Swirling rings of water, like the first signs of a maelstrom, twisted and subsided in the still water. It was March, and the backwaters of B.C.’s most prized possession, the Fraser River, were alive with the sights and sounds of predator and prey. Like a Discovery Channel special, the creatures that periodically inhabit those waters were eating and being eaten. Darting salmon fry were encountering the perils of their journey to the salt and cutthroat trout were gorging on their primary food source. Each salmon species has its own “personality”; a distinct outward appearance, migratory pace, and preferential spawning terrain. These traits in turn affect the feeding behaviour of the cutthroat trout as it moves from one food source to another. In some cases, the young salmon are consumed almost instantly upon leaving the river bed, often in their alevin stage before they have graduated to fry. In other situations, the predators ambush the small salmon as they make the arduous journey to the ocean.

Here is an attempt to chronicle the “hatches” that take place in the Northwest and to describe some of the more successful fly patterns that imitate young salmon.

Sockeye salmon have the most divergent personality of the five species. Sockeye eggs are incubated in the winter months and the fry hatch somewhere between January and March. Upon losing their egg-sacks, the fry head directly for their “nursery lake” where they will graduate to the smolt stage before making the trek to the ocean. This maturation period means that cutthroat will have few chances to stalk sockeye fry, putting them at the bottom of the list in terms of importance to the trout fisher. However, like any good rule, there are exceptions. Some sockeye spend their first year in river sloughs and backwaters or in lakes that can be accessed by journeying cutthroat. One prime example of this is Morris lake which runs into Morris Slouch and eventually empties itself into the Harrison river. Hungry cutthroat will sojourn to the mouth of Weaver Creek and feed on the sockeye fry that are traveling to Harrison Lake, their nursery habitat. While the accessibility of the Weaver creek sockeye habitat is a rarity, there are enough gems of prime cutthroat feeding areas to make sockeye a significant fry to observe. Interior rainbows are also known to gorge on sockeye fry in the clear waters of the Little, Shuswap, and South Thompson rivers as the immature salmon make their inaugural journey to the lake; there is also a rainbow fishery in Babine and Fulton Lakes.

While sockeye make a short journey immediately upon hatching, two of their distant cousins, coho and Chinook, are more apt to take a more gradual approach to migration, generally inhabiting the same waters for up to one year from birth. Eggs begin to hatch in April, and home-turf is quickly established between the larger, more aggressive Chinooks, and the smaller coho. Once the young salmon have lost the egg sacks of their alevin stage, they will behave in a number of ways. Depending on the number of fry that are present in the stream, coho will move to less turbulent water and begin to feed on live and organic matter that is flowing downstream. If there are too many fry for the immediate area to sustain, coho will be forced to migrate downstream . Scientists have witnessed the pre-mature exodus of hundreds of fry, forced out of their home streams by larger smolts or other territorial fry. As they search for a home that will sustain them until they are physically prepared to journey to the salt, the fry become easy targets. This phenomenon was first witnessed in B.C. at Carnation Creek on Vancouver Island. Some of the best rivers in which to look for migrating coho or Chinook fry are those that have a successful hatchery program in place, since these waters generally receive high returns of these species every year. High returns also explain why chum and pink fry are, for a short time, an important food source for roving cutthroat. Because they are in high abundance and their fry, upon hatching and getting their bearings, immediately trek to the ocean, they are
highly susceptible to predation.

A prime example of this occurs on the much touted Oyster River. Known as the “place to go” if you want to catch pink salmon on a fly, the Oyster also offers an attractive by-product in its cutthroat fishery. Fisheries biologist, Peter Law, credits the relationship between pinks and cutthroat as the reason behind the healthy population of the trout. “Each system is relatively unique, but the pink salmon migration on the Oyster, both upstream and downstream, is closely related to cutthroat migratory patterns. They follow the salmon upriver in late summer to feed on eggs and ambush fry-balls from under log jams as the young flow down river in the spring.”

When most of us remember our first lesson on the secrets of trout, the word ‘cover’ comes to mind. Like any creature struggling to survive, the fry must have a safe haven that will minimise the risk of predation. Looking out for number one is the name of the game as coho and Chinook fry take their places in the fall and congregate under log-jams, cut-banks, and sheltered tributaries. This hiding behaviour may keep the immature salmon from being seen by the various birds that feed on them, but it still offers little defense against trout. Typical signs of a struggle include fry boiling on the surface (in much the same way herring thrash on the surface of the ocean) and ‘v’-like ripples that indicate a frenzied trout. It is a good practice to explore and observe small tributary creeks and rivers that are generally passed-up by gear fishermen, either because they are considered sanctuaries during salmon season, or because they offer little opportunity for larger species. Because coho spawn in such narrow waters, cutthroat often follow close behind in anticipation of the rich protein sources that eggs, flesh, and eventually, fry, provide.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding fly selection for trout feeding on fry. The buzz word for the cutthroat’s personality is ‘opportunistic,’ meaning that where and how you fish matters more than what you use. Here is a general fly selection that includes old standbys and newer creations representing fry in general, as well as patterns that have been designed to mimic the distinct look of individual species.
It wouldn’t be proper to discuss fry patterns without paying homage to Roderick Haig-Brown.

The guardian of the Campbell River wrote extensively of his love for the sea-run cutthroat and spent many hours perfecting his imitations of the cuttie’s quarry. Two of his most revered fry patterns are the Humpback Fry and the Silver Brown. The Campbell and Quinsam are not as prolific as they were in the days before man’s industrial intervention, yet they still foster healthy runs of Pink and Coho salmon. Humpback fry hatched in the Campbell have a relatively easy journey to the ocean, yet the sheer density of the fry is enough to draw the trout’s attention before the juveniles make it to safer living conditions. The Humpback Fry was invented for this situation. In his comprehensive work Fly Patterns of British Columbia, Art Lingren notes that Haig-Brown strove to reproduce the characteristic silver-blue-green appearance of the pink fry. Silver tinsel for the body, a blue and green polar bear hair wing, topped off by several strands of peacock sword combine to make up the crucial elements of coloration, while yellow, the cutthroat’s favorite color, is sparsely included in the tail and throat. While the pinks vacate immediately, coho tend to linger. Haig-Brown developed the Silver Brown in an effort to imitate the more mature coho of late summer and early fall. Like most baitfish imitations, it also includes a silver body, but then diverges into a wing that includes orange polar bear hair and a golden pheasant tail centre. It is topped off by an orange hen neck feather for the tail and reddish-brown hackle for the throat. Other patterns originating on the Campbell are Haig-Brown’s Silver Lady, and General Fry Imitation, as well as Van Egan’s Fry Fly.

One of the more effective fry patterns that has found its way into my fly-box is the Chum Fry which is rumoured to have originated from Ruddick’s Fly Shop in Vancouver. This simple pattern combines a slim silver body with peacock herl ribbed to its back in an effort to imitate the dark segmentation of the chum fry. It is a simple pattern that works well in sloughs, back-waters, and near the lower reaches of rivers where chum often hatch in the thousands.

Newly emergent fry, having just lost their yolk sacs, move very erratically. The young salmon have no scales yet and their skin is covered in mucus, allowing them to propel themselves using only their tails while the rest of their bodies remain rigid. The Epoxy Minnow is heavy enough to hug the gravel and dip and sway in a convincing portrayal of this behaviour. This fly can be dressed in a number of different ways, but when imitating newly hatched fry, it should be small (size 12 streamer hook) and include painted or stick-on eyes that are slightly larger and out of proportion to the fly’s body. Other important elements are a silver body and a tinsel or marabou tail.

The Tied-down Minnow is another pattern that effectively imitates the unique swimming motions of newly emergent fry. A thin mylar body gives this fly a fluttering action that resembles a fry struggling against the current. This offering can be used as a general pattern that is more representative of the fry’s movements than of exact outer appearance. Other imitations of fry in general are Egg’n I (alevin stage), Tinsel, Teal Silver and Blue, Badger Streamer, Hairwing Cumming’s Fancy, My Fry, and the What Else.

With rising temperatures from February to April, B.C. rivers and sloughs will break their winter silence. Traveling and emerging fry will be acting on their survival instincts and adult trout will be following closely behind. Fly fishermen will also be emerging from their winter slumbers, tracking the cutthroat’s stomach-driven migration, and keeping their eyes on the fry.