Cowichan River

[Scott2010]

I was there Sunday, fished down to the 70.1 mile trestle. Water was pretty nice, higher than expected, but a nice emerald green. No luck for us, but some of the other guys landed a couple bows the odd brown. With the rains this week the river will certainly be higher. Good Luck

S

Hit the upper fly fish only section above Skutz Falls.Some hog Brown Trout in that stretch of water.That's what I would do if I was a fly guy!

 

[Bruce Lee]

I was there Sunday, fished down to the 70.1 mile trestle. Water was pretty nice, higher than expected, but a nice emerald green. No luck for us, but some of the other guys landed a couple bows the odd brown. With the rains this week the river will certainly be higher. Good Luck

S

Thanks for the replies Scott and fishnfnatic, I'll post back here with a report....and hopefully some pics!

 

[OldShoreFisherman]

Someone on another forum told me privately that he and a friend caught 14 steelhead on the Cowichan on March 7. He is a bank angler who also claims publicly to have averaged six fish per three-hour outing on the Stamp throughout February. I do some coho fishing on the Cowichan in the fall, but I'm not really a steelheader; however, I know some people who are experienced on both the Cowichan and the Stamp and those numbers seem, well, a little hard to believe.

I wonder if anyone here has had anything like that kind of success on the Cowichan this year?

 

[Big Green Machine]

Someone on another forum told me privately that he and a friend caught 14 steelhead on the Cowichan on March 7. He is a bank angler who also claims publicly to have averaged six fish per three-hour outing on the Stamp throughout February. I do some coho fishing on the Cowichan in the fall, but I'm not really a steelheader; however, I know some people who are experienced on both the Cowichan and the Stamp and those numbers seem, well, a little hard to believe.

I wonder if anyone here has had anything like that kind of success on the Cowichan this year?

Some years on the Stamp we have caught double digit Steelhead between two anglers from a boat. It happens, but most were hatchery, some not photo quality. Not sure those numbers on the Cowie are common though, especially walking and wading.

 

[fshnfnatic]

Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration to me.In a drift boat no problem,but not from the bank in this day and age.Maybe
back in the 70's or 80's,but not now with the stocks the way they are.

 

[steelmadness]

Ok lets break it down. "Rolled" 1 at first light. 2 snags that coulda been fish. Buddy saw a guy land 1. 2 smolts. Buddy 2 smolts. 1 large 18" resident bow. Talked to a couple other guys, who of course had 2 fish days.......yep sounds like a 14 fish day to me.

 

[CowCatcher]

14 fish day . . . from the bank? Really like to know where that spot is on the river!

 

[wayne marwood]

I had a couple 20 fish days in the 80s and 90s most were caught in the same spot fish were coming up the river the nexted days went there not a fish

 

[cowieslabslayer]

Had lots of big number days on the cowie in the 90s and early 2000s. In the last ten years though dismal. Lots of skunk days on the boat, and shore! There were spots that produced all day long!! they are long gone from the river changing yearly. Not the same holding water that there once was!

 

[CowCatcher]

Sounds like I took up steelhead fishing on the Cowichan a little too late. It's a great sport, gorgeous surroundings but would be nice to tie into the occasional fish a little more often. The so-called experts say the hatchery program wasn't working . . . is it just me or does that sound like a lot of crap to anyone else? Aren't our license fees and "conservation stamp" fees supposed to be directed at enhancement programs? I didn't realize they meant enhancement for the natives netting program and the up-island rivers.

 

[eroyd]

The so-called experts say the hatchery program wasn't working . . . is it just me or does that sound like a lot of crap to anyone else? Aren't our license fees and "conservation stamp" fees supposed to be directed at enhancement programs? I didn't realize they meant enhancement for the natives netting program and the up-island rivers.

How's the hatchery system working for the Stamp these days? For the amount of money pumped into those hatchery steelhead they are getting a pretty pathetic return. The artifical bubble burst. The few caught are pretty darn expensive "keepers". Enhancement money should go into enhancement, not plugging the river with inbred robots. . . . . And yeah! Those netting steelhead at the fisheries present state should be hung by their peers.

 

[Geolofish]

Walked down from spring pool on Saturday, sad to see someone has been in there with a chainsaw cutting down some of the tree's and brush along the banks of the river (just down from spring pool before the big bend). Seem's like a pretty irresponsible thing to do just because you are getting caught up in the brush, what was once a great wading spot has now lost all of its cover and protection for the trout. If this was a planned trimming along the banks for the health of the river I would understand but at this point I am confused and annoyed at the loss of a great fishing run.

 

[SpringVelocity]

How's the hatchery system working for the Stamp these days? For the amount of money pumped into those hatchery steelhead they are getting a pretty pathetic return. The artifical bubble burst. The few caught are pretty darn expensive "keepers". Enhancement money should go into enhancement, not plugging the river with inbred robots. . . . . And yeah! Those netting steelhead at the fisheries present state should be hung by their peers.

44

So your aware the lake cowichan salmonoid enhancement society does a lot of enhancement in that river...but a hatchery is needed as well. I always believe in both....I do agree just having hatchery won't do it...

 

[Bruce Lee]

Fished above Skutz on Friday, only touched one fish, washed a lot of flies! Nice day though.

 

[CowCatcher]

Don't know how much money they're pumping into the Stamp system but a couple of guys I've talked to on the Cowichan have told me they've had some good productive days up there on a fairly regular basis. Not a claim we can make down here. And I absolutely agree that habitat enhancement and hatchery programs need to go hand-in-hand.
I've also got a question for some of you guys who have been on this river for a while -- when there's been a bit of a rainfall, how long does it take for steelhead to move up the river (to the Riverbottom area)

How's the hatchery system working for the Stamp these days? For the amount of money pumped into those hatchery steelhead they are getting a pretty pathetic return. The artifical bubble burst. The few caught are pretty darn expensive "keepers". Enhancement money should go into enhancement, not plugging the river with inbred robots. . . . . And yeah! Those netting steelhead at the fisheries present state should be hung by their peers.

 

[chevyshaulass]

the river is full of wild spawners in low water conditions right now that are literally doing their thing as we speak. leave them be, they've made it this far after being pounded on and sorelipped the last 2+ months now they need/deserve a break. It makes me cringe when people start popping off about big days this time of year, kinda like a certain guide who posted on facebook the other day about the upper cow being loaded with steelhead and the pic that went along with it was of a dirty old doe that either just spawned, or was spawning into the bottom of his raft.

 

[eroyd]

Too bad that the upper river couldn't be closed to steelhead while they spawn but still allow trout fishing. Can't imagine anything that would work. The temptation to swing gear in front of those long shadows is eventually too tempting for most of us.

 

[chevyshaulass]

its not just the upper river, they are spawning all through the system. and im not saying there aren't any fresh fish still, but when you hook 10 fish and out of those 10, 6 are dark ones within hours/days of spawning, 2 are kelts, and the other 2 are fresh ones, its time to call it quits or focus on some other systems. I did my last drifts almost 2 weeks ago when we started to get a 50/50 mix.

the cowichan in its present state is an anomaly, basically an urban river with a crazy amount of boat and bank fishing pressure, the odd bit of netting, spearing, etc. and yet these wild steelhead with all the odds stacked against them still seem to persevere through all this, and return to spawn in respectable numbers, I cant imagine why anyone would want to tamper with that. Its been 5+ years without a hatchery and things seem to be ok, I say give it another 5 years to really get a good idea where we are at in terms of needing/wanting the hatchery program back.

 

[Jwolfe]

Ya I love seeing pictures of boots scraped right off there Reds ,yep these fish have to be hungry and not protecting anything

 

[Rum Buddies]

the river is full of wild spawners in low water conditions right now that are literally doing their thing as we speak. leave them be, they've made it this far after being pounded on and sorelipped the last 2+ months now they need/deserve a break. It makes me cringe when people start popping off about big days this time of year, kinda like a certain guide who posted on facebook the other day about the upper cow being loaded with steelhead and the pic that went along with it was of a dirty old doe that either just spawned, or was spawning into the bottom of his raft.

why don't you just say it's the rambling fishermen?