It’s been a busy 3 weeks since our last report, we have been traveling through BC & Alberta working consumer trade shows and in-store promotions. On Saturday Vic Carrao of STS will be at the Wholesale Sports Store located in Langley for their one day Super Sale. Vic will be working the floor answering any questions you have on rods, reels or techniques to put more fish in the boat, drop by and say hello. We will also have our 28ft Hells Gate Jet Boat Tour boat on site. Next weekend Vic will be in Grande Praire, Alberta. If you live in the area, drop by and say hello.

We Just got back from a quick trip to the Snake River in Idaho, if you ever get a chance to take a run on this river, it is an amazing place

Steelhead Report

Steelhead fishing this week has been excellent, lots of fish in the system. With warmer air temperatures these fish are very aggressive which could explain the great fishing this past week. Lots of rain in the forecast for the next couple days which could have some effect on the river, water levels are currently moderate but a few down pours and we could see some increased water levels. Time to scale down your offering and move to smaller dime sized roe bags or single egg imitations. Our favorite is a pink glo bug, white yarn with a shrimp tail hanging off the back. Give it a try.

STS Guide Braeden Szlabon with a beauty Vedder River Steelhead caught this week.

Fraser River Sturgeon

We had our first few charters go out this week for sturgeon, last week STS Guide Rob Deileman landed a 9ft 1 inch sturgeon so needless to say he is on the leader board. Two other charters that went out this past week also did well, Doug managed 9 sturgeon on a 6 hour charter and we landed 2 more a short 4 hour charter. Water temperatures are on the rise but still near the 40 degree range which is quite cold for sturgeon. As water temperatures rise, sturgeon activity will also increase and the fishery will become more consistent.

There really hasn’t been a “best bait” as these fish are not really keyed in on any one food source but that will change soon. Sturgeon will soon start to feed on Eulachon as these small bait fish will begin their river migration over the next month. Several regulations that you need to be aware of when using Eulichon, you must have proof of purchase with you while fishing and you must take the head off as the rule for using Fin Fish is that it must be headless.

If you are looking for some new sturgeon gear, drop by Wholesale Sports in Langley this Saturday and I would be happy to help you choose the right gear to get you into that trophy sturgeon.

Vancouver Salmon Fishing

Fishing for winter Chinook Salmon has been fair to good the past couple weeks, lots of keeper fish being caught as well as under sized. Our 28ft Kingfisher is just getting a quick oil change down at Pitt Meadows Marine and then she will be back home at the Delta Airport Hotel where we have quick and easy access to both Saltwater salmon fishing and lower River Sturgeon Fishing.

As the weather improves over the next month fishing for salmon in Vancouver area and Gulf Islands also improves. Last season we did very well and caught fish on almost every charter so we are really looking forward to the upcoming season. An estimated 20-70 million sockeye salmon is going to make this summer crazy busy catching fish. If you are looking for that dream day, book now to secure your date. July and August are going to be excellent.

Win A FREE Gibbs/Delta Saltwater Fishing Package ( includes the new Guide Series Flasher, G- Force Spoons, & the New Glo Hoochies )

2 ways to win – go to our facebook page and share our report – https://www.facebook.com/STSGuiding

Or

– go to our Facebook page and just post the words ” Win A FREE Gibbs/Delta Saltwater Fishing Package” under the report.

Last week we had several charters out on the water with the help of our friends and associates at Bon Chovy, give us a call if you are looking to get out

Speaking of Saltwater Salmon Fishing, I just finishing reading the pre-season forecast for the Columbia River. 1.6 Million Chinook and just under 1 million Coho is forecasted to return down south. Why do we care what the return is to the Columbia you ask? Well, all these fish must swim past Vancouver to get to their home waters. We have two locations to target salmon on the ocean, our Delta Airport Hotel Location is just 13 minutes from the mouth of the Fraser River where millions of salmon are expected this summer and our Vancouver Island location near Winter Harbour offers some of the best salmon fishing found anywhere in British Columbia and will target not only BC bound salmon but also Columbia River Salmon.

HALIBUT RETENTION ADJUSTMENTS FOR 2014

Great News from our hard working friends at the Sport Fishing Institute – This seasons Halibut allocation is slightly different from 2013, we are now able to keep some larger Halibut – DFO has changed the sizes for retained halibut this season to 90 cm and 133 cm respectively, so that anglers will be able to retain slightly larger fish this year. This is great news for all of British Columbians but there is still much work to do.

Spring Seminars for 2014

We still have some seats available for our Sturgeon and Jet Boat Seminar, if you are interested please give us a call or e-mail.

More information on these seminars can be found at http://www.guidebc.com/seminar_sturgeon.asp

Hells Gate Jet Boat Tours

We still have seats available for May 2, August 9, August 12 & August 23, this is a 4 hour Hope to Hells Gate Tour, new for 2014 we will also be offering a 2 hour Hope to Sailor Bar Tour. More information can be found at http://hellsgatejetboattours.com/index.asp

HCM Jet Boat Builders SOLD

Last but not least I thought I would speak on the recent sale of HCM to Renaissance Marine. In case you have not heard Hells Canyon Marine is now owned by the same people who build Kingfisher, Duckworth and Weldcraft Boats. From what I have been told Renaissance will use the HCM facility to catch up on some of their other lines of boats and once that is complete, they will continue to build the HCM brand. In the meantime if you have any issues with your HCM that is under warranty, just call HCM. If your warranty is up or you have a jet boat and need some pump work or other repairs, WET EVER Service Repair & Fabrication can look after all your needs.

WET EVER LLC is owned and operated by Eric Sherman of Clarkston Washington, Sherman and partner Andy have worked on HCM’s, Customwelds, Bentz and many other brands of Jet boats. These guys are some of the best when it comes to repairs and fabrication, they have been working on STS boats for many years.

Call – 208-790-3222

Have a great weekend

Vic Carrao

Just want to give a huge shout out to Marlon Products who hooked us up with a new Marlon Inflatable Boat, cant wait to get it on our Kingfisher and head out to the West Coast
These guys have some great products including boat docks, boat lifts, aluminum boats and much more. You can check out their site at http://www.marlonproducts.com/index.asp

Well looks like another record attendance at the BC Boat & Sportsman Show, we would like to thank all our family, friends and customers who dropped by our booth over the weekend, it was great seeing you all. For me this was a special show as it is our 20th anniversary this year. Reflecting on the many trade shows, seminars and great trips we have done was really special.

Here is a picture for the scrap book, two old guys who have been in the business along time, Fred Helmer owner of Freds Custom Tackle & STS Owner Vic Carrao

Speaking of Freds Custom Tackle, they had some great show specials on and if you didn’t get a chance to drop the show, these specials are still available for a few more days at his two locations in Chilliwack and Abbotsford. If you are looking for a great steal on some river rods, Fred is blowing out all his Fenwick HMX and Fenwick Elite Tech Series River Rods.

FISHBUM were at the show again this year, these guys are definitely ahead of their time. Some of the coolest clothing you will find anywhere. For the past two years STS has been working with Fish Bum to design all of our clothing. Our STS Hoodies and Gortex Jackets are both designed and manufactured by FISHBUM

No fishing show would be complete without our good friends at Scotty, Erik & Craig are two awesome guys who work as hard as anyone in the industry to develop and provide us fisherman with some of the best fishing equipment on the market. Every year they have new products to show and are leading the industry in innovation. Thanks for keeping us on the water fishing boys, see you in Edmonton.

STS Guides hanging with Scotty Boys, left to right – Rob, Tom, Craig, Erik & Doug

No Show would be complete without our good friends and sponsors Pure Fishing. Our booth at the show was rock’n all weekend showing off all the new products for 2014. If you were one of the lucky ones who purchased Fenwick or Penn Products, we had some great giveaways including Penn Dry Bags, Abu Garcia Hoodies, Fenwicj hoodies and hats and some Berkely Gulp Mugs.

If you were able to take in one of my seminars, I hope you enjoyed it, I know I really enjoyed speaking to the many people at the show and look forward to next year’s show. I would like to give a shout out to Jesse Martin who helping me out on stage this weekend. Jesse is a one of our Pure Fishing Pro Staff & Expert Bass Guide in the Okanogan. You can check out Jesse face book page at https://www.facebook.com/jesse.martin.731572

If you checked out the Hunting Show in building B I am confident you were impressed, this part of the show is growing exponentially each year and this year was no exception. Our good friends at Bushnell were busy all weekend showing why Bushnell is still #1 in hunting optics. Walt and Dave were working the booth hard and Al, well he was somewhere in the building, lol.

Last but not least the STS family worked hard all weekend, I hope you had a chance to drop by and say hello to your favorite guide and meet some of our families. We are off to Edmonton for the Edmonton Boat & Sportsman Show so if you are heading that way or live in the area, drop by and say hello. Pure Fishing, Scotty, Humminbird and STS will all be at the show so see you there.