Prince Rupert/Coastal B.C. Fly Fishing
I’m beginning to appreciate that fly fishing trips rarely turn out quite as expected. So I’m learning to keep an open mind, and just go ahead and enjoy what the fishing Gods and Mother Nature serve up.
After all, if a trip were to be entirely predictable, what would be the point of going?
So it was with my 11 day adventure into the wilds of coastal BC, a 45 minute Beaver ride south of Prince Rupert (known as ‘Rupert’ to the locals).
I was fortunate enough to be invited to go by David H., a friend of mine from Aurora. We were to be joining Gary D., who had already been in at the camp for a week with another friend of his. David and Gary are partners with another chap from Vancouver in this fishing camp which is located on a lake 75 miles or so from Rupert. They have a 20’x20’ cabin on crown land which they lease from the BC government, and it sits in an area of about 100 square miles that has no other cabins or access. So they basically have the run of 4 lovely lakes connected by short rivers, one of which empties into the Pacific.
The terrain in the area is at once vast, majestic, and intimidating. I thought I was a bit of an outdoors person, having been camping and cottaging since I was a tyke. But up there, I felt a bit like a city wimp.
Here’s a pic of one of the lakes that I took on the way in from the plane:
This is a pretty big lake as you can see, so what they’ve done is stash a boat and motor on each lake. So the M.O. is to boat down one lake, backpack over to another along the river that connects the two, use the boat on the second lake, then backpack again to a third lake, and so on. Of course each of these rivers can offer good fishing opportunity all along its length in the pools and riffles, although there were parts that did not hold any (or at least not many) fish. So each time we went out it was a long day that certainly tested my stamina and every muscle in my poor, aching body.
Here’s a pic of part of one of the connecting rivers taken as we were flying out on Saturday:
One of the things that turned out differently than I had expected was that we did a lot less fishing and more trekking, exploring and working around the camp. This was fine with me, because I love that kind of stuff and we really did do quite enough fishing anyway.
Now David is an avowed spin fisherman, and without doubt outfished both Gary and I with our fly rods. We had the daily ‘challenge’ of course, but David seemed to get the bigger ones without fail.
Here’s a pic of Gary fishing the outflow of one of the rivers where it hits the lake. This is pretty typical of how we fly fished:
We would cast out into the current and try to find the seams where the trout were holding, but David usually was out a bit further in the boat trolling across the pool.
So…..the fish. We thought the Coho might be in, but they weren’t. The water was quite low when we arrived, and the salmon were not moving up from the estuary area. David hooked into a couple of big boys that must have come up earlier, but didn’t land any. One broke his rod even. Gary and I pretty much decided to focus on the resident trout, which are both Rainbows and Cutthroats.
The Rainbows that we caught were a bit smaller than the Cutts, but they were the most amazing shades of pink and gold. Here’s a pic of one of my first, which shows the hues (I think he’s chewing on a #10 Prince nymph):
Here’s a pic of a nice Cutt I got, I think on a #8 Beadhead Wooly Bugger in green and black. My net is 14” inside, and this was a pretty representative fish, although some were a bit smaller and some a bit bigger:
On several of the hikes the shore lunch was a thing of beauty. Here’s a pic of one, where Gary built a fire in a hollow log at waist height so we could get at it easily. Hot dogs were popular, but one day we pan-fried some Cutts in butter and ate then with our fingers (having forgotten utensils) and that was one of the tastiest (and messiest) treats ever !
One of true Kodak moments of the trip happened one day we hiked up a river about 2 Km fishing several pools and runs along the way. To our surprise, we only managed a few fish in some great looking water. We had lunch, then decided to hike up to the next lake to check out the boat and motor to see if all was in good order. The other two decided not to take rods or packs, but I asked if there might be any dry fly 
water I could try. Up until then, everything had been wet fly. Buggers, streamers , nymphs , etc. No surface action at all, and in fact almost all the water was too rough anyway. The water that was smooth enough for dries was too slow and stagnant.
Well, David said, bring your rod and we’ll see. So I rigged up a #6 Stimulator, and off we went. We eventually came to a nice looking riffle that ran under a deadfall, and I told the lads I had to give it a try. So they sat down on a log to watch, and I handed my camera to Gary. I tried to make my first drift a good one, thinking that if any trout were lurking I might not get many shots because the water was a bit skinny and clear as a bell. As my fly drifted down under the overhang, a Cutthroat porpoised gracefully out of the water and inhaled it as casually as you might imagine. I’d been watching the fly closely because I was so close to the log, so I was in great position to set the hook at the exact moment he started back down. Man, talk about a thrill! Gary was on his feet with the camera, and took these pics of the whole thing, from the drift to the fish in hand:
The last pic I’m going to post here is of us hiking out that day, over an open section of terrain that belied the difficulty of walking. It captures the beauty, remoteness and immensity of the country up there:
A wonderful experience, not what I’d expected in many ways, but a lifetime of memories.
Continue Reading Prince Rupert……Part II
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