Christmas Draw
Keith Brodt of Coquitlam was our monthly winner of the STS Fleece Vest. Keith, I have lost your phone number/e-mail, please contact us to claim your vest.

Fraser River
Cutthroat fishing has been fair to good throughout the upper river above Chilliwack and slow in the lower river below Chilliwack. The weather has been unpredictable, high winds have made fly fishing difficult but when it stops the bite turns on and we manage to hook a few fish. Single eggs have also worked well in the main channel where salmon have spawned in the shallower water.

Some of the harder to reach tributaries have been excellent fishing for RainbowTrout, Cutthroat and Dolly Varden Char. If you’re planning a trip into our area and would like to experience some great trout fishing just ask us about our backcountry-guided tours.

Sturgeon
Sturgeon fishing continues to be good, today we hooked 20 landed 14, largest was just over 7 feet caught by our guest Kent Larson from Oregon. Sturgeon fishing will continue to be good as long as this mild weather stays with us. I was quite surprised to see how aggressive theses fish have been, we had 2 jumpers and one fish nearly spooled us.

Vedder
Water conditions January 2 – Upper River – dropping and crystal clear, Lower River – dropping, clear visibility.

Good reports continue to come in from the lower river with the odd fish reported from the mid and upper river. Good numbers of hatchery and wild fish are being caught in both areas. Be sure to identify whether it’s hatchery or wild before landing your fish. Dragging a wild fish onto shore will greatly reduce its chances of survival even if you quickly get it back into the water.

We have just released a new article on Early Season Tactics for Steelhead on our website. You can view this article at
www.guidebc.com/articles/earlyseasonsteelheadtactics.asp

Steelhead seminar selling out fast.
This season will we once again be offering our annual steelhead/river fishing seminar. This seminar is a 3- day seminar. The first 2 days are 2 hours in a classroom where you will learn the how’s, where’s and when’s of river fishing plus how to make your own tackle and save tones of $$$$. The 3rd day is a 6-hour fish out on the Vedder River. There are some great prizes to give away and you will receive a FREE STS Ball cap. You will also go home with tackle that you make during the classroom sessions.
Seminar Dates: Hub Sports- January 14,16 & 19 5 spots remaining
Gills tackle- January 8, 10 & 13 Sold Out
January 15,17,& 20 3 spots remaining
Chehalis
Low clear water conditions
Each day we get reports of a few Winter Steelhead being caught but it’s still mostly dark Coho and the odd summer run Steelhead. We fished the canyon area recently and found that most of the productive water still had good numbers of Coho trying to spawn. I prefer to move on down the river and try to find new water to fish when I come across spawning Coho. If you continually hook spawning Coho it will eventually affect its ability to spawn. Soon the Coho will be gone and the Steelhead will dominate the more productive water. If you hook a spawning Coho, please handle it with care.

Harrison
The Harrison River has been difficult to fish the past few weeks due to heavy winds. If you manage to find an area with no wind you will probably find a few fish. We did manage to spend a few hours on the Harrison this week with limited results. I would still recommend fishing the Fraser over the Harrison.

Gibbs Nortac announces Kids Story Winners
WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Congratulations to Nathan from Nanaimo! Below is our Winning Story as well as the Runner-Up.
The Winning Story is also in this edition of the BC Outdoors Sport Fishing Magazine.

THE WINNER

"I was awake at 4:30 in the morning. I fell asleep in the truck. When we arrived at the Stamp River, was saw a black bear. I started to get bored of fishing. My dad called me. He gave me his rod. I ran downriver and got my foot stuck between two rocks. When I reeled in the fish, my dad said it was a coho. I took out all the guts. My dad said "I never caught a coho that big." It was 20 pounds and my dad took a picture of me and my coho. I printed it on my T-shirt. I love you, Dad, for teaching me fishing."
Nathan
Age 10
Nanaimo

THE RUNNER-UP

On our vacation in July, I caught something funny. I was jigging the bottom using a two-ounce Gibbs jigging spoon with my mom, stepdad and Uncle Brodie. I had a little nibble and started reeling it up. After a couple turns of my reel handle the fish felt a lot BIGGER! My mom helped me reel it in. It was a four-pound dogfish. My stepdad was taking it off the hook and started laughing. "Look at this," he said. There was a small flounder on the hook first, then the dogfish ate him and was hooked. My stepdad unhooked both and put them back in the water. That was one of the weird things I ever caught.
Sadie
Age 8
North Vancouver