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North Coast 2008

1K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  Nicole 
#1 ·
"The Bookends"

Hey guys this will be part one in a series of reports around Kim and my recent time spent up north. It is titled "the bookends" since we spent 2 great days fly fishing a world class central BC trout stream on either end of our trip, to break up the long drive north-west. On the way up the trout fishing was classic- dry flies for free-rising bows along with some great May and sedge hatches. Two weeks later when we stopped by on the way home, the river had filled with sockeye and the fishing was much different- we were still able to raise a few smaller fish to dries but the big bows were thinking glow bug all the way.......

Here is a pic of Kim packing the bear spray and a nice little bow on our first day



You can see by looking at this picture the water is super rich and the rocks are covered in some great brown algae.

This river is know to hold some rainbows in the 5+ pound class but we were not skillfull enough to fool any of them either day. As with most C+R flyfishing only waterbodies the big old vets have seen alot of bugs over the years and are pretty canny. Here is a typical bow from our two days here:



The scenery is classice boreal- dominated by spruce and somewhat flat. To give you an idea of the scenery and size of the river, I will include this pic of Kim laying out a nice cast over some canny feeding bows



On the trip home when we moved to glow buggin' we also found ourselves hooking a few of these



I always find the change in trout behavior to be very interesting once an abundance of salmon move in, they seem excited, yet a little bit nervous. I imagine they are thinking "boy look at all this food, in a couple months these will all be dead and we will be eating them!" The flip side of that though is for now the salmon are a force to be recconed with, and male sockeye will be happy to clamp their big teeth onto the side of an unwary bow who comes a bit to close while foraging for eggs.

I really enjoyed these two day of fly fishing, a great way to break up a loooong drive and a must do on any trip I take up north-west. The late august day was far better, once the sockeye moved in on our trip home the fishing got tough. I would suggest that the first week of september would be the absolute latest that you would want to push your trip if you are looking for classic trout fishing on sockeye streams in this area.

To end this segment off I will leave you with one last picture- contemplating a good day at last light before the hike back!

 
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#3 ·
Re: North Coast 2008- The bookends

oh man Pat your reports always get my fishing blood boiling. you sure fish some of the most pristine places out there. I wish i was so lucky. And have a girl that loves to join you is juts perfect ;D Thanks for the report Pat and im very excited for the parts to come......as always you leave us in such anticipation.
 
#7 ·
Part 2- Cassiar Country (NFR for the most part)

Part 2 will be mostly NFR, just a photo review of our sight seeing 3 day adventure up the Cassiar and over into Hyder AK. The road between Cranberry Junction and Stewart is one of the nicest I have ever had the pleasure of driving on. Nothing but towering mountains, glaciers and waterfalls.

Usually on a fishing trip I would never take 3 days just to sight see, hike and tourist around. That is Kim's good influence on me: forcing me to slow down, smell the roses, walk through the forests, walk on the glaciers and enjoy the many other great things the north (and life) has to offer.

Enjoy the pics, I will not be posting alot of text so if you have any questions fire away and I will be happy to answer.


Bear Glacier


Fish Creek Swamp


Taking the time to enjoy the small things


a rare blue sky day on the North Coast


Meziadin Falls


A chilly morning waking up at Bonus Lake camp


A funny sign that says all there is to say about the next series


Downtown Hyder


Chowing on black huckleberries


Chowing on Doggies

I would say this area is a must see when you get a chance, we did check out some great looking Nass tribs. when we were in the area. Unfortunatly they were both too high and fishing poorly when we were there. They both interested me enough to deserve further exploration.
 
#9 ·
Part 3- Nisga'a Country

For the third and final portion of this report I will talk about two great days that we spent as guests of the Nisga'a people touring their beautiful lands. Last time I was on the north coast I fell in love with the Nass and it's many mysterious tribs and I promised I would spend more time in the area whenever possible. When the oppertunity came we made the best of it and spent one fantastic day fishing and one great day touring around the beautiful area that the Nisga'a people call home.

The day we spent fishing was very interesting, we spent part of our time wandering around confused looking for PG Billy, but that is an other story ;)...and part of our day catching beautiful chinook, coho and chum. The river we were on was one of my favorites and thoughts of it have haunted me since my last visit there three years ago. It is a very unique river in that much of it flows through lava beds and the only way to access it is by walking across these really cool old volcanic formations. The color of the water is also very special as the river flows an intoxicating shade of bluish green that just screams fish......

Here is a pic of Kim hiking in to give you an idea of what the lava beds look like:



The fishing was very good and we were treated to some great displays as huge chinook spent the entire day jumping around in front of us as they moved up river. Wave after wave of fresh chinook came by us that day and we were lucky enough to hook into a few:



Like this one that put a serious bend into the old 3106 before finally giving up and allowing me to snap a pic before release:



Coho spoons were the ticket and the takes were furious as these mean norther springers took no mercy on those flashy things that were pissing them off.....



Releasing another nice Lava bed nooky.....

As the day progressed there were a few nice coho rolling through with the chinook who like their larger cousins could not resist the flash of the spoon:



All in all it was a great day of fishing, in a quiet and stunning natural setting. The next day we decided to go on a tour of the area and started our explorations off at the Nisga'a Lava Beds information center. I spent a great hour talking with a Nisga'a elder about many things, from the changes to their land, to coalbed methane in the Sacred Headwaters, to local hotsprings we could visit and he was even kind enough to slip me a few hints of local fishing hotspots of which I had never heard, but are now on the list.

This post is getting long so I will let the pictures describe the great day we spent touring the area:


Canyon City


Gingolx shoe tree



Guardians of the Nass at Gitwinksihlkw


Vetter Falls

In closing I will say that our two days spent here were both a great cultural and natural experience, it is almost like entering into another country when you come on to Nisga'a lands, but you are always welcomed with open arms by the locals.

That is it for my northcoast report, I hope some of you heve enjoyed it.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the kind words gents, I forgot to thank a couple of people in my report:

Tuberdude thanks for the PM I tried the spot at the bottom of the canyon that you suggested and had good coho fishing there! Thanks for taking the time to help out!

and PG Billy of course, I don't know where to start I owe you big time my friend!
 
#15 ·
Pat, all I can say is thanks. It was an honour to have made Kim and yours aquantances, and after spending the time on the flow with you I can fully understand your promotion to moderator. You folks are great stewards of the sport we love and contributers to the site. The reel I won today in the contest means a great deal and represents what a unique and diverse site we have that allows people from across are vast province to come togethor for a common interest. You have a gift, in your ability to put into words such fantastic reports from various locals, I look forward to each new one you write. Thanks again Pat for the nomination and I look forward to hitting the flows with you again in the near future.

Cheers Bill
 
#17 ·
Awesome report Pat! I hope you got Hyderized when you where up there ;)

Thanks for all those amazing photos...

Cheers,
Nicole
 
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