It has taken me a while to realize what draws me to steelhead fishing, and what continues to bring me back. Like most others, I have gone through numerous phases in life. Pursuits picked up and dropped, many places and things that played their part and faded into the shadows as something new moved into the spotlight. Over time, two things have remained, mountains and rivers.

In the pondering of why my interest in these two more closely resembles passion than hobby, more lifestyle than pastime, I am often at a loss as for how to explain it to myself, let alone others. Some have tried and even done well. Leading up to his attempt to be the first to stand on top of Mt. Everest, someone asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb the peak, to which he replied “Because it is there.” Mallory’s words have become almost a symbol of both the absurdity and profundity of such endeavors. For me, the search for river based adventures stems from the same unexplainable desire. I have yet to stumble across an equivalent quote relevant the river environment, but some have come close. In “River Teeth” David James Duncan writes, in reference to his love affair with rivers, that “music is just a word for something that we love largely because it consists of things that words cannot express.” And so it is with water and the places that steelhead inhabit. River is just a name for something that none of us can truly define, capture, or put into words. Sure we can describe components, features, inhabitants, etc., but none are alike and each contain something new. When I try to quantify or categorize the moments and the experiences, even there in that place and time, I am often at a loss for words and left feeling inadequate. Quite honestly I fail, and I am OK with that.

I still haven’t found an answer that feels quite right when someone asks me, “why do you fish,” as if fishing is all there is to it. If I had to answer the question right now, I would have to say, I am searching for something beautiful.


Again this fall, the search lead me to British Columbia and into the company of some very special people with whom I was fortunate to share some very memorable experiences. What follows are a few snapshots and anecdotes from two extended float trips and some day tripping in and around northern British Columbia, in pursuit of steelhead, something beautiful.


After having had a few great trips in and around more easily accessible areas the last few years, my personal goal for this year's trip was to get off the beaten path. Beaten being a relative term in these parts. Even the “busy” areas tend to be kind of lonely most of the time.

So, I put out a few feelers and eventually found a few hearty souls that weren’t afraid of a little adventuring and getting their hands a bit dirty, wet, sore, cold, and sandy.

Stam and I had kicked around a few ideas of where to go and what to do, leaving some room for flexibility based on local conditions.

After a long drive














I pulled into the home river and met up with Stam and a few other friendly faces.



We settled on fishing the home river for a day before casting off on the adventure, and we found a few willing fish.


















































stay tuned, this might turn into a long one!

Stam looks like a kid in a candy store...
Good stuff !!!

Good analogy!

As the coming photos will show, I can't remember too many times on the trip where we wasn't wearing an ear to ear sorta grin. I kinda suck at smiling, but trust me, I am happy on the inside.

As fate would have it, our plan A for backcountry float mission was looking pretty rough due to recent high waters (flooding in this case) and so we opted for a plan B, which involved miles of rough, relatively uncharted logging roads, a few dead ends, and a lucky break that lead to the upper section of a river that we had each read about, but neither had seen. After poking around the aforementioned dead ends, we had more or less given up and resigned ourselves to a different river or finding a spot much lower on the chosen river than we had intended. At the last minute and on the way out, we decided to have a look down the one spur that we didn’t bother with and hadn’t planned to. Low and behold, the river, access, and a glory pool to boot!


I'll be damned.




Looks kinda chunky




With a bit of good water here and there.




Yes, we hooked fish out of this pool...there is always a fish under the bridge.



After a bit of push, pull, and drag we were off. Five days of first water and abundant steelhead. In the upper section, the river was, well, engaging to say the least. Lots of small but fairly burly drops and boulder gardens and general trick business. As we got lower, the river mellowed and evened out into flatter runs, riffles, and pools. The fish were, well, where they should have been.









I kept waiting for a witch on a broom to cruise by





If the camp water isn't fishing well, try the other side!

















Stam chases a hot one down at sunset, shortly after commenting "this water doesn't look super fishy." While reeling up his second or third from the hole he proclaimed, "I'll guess we'll camp here."















Hmmm so much good water, where to start.




About here will do.




Fly fishing is easy, eh Stam?




Just waive your wand in the direction of the fish...








And reel em up when they eat your fly.
























Sometimes the beaten path is a lot easier.

end part 1 of 3

Very nice guys, it looks like you had an excellent time and no one else around.

I can't wait for more. How glad are you that you took that last turn down that last road?

epic plus

WORD! I like seeing that old Bantam 250 getting a workout!

I've been waiting for the quintessential 2011 Fall steelhead fishing post, looks like its here. Thank goodness!




Hold the phone, I'm thinking that is the Bantam 350 looks too big to be a 250. Screw that on the Sage CR 296 & you have one primo baitcasting rig.

c/22

gR8, Gr8, GR8 POST!

STUNNING! as usual.

No doubt that intrinsically beautiful places and subject matter is a HUGE part of it, but there's no doubt about the fact that you're a true poet with that camera, Coley. Your images need no prose to convey the story. Absolutely beautiful.

(And Stam didn't do half bad for some of those shots either)

Some day I'll make it to the promised land, but in the meantime, images like these will have to suffice.

Absolutely stunning photos and a wonderful post. I don't think you needed the how-to
photo disk I sent you some months back.

Thanks so much for posting. Stamley is a great guy to know, you must be too.

I was fixin to set both of you on fire out of sheer jealousy, but after that bit of wordsmithing and the killer photos, I have reconsidered my original decision.

Thanks for the kinda words fellas, and an obvious thanks to Stam for a great trip and working the camera as well. I am sure he will quite a fair amount to add when he puts down the fishing pole for a day or so:)


more photos, less talkin...10-4



Ready for part 2?

Your talking converted to words on the page is just as thought provoking as the photos Coley.

Hey Coley,

When you get tired of catching ALL those fish you're more than welcome to come back to reality and fish the Skagit with me again. Hatchery plants are down by about 2/3rds from what I hear, and the wild run closes early but what the heck, you could tell me about all those great trips you've been on the last few years while we drink homebrew and go for a sight seeing trip on the river.

Nice post!

Rob

Part 2 is much shorter, which is probably good, as part 3 is long, perhaps too long. Pipe up if anyone is getting tired of scrolling..

Part 2

After our five days in paradise, we regrouped and spent a few days wandering home waters and day tripping from a base camp of sorts. More willing fish were found and more good times were had.

The average size of the fish on part 1 wasn't particularly spectacular by BC standards, but the setting and the quality of the fish and fight made up for that pretty well.

We started to find a few larger fish, including one really nice one for Stamsonite.



















Stam's biggun. Tough light at the end of the day = bad photos. Aw well, memorable fish and setting to say the least.
























One goofy face deserves another.
























Pretty little hen that broke my 0-7 last day with Stam. Tough way to start, but we tried to make up for it by the end.













Had to give the Pin a little time. Hooked a couple up towards the end of the day.













This pretty girl put up an awesome fight. Cartwheeling and tail walking across the river. I was looking for Stam around the corner, hoping he would wander back to help land her. He showed up just in time saying he had just a good battles of his own and was wondering where the hell I was at. Good problems to have I guess.









Stam is pretty handy with the fires if I didn't mention that previously.




end part 2 of 3

When I get tired? It will be a while my man.

I can't believe you just said Skagit and hatchery in the same sentence. Are you trying to ruin my day or something?

I thought we agreed that you were going to head north anyhow? Good to hear from you Rob.

Off for a day or errand running and some more unpacking.

Part 3 tomorrow.

lol

Coley "The Face of Stone" G

stam, tell Coley you're going to kick him in the junk if he doesn't smile next time.

Awesome photos - again.

That burly spey hen is spectacular.