British Columbia 2008

 

 

 

April 2008 my job is crazy busy I am working around the clock to keep up. I need to come up with two payments towards two different colleges. Bills, bills, bills someone I love is dying with some horrible shit and my family needs me.

And I am catching a flight at 11am in the morning heading out to British Columbia again.

It can’t come soon enough… it’s official I have a serious problem.

 

As the plane lands in Terrace BC, I am overwhelmed with the possibility, adventure and excitement. All of a sudden it hits me, I am the luckiest guy in the world.

 

I am greeted by Wally the owner of Spey Lodge and his head guide John these dudes keep it real when it comes to spey fishing for steelhead I can’t stop smiling.

 

Day 1

As I put on my waders I can feel the wind right down to my bones it is howling, Wally with his eternal optimism comments that he hopes the wind picks up it will help my back cast.

We put the raft in on the lower Kitmat a tidal river that flows directly in the Pacific. This place looks Jurassic with giant 3 story grotesque log jams and huge submerge spruce trees 200 feet long.

The lower part of the river is littered with giant boulders and bowling ball size stones ever where making it challenging to wade. Fishing with Wally is great he works every inch of the fishable water. He is a great casting instructor and it felt awesome when I was nailing a few of these off shoulder cats.

The wind is howling around 30 mph I am surrounded by white caps and casting cat handed most of the day and in desperate need of chap stick. On the second pool I feel a tug I am thinking steelhead but it has one of three Dolly’s through out the day. 

The wind was punishing at one point the raft was blowing up stream we fished some amazing fishy water but no steel.

 

No tugs

No Steelhead

3 Dollies

 

Day 2

Windy, cold and dry and blue sky sun rise in BC I have never seen that before.

Today we were fishing the Cooper River I had the pleasure of fishing with this very cool cat from Japan we were the only two at the lodge, the guy was the most amazing spey caster I have ever seen it was a pleasure to fish with him unfortunately it reminded me of how much I suck.

We dropped the raft in off the cliff that turned into a water fall by rope because an avalanche dropped in some huge boulders that blocked the road.

Most of this river is surrounded by this stone valley the water was low this year but it is a wild ride when it gets another 5 feet in it. John was really coaching me through my double spey when the wind died down inside the valley and it felt link a million bucks when it soared out over the river in that effortless motion I was trying to create.

We fished hard all day I landed two Dolly’s all day the wind was howling harder then yesterday when we came out of the protection of the valley, my off shoulder casting really improved and my face and lips were cracking.

The cooper empties into the Skeena and the sand was blowing hard you needed to protect your face and eyes from stinging shards of small stone and sand.

After the raft was loaded onto the truck we drove along the gravel bar and had an amazing view of the Pacific as it welcomed the cold dark water of the Skeena.

 

No tugs

No steelhead

2 dolly’s

 

Day 3

Wally met us on the deck and said chop, chop lets get moving I want to try something different today we drove the this garage and this guy pulled out this helicopter holly shit this is cool.

We piled in and off we went flying low over the fog and snow covered hills spooking moose as we followed rivers and tribs to our destinations.

The chopper touched down on the snow covered gravel bar right in the middle of two flows that fed the Zymacore River.

As the chopper left and disappeared I put my hand inside this huge bear track, Wally smiled and said that looks at least 30 seconds old don’t worry, ha, ha …  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t aliltte chicken shit.

This place was amazing I could not get over the “wild” of this place you don’t find this in many places and I appreciated every minute of it. Even though there was snow everywhere water was pouring into the river like millions of shower heads it felt almost tropical until you put your hand in the water.

We pumped up the raft and we floated down the most pristine and remote water I have ever fished, Wally used a kayak paddle for propulsion and off we went.

Fished a couple of beautiful runs from the head to the tail nothing I was convinced we would hook up but nothing.

Moved down into this little run fished it for abou10 minutes moving through with a different fly when half way through my drift Bam, Bam, Bam each time my rod tip was smashed towards the water, with both hands I raised the rod and slammed it back….

Fish on I shouted and the fish had a short 40 foot run and then everything went limp after my adrenaline returned to normal we theorized that he busted off on one of the rocky shale ledges since I was missing the fly as well. “that sucked”

After another great shore lunch we fished further down stream along the way I landed two dollies but no more steelhead opportunities, man that felt like a big fish.

One pull

No steelhead

2 dollies

 

Day 4

I was fishing with John today it was actually drizzling this morning that was a good sign.

We were floating the upper Kitmat today the rocks are smaller and a lot of gravel up here which makes wading easy and water very accessible we dropped in the raft loaded up and the wind made it presence known as it was very difficult to move down river,

We pulled up on this on this large gravel island in front of me was a 300 yard magnificent run with a 30 mph up river wind off the Pacific.

As I waded in about 10 feet the wind died down so I began to strip out line and set up a big ole cast when John said “dude don’t miss all the water in front of you” 10 feet just start with the tip.

It had been so windy over the last couple of days that I was anxious to let a few big boomers fly out there.

But, I just flicked out the 15 foot sink tip half way through my swing “Pow” I experience this explosive jarring motion my rod is violently pulled out of my hands I stumble forward trying to regain my balance my reel is screaming thank god I had no drag on my reel I would have lost it, I throw the rod back as Hard as I could to set the  hook this fish is not stopping, I palm the reel to slow it down and I get half a dozen head shakes that strip out two feet of line with each violent blast of its head I am deep into my backing when the beast races to the other end of the run which would create a lot of slack in my line I am reeling like crazy and running backwards to keep the pressure on the fish my rod is bent down to the cork even the cork feels like it bending the best way to describe it would be to have a bucking bronco at the end of your line, 10 minutes latter this fish is showing no signs of tiring it’s head shakes begin to come in bursts of around 10 each burst puts another 25 feet between me and it this is compounded by a 30 mph freezing wind that is icing up my line I shout over to John this thing has been on two long it’s going to break off (especially in BC were the law dictates you need a barb less hook as if it needs to be more challenging). The fish then porpoises 3 times as it try’s to head to the far end of the run again John shouts to reel down hard keep him coming in hold him I am palming the reel tight and my 14 foot 8 weight Scott starts to make “groaning Sounds” I am thinking holy shit my rod is going to explode by know I am into my regular spey line and the fish has been on for close to 20 minutes John instructs to bend the rod to the right and the beast is within 6 feet of him, he is like a heron stealthy and almost flat to the surface of the water to avoid being seen to the last second then with one giant reach the big 36 inch wooden net comes up with this enormous fish, john smiles and yells “that’s a nice fish”.

I walk over to john between the fish and wind I am shaking he whips out a measuring tape 40 inches long 22 inches wide 20 plus pounds wide holy shit what a fish. John shows me his mouth and there is a half inch gap in his cartilage were the hook has moved over the fight any lack of pressure would have resulted in the fish getting off. Its red cheeks were highlighted by dark green stripes the length of its body. John figured it was his 3 or 4 year heading back up the river. After a couple of photos I let it go in the current and with one might swish of it’s tail bam its gone.  

I need a cup of coffee.

10 minutes later I am back in the pool and the wind is blowing like crazy and I am doing my best to launch this off shoulder casts after about 20 minutes at the end of my cast Bam, Bam fish on set the hook the fish screamed from one end of the run to the other 2 or 3 times and bent my rod deep into the handle after a 5 minute tussle we had a beautiful 15 pound golden backed steelhead in the net.

Not bad for the first run of the day.

The rest of the day we fished some amazing water landed 1 more dolly and after the wind died down I was actually casting flies into the trees on the far bank about 80 feet away John was helping my casting all day and it started paying off, he did explain that it works better if we keep the fly in the water.

Two Steelhead

One Dolly 

Great Day

 

Day 5

Windy was the order of the day it made everything a lot more challenging.

Today Wally and I were talking the jet sled up the Kalum river this piece of water was big and deep and fed by a big lake deep in the interior Wally was pumped because his homey had caught two “springs” the day before in a pool way up river. He described them as rod busters, gleaming bright white with glow in the dark abalone backs and huge.

He said bring your big 15 foot 9 weight sage we are loaded for bear, I could hardly wait.

This river was deep and big and loaded with this bio algae that fuels an amazing food source for the fishery.

This was the toughest wind day no doubt about mother nature made us her bitch at one point we had to anchor our feet into the river bottom and get low to the water to prevent ourselves from blowing of balance into the current.

The answer to my challenge a 17 foot piece of T14 time to take charge. I hooked into a couple of Dollies but the sizes of the rod combined with the T14 made it more of a inconvenience to bring in all that line.

At one point the sun came out and the water was illuminated by the beautiful green light due to the green algae in the river, the forest was thick and green and impenetrable this had to hold steelhead at any moment I was counting on a huge monster smashing my fly.

Moose and eagles were everywhere and the shoreline was littered with wolf tracks.

Earlier that day wolves actually chased a young moose into the river.  

We fished hard all day my shoulder was shot by 4 pm I had enough that wind, rod and weight wore me out no mas.

No tugs

No steelhead

Three Dollies

 

Helicopters, jet sleds, sand storms, wolves, Japanese spey masters and fine single malt whiskeys it sounds more like a James Bond movie then a fishing trip.

The fishing experience during the day was amazing, and the table and dining conversations in the evening were engaging and rich.

This was my second trip to BC and the Spey Lodge if you have never been here you need to go.