Cowichan River

Got out on the weekend and the river has really changed alot. Highwater is not our friend. Stoltz is not the same and Sandy lost alot of bank as the river went right through the park. Vimy lost all the gravel they put in there a couple of years ago so taking out is not good. Lost a couple of corners as the Washout just goes right now. Lots of good spots are now gone because the river continues to get wider as its losing the banks. Fishing was slow for us.
 
Thanks for the report Fins. Not many good news this year for steelheads all over the island. Hopefully the fish are just late but not looking good for both the river or fish wise.
 
Was out today. Walked upstream from Holt Creek. The foot bridge at Holt Creek is gone. Some gravel moved around around but the runs we hit fished the same. Water decent level with about 2' visibilty. Saw three other anglers and one drift boat. No fish. Raining hard.
 
Got out there today with my buddy. He was floating beads and I was fly fishing. Hooked into a nice one on an egg sucking leech. Fins is right about the river being different. Lots of good holes now gone and bank is eroded like crazy. Hopefully we don't see another storm like we had any time soon.
89032577_10219383889241023_3940345573084758016_n.jpg
 
Last edited:
KCW said:
Read somewhere that the sunscreen lotion was killing insects and fish !
Click to expand...

Yes! Not poisoning the fish as such, but it kills aquatic insects like caddisflies, stoneflies and mayflies which are a huge component of a trout's diet. It also can coat the surface film and inhibit their ability to hatch properly as well as suffocate their eggs. There is safe sunscreen which is better for wildlife but noone ever uses it. Also as Robb said there is a huge volume of trash that the tubers just throw into the river on purpose, or accidentally when their coolers tip over. Seen that happen many times.

Also the peak time for tubing is also the time when the fish are under the most stress due to low water levels, so I would suspect that the literal hundreds of tubers on the river each day add exponentially to the stress of the fish. If you ever wanna see a complete gong show check out the Greendale road pullout in August (not this summer thankfully)
 
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