This year's steelhead pilgrimage started in Juneau, Alaska. I arrived at the Alaska Marine Highway System terminal in Juneau on Saturday morning April 11th to board the Taku for my 2-day trip to Terrace, BC via Prince Rupert. Generator problems delayed the departure by 5 hours and already it looked like the first day of fishing was in jeopardy! The voyage to Prince Rupert involved stops in Kake, Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan.
Over the next 48 hours the ferry made up the 5-hour delay and we arrived in Prince Rupert on schedule. Customs was another matter and every "walk-on" passenger had their packs and baggage meticulously inspected. This resulted in another hour delay and a mad dash for the Greyhound bus station where I made it aboard with 3 minutes to spare; Terrace is about 100 miles inland from Prince Rupert. The trip takes about 1.5 hours and follows the Skeena River all the way. Darkness and rain prevented me from being able to see the river.
I called ahead to Westcoast Fishing Adventures and Gill met me for the short drive to his home and base of operations. This was my 3rd trip with Gill. It was after 10 in the evening when we arrived and I was introduced to my three fishing companions for the week: John (Colorado Springs/Kodiak), Harry (Phoenix/Montana) and Steve (Phoenix/California). The plan was that we would fish 2 days with each other for a total of 6 days -- I planned to fish a 7th day on my way back to Prince Rupert. On the initial day, John and I were to go into one river with Gill and Gordon, Gills brother, would float another river with Steve and Harry.
Our day started at 6:00A. Gill, John and I trucked a tracked "quad" to a point where we could unload it and start our trip to the river. We were on a virgin trail of soft, deep snow. The trip to the pool where we were to start took about 1.5 hours, including a delay to winch the quad out where it broke through the snow. The river was low but free of ice. I dead-drifted egg patterns and John swung flies. We fished the pool hard for over an hour with zero success. We then moved downstream to another hole that normally produces good numbers of steelhead, but again after an hour without a take it was clear that no fish had entered the river yet, or if they had they probably had not worked their way this far upstream. We called it a day and returned to the house. Steve and Harry had better success and both landed good steelheads and hooked and lost a couple of others.
On day two both groups headed back to river that had produced good fish the previous day. John and I fished together again. The plan was that the two groups were to start at different locations on the river but pull out at the same place. John and I started further upstream and so we would have to spend more time drifting and less time wading to make up the difference. We hadn't gone far when John hooked his first steelhead of the trip.
After landing his steelhead, John and I subdivided the hole and started working it more intensely. John took the head of the pool and I worked it from midway toward the tail-out. I continued dead drifting a bright reddish-orange egg pattern and was soon hooked-up with my first steelhead of the trip. The fish stayed on the bottom and it was a while before I got a glimpse of a good size "buck". After a couple of attempts to land it, Gordon slipped the net under a 37-inch, heavy-bodied fish.
We continued to unsuccessfully work the pool after landing the second fish and then returned to the boat to continue downstream dead-drifting egg patterns along the way. I had another steelhead make a pass at my fly a while later but did not hook-up. Finally, as we traversed a short rapids I hooked a steelhead less than 10 feet from the boat; it headed upstream first then downstream jumping clear of the water twice. I slid out of the boat and tried to work the fish into some still water near the head of the pool at the bottom of the rapids. The steelhead resisted my efforts and suddenly took off downstream and into my backing. Gordon brought the boat down to me so that I could climb back aboard in an effort to follow the fish. In the process I gained some line back and we crossed to the opposite bank of the river where I again got out of the boat. The fish jumped two more times and finally showed signs of tiring but a downed tree just below me was my next concern. We decided I could wade around the tree if the fight went that far. The fish turned into the shallow water where I was able to get its head up and Gordon slipped the net under it. The big buck measured 39 inches and had a 19.5 inch girth, my personal best!
We worked the balance of the lower pool, but neither John or I had any takes; back in the boat we continued downstream. As we approached the take-out point I hooked my third steelhead of the day as we drifted through another rapids and the fish quickly broke me off. Steve, Harry and Gill were waiting when we got to the pull-out. Harry had landed a 40-inch "hen" in the pool where I had hooked my big fish.
Steve and I fished with Gordon the following day. It was a long day and we were both skunked. I had one nice fish make a pass at my egg pattern, but did not hook-up. On day four Steve, Harry and Gill traveled to another river while John and I fished together with Gordon. This was John's best day of the trip. He started out with a 37 inch steelhead at the same pool he had taken his first fish two days ago. He followed that with a 34 inch fish that he hooked directly behind another guides raft as it passed by us. Finally, he landed his best steelhead of the trip some distance downstream, a fat 38 inch buck. It turned out that neither Steve or Harry had any action.
The next two days produced five fish; it snowed on Saturday and the river turned muddy.
My three fishing partners headed for the States on Sunday. Gordon agreed to take me to Prince Rupert to catch my evening ferry back to Juneau. On the way we fished a small coastal stream near Rupert. We hiked into the river following fresh wolf tracks. Starting upstream we worked our way down toward saltwater. After about three hours with no takes we dropped down below a set of falls and continued fishing. Finally, Gordon hooked a good steelhead. It ran downstream and over another set of falls. With a strong current helping, it took several minutes to tail the fish, a bright hen. We fished some more then moved further downstream to a large, wide pool. I started at the head of the run dead-drifting a small, pale orange egg pattern. About halfway down the run a large steelhead struck at my strike indicator. Gordon saw it come from across the pool. On the next cast the fish again came for the strike indicator. After several more casts, nothing. I then changed to a larger, red egg pattern and on the second cast I hooked a heavy fish. It was on for less than a minute when the hook came out. We worked the pool for another 30 minutes, but time was running out and we had had to head for the ferry terminal.
The ferry departed Prince Rupert on time at about 6:00P. The return trip to Juneau took 2 days; time to dry out, clean up the gear and catch up on sleep.
