Skagit River II

Our second mission to the Skagit was a crew of us that included Sean, Fraser, Zander and I. We decided to hit the river the Thursday before heading to Zander's cabin at Otter Lake. Little did we know that our time on the river that day was going to be the last bit of sanity before the weekend. Come friday, we were in the thick of it, with non stop brews, offroading in the sarge and angus, and shooting wine jugs in the bush. By this trip, we had nymphing down a little better, and we also managed to pick up a couple nice bows on the dry. Here are some shots.

Skagit River I

A good crew of us (Vass, Ken, Adam, Sean, Freddy and I) hit the Skagit River this past summer and had an unreal time. The fishing wasn't unbelievable but, seeing as we were just getting use to dead drifting nymphs under indicators, it was pretty good. The evenings provided some real good dry fly action for small, but feisty, wild bows. I managed to hook a real beauty in the run that's pictured, but, as per usual, the camera was nowhere near. The skitters were to be expected; however, none of us had ever experienced such a barrage of skitters before, so Sean, Kenn, and Adam had to head into town to grab brews, smokes, and skitter grease. Here are a few photos of the water we were hitting and a campfire on the banks.

Port Renfrew - PR Creek and Harris Creek

Freddy and I hit the road real early (roughly 4 am) and made the poor decision of not being fully prepared. Instead of printing off a map with directions to Harris Creek and the San Juan River, we drove straight to Port Renfrew. Upon arriving, we realized that there was no place, or person, to get directions from, as well as the fact that there was no gas or cell service anywhere. We started at the Port Renfrew Creek, thinking it was Harris Creek (which we were aiming for), and then, upon realizing that it was the PR Creek, headed up the road to Harris Creek and picked a spot to park that we thought we could bush wack in from. It turned out to be about a half hour bush wack into a bogus run, and, after realizing our error, we headed further up, only to get savagely lost on logging roads and head high ferns for another hour. Aside from a group of about 5 elk that skittered off below us in the valley, we did not hook into any fish, even though coho's were finning in the deeper pools. Recent rain had pushed the river up on us once again though, thwarting us from getting a good swing. After eventually getting back to the car, we hit the PR Creek (we were running out of gas and couldn't go higher) for the second time, and ended up getting into a couple small bows on a pink leach swung with a floating line and a sink tip, which prevented the skunkage. We also managed to spot a steelhead moving up into a nice pool, but we couldn't entice himto bite with any of our offerings. Here are a few photos from a couple nice pools and runs we hit.

Sooke River

A bunch of us on the island, including a few lads from the mainland, hit the Sooke River on the south west coast of Vancouver Island a couple times in late October and early November. For the most part, the fishing was great, and everyone was able to hook into multiple chum's. For some of the boys, it was their first time catching a salmon, and even a first for catching a fish on the fly. We were swinging salmon-style patterns like egg sucking leaches, popsicles, rolled muddlers, and other attractor style flies. Freddy had the nicest fish of any of the trips, as he hooked a beauty spring on a self-tied olive rolled muddler. The Sooke is a nice little river that flows super slow as it winds down through its lower stretches. With cattle roaming the river banks, and plenty of salmon, it is a real nice spot to spend a day.

Mamquam River 06/11/2010

Hit the Mamquam River today with Sean Dwyer from the morning to early afternoon. Initially, we drove to the Cheakamus, up by Paradise Valley, but the river was super high and full of colour and debris. So afterwards, we drove down and hit the upper Mamquam. The fishing methods for the day were as follows: Sean was dead drifting single egg patterns under an indicator, and I was swinging popsicle style flies, for dollies, bulls, bows, or whatever we could hook up with. Sean ended up landing a nice Dolly Varden on the first stretch of river, right before the canyon. The rest of the day was spent exploring the lower Mamquam below the train bridge and at the confluence of the Mamquam and Squamish. We did not have any more luck though, as both rivers, especially the Squamish, were really high.

This is a picture of the Dolly Varden Sean hooked and released on a single egg pattern at the upper Mamquam.