Overall it has been a really solid Fall season of salmon fishing on the local rivers in and around Vancouver. We’ve seen healthy numbers of returning fishing starting in early October and that’s carried right through. As I write this on November 12th, we’re still enjoy really good fishing on the Squamish River system for coho salmon. With new DFO regulations in affect we cannot target chum salmon, more on that below. Overall river conditions have been good, we did have a high water event in the first week of November, with the Squamish River coming up about 9 feet over the course of 36 hours. The river is in great shape at the moment, it will likely be on the drop now unless we have warm weather and higher freezing levels.  Thanks for reading our latest Vancouver fishing report and if you’re looking for other options you can visit our page with November fishing trips in BC. For now here’s our November Vancouver fishing report and our latest fishing guide VLOG to kick it off…

VANCOUVER FLY FISHING REPORT

Squamish River coho salmon returns have been strong this year and we’ve had consistent fishing throughout October and November. Things will begin to slow down in mid November, as the majority of fish are in the river by then and we don’t get the fresh waves of new fish moving in. With water levels dropping and clearing we’ve been moving to smaller flies for targeting cohos, smaller olive and chartreuse wooly buggers have been the top producers for cohos this Fall.

We haven’t been doing much bull trout fishing but have found the odd one as we swing flies for cohos. Late November and December can be good months for targeting bull trout, fishing egg and flesh patterns.

The Cheakamus River fishing has been solid as well for cohos. We haven’t been fishing it that much as we like casting flies on the Squamish, but gear fishing with spoons and jigs on the Cheakamus has proven to be affective for wild and hatchery coho salmon.

SQUAMISH RIVER CHUM CLOSURE: We are dismayed with the Department of Fisheries & Oceans decision to close Squamish River chum fishing. Chum fishing is closed on the Squamish River and all tributaries. There was some confusion regarding the closure based on DFO regulations but fishing for chum salmon is closed and you cannot target them. If you do catch a chum salmon please do not take it out of the water and release it unharmed. All wild cohos must be released as well. One (1) hatchery coho can be retained if you have a salmon conservation license. Please know before you go, read the regulations and make sure you can identify fish species.

As we move into November we should still have a few more weeks of good salmon fishing on the Squamish River and will start moving towards fishing for bull trout once the salmon season wraps up.

We’ve booked up a lot of days in November for our fly fishing trips in Squamish, but still have openings. If you’re interested in a guided BC fly fishing trip this Fall have a look at our BC Fall Salmon Fishing page for more info and pricing.

VANCOUVER FISHING REPORT – SALMON CHARTERS

Things have been a bit slow for our Vancouver salmon fishing report. As to be expected this time of year, November doesn’t give us a ton of options for saltwater salmon fishing near Vancouver. We are seeing the first Winter chinook salmon locally but high winds have made getting out a bit tough. As we move into later November and December we will hopefully see better fishing conditions. Check back for a late November Vancouver fishing report when we’ll have some better info on the saltwater salmon fishing around Vancouver.

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About the Author

Austin Heffelfinger is a full time fly fishing guide with Chromer Sport Fishing, a guiding company and booking agency based in British Columbia. He is also an accomplished photographer with works published in many notable fly fishing publications. You can follow him at the links below.

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