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Well, I just got in from 2 weeks of complete relaxation.
Wendy and I left Coquitlam Friday night (July 25) as soon as she got home from work and headed up to Princeton, where we planned to spend a couple of days with some friends at a local rv park. (My buddy Dan has a 26 foot trailer which he doesn’t like to take of pavement, so the less than rustic setting for the start of our trip). Dan doesn’t fish, so the first couple of days were spent visiting, resting and pontooning the Similkameen River.
After three days of this we were finally relaxed enough to head out for the real vacation. We left Princeton on Monday morning and headed east. We decided we were taking it easy, so after only a 2 or three hours driving, we stopped at Kettle River Provincial Park. The river is a little gem that screams at you “trout river”. I hit it about ½ hour after we settled. A steady swarm of people drifted by me on tubes, air mattresses, floatation devices and what have you. I watched as they went by and couldn’t help but reflect that bikinis should be a privilege earned, not a right! A few hours wading and fishing yielded only a few very small rainbows. Even on my 2-wt fly rod these were barely noticeable. A good meal, an early evening and the next morning found us on the road again.
By early afternoon we were in Creston at my brother-in-law’s place. Finally we were going to get some west slope cutthroat fishing in! The Goat River was our destination. The first day on the river, Wayne (my bro-in-law) and I went about 14km up the Leadville logging road to try our luck. As we were setting up the rods, the threatening skies stopped threatening and brought it on. we dropped what we were doing and jumped in the truck just as the hail hit. we waited about 10 minutes until the storm passed and then got into the water. For the next couple of hours about 20 cutties from 8 to 14 inches came happily to my offerings of Tom Thumbs and stimulators. My digital camera packed it in, so the only pictures I have are stills from my video camera, sorry for the quality.
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Wayne wasn’t so lucky. He had only fly fished a couple of times, years prior and was really struggling with the castle, but as the day wore on he did get better and by the end of the few hours we fished, he had a couple of hits but no hook-ups.
The next day, we hit the lower river below Creston for about 2 hours. A mile of wading and fishing didn’t turn a single fish, so we headed back up to Leadville Creek. Above Leadville Creek the Goat is catch and release, below it is catch and keep. I fished immediately below the creek in some very good-looking water and in the space of 2 hours I landed 3 fish between 12 and 16 inches. Fishing above the creek, Wayne managed to land a dozen ranging in size up to 14”. Needless to say, he thought the whole idea of fly-fishing was much better than he had the day before.
These cedar waxwing fledglings were in Wayne’s backyard and were just days away from taking flight.
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After a couple of days fishing and visiting with family it was time to move on. Cranbrook and the St. Mary’s River were next on our agenda. In a day or two I will post that portion of the trip, but tonight I’m ready to wrap it up.
Wendy and I left Coquitlam Friday night (July 25) as soon as she got home from work and headed up to Princeton, where we planned to spend a couple of days with some friends at a local rv park. (My buddy Dan has a 26 foot trailer which he doesn’t like to take of pavement, so the less than rustic setting for the start of our trip). Dan doesn’t fish, so the first couple of days were spent visiting, resting and pontooning the Similkameen River.
After three days of this we were finally relaxed enough to head out for the real vacation. We left Princeton on Monday morning and headed east. We decided we were taking it easy, so after only a 2 or three hours driving, we stopped at Kettle River Provincial Park. The river is a little gem that screams at you “trout river”. I hit it about ½ hour after we settled. A steady swarm of people drifted by me on tubes, air mattresses, floatation devices and what have you. I watched as they went by and couldn’t help but reflect that bikinis should be a privilege earned, not a right! A few hours wading and fishing yielded only a few very small rainbows. Even on my 2-wt fly rod these were barely noticeable. A good meal, an early evening and the next morning found us on the road again.
By early afternoon we were in Creston at my brother-in-law’s place. Finally we were going to get some west slope cutthroat fishing in! The Goat River was our destination. The first day on the river, Wayne (my bro-in-law) and I went about 14km up the Leadville logging road to try our luck. As we were setting up the rods, the threatening skies stopped threatening and brought it on. we dropped what we were doing and jumped in the truck just as the hail hit. we waited about 10 minutes until the storm passed and then got into the water. For the next couple of hours about 20 cutties from 8 to 14 inches came happily to my offerings of Tom Thumbs and stimulators. My digital camera packed it in, so the only pictures I have are stills from my video camera, sorry for the quality.
Wayne wasn’t so lucky. He had only fly fished a couple of times, years prior and was really struggling with the castle, but as the day wore on he did get better and by the end of the few hours we fished, he had a couple of hits but no hook-ups.
The next day, we hit the lower river below Creston for about 2 hours. A mile of wading and fishing didn’t turn a single fish, so we headed back up to Leadville Creek. Above Leadville Creek the Goat is catch and release, below it is catch and keep. I fished immediately below the creek in some very good-looking water and in the space of 2 hours I landed 3 fish between 12 and 16 inches. Fishing above the creek, Wayne managed to land a dozen ranging in size up to 14”. Needless to say, he thought the whole idea of fly-fishing was much better than he had the day before.
These cedar waxwing fledglings were in Wayne’s backyard and were just days away from taking flight.
After a couple of days fishing and visiting with family it was time to move on. Cranbrook and the St. Mary’s River were next on our agenda. In a day or two I will post that portion of the trip, but tonight I’m ready to wrap it up.
