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 January
16, 2002
Happy New Year and welcome to another great year of fishing,
2002. For the most part we have been having a mild winter,
with some snow. We took a week and have been fishing the local
streams for winter Steelhead. After a weekend of hard rain
we ventured out to try our luck. Rumours surrounding us were
that the fishing was hot, so we had to check it out for ourselves.
We started on the upper Kalum because the river had come up
about ten inches over the weekend so to me that means the
fish have moved up river closer to the lake. Because of the
mild conditions and restricted access with a driftboat we
were hiking. This was fine and dandy as far as we were concerned.
This made for a stalking surprise for all those steelies that
were hugging the rivers bank in the early morning.
The upper river has some interesting water. With many creek
mouths to fish, as well as deep slow pools in loads of places,
and the odd tail-out, which I like the best. We hooked into
a few and landed a beauty resident, with the colours indicative
of a Steelhead. The steelies just were not that interested.
I decided to throw some hardware at the greenish brown waters,
but to no avail. We fished till late afternoon taking in the
scenery and the odd sunny break, as you can tell by the snap
I got of the snow capped mountains in the far distance.
The population of Bald Eagles were in the tens as the sky
and large tree branches were always watching, not to mention
the distinctive cry these huge birds possess.
 Next
day we got out to a early start again, the crack of 09:30
AM, as it only gets light at around 09:00 AM. The rod guides
were freezing instantly but as the sun made its way through
the mist we were back in business. The river was gin clear,
so today I was going to use a light leader. Eight pound (Big
Game) test. The first run we encountered was a tail-out with
large rocks for cover. The first cast, and boom! a steelie
hit like a freight train, jumping out of the water and doing
some incredible acrobatics. This was a fresh ocean Steelie,
dime bright. We released the nice buck unharmed. Two casts
later, again, fish on! This tail-out was smokin and was typical
Steelhead water.
We walked and fished a mile of riverbank, encountering fallen
trees and guess what another tail-out. My partner for the
day was local fisherman, Jeremy Brady, quite experienced as
he proved himself the day before, sniffing out a fish after
I had pounded the same water. That is what made me change
to the light leader. Anyway, it took a matter of minutes and
Jeremy was into a steelie and a second later it was gone.
As he reloaded, my float was passing the same water and down
it went, only to get a head shake in response. The two anglers
who walked in across from us were watching in disbelief as
we played with this elusive fish or fishes, were not to sure.
We ended the day with satisfaction and a cold beer for our
efforts. The Steelies that we targeted were very picky and
presentation was key. The small corkies and cheaters were
working well. The most effective was the pink worm with the
light leader. Unfortunately, we snapped off a couple fish
on account of this light gear.
Which is the subject of my angler tip: Picky Steelies are
leader shy and as soon as I changed from a twelve pound down
to a eight pound leader, fish were interested again.
The Cutthroat and Dolly Varden were also in the river, very
fresh and weighing about three to six pounds. A good sign
for the early season.
We will be guiding the Month of March for the whole season,
so book early to get the time slot you want. We have been
making changes to the site so check it out and enjoy. Tight
Lines and Stiff Rods!
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