Leaving a Legacy – Honouring Jack Foster

At the 2024 Sport Fishing Institute of BC (SFI) Gala, our founder, Jack Foster, received the Bob Wright Legacy Award. This incredible honor recognizes Jack’s outstanding contributions to the conservation, restoration, and enhancement of BC’s recreational fishing industry—a legacy we at Islander Reels have been privileged to witness firsthand. Reflecting, Jack shared, “I was totally […]

Leeches | Must Have Imitations For Every Fly Box

When other anglers ask me what my favorite insect imitations are when fishing interior lakes, I always reply with leeches and dragon nymphs as these are excellent searcher imitations due to their size and availability. I know many anglers would beg to differ as chironomids are also extremely productive in our interior lakes but sometimes […]

Chasing Big Fall Trout? Don’t Overlook Shrimp Imitations

With fall upon us it’s time to think of using fly imitations outside of the ever-popular lineup of chironomids, leeches and dragons. These insect imitations are all very productive but there are other options to use when fishing our interior lakes at the end of the season.. It’s hard to believe that one of the […]

Pursuing Coho in the Open Ocean

When most anglers think of pursuing coho in the ocean with a fly they think of beach fishing along some of our many miles of coastal beaches in BC. This feature will cover coho fishing in the open ocean where coho are still aggressively feeding on natural food sources like herring, needlefish and squid. Pursuing […]

In Pursuit of Bigger Bones | Targeting Bonefish in Xcalak Mexico

Mark Pendlington of Westcoast Sporting Journal and I first met back in early 1996 at an Outdoor Show in BC Place. He was promoting his fishing program, and I was putting on fly-casting demonstrations. Throughout the three-day event Mark and spoke several times, and he asked me if I had any interest in shooting a […]

The Little Hatchery that could… Percy Walkus Hatchery

Deep in the heart of Wuikinuxv Territory and tucked away at the head of Rivers Inlet in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, quietly lies a Canadian coastal phenomenon. For some, it’s a shining example of Pacific salmon conservation in an age of dwindling resources and human foolishness. For others, it’s a passion play and a […]

Enhancing your Stillwater Skills

What makes an angler excel from being an average angler to one that consistently lands fish on every trip to a lake? Becoming a better Stillwater angler is not by accident but more from studying one’s surroundings and the insects that inhabit the water you are about to fish. While watching other anglers on the […]

Targeting Coho in non-tidal waters

Pursuing coho salmon in non-tidal waters will definitely put an angler’s abilities to the test. On any given day, you can have anything from a spectacular outing to a day that you go through all your flies in efforts to get a single strike. The main reason for this is because coho stop feeding once […]

Fall Stillwater Fly Fishing Tactics

The Fall Stillwater Fly Fishing Season is here! The arrival of September typically coincides with some cooler early fall weather patterns. Stillwater fly fishers anxiously await those dropping air temperatures as they stimulate more active feeding of the trout found in those literally hundreds of productive trout lakes scattered throughout the interior regions of BC, […]

Summer Fly Fishing Tactics for Stillwater Trout

The months of July and August typically offer the warmest days of the year for much of Western Canada and the western states. It is also the time for summer family vacations and fishing is often a big part of these getaways. There are literally, thousands of inland lakes to choose from plus many offering […]