Coral Lake Golden Trout Heli-fishing

[hiketofish]

Great pictures. Boy do I have some sympathy. First off, its not the first time that particular helicopter company has dropped someone off at the wrong lake but your story ended much better. Good for the pilot to come back for you, that's really awesome of him. Here's what happened to me about 10 years ago. I planned a trip to Coral Lake with the intention of flying in and hiking out. We had 4 days. The first day was cloudy and we didn't get to take off till the afternoon when the cloud cover briefly disappeared (we were flown in by the owner). We flew in and were dropped off at a Turquoise colored lake that had a C shape to it. I fished the rest of that night with nothing to show. The next day it snowed on us, turned cold, and was overall miserable. I still fished all day both flyfishing and spin fishing and nothing. My friends were fishing as well and we tried every hook we had. I remember I lost my pack rod case in the snow the next morning before we we trudged up and over a pass into the next valley. I knew there was some lakes above me in this adjacent valley but we had 40 plus kilometers to hike so wasn't going to check them out. (Foreshadowing hint) It was snowing at the current elevation and as we descended down to Coral lake, it turned into a steady drizzle. If anyone has done that hike up Coral creek up towards Job pass, you have to cross Coral creek like 20 times, so we were like frozen popsicles by the time we camped that night. We hiked out the second day and drove home to Edmonton. A few days later I showed my pics to a friend of mine and the first thing he said to me was: That's not Coral lake, it should be oval in shape and its clear. A fish and wildlife friend confirmed it as he'd been their as well. I remember the emotions that knowledge gave me and anger was definitely high on the list. In fact I'd almost put that memory out to pasture until I read your post. I did make it back to Coral lake two years later and continued hiking from there to Obstruction Lakes, Job Lake, Brazeau lake and out via JNP. That trip has many more fond memories than the first effort.

[Hawgstoppah]

Boy that sure is a great read... and wonderfull pics. That's still on my bucket list too.. though I think the hike up to Barnaby or something down south here is a more realistic venture for me. If ya don't mind, how much was the heli ride full price?

[birchy]

Boy that sure is a great read... and wonderfull pics. That's still on my bucket list too.. though I think the hike up to Barnaby or something down south here is a more realistic venture for me. If ya don't mind, how much was the heli ride full price?

 

Looks like $349/person and $2 per pound of gear.

 

http://www.icefieldheli.com/fishing/index.htm

 

[whataniceguy]

They discounted the price for you Im sure right? At some point in time did you ask for some money back? Did they offer? Did they offer you an extra day? Did they offer you a free ride at a later date? Can you please PM me the name of the company, I would hate to get dropped off at the wrong lake.

[HopperDropper]

It originally ended up being $606 per person, mainly because of the 300+ pounds of gear. Thus with the 50% refund, it was more palatable. You can cut the weight in half easily without waders, float tubes, water (bring water purification system instead), and food that requires ice. Instead of a second tent for gear, we should of brought just a tarp.

[HopperDropper]

That's brutal. Did you end up getting a full refund?

 

Great pictures. Boy do I have some sympathy. First off, its not the first time that particular helicopter company has dropped someone off at the wrong lake but your story ended much better. Good for the pilot to come back for you, that's really awesome of him. Here's what happened to me about 10 years ago. I planned a trip to Coral Lake with the intention of flying in and hiking out. We had 4 days. The first day was cloudy and we didn't get to take off till the afternoon when the cloud cover briefly disappeared (we were flown in by the owner). We flew in and were dropped off at a Turquoise colored lake that had a C shape to it. I fished the rest of that night with nothing to show. The next day it snowed on us, turned cold, and was overall miserable. I still fished all day both flyfishing and spin fishing and nothing. My friends were fishing as well and we tried every hook we had. I remember I lost my pack rod case in the snow the next morning before we we trudged up and over a pass into the next valley. I knew there was some lakes above me in this adjacent valley but we had 40 plus kilometers to hike so wasn't going to check them out. (Foreshadowing hint) It was snowing at the current elevation and as we descended down to Coral lake, it turned into a steady drizzle. If anyone has done that hike up Coral creek up towards Job pass, you have to cross Coral creek like 20 times, so we were like frozen popsicles by the time we camped that night. We hiked out the second day and drove home to Edmonton. A few days later I showed my pics to a friend of mine and the first thing he said to me was: That's not Coral lake, it should be oval in shape and its clear. A fish and wildlife friend confirmed it as he'd been their as well. I remember the emotions that knowledge gave me and anger was definitely high on the list. In fact I'd almost put that memory out to pasture until I read your post. I did make it back to Coral lake two years later and continued hiking from there to Obstruction Lakes, Job Lake, Brazeau lake and out via JNP. That trip has many more fond memories than the first effort.

 

[wingshooter]

That's brutal. Did you end up getting a full refund?

 

To the pilots defence the Official NTS Map is wrong. Before we went in there in the late 90's I made sure to talk to the actual fisheries biologists that stocked the lake prior to leaving and he told me that. I had to strong arm the pilot to dropping us off @ the lower lake. Best bet is to follow the creek to it's source. I have to say that I would have been pissed if it happened to me.

 

 

[hiketofish]

To the pilots defence the Official NTS Map is wrong. Before we went in there in the late 90's I made sure to talk to the actual fisheries biologists that stocked the lake prior to leaving and he told me that. I had to strong arm the pilot to dropping us off @ the lower lake. Best bet is to follow the creek to it's source. I have to say that I would have been pissed if it happened to me.

 

The company was advertising Golden Trout adventures and once you pay a helicopter company, I assumed they knew where the lake was. I had the 1:50 000 map with me but wasn't checking it during the flight. It was my first ever helicopter trip and I was enjoying the ride, not navigating. I'm sure they had good intentions and I think they honestly thought they'd dropped us off at the right lake. On the way out, I did wonder when I hiked below some lakes of what I know now to be Coral Lake whether it was the actual lake but it was snowing at the time. A good thing to remember is that Coral Lake is quite small. There are numerous bigger lakes very close by, of course they don't have any fish. In hindsight, I should have done more research and I certainly did the next time I went to Coral Lake. No refund for me although I was told I could negotiate a deal if I went again. I didn't know for sure of the mistake until I was back at home for a while. Back then I was fishing every body of water I hiked to anyways. I even carried my rod on the skyline trail and fished Curator Lake for like 2 hours... Thank goodness for the internet and some good reference books. Sometimes your fishing trips turn into hiking trips.