Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Just got back from a 6 day float up in the promised land. I've been doing that trip every May since 1985 and it blows my mind how even with all those years under my belt, it's a completely different show each time I go.
Totally unpredictable. Last year, 2 meters of snow, raging high water, doing laps around the rosary beads going across log jams in Class 4 water in a skimpy little completely over-loaded inflatable, absolutely convinced I was going to tear a hole in a pontoon and drown my sorry arse.
This year, zero snow, zero rain, hot beating sun six days in a row, low clear bony river----dragging across tail-outs, spooky fish, blue-bird sky day after day after day. First year in over 25 years that I never put on my raincoat....(Global Weirding?)...First year that I got down on my knees and thanked the Lord for inventing fluorocarbon fishing line (using the tried and true 10 lb Maxima would have caught me ZERO fish this year once the sun got on the water)
I came home to a completely pissed off girlfriend, a dying dog, and a pile of unreconciled business on my office desk, and had to ask myself (yet again)...."aren't you getting a little too old for trips like this?...."
But pics say it all, and each year I just can't get enough of the North Country and just HAVE to keep going back:
Dawn on the river----the St. Elias Range with the first hint of sunrise on a scalloped ridge line. I knew I had COME BACK HOME when I saw this scene first morning on the river:
First night on the river---no more peanut butter sandwiches for dinner ( like in the good old days)---now we bring a smoked spring caught in Cultus Sound last August, kale, peppers, Masala simmer sauce and buckets of cilantro:
Every night a different camp site---the trick is to set up on a hole that you KNOW has fish, eat dinner while the sun is still on the water, then pound the hole until it's too dark to see
It helps to see this while you're cooking dinner:
The fish:
There are two runs of fish in the river: one is a fall run that peaks in November. The other is a spring run that peaks in May. When the ice breaks up in the lake that feeds this river, those fall run fish come out of the lake and start spawning throughout the river
Here's a fire-truck buck, clearly a November fish that over wintered in the system
Some of these fish are HUGE. I've fished the Skeena fall run fish since 1976 so I know my way around mid 20 to low 30 steel. Some of the fish I saw on this trip were absolutely in that category. 40" fish are caught every year. I'm sure there are 45" fish in this system but with the amount of wood in the river, it's tough to ever get them on the beach and document that length
About five years ago I hooked a fish in a wide-open stretch (no trees) and got a picture of it on a snow-bank. The length was stunning (low 40's) but it was snaked out from over-wintering so the girth wasn't quite there to make the weight begin with a "3" instead of a "2"
Here's a typical spring run fish, although this one probably was a bit on the big side---(pushing low teens; most of the spring fish are 8 to 10 pounds) :
It was a blast breaking out the old Super Silex dural (a Jimmy Dodd reel for you Hardy guys---I bought it from the Granville Museum before they shut her down). That reel was lined with a floating fly line and a 12 foot leader. Just about anybody who calls themselves a "flyfisherman" up on this river use split shot and floats. That set-up doesn't float my boat and i think it's a stretch calling it "fly fishing" I figure if you're going to use floats and split shot, get out the Sage 3106 and your Islander centerpin or your Shimano level wind.
I prefer staying old-school when it comes to fly fishing (though I back myself up with a GL3 12 foot Loomis and a spin n' glow on these trips to "pace" myself---6 days is a looooong time to kill and it's nice to try all the fish-catching options)
But when you get a fish like that springer on a straight floating line, the take-down is spectacular---these fish just CRUSH your fly---no stinking float between you and those glistening lips.
The only change I did this year---because fluorocarbon tippet was CRUCIAL (and because I do not trust ANY knot when splicing flurocarbon to monofilament, I used a very small swivel at the junction between tapered leader and the fluro tippet---improved clinch knot for both mono and fluro at each end---this was the ticket because I NEVER broke a fish off on this trip and even managed to pull a couple out of log jams with that set-up. Also, if I hung up my fly in the wood, the tippet was strong enough to bend the hook just enough to pop it free--a quick re-bend of the hook with needlenose pliers and I was back on Broadway cruising for love---the fluro impressed me this trip, but it's very sooooft and bruises easily
Here's a shot of something that was a bit freaky---the vertebrae of what looks to be a moose hung up on a log jam---did someone stage that or did a high water place it there? Freaky either way:
Totally unpredictable. Last year, 2 meters of snow, raging high water, doing laps around the rosary beads going across log jams in Class 4 water in a skimpy little completely over-loaded inflatable, absolutely convinced I was going to tear a hole in a pontoon and drown my sorry arse.
This year, zero snow, zero rain, hot beating sun six days in a row, low clear bony river----dragging across tail-outs, spooky fish, blue-bird sky day after day after day. First year in over 25 years that I never put on my raincoat....(Global Weirding?)...First year that I got down on my knees and thanked the Lord for inventing fluorocarbon fishing line (using the tried and true 10 lb Maxima would have caught me ZERO fish this year once the sun got on the water)
I came home to a completely pissed off girlfriend, a dying dog, and a pile of unreconciled business on my office desk, and had to ask myself (yet again)...."aren't you getting a little too old for trips like this?...."
But pics say it all, and each year I just can't get enough of the North Country and just HAVE to keep going back:
Dawn on the river----the St. Elias Range with the first hint of sunrise on a scalloped ridge line. I knew I had COME BACK HOME when I saw this scene first morning on the river:
First night on the river---no more peanut butter sandwiches for dinner ( like in the good old days)---now we bring a smoked spring caught in Cultus Sound last August, kale, peppers, Masala simmer sauce and buckets of cilantro:
Every night a different camp site---the trick is to set up on a hole that you KNOW has fish, eat dinner while the sun is still on the water, then pound the hole until it's too dark to see
It helps to see this while you're cooking dinner:
The fish:
There are two runs of fish in the river: one is a fall run that peaks in November. The other is a spring run that peaks in May. When the ice breaks up in the lake that feeds this river, those fall run fish come out of the lake and start spawning throughout the river
Here's a fire-truck buck, clearly a November fish that over wintered in the system
Some of these fish are HUGE. I've fished the Skeena fall run fish since 1976 so I know my way around mid 20 to low 30 steel. Some of the fish I saw on this trip were absolutely in that category. 40" fish are caught every year. I'm sure there are 45" fish in this system but with the amount of wood in the river, it's tough to ever get them on the beach and document that length
About five years ago I hooked a fish in a wide-open stretch (no trees) and got a picture of it on a snow-bank. The length was stunning (low 40's) but it was snaked out from over-wintering so the girth wasn't quite there to make the weight begin with a "3" instead of a "2"
Here's a typical spring run fish, although this one probably was a bit on the big side---(pushing low teens; most of the spring fish are 8 to 10 pounds) :
It was a blast breaking out the old Super Silex dural (a Jimmy Dodd reel for you Hardy guys---I bought it from the Granville Museum before they shut her down). That reel was lined with a floating fly line and a 12 foot leader. Just about anybody who calls themselves a "flyfisherman" up on this river use split shot and floats. That set-up doesn't float my boat and i think it's a stretch calling it "fly fishing" I figure if you're going to use floats and split shot, get out the Sage 3106 and your Islander centerpin or your Shimano level wind.
I prefer staying old-school when it comes to fly fishing (though I back myself up with a GL3 12 foot Loomis and a spin n' glow on these trips to "pace" myself---6 days is a looooong time to kill and it's nice to try all the fish-catching options)
But when you get a fish like that springer on a straight floating line, the take-down is spectacular---these fish just CRUSH your fly---no stinking float between you and those glistening lips.
The only change I did this year---because fluorocarbon tippet was CRUCIAL (and because I do not trust ANY knot when splicing flurocarbon to monofilament, I used a very small swivel at the junction between tapered leader and the fluro tippet---improved clinch knot for both mono and fluro at each end---this was the ticket because I NEVER broke a fish off on this trip and even managed to pull a couple out of log jams with that set-up. Also, if I hung up my fly in the wood, the tippet was strong enough to bend the hook just enough to pop it free--a quick re-bend of the hook with needlenose pliers and I was back on Broadway cruising for love---the fluro impressed me this trip, but it's very sooooft and bruises easily
Here's a shot of something that was a bit freaky---the vertebrae of what looks to be a moose hung up on a log jam---did someone stage that or did a high water place it there? Freaky either way:
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