Is this weather great or what? It came late, yes, but we will take it.
I left my favourite area and fishery for the last segment of this series.
The Thompson is a tried and true fly fisherman's river. She doesn't give up her trophies easily, but she does give them often enough to keep the wonder in it.
The section from Lytton to Ashcroft is an enigma.
Daytime temperatures in this region are often the second hottest in North America, only one area in Arizona gets hotter.
Fishing in the evening at these times has a tropical feel with thermometer reading 30 C well past midnight.
This is the stuff written about by Hemingway, Zane Grey, Jack London and the like; wading wet in the moon light, after a fire red sundown, when salmon flies (the largest of the stoneflies, some measuring up to three inches in length) raise trout two and a half feet in length.
Did I do well in the Thom?
Of course I did. It's why I'm drawn to the town of Spences Bridge every August. Big fish and big flies.
I tie my adult stonefly imitations on size four atlantic salmon dry fly hooks.
"Sacrilege," some would claim but I pay them no mind.
They aren't the one experiencing the aggressive slash, grab and run of a two foot trout, just out of sight, somewhere the blackness of the night.
THE REPORT
Our Lower Mainland lakes are fishing fair to slow. For wet (sinking) fly trout fishing try coachman, Zulu, wooly bugger, dragonfly nymph, damsel nymph, sixpack, doc spratley, pumpkinhead or baggy shrimp.
For evening dry (floating) fly trout fishing try Tom thumb, irresistible, royal coachman, renegade, elk hair caddis, black gnat, griffith gnat or Lady McConnel.
For kokanee try red ibis, double trude, blood worm, San Juan worm, red spratley or red carey.
For bass try zonker, Clouser's deep minnow, Lefty's deceiver, dolly whacker, big black, wooly bugger, foam frog, poppers, Chernobyl ant or crayfish.
For panfish try wooly bugger, micro leach, bucktail, dolly whacker, bloodworm, chironomid, poppers, turks tarantula, Tom thumb or irresistible.
Fishing on our interior lakes is good.
For wet fly fishing try chironomid, halfback, 52 buick, pumpkinhead, big black, micro leach, coachman, green spratley, damsel nymph, dragon nymph, carey special, souboo, sixpack or baggy shrimp.
For Dry fly fishing try Lady McConnel, black gnat, double hackled peacock, Griffith gnat, black gnat, elk haired caddis, irresistible, sofa pillow or Tom thumb.
The Fraser is fishing slow for cutthroat, dolly varden and spring.
For cutthroat try rolled muddler, professor, Anderson stone, Zulu, American coachman, renegade, Tom thumb, black gnat, chez nymph and irresistible.
For dolly varden try zonker, eggo, Clouser's minnow, big black or dolly whacker in sizes four and eight.
For spring try lead-heading with size four to two, eggo, big black, flat black, wooly bugger, Kaufmann stone, Squamish poacher or red spratley.
The Harrison is fair for cutthroat.
The Vedder is slow for rainbow and cutthroat.
For rainbow try: Kaufmann stone, big black, black gnat, souboo, Zulu, renegade, Tom thumb, Chernobyl ant, foam hopper or irresistible. The Thompson is good for rainbow.
