BC with Tim Pask
I recently had the good fortune to explore the Skeena watershed with my great friend Tim Pask. The Skeena is a vast waterway draining an awesome wilderness of forest and mountain fed by tributaries that are amongst the most storied rivers in fly-fishing history. Names like Sustut, Babine, Kispiox and Bulkley are legendary to anyone who has ever contemplated the pursuit of the magnificent steelhead.
Enough of the hyperbole, what was it like?
Pretty amazing actually, even from a purely visual point of view BC almost defies description, the mountains are higher and the trees taller than just about anywhere else I have fished so far. The amount of animal life is mind-boggling and there truly are bears in the wood and in fact on the riverbanks and even in the gardens (black ones in the latter case). The ubiquitous symbol of North America the Bald Eagle was everywhere along with Beavers, Coyotes, Wolves, Moose, Mule deer and just about every other type of creature large and small. I found myself drawn to sand banks on the river side if only to try and decipher the animals that had passed that way and I'm still not to sure if I lie down and play dead when confronted by a Grizzly or fight back. As Tim said to me the operative word is DEAD! However I would emphasise that the vast majority of encounters between human and Grizzlies are benign as long as appropriate behaviour is observed and like most creatures they simply want to get on with their lives.
The fishing for someone like me coming from an Atlantic salmon background was fairly straightforward to get into. Double handed rods (Skagit style sink tips) and swinging string leech patterns down and across, I could have been on the Tweed or any other river. I was thoroughly briefed by Tim on "good form" steelhead etiquette passed on to him by the likes of Dylan Tomine (A fine storyteller who does apparently fish from time to time!) I was told that steelheaders expected blank days and that anything else was a bonus and then let loose on the hallowed waters. Our first stop was one of the tributary rivers and it was soon quite clear that the rivers were running very low for the time of year although the beautiful green translucence and power of the water did have me questioning what it was like at normal height.
For those of you who haven't fished for steelhead before I will give you a little fact that I found adds immensely to the fishing experience, steelhead do not always grab the fly straight off but often they will move to the fly and pull it several times before actually taking hold. The compound effect of this is that it prolongs the take, which we all know is the best part of the action making this type of fishing excellent adrenalin junkie action. Typically you get a knock, pause, tug, pause, knock, pause, tug, and... WHAM "Ohmagod" sort of effect as either a big buck (male) heads off to mid-river and starts to dog it out or a hot female (we all like those) somersaults 5 feet in the air and screams of for the Pacific at turbo speed.
We were fortunate in our wide-ranging explorations and hooked, lost and landed more steelhead that we rightfully deserved, although it has to be said that my good buddy Tim did suffer for his art, particularly when at one point I had 10 hooked and landed and he had 10 lost in succession.
Tim assured me that he had been suffering from this bad luck ever since he had inadvertently (deliberately) toppled over a small "Inukshuk" pile of stones at the side of a nearby pool. He felt he had disturbed some powerful medicine and possibly angered the fishing God's. The effect had only been compounded for him by an incident that same afternoon where a coyote had crossed the river to quote "In broad F-king daylight, balls of steel" not far downstream of his house while he was sitting on the bank changing a fly (just having lost a fish right?). After initially shouting and dare I say throwing a stone or two at the coyote he was disturbed to find that far from having his cat in his mouth the coyote was both unperturbed by his actions and positively insolent in it's demeanour. Having shook the water out of it's coat it proceeded to sit down and yawn while Tim hurled abuse in it's direction, Tim's vocals were cut short when he noticed the Coyote was sitting right beside, you've guessed it, the badly rebuilt "Inukshuk" of river magic and power fame. After having given him "The Look" the coyote nonchalantly headed off into the woods. Well as Tim said, if that wasn't a message he didn't know what was and that I had to understand that "all kinds of weird shit happens" and he for one was a believer. I saw the danger and I didn't let him get onto the powerful things that Shisi dogs had done for his business but totally reassured him that tomorrow would be the day.
The next day Tim and I accompanied by the redoubtable Tony "Magnum Lite" were heading somewhere between the mouth of the Sustut and the Bulkley to try our luck in various secret spots and I for one was beside myself with excitement and not a little trepidation. The Skeena is big river and for a newcomer pretty forbidding.
Needless to say Tim caught and landed an absolute screamer of a fish somewhere between 25-30lbs despite an early scare where I hooked and landed a hotter than hot hen that took me the best part of 100 yards down river thereby increasing the pressure on Tim by a factor of 10. The location? Close to a river mouth somewhere near a Skeena tributary that's all I can say.
BC is beyond awesome and Canada is a wonderful, friendly and easily accessible country. I for one intend to spend a lot of time there in the coming years and I am more than happy to answer any questions or enquiries about the fishing opportunities. Our network is second to none and watch for many more exciting developments to come.
Enough of the hyperbole, what was it like?
Pretty amazing actually, even from a purely visual point of view BC almost defies description, the mountains are higher and the trees taller than just about anywhere else I have fished so far. The amount of animal life is mind-boggling and there truly are bears in the wood and in fact on the riverbanks and even in the gardens (black ones in the latter case). The ubiquitous symbol of North America the Bald Eagle was everywhere along with Beavers, Coyotes, Wolves, Moose, Mule deer and just about every other type of creature large and small. I found myself drawn to sand banks on the river side if only to try and decipher the animals that had passed that way and I'm still not to sure if I lie down and play dead when confronted by a Grizzly or fight back. As Tim said to me the operative word is DEAD! However I would emphasise that the vast majority of encounters between human and Grizzlies are benign as long as appropriate behaviour is observed and like most creatures they simply want to get on with their lives.The fishing for someone like me coming from an Atlantic salmon background was fairly straightforward to get into. Double handed rods (Skagit style sink tips) and swinging string leech patterns down and across, I could have been on the Tweed or any other river. I was thoroughly briefed by Tim on "good form" steelhead etiquette passed on to him by the likes of Dylan Tomine (A fine storyteller who does apparently fish from time to time!) I was told that steelheaders expected blank days and that anything else was a bonus and then let loose on the hallowed waters. Our first stop was one of the tributary rivers and it was soon quite clear that the rivers were running very low for the time of year although the beautiful green translucence and power of the water did have me questioning what it was like at normal height.
For those of you who haven't fished for steelhead before I will give you a little fact that I found adds immensely to the fishing experience, steelhead do not always grab the fly straight off but often they will move to the fly and pull it several times before actually taking hold. The compound effect of this is that it prolongs the take, which we all know is the best part of the action making this type of fishing excellent adrenalin junkie action. Typically you get a knock, pause, tug, pause, knock, pause, tug, and... WHAM "Ohmagod" sort of effect as either a big buck (male) heads off to mid-river and starts to dog it out or a hot female (we all like those) somersaults 5 feet in the air and screams of for the Pacific at turbo speed.
We were fortunate in our wide-ranging explorations and hooked, lost and landed more steelhead that we rightfully deserved, although it has to be said that my good buddy Tim did suffer for his art, particularly when at one point I had 10 hooked and landed and he had 10 lost in succession.
Tim assured me that he had been suffering from this bad luck ever since he had inadvertently (deliberately) toppled over a small "Inukshuk" pile of stones at the side of a nearby pool. He felt he had disturbed some powerful medicine and possibly angered the fishing God's. The effect had only been compounded for him by an incident that same afternoon where a coyote had crossed the river to quote "In broad F-king daylight, balls of steel" not far downstream of his house while he was sitting on the bank changing a fly (just having lost a fish right?). After initially shouting and dare I say throwing a stone or two at the coyote he was disturbed to find that far from having his cat in his mouth the coyote was both unperturbed by his actions and positively insolent in it's demeanour. Having shook the water out of it's coat it proceeded to sit down and yawn while Tim hurled abuse in it's direction, Tim's vocals were cut short when he noticed the Coyote was sitting right beside, you've guessed it, the badly rebuilt "Inukshuk" of river magic and power fame. After having given him "The Look" the coyote nonchalantly headed off into the woods. Well as Tim said, if that wasn't a message he didn't know what was and that I had to understand that "all kinds of weird shit happens" and he for one was a believer. I saw the danger and I didn't let him get onto the powerful things that Shisi dogs had done for his business but totally reassured him that tomorrow would be the day.
The next day Tim and I accompanied by the redoubtable Tony "Magnum Lite" were heading somewhere between the mouth of the Sustut and the Bulkley to try our luck in various secret spots and I for one was beside myself with excitement and not a little trepidation. The Skeena is big river and for a newcomer pretty forbidding.
Needless to say Tim caught and landed an absolute screamer of a fish somewhere between 25-30lbs despite an early scare where I hooked and landed a hotter than hot hen that took me the best part of 100 yards down river thereby increasing the pressure on Tim by a factor of 10. The location? Close to a river mouth somewhere near a Skeena tributary that's all I can say.
BC is beyond awesome and Canada is a wonderful, friendly and easily accessible country. I for one intend to spend a lot of time there in the coming years and I am more than happy to answer any questions or enquiries about the fishing opportunities. Our network is second to none and watch for many more exciting developments to come.
Labels: fly fishing in British Columbia
1 Comments:
Well if the truth were told, I was ZERO for twelve before landing that great fish which broke the string. I am currently seven for nine and steering clear of anything that looks remotely like a "Inukshuk".
"The Adventure Continues"
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