Capilano River – Summer Coho Salmon
Trip Summary
It’s mid/late July and the Coho Salmon are moving up the Capilano River in North Vancouver, BC. On this trip, I did a quick early AM stop at the Cable Pool near the Hatchery. We haven’t seen any rain recently so the river level is very low so this makes for very difficult fishing. Reason being, there are no new fresh fish coming into the system with the low river levels, and the ones that are in the system are very pressured/closed mouthed.
Tackle Used in this Trip
I tried throwing metal spinners at them which is my “go-to” when the river levels are low. One of my favorites is a Blue Fox Vibrax spinner sizes 1-3 are ideal for this river. Surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly), I’ve had more luck with metal spinners and spoons than bait. That said, when the water levels bump up, I’ll likely switch back to bait (Roe & Shrimp) as my first offerings.
Unfortunately, I don’t catch anything on this trip but it made for a great start to my day! Any time in the canyons along the Capilano river is time well spent! With the darker light I didn’t take any photos, but instead let my GoPro do the media work this time. On the video (see below) you’ll see fly guys were the successful fishermen of the day.
Tackle
Here is the gear I used for this trip and still use when targeting these smaller Coho Salmon.
Fishing Location
Fishing up the upper river area of the Capilano. I’m fishing right at the fishing boundary, as you cannot fish above the walking bridge next to the Cable pool.
Cable Pool, Capilano River
During a low tide of 2-7 feet (Point Atkinson location) you can walk out quite far onto the tidal shelf at the mouth of the Capilano River.
To view real-time Tidal information at Point Atkinson see: Tides Charts
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