Kitimat River anglers have been enjoying an excellent chinook (spring) salmon run over the past few weeks.

And the action is really picking up now that the first chum and pinks have appeared in the lower and middle sections of the river - Giant Spruce Beach was hot over the weekend.

As local guide Ron Wakita points out, "The anglers who are catching fish are in a lot better mood than the anglers that are not."

And that means most are in one darn good mood these days.

On the freshwater side of the tide line he is still receiving reports of some fresh Chinook being caught in the upper sections of the Kitimat with some bright silvers being taken as far up as the Highway 37S bridge, also known as the 18 mile bridge.

The "Clay Banks" and the "Sawmill" are also holding Chinook in good numbers.

Wakita says the Number #1 casting spoon for Chinook is the Gibbs Koho 65 Blue Scale. Gibbs also manufactures variations of the Blue Scale 65 with a red stripe to more effectively fish in glacial coloured water and with all-red backs to fish more effectively in murky water. 

"Gibbs is an excellent example of a tackle manufacturer in touch with designing lures for different conditions," he says.  The other more popular tackle used is a Spin-n-Glo rigged with a Delta Mini Skirt.

For those who set their fishing schedule by the tides, afternoon high tide tomorrow is at 3:08 p.m. getting progressively later (about 40 minutes a day) to be at 6:48 p.m. by next Tuesday.

Morning high tides next Monday and Tuesday are at 5:35 a.m. and 6:33 a.m. respectively.

Meanwhile, salt chuck anglers who venture to the outer waters of the Douglas Channel are being rewarded with "very good numbers of coho".

"This is a good sign of things to come for this year's coho season!" Wakita enthuses.

And the halibut fishing on the chuck is described as "great".

All in all, Kitimat is again proving to be the fishing capital of the Northwest.