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A Weekend At The Stamp (and other rivers)… by Ortho
There is something particularly annoying about an alarm screaming in your ear after an hour of good sleep, (when you have spent the previous 5 or 6 hrs. thinking of catching fish, checking your gear, and digesting a dinner that was eaten very late. The truck was packed a day early for this trip and as things worked out, Ogobogo and I would depart separately, Hotrod would also go solo, and we would all meet in the Port’. for a Friday on the Stamp River, and fish a few smaller rivers during the balance of the weekend.
After an uneventful trip across the waters to the” rock”, I arrived at the motel to find Ogobogo already relaxing and making a dent in the weekend supply of firewater. The prerequisite arranging the gear and swapping a few stories followed and we then headed out to the Pub for the prime rib special, a few bevies, and discuss strategy. :
Hotrod checked in on the phone and dropped by for the last part of the hockey game and we set up the rules for tomorrow’s competition. It was agreed that the longest fish would win a prize to be determined later (mostly bragging rites) and we would connect at the end of the day and declare a winner.
Next morning, we met our guide Ken Meyers at the designated spot and set off to the river. As soon as it was light enough to see we headed upriver to a spot that had been producing well over the last few days. It is a little different fishing out of a solid bottom zodiac, rather than the tin boats I was used to, but it proved to be a lot more stable in the heavy water thru the bucket and the waters below the falls, and Eagle Rock corner.
The first spots were a little quiet, and since Hotrod and his guide had made an even earlier departure to the river, they were already fishing the pool our guide wanted to hit, so we slipped downstream a bit and stole some water from them…. This very unlikely looking holding water is almost always productive, and it once again proved to be a winner. We were instructed to “drop it just above the rock, spool off a bit and hold back,…ok…getting to the zone……right there”!
Four casts and BAM! Fish on! My first fish of the day gave me a nice handshake, a quick couple of tugs and promptly returned to its house, without showing its size, shape or color. Me thinks he was just teasin’ the fishin’geezers. Ortho is now 0 for1.and a few more minutes, a few more casts with nothing to show prompted our guide to leave Hotrod behind and head up the river farther. The fun was about to begin!
We arrived at some beautiful water after blasting up the rapids with an inch of water in the boat, and flying thru some heavy water in 2 degree air….It was a tad chilly, and our cold weather gear got a good workout ..It wasn’t long before the chill faded into excitement as Ogobogo’s rod snapped back with a quick hook set and the unmistakable bend told us he had hit his first fish of the day. It was a beautiful hatchery fish of 6-8 lbs and bright as a newly minted dime. Problem was, the water was kickin’ by the anchored boat at a good speed and the fish used the old “wrap him around the rock” trick with success and the little guy broke off with a sore mouth and a new pink jig as a souvenir. :'(
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We slowly crept downstream to another spot and finally, after hooking and losing my second fish of the day, Ogobogo came thru with his first to the boat, a really nice little hatch buck around 6 or 7 lbs.
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This was to be the start of some frantic action as several fish were hooked and landed over the next hour both by shore fishers and us, although I still had not brought a fish to hand, losing both a really heavy fish, as well as a 2-3 lb. resident ‘bow. that fell for my white and pink plastic “trout bead”.
Over the years, I have always put a fair amount of pride in the fact that my catch ratio is quite high and I don’t lose very many fish but this was about to change, as I was now 0 for 4 at the halfway point of the trip. After chomping down some hot pepperoni and the balance of the “snake oil”, we headed to another spot and tossed our gear into a small slick and within 3 casts, FISH ON!! Finally…Ortho hooks up. A couple of headshakes and a short dash to freedom and I am now 0 for 5………Unbelievable!!! Razor hooks, fast sets and nothing to show. :wallbash:
While I am retying, Ogo is into another fish with one of his jigs, and this one is a beauty. Just pure chrome and a fat buck around 10-11 lbs…A quick tail walk near the boat and off into the in the heavy water he went, making for some real excitement!!
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This was to be the last fish hooked in the area and we made our way back to the starting point and sat in the same spot as first light, Within 4 casts I finally had my first to the boat. A nice 6-7 lb. hatchery clone
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As the light was fading fast, we heading for the takeout spot, had a final toast to our good fortune and our misfortunes.
…All in all 11 steel’ on and 4 to the boat…Ken Meyers is a great guy to fish with and an excellent guide…. Ogobogo definitely won the bet hands down…eaceIf I had only landed that heavyweight). Hotrod headed for the ferry and we headed back to the motel as we had decided to stay over to fish some smaller streams the next morning, so it was off for dinner and the usual late night return to the comforts of the Somass Motel.
Saturday dawned rainy and cold and we wanted to do little searching so we set off towards Bamfield and dropped into a nice little stream, did some bushwhacking and overall, thrashed the water pretty hard. As we headed back to the truck, the Ogobogo dude with the hot hand struck again landing a very large “tomato” Coho of close to 15 lbs. On a very large Coho 55 Illusion spoon, slow trolled thru some deep water. ;D
Before calling it a day, we headed back to the upper Sproat River, hiked down below the falls, laid out a couple of hundred unanswered casts between us, hiked back to the truck and removed about 25lbs of wet clothes, gear, boots and headed for the relief of a hot shower………….
Ah yes, another page of Steelheading 101, another fantastic weekend, and a whole bunch of new stories to tell.............Ortho 8)
There is something particularly annoying about an alarm screaming in your ear after an hour of good sleep, (when you have spent the previous 5 or 6 hrs. thinking of catching fish, checking your gear, and digesting a dinner that was eaten very late. The truck was packed a day early for this trip and as things worked out, Ogobogo and I would depart separately, Hotrod would also go solo, and we would all meet in the Port’. for a Friday on the Stamp River, and fish a few smaller rivers during the balance of the weekend.
After an uneventful trip across the waters to the” rock”, I arrived at the motel to find Ogobogo already relaxing and making a dent in the weekend supply of firewater. The prerequisite arranging the gear and swapping a few stories followed and we then headed out to the Pub for the prime rib special, a few bevies, and discuss strategy. :
Hotrod checked in on the phone and dropped by for the last part of the hockey game and we set up the rules for tomorrow’s competition. It was agreed that the longest fish would win a prize to be determined later (mostly bragging rites) and we would connect at the end of the day and declare a winner.
Next morning, we met our guide Ken Meyers at the designated spot and set off to the river. As soon as it was light enough to see we headed upriver to a spot that had been producing well over the last few days. It is a little different fishing out of a solid bottom zodiac, rather than the tin boats I was used to, but it proved to be a lot more stable in the heavy water thru the bucket and the waters below the falls, and Eagle Rock corner.
The first spots were a little quiet, and since Hotrod and his guide had made an even earlier departure to the river,
they were already fishing the pool our guide wanted to hit, so we slipped downstream a bit and stole some water from them…. This very unlikely looking holding water is almost always productive, and it once again proved to be a winner. We were instructed to “drop it just above the rock, spool off a bit and hold back,…ok…getting to the zone……right there”!Four casts and BAM! Fish on! My first fish of the day gave me a nice handshake, a quick couple of tugs and promptly returned to its house, without showing its size, shape or color. Me thinks he was just teasin’ the fishin’geezers. Ortho is now 0 for1.and a few more minutes, a few more casts with nothing to show prompted our guide to leave Hotrod behind and head up the river farther. The fun was about to begin!
We arrived at some beautiful water after blasting up the rapids with an inch of water in the boat, and flying thru some heavy water in 2 degree air….It was a tad chilly, and our cold weather gear got a good workout ..It wasn’t long before the chill faded into excitement as Ogobogo’s rod snapped back with a quick hook set and the unmistakable bend told us he had hit his first fish of the day.
It was a beautiful hatchery fish of 6-8 lbs and bright as a newly minted dime. Problem was, the water was kickin’ by the anchored boat at a good speed and the fish used the old “wrap him around the rock” trick with success and the little guy broke off with a sore mouth and a new pink jig as a souvenir. :'(
We slowly crept downstream to another spot and finally, after hooking and losing my second fish of the day, Ogobogo came thru with his first to the boat, a really nice little hatch buck around 6 or 7 lbs.
This was to be the start of some frantic action as several fish were hooked and landed over the next hour both by shore fishers and us, although I still had not brought a fish to hand, losing both a really heavy fish, as well as a 2-3 lb. resident ‘bow. that fell for my white and pink plastic “trout bead”.
Over the years, I have always put a fair amount of pride in the fact that my catch ratio is quite high and I don’t lose very many fish but this was about to change, as I was now 0 for 4 at the halfway point of the trip. After chomping down some hot pepperoni and the balance of the “snake oil”, we headed to another spot and tossed our gear into a small slick and within 3 casts, FISH ON!! Finally…Ortho hooks up. A couple of headshakes and a short dash to freedom and I am now 0 for 5………Unbelievable!!! Razor hooks, fast sets and nothing to show. :wallbash:
While I am retying, Ogo is into another fish with one of his jigs, and this one is a beauty. Just pure chrome and a fat buck around 10-11 lbs…A quick tail walk near the boat and off into the in the heavy water he went, making for some real excitement!!
This was to be the last fish hooked in the area and we made our way back to the starting point and sat in the same spot as first light, Within 4 casts I finally had my first to the boat. A nice 6-7 lb. hatchery clone
As the light was fading fast, we heading for the takeout spot, had a final toast to our good fortune and our misfortunes.
…All in all 11 steel’ on and 4 to the boat…Ken Meyers is a great guy to fish with and an excellent guide…. Ogobogo definitely won the bet hands down…
eaceIf I had only landed that heavyweight). Hotrod headed for the ferry and we headed back to the motel as we had decided to stay over to fish some smaller streams the next morning, so it was off for dinner and the usual late night return to the comforts of the Somass Motel.Saturday dawned rainy and cold and we wanted to do little searching so we set off towards Bamfield and dropped into a nice little stream, did some bushwhacking and overall, thrashed the water pretty hard. As we headed back to the truck, the Ogobogo dude with the hot hand struck again landing a very large “tomato” Coho of close to 15 lbs. On a very large Coho 55 Illusion spoon, slow trolled thru some deep water. ;D
Before calling it a day, we headed back to the upper Sproat River, hiked down below the falls, laid out a couple of hundred unanswered casts between us, hiked back to the truck and removed about 25lbs of wet clothes, gear, boots and headed for the relief of a hot shower………….
Ah yes, another page of Steelheading 101, another fantastic weekend, and a whole bunch of new stories to tell.............Ortho 8)
