British Columbia 2007

[MuskieBait]

This trip took place from Jul 1 - Jul 15, 2007

July 1st

I arrived in Vancouver at 5:30. They had a problem with the luggage belt and there was a long delay waiting for luggage. The worst kick in the teeth was that after 2 hours wait, they told me they have lost my rod case!!! They’ll have to send it to me later. So I went to meet Kazu to grab some breakfast and start planning the following few days.

After breakfast, I got my fishing licenses. Kazu and I decided to do some saltwater shore fishing. We were meet with low tide and our first spot was unfishable. So we headed to the mouth of the Indian River to fish the rising tide.

Again, we were met with low tide as we arrive.



There were these palm-sized starfish everywhere! I couldn’t believe how big they can get!



We fished with a slip float rig to begin…using worms as bait. Soon, my first new BC catch…a small staghorn sculpin.



Finally, after Kazu caught so many shiner perch, I tagged into my first!



Then came more sculpins until this surprise English sole.



And as the tide rose higher and higher, I guess the larger fish came in closer…or maybe the shore came closer to us LOL…I had a reel screamer on the ultralight! It turned out to be a big pile perch! A little later on, I got another one about the same size!





So we ended the day with numerous staghorn sculpins and shiner perch, an English sole each and 2 pile perch for our 4 hours of fishing! Awesome!

July 2nd

This is the first official day of our road trip. We started at Coquitlam and headed for the Thompson River. On the way, we stopped at Kazu’s “favourite" fly shop in Hope. After the 4 hours drive, we finally arrived at the Thompson.





We fished around this area for a while but found no fish willing to fall for anything (fly or plastics). So we headed off to Kazu’s secret spot.

As the day gets darker, the fish began to get a bit active. We drifted stonefly nymphs for a while without success. Rises were common…but we were not too sure on what. Then I spotted a caddis…SWEET! I love fishing the caddis hatch! So on goes a #16 Elk Hair Caddis that I tied in Ontario…and after a couple of drifts…Fish ON!

After a scrappy fight on my 6-wt fly rod, it came in jumping and splashing! I’ve never had a fish fight that hard on the 6-wt…not even the 1lb peacock bass.



Then Kazu got one himself as well after acquiring a caddis from me.



We ended the day with 2 fish for me and 3 for Kazu…all Kamloops rainbow and the biggest ones were about 15".

At the end of the day, we heated up some fried rice with the propane heater LOL.



July 3rd

After spending a night and making breakfast at a rest area, we started our way toward Prince George. After the 5 hours drive, we checked into a motel and headed out exploring a couple of streams. The Chilako river is near a town called Mud River…we should have taken the hint LOL. The river was low but muddy…I guess no shot for dolly varden. Oh well…option #2.

As we were driving to Willow River, we saw an ominous cloud…and a rainbow.



As I’ve learned from Hawaii, when you see a rainbow, rain is coming your way…and so it did! But we kept going and soon passed the developing storm. We got to Willow River to be greeted by a few spits of rain…but it soon cleared up. The river looked great! The guidebook said there were small rainbows to be found.

As Kazu went exploring, I stayed around the access point and fished a small pool under a small side riffle. My #16 Caddis got me 7 little rainbows up to 9".



Kazu found 1 little rainbow at a log jam that fell to a stonefly nymph.



As it was getting dark, we ended the day and headed back to the motel.

July 4th

Today, we made our way to Chetwynd and the surrounding areas. Kazu had caught arctic grayling and bull trout in this area last summer. So I was super excitied! I was awestricken by the scenery around the Rockies foothills.



But when we arrived…as we’ve expected, the rivers were blown! NOOOO!!!!!



Luckily, I was looking into the guidebook and the map…and found this little creek…which shall remain unnamed. Apparently, it holds arctic grayling and small numbers of Rocky Mountain whitefish and bull trout. Let’s just call it Ken and Kazu’s Trifactor Heaven.



Well, the first evening there was a bit disappointing. All the better looking pools and runs were empty. But I did find my first Rocky Mountain whitefish in some small pocket waters very close to shore. And also my second mountain whitefish in a log jam.



Kazu found a nice slow pool and had a couple of rises from a larger fish…likely those whitefish. But he only managed to get a small one to hit.



Hm…the catching was a little weak since we fished over 6 hours at this stretch. We checked every good looking and bad looking pool, riffles, runs, pocket water, trees…and barely coax a couple of mercy bites LOL. So our decision was to fish the lower section and visit a pool under a waterfall where the guidebook said there should be good fishing.

July 5th

This morning, we woke up at 5:15 to start our hike early. Before we began our hike, I suggested that we fish the pool next to the access (just so we can miss some of the wildlife that may still be active near the trail…especially any sow with cubs…or any mountain lions LOL).

I saw a couple of rises in the tail end of the riffle where it dumps into the pool. After 2 misses on the #16 Griffith’s Gnat, I finally hooked the fish on the third try. Arctic grayling!



Yes! Mission accomplished!



We got 2 grayling each at this deep pool. My second grayling was caught on…#16 Caddis! Any surprises? LOL



So after our little morning fun, we decided to hike to the waterfall in search for bull trout. On our 1 hour hike, we made a couple of stops for photo-ops.



And our grayling heaven on earth!


Kazu started the action with a 12" mountain whitefish.



A while later, I hooked into a nice grayling. This is possibly my favourite grayling shot.



Another few fish later, we had a nice surprise, a little rainbow (Hey…that was not in the guide book!)



But I’m still missing a bull trout. Kazu had one following early in the morning. But after 3 hours of fishing, we’re still looking for the first of the day. Finally, I went to fish closer to the deep wall on one side of the fall. After another nice grayling and mountain whitefish, I hooked into my bull trout!!!



What a beautiful species! The pic does no justice!



I took a lunch rest while Kazu went to my spot with my 6-wt to toss a dry to a couple of risers…and Mr. Nice Grayling was fooled.



Kazu went back to the spinning rod and got himself a bull trout too!



And this is what took a lot of the fish on the spinning gear…a 1.5" Grassminnow (Won’t find it here…it’s from Japan LOL).



At this time, we decided that we’ve kick-butt pretty well against the grayling, whitefish and bull trout…so we decided to drive back to Prince George a day early (to have one extra day for Terrace).

On the way, we stopped at a rest area. I went exploring for a river that I saw along the road while Kazu made coffee…and I found a moose calf carcass…so I stopped exploring after that LOL.



But the scenery along the way was amazing. Even at the rest area!



We were driving along and I was hoping to see some wildlife in BC. Earlier, we saw a cow moose on the side of the highway driving to Chetwynd. We had traffic behind us so we didn’t get to stop to take pics. As we were driving back to Prince George, a bear crossed the road (why did the bear crossed the road?) and caused traffic to slow. We drove past the crossing bear and then found a bull moose not 50 yards away. This was too much to just drive by without pics…





I have a video of the bear too…with Kazu’s music in the background LOL.



We arrived in Prince George before dark…and got some KFC to boot!

July 6th

We have a long drive ahead of us today…it is 576 km to Terrace but the drive took just a little over 7.5 hours. The scenery got better and better though.



About an hour to Terrace, Kazu thought he ran into a butterfly and he was hoping it wasn’t a bird. Well, we took a look in Terrace to find a bird on the grill. Poor little bird. I took a pic…but for respect for that bird, I’ll keep it from public viewing.

We kept on going toward Kitimat, since the Skeena was flooding. We got a good look at the Kitimat River along the way. We stopped at one location to check the river out.



And witnessed one person (who was camping across the river) hooked up, played and brought in a 20lb silver Chinook salmon. Needless to say, our hopes were up.

We ended the evening by getting to the mouth of the Kitimat. This would be our unofficial camping location for the next 3 days. Here’s a shot of the river right by our “campsite". What a way to end the day.



I did get a line wet for 1 hour while Kazu made some cup noodles. We saw lots of fish jumping (excited salmon) but didn’t see any rod bent. (I hope tomorrow morning is much better)

July 7th

What a way to be greeted to a new day! I just stood there watching the growing light and didn’t think about of grabbing the steelhead rod for 30 mins LOL.


I was tossing a pink colour Croc spoon and working it in a back eddy (as Kazu had instructed…Kazu was my official guide LOL). About 45 min later, I felt my spoon stopped dead…then it started to take off toward the deep! No you don’t!



At the time, the fish felt like the biggest salmon I’ve hooked. This steelhead rod was not broken in by a previous salmon and I wasn’t too sure of its capacity. So I took it easy on the drag and played the fish gingerly. The fish took me down about 100 feet. It went into the main current twice but I was able to bring it out of the current each time. This was how the fight ended. At least I got to feel and see a tyee.



We fished at the mouth all morning without much action from our side of the river. The other side got 2 fish gaffed. So Kazu and I break for brunch and went exploring.

We were going to fish a location called Hydro Poles. We drove into a narrow 4x4 trail only to find the trail had a flooded crossing that was too deep for Kazu’s truck. We didn’t want to leave our truck sitting in the middle of nowhere while we hiked into the middle of nowhere. We drove back and stopped at the same spot where we saw the 20lb fish landed the evening before. It was a promising looking area even if we hadn’t see a fish hooked. So…off we go!



But after fishing a good stretch of this river for more than 3 hours, we came up empty…so were our stomachs. We made second lunch and drove back toward the mouth. We got word that fish moves in on the incoming tide and the areas around the bridge is a pretty good bet.



Nada! No action at all from anyone fishing that area.

So we changed plans and went exploring a small creek for coastal cutthroat trout and dolly varden. Almost every river and creeks flowing into the Kitimat has both species…but we have only managed to find 2" long parrs in the shallow water…I guess the adults are in the main Kitimat. Here’s a look at one of the many beautiful little creeks. I can only imagine what this creeks looks like when the pinks, sockeye and chum are running!



Here’s a little look at our usual arsenal of salmon treats…of course spoons are missing here…I lost most of my spoons…The flies were tied by Kazu.







July 8th

We fished the mouth in the morning again without success. Before we went exploring again, we grabbed a motel room for the night, and we’re off toward Tseax River.

On the way to the river, we passed by a Nisga’a Lava Memorial Provincial Park (Excuse me if I got the name slightly incorrect). This park was set up to protect the ancient lava bed. There was a volcanic explosion a long time ago that strewn lava rock and hot lava into the area. Today, life is again reestablishing.



What a treat to see this after coming back from the Big Island of Hawaii where I got to see hot lava flowing. The recovery of the land in the almost desert environment of Hawaii is sure different from that of the temperate counterpart.

At the trail head of the provincial park, we found a legend on the volcanic activity. I can read this legend on my computer when I enlarge the pic…you may not be able to read it though…but what the heck…



We were all ready to hike down to the river…but something stopped us…



This bear was eyeing us directly the whole time. Had the three motorcycles didn’t pass by, I think the bear would have invited me to snack. Kazu and I decided to stay off the trail this time.

So we checked out the river around the trail head only. Overflowing and milky…but it must be nice when the river level is much lower!



We drove back to Terrace for a hot shower at motel for the night. I talked to the motel owner and he provided us a location to fish on the Copper River. So Kazu and I drove into yet again another Forest Service Road (FSR). At about the approximate location, we thought we found the trail down the canyon to the deep pool.

Kazu and I were geared up and ready to hike. Kazu started about 20 feet in front of me as we entered the trail head. As I was passing by the entrance, I heard something tumbling down a large pile of branches. I looked to see a brown ball of fur a little larger than a bowling ball rolling down. The little creature started crying and it sounded a little like a bear cub. So I stopped Kazu and he said it may sound like a bear cub. Since mommy may not be far behind, we turned back around. I don’t want to mess with a grizzly at all! (Final bear count for the day was 6!)

At the end, we went back to the Kitimat and fish the upper limit of our legally fishable waters. Nada as well.



After check another small Kitimat tributary creek for cutthroats and dolly varden without success, we decided to end the day early for some KFC again LOL.

Here’s our motel. For $75 a night for two single beds, it is nice and clean with lots of room, cable TV, free internet (if you have a laptop! LOL), coffee maker, toaster…it’s a great deal!



July 9th

This is our last morning in the Terrace area. Instead of another skunking on the salmon rivers, we checked out a lake in search for cutthroat trout and dolly varden, hoping to find them at the creek mouth of a couple of incoming creeks.

We fished the creek mouth only to find small parrs that were ever eager to take your #16 caddis…but too small to hook. Trying other small lint-sized flies didn’t even resulted in a hit.

So Kazu and I slowly fished the shoreline back to the access. We started to see a bit more activity and Kazu had a trout looking fish hit right at his feet. I saw some chironomids in the water, so off goes the dry fly to welcome my own chironomid creation under an indicator.

Kazu was using his Grassminnow and brought in a small cutthroat. I guess he didn’t take a pic of the fish since I couldn’t find a pic of it.

5 min later, I missed one fish. Another 10 min later, Fish ON!



Small, but my first nonetheless…



And then a bouns…small northern pikeminnow.



Well, at least the Terrace trip got me two new species. Time to head back to Prince George…but not before a 20min extended stay in Terrace due to workers clearing a rock slide.



During our wait, we were entertained by their shy coyote mascot.



On our way, we stopped in Houston, BC to visit the World’s Largest Fly Rod!



Well, that was all for July 9th.

July 10th

We started our way back to the Thompson River at about 9am. On the way, this deer almost caused an accident with the empty logging truck that was in front of us…



Before we got to the Thompson, we explored a lake filled with monster northern pikeminnow. We drove an hour into a scary FSR. This rough road snakes up a steep hill into sub-alpine lakes. If we go off the road a foot or two, the truck would have tumbled down a 45 degree slope.



We found Allen Lake and found the pikeminnow not as co-operating as Kazu had experience previously. The size was much smaller as well…but I did find a 12" fish on…Caddis!



Driving back down to civilization, we were met by a couple of plump brunettes. I think the left lady was a little mad that I was taking pictures of them without asking. Or maybe she was just mad that OP didn’t give her a call…:roll:



More wildlife along the way back to the Thompson! I have been keeping an eye for big horn sheep and mountain goats. While my eyes were searching the hills, Kazu found them beside a fenced yard. I guess they descend the hills to graze.



We passed by Kamloops…and I think this is Kamloops Lake…

In any case, it’s definitely different from the temperate rainforest we saw in Terrace just the day before.



Finally getting to the Thompson honey hole, we start fishing at about 8pm. Kazu and I hooked into a lot of parrs…including this salmon parr.



Finally, Kazu managed to get a rainbow to hit!



I wasn’t about to leave with a bad skunk on my head…so I worked hard and found reward on the caddis.



Plus a bouns species…redside shiner on the caddis.



I wonder what was hatching?



Kazu made the crazy decision to drive home after fishing…at 10pm! We decided to make a rest stop for dinner before the 3 hour drive. As we slowed the car to enter the rest area, an 18-wheeler came screaming down behind us. I thought it was going to hit us and freaked…but the truck drove beside us on the shoulder and there were a few choice words I left in the Okanaagan Region.

At the stop, Kazu made the bad mistake of looking up at the sky…and I busted out my tripod and camera and shot a few constellation. I won’t bore you again with more black pics…but Hercules, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Cassiopeia and Cepheus were added to my photography list. We did made it home safe.

July 11th

After some much needed rest, Kazu and I had brunch at 12pm and we went to look for more coastal cutthroats. We fish a very nice looking creek. It sure looked nice…but from what I’ve learned in BC after fishing many creeks, those cold, clear, freestone creeks just look nice...they don’t hold much fish LOL.



Later in the afternoon, we fished Alouette Lake for Kokanee. It was 33C during the day…and I guess everyone needed to cool down. The boat and jet ski traffic was tremendous and the fish were no active…so I could only leave you with a look at the lake…



July 12th

Kazu and I started the day early at 5am toward Kawkawa Lake. We were again looking for Kokanee and Landlock Coho. We launched at about 7am…and didn’t get the first hit until 9am. After a very spirited fight and many tense moments, the kokanee came in jumping and cartwheeling. This fish was 14.5" long…which is a BIG kokanee.



A little later, I hooked up! Again, the fish was jumping all over…and I lost it just as Kazu was ready to net it. Doh!

We didn’t get any more action after. So we slowly worked the weedline on our way back to launch. I got lucky with another new species…prickly sculpin!



We went back to launch. Kazu said he has a couple of places he wanted to check out for coastal cutthroats. I’m all in for that idea! We drove to Johnson Slough (I think) and fished around the mouth. Kazu got into a decent pikeminnow in about 5 min.



At the same time, I received 9 mosquito bites…so I quitted fishing and headed back to the truck. Since the creek was high, Kazu was followed me.

Then we went to a creek that flows into Harrison Lake. Actually, it was more like a culvert LOL.



Kazu promised me lots of little cutthroats. And there was! There were many 3-4" parr LOL. I did managed to get into a 7" cuttie that got out of my hand before a photo-op…got a video of it though LOL.



July 13th

We woke up even earlier to fish Kawkawa Lake. We launched at 5am and headed back to the area where we found fish the day before. What a beautiful calm morning!



We didn’t get any hits until about 8am…and Kazu had a fish on! Like all kokanees…this one jump and rolled and cartwheeled…and got off the hook at the surface. Not long after, Kazu was on again! This fish was jumping as well…but I lunged forward with the net as the fish was in mid air…and fish in the net!



By 11am, we were too tired to fish other places…so back to Kazu’s apartment for a nap LOL.

July 14th

I was going to meet with a friend, but her dog needed to see the vet…oh well :roll:

So…what to do with a free day? Let’s fish some more LOL. From reading a few reports, there’s this river in Vancouver where early coho were running! Sounds good to me!

We fished this river in a deep canyon. There were fish jumping all over…but none too willing to hit. I had a fish that took a pink spoon jigged under a spoon. It was on for about 3 seconds…maybe a 4-5lb coho. Another person had a fish on for about 3 seconds as well…and that was all the action for 6 hours of fishing. Oh well. I’ll just have to return in the fall (maybe in a couple of years) and take revenge on those pesky salmon!

July 15th

I hate leaving…we didn’t even get to do some morning fishing since my flight was at 11am. But I had so much fun in BC.

Big thanks to Kazu for being the official designated driver, fishing guide, cook and tour guide LOL. If you come back to Ontario, I’ll put in equal if nor more effort to get you into a muskie!