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July 30, 2002
 This
weeks report has been a joy to post. We have been fishing
for large Chinook as well as 20lb Chum and Pink Salmon on
the fly. Our guests from Switzerland enjoyed a full day drifting
the Kitimat River. We were into some large Chinook. Our first
experience was bottom bouncing a spinning glow and hoochie
combo. When this fish was hooked it ran across the river and
downstream like a freight train. Rolf Bisang was on the rod
and he had his hands full. We could do nothing but increase
the drag on the reel and walk downstream after the fish as
gaining line was impossible. As we were running into a situation
where as the spool was getting very empty of line I decided
to increase drag the second time. The fish was still pulling
hard and we were excited. The next few minutes were a blur
and the line went slack. We both knew what happened, the fish
was gone, a monster Chinook. We reeled in the 250 yards of
line and as we expected the line had snapped, right at the
hook.
 We
decided to pull plugs and we were into fish instantly. We
had many to the boat and also had another large fish bend
one of the hooks straight just before entering the net. This
was a day to remember. Rolf plans to return in the spring
for Steelhead on the fly.
As the Kitimat has a great run of Pink and Chum I was challenged
with a first-timer flyfishermen wanting to get his first Salmon
on the fly. After some practise my challenge was met and Andy
was all smiles with his first Chum on the fly. We landed many
Pink as well during his stay with us.
 My
other guest Garet, a young trout flyfisherman from the Okanogan,
was also after his first Salmon on the fly. Garet spent four
guided days with us and he is now a pro. We struggled at first
with landing only five the first day, but as we found later
the fly of the week was a bench and vise away. After we had
the pattern that worked for us, Archie was hard at work mass
producing this gem. As we go through approximately three to
ten flys a day we did not want to be short on ammunition.
These feisty Chum bust off numerous flys and we had to switch
to 15lb leader line as the 10lb was no match for these striped
machines.
Sockeye, in small numbers, as well as a few early Silvers
are also in the river this time of year.
The Skeena system is in full swing with the Chinook and
Sockeye as well as the Nass system. As the weather has been
in the high twenties for the last week the water colour has
been a emerald green.
We will be flyfishing for Silvers and Steelhead
come August right thru to the second week of October do not
miss the action. We have been getting booked so plan your
trip soon to get into some great action.
Tracey John Hittel
www.steelheadheaven.ca Guide Service
Kitimat BC Canada
250 632-9880 or 250 639-4277
Read on as Archie describes our latest flyfishing
adventure and our hottest flys:
Two eagles float circling above…the perfect airfoils
of their spread wings resting on a warm wind that has blown
along the shore from miles below. Stories too, rest on this
wind. I catch a hint of barbecued meat and imagine a family
sitting clustered around a campfire a few turns of river downstream.
They might be discussing how to cope with young Jamie’s
bedwetting or planning a surprise birthday party for grandma.
Perhaps someone will choke on a bone and die scrabbling for
air, knees bent in supplication atop broken boulders and wind
swept sand. Maybe I am smelling the fixings for a happy, early
summer wedding. It is the kind of wind that makes you believe
absolutely anything is possible...it is a typical, Kitimat,
mid-summer afternoon and the river is choked with salmon.
The skipper and I try our best, but it is impossible to keep
them off. Just now, Tracey hooked a huge dog that took off
downstream in an unstoppable burst of water clearing jumps
and in the time it takes him to land the monster, I land three
pinks – each a clone of the other.
The eagles have now met and tumble in a collected somersault
of confusion, claws locked in mock battle. I have seen young
adult males do this many times in the past as they play at
a mating ritual as old as the trees. They will do this again
when the snows of winter first start to melt, but they will
not be playing then. Several others perch atop trees that
overhang the run we are fishing and each time one of us lands
another fish, they scream at us…seemingly beseeching
us to pull the flopping fish up onto the shore where the young
birds can all eat their fill.
A few minutes earlier I had given one of the flies we were
using to a young woman who watched in frustration at the skipper
and I hooking fish after fish while her own line stayed slack.
I had noticed a fly rod lying on a log near her side and suggested
she try her luck with a fly. “Oh, that’s my husband’s
rod. He just went to get a pair of pliers from the truck.
He ties his own, but he hasn’t been having much luck
either.” I suggested she might try convincing him to
give my fly a try and smiled my way upstream. As I came abreast
of him, the skipper nudged me and said, “I think she
just tied your fly on her drift rod!” Both of us smiled
at the unorthodox idea as we watched her cast a huge piece
of pencil lead out into the middle of the stream, the fly
dangling below. A few seconds later, both of us burst out
laughing as she let out a war-hoop, even as a silver streak
of angry chum leaped skyward and started tearing line from
her reel! “Oh my god, I’ve got one!” Tracey
walked over and gave her a hand landing her fish and digitized
the moment. Several other similar moments followed in short
order, and by the time her husband arrived back at the run,
she had already collapsed her rod and was cleaning her limit
of both chums and pinks!
In pleasant, public conversation with our friends, the skipper
and I would never admit to attempting to catch either a pink
or a chum. Perhaps it is because they are so plentiful. Maybe
it is because they lose their silver sheen soon after they
hit the river. Possibly we sneer at them because they are
not considered to be particularly good eating. And yet –
here we are…casting repeatedly, smiles on both our faces.
We are in truth, a couple of hypocrites, and it would be impossible
to deny that we were having great fun! I have no idea how
many fish we landed. I know that at one point, we kept count
for a while at 23 double headers in a row, neither of us making
a cast without hooking a fish! We didn’t start fishing
until eleven in the morning and the action never ceased for
more than five hours.
The flies we were using were all simple ones and I will describe
how to tie a couple of them below, but the only true secret
to catching either pinks or chums is to keep your flies small…no
bigger than a size 6. Both these patterns work extremely well
and both can be tied with a wide range of materials –
many of them retrieved from your scrap box.
Red Dog:
No tail. Silver or Mylar rib. Red or pink chenille body.
Red or pink marabou wing tied very full and extending as far
back to the hook bend. Finish off with a red or pink soft
hackle.
Green Chum:
No tail. Flat, gold tinsel body with silver rib. Mottled
white duck saddle wing extending to the hook bend. Finish
off by first wrapping a few turns of fluorescent green marabou
as a hackle and follow it with a couple of turns of soft green
saddle hackle.
I caught just as many fish using a simple egg n’eye
pattern as I did with any other. If you need a description
on how to tie one of them, drop the skipper an e-mail…he
ties a beauty that you would swear was a real alevin, fresh
from breaking free of its’ gravel birthplace. Whatever
fly you do decide to try, make sure you bring an ample supply.
After twenty fish or so, it is usually time to load up with
new ammunition. If you see someone else fishing nearby without
success, remember to make them a gift of one of your creations…think
of it as a ‘pay it forward’ kind of thing. Whatever
you do, don’t admit to your friends how much fun it
can be fishing for dogs and humpys. Otherwise, it might fall
into fashion…and then everyone would be doing it!
Have fun, Archie.
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