Just when you thought this thread couldn’t get any longer, and I couldn’t possibly dump one more stinking fish photo on you...
the final installment, Part 3
I will try and keep it somewhat brief for those brave souls that have managed to scroll through this entire mess.
So where was I? Oh yeah, Stam and I parted ways after a helluva a time. Twas bittersweet for sure as the good times had been rolling, but we both had good stuff coming down the pike and after dropping The Legend off for his solo mission on the river, I summoned the courage to head into town (no easy feat mind you) to do a bit of shopping, and generally gear up for round three. A few hours down the road the greater Smithers Metropolitan area welcomed me into it’s folds. After a bit of culture shock I settled down, hit up local safeway and beer shop, and managed a couple of hours on the Bulkley before actually getting to sleep in a real bed for one night. Beds. Man, those things are comfortable, I should try that more often. I hadn’t planned on fishing on my town day, but since the river was right there and I hated to break the streak, I thought what the hay and gave it a go. Lady luck was on my side and I reeled up a handful of pint sizers in a couple of hours on the river. By the end of part 3, I would have had the chance to fish for steelhead 20 days in a row and had been fortunate to land at least a couple of fish on each of those. A chance I will likely never have again in life. Special to day the least.
So my pals Oliver and Bryan showed up from AK as planned and after a some catching up, we got right to it as accordingly to the research I had done for this leg of the adventure, we had a pretty full day of highways, logging roads and rowing to get to where we needed to be. As with the first float, I couldn’t find much in the way of info on this mission either and so it was definitely into the unknown once again. A handful of hours and a couple of wrong turns (can they be wrong when you don’t know where you are going?) later we found some access pretty close to where we wanted to be and we shoved off. The plan was to float for about a week and then get picked up lower in the river. I couldn’t find any access to the lower portion of this river and so we had arranged for an airstrike in the form of a helicopter to haul people and gear from the lower river back to our car, which would be strategically positioned somewhere deep in the BC backwoods at a location none of us had seen or been two. What could possibly go wrong.
Logistics ended up working out just fine and the fishing continued to be amazing. The best I have personally experienced. How good? Well, you had to be there I guess. On the last day of the trip we fished two holes between our planned take out and our camp from the previous night and we hooked close to 30 fish on that day alone. By now you should know that it I ain’t about the numbers, but abundance of that sort was a new experience for me and a remarkable experience for sure.
This leg was fairy wands only (fly rods that is) although on the last day and just for curiosities sake, I did figure out that a Rvrfshr spoon casts just fine on a 14' 9wt. We tried our best to swing as much as possible, and logged a lot of time on the dangle, but as the photos will show, we indicated the hell out of mostly likely looking water after having given the swing a chance. I don't feel too terribly guilty. Maybe just a little.
More or less in chronological orders, here is the last photo dump.
The SS Stiffee (as our shuttler driver dubbed it) got a little dirty on the way in. Nothing an hour or so of sloshing it with coffee mugs didn't take care of.
We are off. PS - that is not a smile, it is an upside down frown.
Cold camp on morning 1. Much higher elevation on this leg had knocked the temps down substantially.
The first likely looking water we stopped at. Yep, that's a double, one of two from that run. I guess that answers the "will there be fish in the river" question. Oliver and Bryan both landed the biggest steelhead of their lives on our first day on the river. They did that again on our second day on the river.
Chunky hen that ran me around for a while.
I seemed to be on a roll with the ladies for most of this trip.
Bryan's fish of the trip and a cool story. Oliver and I were setting up camp and had given Bryan first crack at the camp water. Right as it get's dark and as I look up to watch his rod tip as he gets into the good water, he gets slammed on the hang-down. He fights it well into dark and finally lands it, decent buck and memorable experience. Sorry for the crap/dark photos.
Into the gaping maw. I had read some about rapids and a canyon section towards the middle, but we had no idea what to expect. I will admit to having a pit in my stomach going around each blind corner while wondering what the rumbling noise was. In the end, it all worked out just fine and we didn't even have to swim.
continued shortly.
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