After the marathon 2011 retrospective post I'm now only three months behind (or so...). Sadly, there are limited opportunities for flyfishing in the southern interior of BC during January. Happily, Dennis Grant, FFF Master Casting Instructor and his wife Verlie, FFF Casting Instructor were kind enough to join the Penticton Flyfishers for an afternoon of indoor casting practice in January. They were very generous with their knowledge and they offered plenty of tips and advice to all of us.
Dennis describing a cast to the gang
Effortless loops
The cast of casters
February
By February I'm into fly fishing withdrawal, as are my fishing pals, and we usually succumb to the urge to wet a line somewhere, despite the cold. With the Methow closed and coastal rivers a few hours away over a prone-to-bad-weather mountain highway, the only soft water within relatively easy reach is within the large lakes in the area: Skaha, Okanagan and Shuswap. We chose to hit the mouth of a river flowing into Shuswap Lake to see if we could entice some of the nice rainbows that often hang around there. It was cold, but the sky was blue and it was great to get outside.
Yup, it was chilly
Steve got a colourful rainbow
Scott nets a nice fish
Sometimes just sitting by the fire enjoying the sun is better than fishing...
Another winter diversion is skiing, which is a bit hazardous in the trees...
Sigh... Two months and only a couple of days of fishing...
March
Happily, early March brought the BC Sportsmen Show to the Tradex in Abbotsford, an event tailor-made to get anglers chomping at the bit to hit the water and go fishing. It was great to see old friends and reconnect with all sorts of people I only get to see once in a while, often at events like this!
The crowd near the Leader Sales (Sage, Redington, Rio, C&F Design), Islander Reels, Eyes-n-Tubes, Moby Nets and Rodbuilders' Supplies booths
Phil Rowley waxes eloquent about still water retrieves
Todd Oishi giving the scoop on lines
Ruben Breitkreuz (Leader Sales rep) and Barry Moore
Ken Baker to Phil: "This might be politically incorrect, but..."
Ruben tossing some tight loops over the casting pond. Watch your step!
Still water guru Brian Chan
Ruben hangin' with Bruce TenHoeve (Amundsen) and Don Chatwin (Moby Nets)
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A strong desire to get more use out of my Washington fishing license prompted me to invite Chris to accompany me to a small river just across the line to see if we could hook some steelhead on the fly. I had fished the river many times on the Canadian side, but there is a dam on the US side that prevents steelhead and salmon from migrating further upstream so of course all I caught on our side were trout and whitefish.
Chris getting rigged and ready to chase steelhead
Evidence that Chris caught one! Actually, he hooked two. Not bad for his first time ever trying to catch a steelhead on the fly!
The view from a few hundred metres downstream of the dam. The power house is basically a ruin and the dam hasn't generated power since 1958. Wouldn't it be great if the dam was removed? Columbia steelhead could get to BC!
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Round 2: When I got home that night Wendy said, "Guess what! The Methow opens tomorrow!" Needless to say I got busy arranging another trip south (thank goodness for Spring Break!). Happily, Nick was keen to go so we booked a room at Mt. Gardner Inn and headed down with great anticipation. We weren't disappointed. The run was not as big as last year, but there were still plenty of steelhead and we approached each pool expecting to hook at least one fish. Most of the time we got into several. We also had the pleasure of fishing with Tom Lovett of Globetrouters and Chris and Cathy Pasley from the Winthrop Hatchery.
Nick waits for the grab
Tom works on landing one
Tom lands a colourful steelhead
Pretty clean for a March summer run
Yes, they certainly like egg imitations...
Nick tosses a nice loop
This one took the dropper
This was one of our favourite runs. We had it to ourselves every time, and there were fish in it!
Zoe and Nick
A good size for a Methow steelhead
Nick with a nice clean one
Here's a little trailer I made with footage from our trip
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Round 3: I enjoyed our foray to the Methow so much that as soon as I arrived home I plotted another trip back down before it closed. This time Dean and I did a day trip (makes for a long day!). The fish were further up river this time - what a difference a few days makes! - and eventually we found them and got into all sorts of them. We also got some nice cutthroat, big bull trout, whitefish and a resident rainbow - five different kinds of fish in one day!
Dean about to land his first steelhead ever, and it's on the fly! Gotta like it.
Dean definitely had it figured out. Here he works on landing another one of many he hooked in this pool
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