Amundson Outdoors Wind Warrior nine-foot, eight weight fast-action fly rod with the Trend X3 sealed drag fly reel……….
The pink salmon for their size have mighty powerful short runs. They are known as the Humpies salmon due to the large hump the males acquire during their spawning cycle. Their spawning cycle to their native stream is a two years cycle.  Some spawn on even calendar years and other streams are odd calendar years. Unless there has been a hatchery developing Pink salmon every year, this has occurred with Nile Creek on Vancouver Island’s east coast. With volunteers that built and maintained the incubator, it has been able to create a run every year, making the creek one of the most popular streams for anglers of all ages—the estuary with its numerous beaches available with easy access. The majority of anglers are fly fishermen, but the gear angler can be successful with lures or even a fly attached to a torpedo float to reach them. The fly angler casts will often be subject to damaging winds, currents and waves.  I prefer to use is an eight weight fly rod to be able to cut through the wind but also to have enough power to be ready to land the salmon quickly verse a lighter weight rod extending the fight longer than it should be, ensuring the least strain of the little salmon for catch and release.

Presenting the fly with a slow retrieve is the best. When the Pink salmon take the fly, it is very subtle, and the angler needs to slowly but firmly raise the rod to set the hook. Be prepared, though, for a quick short power run. Without disc brakes on the fly reel, the angler can often suffer a knuckle bashing.
If you are going to keep the Pink salmon, keep it fresh, and the best place is in the cold ocean in a netted bag tied to your waist. The Pink salmon meat is very delicate and spoils quickly, so also, bleeding the salmon is essential.
The low tide was 5:30 with a high tide around 11:30 am. I often will fish a rising tide. My preference to be able to cover more water. One of the biggest mistakes with new anglers to this fishery is that the fisherman immediately wades deep, spooking the salmon when all they have to do is enter ankle-deep as they are very close to shore in the early morning.

 I was using the Amundson Wind Warrior nine-foot-eight-weight fast-action fly rod with the Trend X3 sealed drag fly reel. I often try to make my adventure as simple as possible so that I will have one or two kinds of salmon fly: a little pink colour and some silver tied on number six, number four, or a number two, barbless hook. I use a clear, slow sinking fly line with eight to ten feet of the tapered leader. Other anglers have success with floating fly line and floating fly lines with low sinking tips.

On this day I covered a beach about one kilometer north of the Nile Creek estuary to stay away from the crowds. The majority of anglers were closer to the mouth of the creek. A sea lion cruised back and forth and was pushing the Pink salmon to our casting range. Unfortunately, the sea lion would hear the odd splashing of the hooked salmon and would come in after the hooked salmon creating havoc.
Anglers will quickly inform the other fisherman if a sea lion is zooming on his catch. The result often is a lost salmon by either busting the line from horsing it in or the sea lion capturing it.