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How good is a fishing report? About as good as the person giving
the report, and especially this year, the report is good for five
miles, or five minutes, whichever comes first.
Dirty...clean...dirty
We have never seen the river come up, dirty up, drop down and clean
up so many times. This steelhead season, I can just about bet that
the river will rise the night before, or the morning of my day off.
Talking to one of our area guides today he said if the river goes
out one more time he may go postal.
Just when we think that the Copper, Kispiox, Skeena etc. might
clean up, some angler comes in looking for a license for a cleaner
river because they just left the dirty one. We call it the classified
water shuffle, not a very popular dance, but one danced many times
this year.
There seem to be a fair number of fish in the river and you can
hook two to three or more per day if conditions are favorable, but
in life, and in steelheading, timing can be everything. This is
the fall of our discontent, but that is steelheading.
However, when you look around, take a deep lung full of the autumn
air, behold the fresh snow on the mountains, observe the changing
colors of the leaves, you realize you are thankful just to be there.
I have never considered a day of fishing for steelhead to be bad,
some are better than others, and most are still better than a good
day at work. Besides, steelheaders are life's ultimate optimists,
as we know that Walter, the king of the pool, is only a cast away.
Gary Borger said that "...fishing, and especially fly fishing
is a constant level of high expectation." I agree.
Clarity
A visiting angler and a very good one listened in on a couple of
other anglers discussing the water clarity. The anglers were wondering
if they should head upriver. The visitor suggested that they fill
a glass of water from the river, and hold it up to the light. He
pointed out, that we are looking down into the river, but the fish
are looking up, to a much lighter sky, and maybe the river is not
that bad. They took his advice and one of the anglers had his best
day this year.
Shallow water
In higher flows the fish can hug the shore and often be in two
feet of water 10 feet from shore. The other day, my fishing partner
had two steelhead take within feet of his rod tip, one of the takes
on the first cast, with only 10-12 feet of line out. He was not
ready for the bite, and of course, you know the rest of the story.
Those were the only two bites of the day.
(All previous issues are stored in the ARCHIVE
for your convenience)
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Steelhead
Many anglers fish our rivers because these fish seem
predisposed to the dry or waking fly. The take of a steelhead can
be a slashing strike, to a playful little boil or anything in between.
Sometimes the fish will come up repeatedly and move the fly and
never hook. These 'players' can reduce a grown angler to a basket
case but oh man what fun.
When water temperatures slide down to around 40 Fahrenheit,
it becomes tough to raise the fish to the surface and the sink tip
or heads need to be used. You can achieve a fair depth with a floating
line but will need a longer leader of 10-12 feet. The pockets and
shelf rock pools can be nymphed (high sticked) with a stonefly or
a boss, comet type of fly.
Quick and Walcott warning
A special note of caution to anglers in the Quick
and Walcott area. Several vehicles have had valve stems kicked or
cut off, tires slashed and vehicles broken into. Some anglers have
suggested since these criminals like to cut maybe the favor should
be returned. Perhaps a male part of the anatomy without the benefit
of anaesthetic, and instead of a scalpel, perhaps a sardine can
lid seems to be the favored punishment. See anything strange? Record
the license plate and phone RCMP.
Todays tips:
Trouble finding the end of your line on the reel? Take a
hook and capture just one strand of line. Now reel forward. The
hook will chase the line around to the end.
Rod grip looking a little grim? Dirt, roe from the spring
fishery, spilled liquids can all make a grip quite ripe. Take some
sandpaper or steel wool and bring that grip back to almost new shape.
Guides on the rod freezing up? Annoying as the days get colder
but there is a remedy. Ice-off paste is available to prevent your
guides from freezing.
Replacing hooks on your spoons? If you are using the excellent
single Siwash hooks from Gamakatsu make sure you close the eye of
the hook slowly or it will crack.
New links
Want to know the weather report for the area and river levels?
Just click the handy Weather and River Levels buttons toward the
top of this page and bookmark.
Enjoy your October Thanksgiving weekend.
Check the Photo page for
more of Bob's Babine grizzly photos.
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