duanec

we stayed at Nicholas Dean Lodge, Dustin Kovacvich is the head guide [he's the giant in the one pic]. http://www.nicholasdean.com/ yep our year was not as good steelhead-wise [from what i understand the commercial fishery in port alberni was mostly to blame?], but hearing good things this year.

my turn and the stand, and my first cast yielded this: which fortunately didn't count [was not a steelhead]. my second cast: and so we had an incredible day. we landed 8 steelhead and lost many, even had the opportunity to skate drys for them until late in the day. so late in fact the lodge sent out a search party as it was almost dark by the time we got back to the vehicle. who needed lunch? anyways, that was my first trip and i officailly got the fever. i thought it was a bunch of bs until that day, but now i iunderstand. i'm itching to get back for more, planning a trip next fall perhaps to the island but maybe up north again. thanks for bearing with me.

our last day, the guides pulled out the stops. the other group in the lodge were americans, some of them were a little bit, shall we say, snobbish and had outfished the canuckleheads. the lodge saw this, and so we were being taken to the 'secret spots' that the guides fish themselves. sure, ok. so 90 minutes into our very rough ride up an abandoned logging road, our guide realizes we don't have our lunch, or any water. lol. our instructions - keep going, we're not going back. after almost 2 hours of driving we stop, the guide shares out his own lunch and what water we have, and we set out on foot. after pushing bush for over an hour we emerged on the most beautiful tank pool i have ever seen. we flip a coin for first cast - i lose. he has a chaser the very first flick, and on the follow up: my buddy's first on the fly.

day 3 was spent on the skeena, where i sampled casting spey for the first time. it's way cool when it works, and i'd love to try it again. we fished all morning and i had one strike. by the afternoon the guide started expressing some concern that the fish were just not there in any numbers, although we did see a few. day 4, 2 of us did the copper, and the other 2 were on a very small trib in a raft. they hooked a couple nice steelies: but we had another fishless day on some very prime water. big lower lips from our team back at the lodge. many many rums...

day 2 another skeena trib. i watched as my buddy again outfished me and landed 6 coho. i was of the big lower lip until that last 15 mins of the drift back down the guide put me on a coho. i was very happy to not have the skunk going back to the lodge. don't i look happy? but the end of that day again we saw no steelhead.

more from day 1 - first fish of the trip this was a beaut.

the last 2 steelhead vids almost killed me, so i started flipping back to pix from my first [and so far only] trip, i'm sharing this as a form of therapy...i wish i was prepping to go back this year. the 4 of us stayed at a lodge up in terrace the first week of october. we chose it based upon chances of landing some good fish on the fly with a guide [first trip for all so no one knew what the hell we were doing] as well as logistics and cost. day 1 was fishing a trib of the skeena. was a very very brisk run up the river in the jet, the guide mercifully stopped more than once just so we could warm up a bit. a beautiful river, fantastic scenery. we got into some solid action on coho [i think we landed 8-10], but found no steelhead.

seen 'em caught on skated drys [and missed a chance on one once], but not dead drifted drakes. so it's like 'hey let's fish drys for cutts, 'cept, oops, here's a 12 lb steelie'? that's reedonkulous. all that vid does is feed the fever i caught in '06. when do we leave?

wow. looks bigger than that in the pic. my guess was totally based upon inexperience guestimating wt. for the particular species, and had nothing to do with the fact that perhaps some anglers tend to...ya know...exaggerate sometimes...

now if they'd only put some kind of fish exclusion device in place for the canal head...

um, wow. future peta recruits, no doubt

fiddy-four

in the herald today - they got the prov. approvals [$$] to go ahead now with the new budget, the city & others topped up some too. work 'could begin next month', 'could be open for summer 2010'. i know it will make for some potentially interesting new [and longer] drifts anyways...

pammie is no doubt stepping up to help peta out with this one too?! peta is full of completely certifiable nut jobs, and after the greyhound bus ad fiasco, they are on my list.

now that is some sweet kit!!!!!!!!!!!

caught many a white in the bow. some do consider them to be a 'coarse fish' here but they can sometimes take the skunk off a day, and yes i've landed some absolute pigs in the 4-5 lb range. used to target them and get a bunch for the smoker every fall up in n. central ab. back in the day. big fun and they are very tasty. found the most successful method was to fish nymphs or wet fly patterns or a combo thereof. have one pattern a buddy tied many years ago, used to hook 75-100 in a single day. tried it on the bow a few years ago... it's deadly for targeting them here too. but as others mentioned they eat lots of stuff.

yep - way funnier with an irish accent!

bon iver the hip [always] neil young [does anyone have an extra ticket?] neko case the knife death from above 1979

fantastic idea!

then i say: just giv'r. more power to ya. fill your boots. ode to joy. thanks for clearing that up. i know what i yams now. i guess the forum should be renamed "meat fisher in different clothing calgary"? and this thread still needs more cake.

agreed that's a damn shame, it's why i signed up. don't know anyone else on here yet, but hope to meet some at the clean-up & the future charity event you posted. i sense there are some good peeps here. i plan to stick around as i think the concept is still good and hope the bs gets weeded out. thanks for posting the clip, missed it the first time.

true. so true.

cool. awesome fish...thanks for sharing and the background story...i kinda suspected some of that by looking at the pictures, thanks for confirming. i certainly appreciate reading the 'seasoned' members posts, opinions and comments. please, keep 'em coming!

been on board for a year and become a more active reader & poster in the last few months...gotta say that there's some tremendously good info posted here by a knowledgeable group, awesome to read others opinions and thoughts and see the diversity within the local/extended community. i have started to share my opinion occasionally here and so far no one has set the dogs upon me. yes occasionally [like so many other forums of this type] a thread with polarized opinions can get a little ugly [but it's also highly entertaining!]. i read that post and was not surprised by the overwhelming negative response it got. not defending some of the comments at all, but go figure that one hit a nerve. no matter where you are, if you go out on a limb and make some grand statement one way or the other, someone is gonna try to knock you down a peg or 2. much to be said about how you present that differing opinion, esp. in a forum setting like this. pass the cake.

fierce. great photos and awesome fish. nice setting too. i'm adding that to the list...