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| Essential Back Road Equipment for Spring Steelhead in Northern BC |
It was time to return to Terrace, British Columbia, again. A
cold, snowy winter in Anchorage was slowly coming to end when I boarded my flight to Ketchikan and then onto a ferry to Prince Rupert, where I overnighted. The next morning the cab dropped me at the Greyhound
station where I boarded a bus for the hour and half ride to Terrace. Gill McKean, of Westcoast Fishing Adventures, picked me up at the Terrace station for the short ride to his home where I spent the next 9
days.
After sorting
out my gear, we headed to the Zymacord for a few hours of fishing. The road was only partially cleared of snow and so we
could only get part way in to the river by truck. The river looked low and clear, not the best
recipe for steelhead. A short hike has standing
on the bank of the river at a well-known and productive pool. Starting at the head of the pool, I
dead-drifted my favorite bright orange egg pattern. We worked our way down stream to the tail-out
without success and continued downstream through two more runs, nothing. The final run paralleled the road and just
below a culvert midway through the pool I put my egg against the opposite
bank. As the fly tumbled past and several
downstream of the flow of water a large steelhead charged the egg and was
hooked for a few brief moments. Several
more casts into the area produced nothing and we called it a day.
The decision was to fish the Kitimat River on Monday. The Kitimat is not part of the Skeena system, it flows south to the community of Kitimat. The launch (take-out) areas were still deep in snow so the plan was to launch and retrieve the rubber boat at the “washouts” along the road. This means down a riprap slope in the morning and up an even bigger one in the evening. The river was low. Night time temperatures were staying above freezing so snowmelt was adding to the flow and providing some color to the water. Dead-drifting egg patterns from a boat is normally productive and that was the plan.
The Kitimat
is a braided river and changes course from year to year. The bed is composed primarily of gravel and
cobbles with a few sandy areas. The
river looked quite different from last year, in many cases better, but some of
the old favorite buckets had filled in.
The day warmed to about 50F as we drifted down river and it was almost
noon before I had the first take and hooked up in a short dark slot against the
bank on river left. Gill slipped out of
the boat to hold it and then I slid over the side. The fish didn’t want to leave the . It hugged the bottom for a few minutes until
I was able to move it upstream and into some shallow water where we netted it,
a bright 8-10 pound female. After lunch I
swung a long, wide pool just below where I caught the first fish. At the tail-out I had two quick bumps but no
hook-up. That was the last take of the
day.
It stayed
warm that evening and we decided to drift the same section of the Kitimat. It was over cast but warm with a few morning
rain drops. The river came up overnight
and had more color. It was almost noon
again when I stuck a good fish up against the bank just below a log in the
water. The fish appeared to be well
hooked and came to the surface briefly when suddenly my line went limp. The prognosis was a poorly tied knot that I
tied just minutes before hooking the fish, just what I needed. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a
knot pull out, but this one did! We pulled up on shore for lunch and to tie a
new knot.
At Humphrey
Creek a big fish took a pass at my strike indicator. I through several casts around the area but
no takers. We pulled the boat upstream
so we could run through the Humphrey Creek drift again. I tossed the egg against the bank as we started
down. We hadn’t drifted 20 feet when a
steelhead charged and missed the egg; zero for two. At Humphrey Creek we came across the remains of a wolf on shallow bar. We had one more take before we reached the
takeout and so we ended the day 0 for 3.
.
.
Being gluten's
for punishment, and lacking creativity, it was back to the Kitimat the next
morning. It was foggy when we reached
the river and there were several fishermen ahead of us. The day quickly turned sunny and almost
60F. The river was rising and visibility
deteriorated. We alternated drifting and
swinging flies as worked down river. The
first hit came at about 11:30A when a fish swirled and missed my egg as I
raised it to recast. I cast into the
same spot and the fish immediately struck and I was hooked up. It jumped several times, a male about #15. I slid out of the boat and Gill pulled it up
a gravel bar. The fished stripped line
and jumped as it headed downstream then stopped and sulked in mid-run. I gained some line back and worked the fish
toward me. It then moved back toward
mid-stream, then jumped some more, or should I say cartwheeled
end-over-end. Still hooked the fish got
below me and began thrashing in the shallows when the hook came out. Lunch time again – there seemed to be a
reoccurring pattern here.
After lunch I grabbed the spey rod and worked upstream to a drop-off just above the point where I had hooked the previous fish. I started swinging a big pink fly as I slowly worked downstream. Suddenly I felt the take and I had a fish on. The fish swirled a couple times on the surface and then was off. The steelhead were winning this game.
We continued our downstream drift. As we approached Humphrey Gill positioned the boat at river-left and I kept my fly tight against the bank, hoping for a repeat of the previous day. I made several casts, as we drifted past the creek. We approached the tail-out and I made a long cast slightly behind the boat at the edge of some inky water. The fly hadn't drifted 15 feet when a steelhead slammed it and immediately headed downriver jumping and thrashing on the surface as it went. The fish was a big male (20# plus) and I could see my orange egg embedded in the corner of its mouth. It was headed for a long curving rapid and Gill barked for me to back the drag and let it run. We followed it hot pursuit as my backing disappeared and the fish continued to jump and cartwheel downstream.
We pulled up on the bank and I slipped out of the raft. There were snags downstream that I had to keep the fish out of. I waded out toward the snags trying to gain back line but allowing the fish to stay in the middle of the river to clear the debris. The Kitimat generally has a cobble bottom when makes wading tricky and chasing a fish doesn't make that any easier. The last thing I needed was to be swimming with this fish. Once I got past the snags I started to get line back and at one point I had fly line back on the reel, when suddenly the fish turned and headed for another set of rapids. The boat was now well above us and Gill had to scramble to get it and then back to me. By now the fish was in the rapids and line was again melting off the reel. I waded into the current to wait for the boat when I discovered that the fish now had my line wrapped around a submerged tree. As I got in, Gill jumped out of the boat and managed to free the line; the fish was still on!
We slowly caught up with the fish in slower moving water at the base of the rapids, and gained some line, but with the my steelhead still headed down river. We climbed out of the boat for what would be the final time and tried to get perpendicular to the fish. I now had most of my line back on the reel and suddenly there was the strike indicator. At last the fish was visible, but now had the leader was wrapped around it with the hook in the dorsal fin. Apparently, during one of many jumps, the hook had come out and lodged in the fin, making the fish almost impossible to maneuver. In desperation, Gill grabbed the leader and slowly pulled the fish toward,but each time it got within arms length of the net it swam away; it did this 6-8 times and then the hook came out and the fish slowly disappeared. It had been on for over 20 minutes. The day ended Steelhead 3 fisherman 0. Frustration settles in.
After lunch I grabbed the spey rod and worked upstream to a drop-off just above the point where I had hooked the previous fish. I started swinging a big pink fly as I slowly worked downstream. Suddenly I felt the take and I had a fish on. The fish swirled a couple times on the surface and then was off. The steelhead were winning this game.
We continued our downstream drift. As we approached Humphrey Gill positioned the boat at river-left and I kept my fly tight against the bank, hoping for a repeat of the previous day. I made several casts, as we drifted past the creek. We approached the tail-out and I made a long cast slightly behind the boat at the edge of some inky water. The fly hadn't drifted 15 feet when a steelhead slammed it and immediately headed downriver jumping and thrashing on the surface as it went. The fish was a big male (20# plus) and I could see my orange egg embedded in the corner of its mouth. It was headed for a long curving rapid and Gill barked for me to back the drag and let it run. We followed it hot pursuit as my backing disappeared and the fish continued to jump and cartwheel downstream.
We pulled up on the bank and I slipped out of the raft. There were snags downstream that I had to keep the fish out of. I waded out toward the snags trying to gain back line but allowing the fish to stay in the middle of the river to clear the debris. The Kitimat generally has a cobble bottom when makes wading tricky and chasing a fish doesn't make that any easier. The last thing I needed was to be swimming with this fish. Once I got past the snags I started to get line back and at one point I had fly line back on the reel, when suddenly the fish turned and headed for another set of rapids. The boat was now well above us and Gill had to scramble to get it and then back to me. By now the fish was in the rapids and line was again melting off the reel. I waded into the current to wait for the boat when I discovered that the fish now had my line wrapped around a submerged tree. As I got in, Gill jumped out of the boat and managed to free the line; the fish was still on!
We slowly caught up with the fish in slower moving water at the base of the rapids, and gained some line, but with the my steelhead still headed down river. We climbed out of the boat for what would be the final time and tried to get perpendicular to the fish. I now had most of my line back on the reel and suddenly there was the strike indicator. At last the fish was visible, but now had the leader was wrapped around it with the hook in the dorsal fin. Apparently, during one of many jumps, the hook had come out and lodged in the fin, making the fish almost impossible to maneuver. In desperation, Gill grabbed the leader and slowly pulled the fish toward,but each time it got within arms length of the net it swam away; it did this 6-8 times and then the hook came out and the fish slowly disappeared. It had been on for over 20 minutes. The day ended Steelhead 3 fisherman 0. Frustration settles in.
For the next three days I fished with Chris from Santa Cruz California. Because of rising water, we elected to put in a few kilometers above the previous day's starting point. The launch was still deep with snow. The river had some color but looked fairly good at this point.
