the Western March Brown hatch (WMB). We had some great dry fly days and seen some very sizeable browns hooked on the surface. There was a period there where the browns weren't very picky especially when there was a drizzle of rainfall. They were just really happy to be eating bugs again! Streamer fishing was on average slow. Way slower than typical for April. But once again we had some good streamer days. Nymphing was there to take its place and provide good action.

May has been great as well. The trout are in incredible shape. The rainbows and the browns have been putting the feedbag on. They're happy and in excellent spring condition. This is due to good Caddis hatches as well as multiple Mayfly hatches. For whatever reason streamer fishing has been a bit more consistent finally. This is most likely due to water temperature and salmon fry finally being around in good numbers. If theres more fish around it makes sense that trout will key in on them a bit more. Another great thing thats happened this May is fairly significant bump of water. About a week ago I was getting ready to pack the drift boat away and pull the raft out. Then some major rains came and bumped the river up higher than we're used to seeing in Spring. A bit of blessing. The drift boat stays in use and most likely we'll be looking at an extended season of drifting the river.

So where do we go from here? Well as stated above, we keep on fishing! This bump of water has given us a wonderful cushion for drifting, fishing, and guiding. We get to keep doing what we love in comfort. I still have a few dates in late May I'm willing to guide and will also be looking at booking the first week of June. I'll be booking June on somewhat of a last minute basis. The last thing I'd ever want to do is cancel a trip on a guest. I know how excited everyone gets for their day because I get equally as excited! If you'd like to grab one of those last May spots feel free to contact me at [email protected] Also I'll be creating a June list for those interested in getting out on the water for what may be our first month of nice weather this year! Get ahold of me if you want to capitalize on the great fishing this spring.