Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Northern stream fun

Yesterday I made it out fishing with a friend to a little river that will remain nameless. I met him at his place early in the morning and we packed in all our rods, waders, gear, water, food and of course the shotgun as we were headed into Grizzly territory and you can never be to careful. Although we did not see any we did see eight or nine black bears.
I took my 8 weight and 5 weight fly rods with me in hioes for two different species; Arctic Grayling and Bull Trout. We had heard both could be found there.

The road in was long and rough but it appeared o one had been in for some time. The area we fished was beautiful with no signs that any other people had been there. The rocks were slippery and the water was very clear. Hiking down stream we came to a bend and found a really fishy looking pool so we set up our rods and began our day.

I started with my 8 weight and a big streemer fly I had tied up the night before, fishing the faster water above the pool first. As soon as I made my way into the deeper (3 feet deep) stuff of this little stream I was in to fish. The first one was an 18" rainbow with gorgeous colors. Second was a slightly smaller rainbow and third put a huge bend in my rod.... the third fish to be fooled by my fly was a real nice double digit bull trout. How could such a big fish be in such a small stream? This thing was a tank and fought hard until, to my dismay, he managed to spit the hook.
We tried to get another bull, and we could see a couple in there, but they didnt want to play. Switching to my 5 weight we caught rainbow after rainbow between 10 and 18 inches and even managed a couple chunky 2lb whitefish. Unfortunately, no grayling. Grayling is a fish I have never caught before and one I wanted to cross off the bucket list.

After playing with lots or rainbows on the dry we decided to head out and give another creek we had seen on the way in a try. When we arrived we spooked two black bears who tore off into the bush. Making plenty of noise we set up to fish a small pool in the new stream. Caddis dries were the ticket again and we were soon onto fish. Unfortunately the first few were whitefish again, but then something different rose and smacked my fly. Finally, I could cross Arctic Grayling off my list. What a beautiful fish.

The water was crystal clear, the weather was great and the fishing and scenery was amazing. Only down side was not landing the big bull but you can't win them all.