Thursday, August 29, 2019

2019 Bulkley Steelhead

Left the house at 3am this morning to drive the 3 hours to the Bulkley river. A quick Tims stop for a kids menu coffee and some loud music kept me awake after only getting four hours sleep the night before. Oh, and Brrrrrr.... it was cold. Only 2 degrees celcius this morning. Upon arriving at the Bulkley I immediately regretted not packing gloves. However, i soon forgot about the cold as the sun peaked over the mountains and I had my first fish on. A steelhead who immediately became acrobatic and promptly snapped my 15 pound fluro leader. Re-tie my leader and fly. Back to swinging the double hander. Water clarity was perfect, just a bit of colour, and the flow was spot on. A few more casts, a few steps down stream, a few more casts and a few steps then WHAM, fish on. Cartwheels, hard runs, the reel goes zing and the battle is on. This one came to hand, had a quick pic and was released without leaving the water.
The day continued with one more steelhead to hand and one freight train the hit HARD, showed off his big square tail and then broke my leader (again). Next time I'm using 20 pound. In between steelhead there were nuisance fish that were also taking the fly. These fish were getting in the way of finding steelhead *cough* *cough*. Not sure why anyone would want to hook coho on the fly while looking for steelhead.... .. (insert sarcasm sign ) Kidding aside, the by catch of coho was pretty fun too. Landed four of those buggers. Retention is one over 50 cm and one below. Couldnt get the one below 50 but retained one over 50 for the smoker.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

2019 Stillwater Preparations

I'm not sure how I found the time, work has been so busy. However, I did manage to complete the floor in my boat today. It took me a few weeks but im glad its done. 1" Insulation foam sheets under carpeted 3/8" plywood (sealed with spar urethane). Carpet was glued down with 3m super 77 spray adhesive and stapled for added strength. Next up is installing my new helix 7 si fish finder.