REGULAR STORE HOURS: Mon - Fri: 9am - 5.30pm 
The Shuswap river is really heating up now. There are plenty of fish in the system and the pools are teeming with great Chinook. The fish break the surface of the water as they over crowd the pools and their aggression builds. The favourite pools such as Cook Creek and Kingfisher are doing quite well now if you have the right gear on and you are in the right spots.
The South Thompson is starting to fill also now. I drove past Banana Island on Monday night and there was 1 boat fishing. On my return trip home Wednesday morning at 7:30, I was able to see 2 boats out in the pool and 3 fish rise as I drove past. Seeing 3 fish rise as I am going past at 80kms would give me a pretty good indication that the pool is full and ready for some exciting days of Salmon fishing. Try J-Plugs, FST's, Crocs, Coyote spoons, Kitimats and Coho's along with floating roe for a chance at hooking some strong fighting Springs here on the local river. I have fished these Chinook for many years and I have had some very good success by working the river, trying new things and spending time figuring out what they are into at that particular time and in that pool that I am fishing. Stop in and see us here at the shop and we will gladly share our experiences with you and try our best to help you get into some of these nice fish.
Little Shuswap Lake is hot right now with several customers coming in with tales of the big one that got away or in in Bill LeClair's case, the big one that he landed. Bill was kind enough to send us a photo so that I could share it with our readers. Bills fish is a prime example of how nice these fish can be when they get here and how fresh they can be. These fish have enough power to leave the ocean and arrive in our local waters in just a few short days.
Bill LeClair with a Great 25# Chinook that he caught in little Shuswap Lake. This fish still has its chrome ocean scales!
The Fraser river panel is meeting on a regular basis and I have posted the link so that everyone can read the latest meeting results. It looks like they are watching the river and salmon stocks very closely and hoping to get a fishery for Chinook and Pink salmon opened up as soon as they feel it is safe to do so. The main focus right now is protecting the low Sockeye stocks and I feel that they are taking the right actions to do so. I would rather not fish this year so that I can fish in 4 years rather than fish this year and hurt the number so that I can't fish for the next 3-4 cycles. Walking the line of conservation will ensure that the fish are here for us to enjoy in the future and also ensure that our children will be able to fish with us and pass it along to their children.
I have tried to help some people out with fishing the Shuswap river and gave them directions to a small pool that I used to fish and really enjoyed. This pool is only accessed by following a river bed so that you do not trespass on the private property. I was very clear with these people on how to access the pool and how to respect the land owner by not trespassing and not leaving their garbage behind. I was approached a few days later by the land owner who was less than happy with the people disregarding the advice that I had given them. The people were trespassing and leaving fishing line and other types or garbage behind when they left. I would like to apologize to those land owners for the actions of these people. I was very clear on how they were to conduct themselves if they chose to fish this spot and they disregarded my advice and consequently have ruined it for others.
I am also going to remind all anglers that there are specific rules when it comes to salmon fishing and we have a separate set of regulations available to outline these regulations. I am posting the fisheries notice link so that everyone can easily find it and check it on a regular basis as their regulations will change in-season with a day or two of notice. I recently had to clarify that you can only keep 10 Chinook in fresh water, no matter where they come from in British Columbia. In addition to that total of 10, there are size, daily and monthly limits in the different water sheds and regions. For example, you can now keep 4 fish a day from the Shuswap river, HOWEVER, only 2 may be larger than 50cm. You are also only allowed 4 fish in one month from region 8, which means if you have two good days and catch your daily limit of salmon over 50cm, you can not keep another salmon from region 8 in that month. If you have any questions about the salmon fishing regulations, please come by and we can provide you with a salmon supplement book or answer them for you, and any question that we can not answer, we can definitely help you find so that we are all a little wiser and following the rules.
Get out and take advantage of this amazing time of year, spend time salmon fishing with family or friends and remember.....
Enjoy Your Outdoors!