On top of ol' Greenstone

A couple of days ago Alison, Lucas, Jim and I went for a bit if a 4x4 adventure to the top of Greenstone Mountain, the site of several radio and microwave towers and an old forest fire lookout. We managed to get the Explorer to within ~100m of the top. The last bit is steep and rocky, but no problem in low range, and the ground is very solid (i.e. rocky!) so there was no chance of damage to the terrain.

Greenstone is the highest point in the area and the views are great in all directions. We could see Tunkwa and Leighton Lakes in one direction, Kamloops Lake looking in another direction, and the Thompson River and Kamloops in yet another direction.

The lookout is at the highest point of Greenstone, and it ominously has a lightning rod on the peak of its roof! It would be quite a thrill to be up there during a thunderstorm...

Here are some photographs from our visit:

Lucas, Alison and Jimmy at the lookout

Lucas, Alison & Jimmy with Tunkwa Lake in the distant background

Me, Alison & Lucas

It was windy up there!

Alison in the wind

Inside the forest fire lookout

Lookit that!

We added to the graffiti...

Yup, it was windy...

On our way back we drove past Dominic Lake Fishing Camp where many of the fence posts nearby have hats perched on them. Since I first saw them I've wanted to add one to the collection, so we stopped and Alison placed a hat that I had found on the road a while back:

Alison calls the hats a "wilderness meme".

Cheers! KW

Fishing here and there

Fishing has been spotty since I got back from Terrace. Some days have been pretty good, while other days have been slow. On the bright side, we finally tried out a lake we'd driven by, but never fished, ever since we've been coming to Tunkwa. What a pleasant surprise! It has wild fish that fight well, and the best bomber chironomid hatch I've seen so far this year. Here are some pics from a couple of days of fishing the new (to us) lake:

A rare calm day on our "new" lake

There are some nice fish in there

There are some bombers, too!

Spratley in an old homestead we found during a shore break

Another nice fatty

It's usually like this, which is why we never stopped to fish it!

The fish still bite, though!

Chironomids have a tough life. Fish eat the pupa, and if birds don't get the adults, damselflies get 'em.

We've also fished some other local lakes lately. Wendy had her first ever trip up to Island (Big OK) Lake the other day when we went up with Brad & Shawna. Fishing was OK, but not as good as earlier this summer. Most of the fish were skinny and/or dark - quite a contrast to the nice fish we were catching in July. We also fished Morgan Lake; it was slow with mostly small, dark fish caught. We popped down to check out the Thompson at Savona a couple of days ago, and we saw a steady stream of sockeye swimming by. Not much chance for trout when there are so many sockeye around!

Happily, fishing picked up here at Tunkwa a few days ago and we got into some nice fish.

We're getting some nice fish from Tunkwa these days 

 Alison, Lucas, Mom and Jim came for a visit a couple of days ago, and the wind commenced to howling, so we haven't fished for a couple of days.
Alison, Lucas, Jimmy and I went for a 4x4 trip up to Greenstone Mountain yesterday - stay tuned for pix from the old forest fire lookout up there!

Cheers! KW

My arms are tired...

Well, I've been back from the Skeena for a few days. I went to Terrace to fish with friends Hu and Jack from Vernon. The lads picked me up in Savona and we drove straight there - 14 hours! - fished for 9 days, then Hu and I drove straight back while Jack stayed to fish for a few more days with some other friends. A quote from "The River Why" by David James Duncan sums up our schedule: "Eat. Sleep. Fish. Repeat."

Here are a few of my photographs from the trip:

Hu on our first day

 Jack on our first day

Jack fights a fish at Ferry Island

My new Redington CPX 12664, CDL reel and Skagit 425 - perfect for Skeena sox, coho and pinks

We use bright flies!

Sadly, it was very windy at China Bar which made flyfishing tough that day

Jack catching a few Zs at China Bar

Hu prepares to fillet one of our nice sockeye

Look at that red flesh!

We ran into Fred and Inge almost every day

Fred makes his own hooks!

One of Fred's flies, tied on his handmade hook

The weather was a bit variable this year...

Fishing in the rain

One day a bear decided to join the party

Anglers on a run near Terrace

Hu off on a stroll with a fish

I caught this fish 5 minutes after it was released by Hu. It didn't fight at all and the distinctive wound told the tale - same fish!

Jack with a nice steelhead

On our last evening of fishing, Hu landed this beautiful steelhead...

...and then two casts later landed this one. It was a great way to end our trip!

Cheers! KW

Off to the Skeena!

I just spent a couple of days packing and tying like a madman, 'cuz I'm off to Terrace to cast my spey rod for salmon and steelhead! See ya' in a couple of weeks.

Cheers! KW