Part 2.
As the river rafters from Kumsheen continue their journey to their pull out site at Lytton I hop into the Leaf Mobile and head towards Spences Bridge to find Dale.
First I stop at a FN dip net site and view from the road 2 fellows, one cleaning a fish while the other peers into the Thompson, dip net at the ready.
He has a rope around his waist, a good move as one false step could mean certain death with a fall into the raging waters below him.
I watch for a while but he has no success and he seems to have lots of patients, just like us sports anglers have to have at times.
I then return to the truck and continue North enjoying the sights of the legendary Thompson River along the way while most vehicles speed by me, in a rush to get to their destination I guess.
I find Dale at our agreed camping site. He has had a nap also, picked some berries, got chased by a rattle snake, and cleaned up some beer tins in the area. ( by the end of the trip we had $32.45 worth, enough for some of our gas).
He asks me if these are choke cherries he has but I have no idea.
We later run into a fellow who is doing a little gold panning and is camped in the same area who tells Dale they are just that.
Dale smiles tells me he has wine making on his mind. Choke cherry wine.
Sound good if you are into wine drinking.
We then after a brief walk jump into my truck and head for Spences Bridge for a coffee as my thermos is dry as the climate in this area is, semi desert I believe you call it.
As we drive along the twisting Highway Dale points out some of the famous steelhead runs I have heard about, Coopers, The Grave Yard to name a couple.
He had fished for the famous Thompson steelhead for many years when they were abundant and had some great fish stories that I enjoyed hearing about.
So sad now that they have been depleted so that they were closed last season in a last ditch effort to try and save them.
Changing weather condition, too much water taken for irrigation from some of the production streams, overfishing by all sectors in the past including the deadly nets that intercept them through their migration routes through the Lower Fraser and Fraser Canyon.
It is a shame that man as so little respect for this mighty fish.
After coffee we look at the Nicola, a few people fishing, apparently there was an adult chimook opening on the North side that started that day.
We see a dead chinook and a dead sockeye but no fish caught in the few minutes we were there.
We head back toward camp and I buy some apples and an onion at a fruit stand.
The onion along with fresh potatoes and carrots are a good mix with part of a fresh jack spring that I cook up for supper.
I can still smell the aroma of it all, mixed with the clean air of the area, no smog or visible pollution here.
With supper completed the long day catchs up to me and I am asleep by 7:30, the earliest in a long time.
Day 2 starts with me being awaken by Dale shaking me and the Leaf Mobile out of a deep sleep.
With close to 10 hours of sleep I am ready for the day ahead as we quickly pack up and head for the "spot" in the still darken night air.
On arrivial Dale is quickly on his way while I take my time once again as after yesterdays action I knew the fish run was in full swing and the fish would not be hard to catch.
Dale has just got to the hole when a truck pulls up and 3 fellows pile out and are disappointed to see us there. Probaley left Vancouver at 3 am.
I tell them there is lots of other good spots and they nod agreement before heading off to seek out one.
By the time I reach Dale he is into fish and in no time has his 4 while I have only one but by 8 am I too have limited out with 4 plump and firm jack springs.
I briefly try some pro cured shrimp but the jacks which I am sure are in the run do not seem to fancy them at all.
I then pack up towrds the truck, once again using the rope method that is now about 10 pounds heavier with the 4 jacks aboard.
I have a quick breakfast before we head to Boston Bar for a coffee, stopping at a few sites on the way to add a few more bottles to our collection.
Over coffee we see Canada being beat up by Cuba in the baseball game.
Dale decides to head for home while I take a slow drive towars home stopping at a few historic sites including a cementary by the old Alexandria Lodge.
Was hard to read the head stones of most but one was of a lady named Chapman who lived to 92 and was born on the early 1800's. Most likely Chapman Bar was named after her family.
I also stop at the site of the Alexandria Bridge, did not walk down but read about it on the dispay boards, was a bit of a marvel building it and it was nearly washed away in the Great Flood of 1894 on the Fraser.
I think of the millions of fish that have swum under her in just under 150 years since she was constructed.
I return to the truck and continue my journey down the "Gold Rush Trail" as heavy rain begins to fall. The road becomes a bit slippery as pools of water begin to form on the road's surface.
I cut back on the gas peddle some but most cars speed past me including on that is getting a ticket from the RCMP by Dogwod Valley as I pass by, I was tempted to honk the horn.
I slip into the Home Resturant and it is so busy, always is, must be a gold mine of its own.
I order chips as well as coffee as feel a bit guilty having a table just for coffee with so many others waiting.
A table over I see the three fellows that had come to the same fishing hole we were at. They were pleased as they all had limited out as well in a spot they found.
After leaving the Home I go to the mouth of the Coq. and are distressed to see dozens of dead sockeye long the gravel bar including one large chinook.
I guess the warm water as got them along with the stress of all the nets that have ben in the water at the same time.
I hope the bb guys stop fishings as well, as their catch and release of the sockeye will not be helping matters either.
Remember what I mentioned above about the Thompson Steelhead, it could happen to the sockeye if we all are not careful.
As I leave the area with a heavy heart after seeing all the dead sockeye bodies, firefighters are now on the scene to put out a fire in an old growth cedar. Lightning strike I ask one of the Forest service workers, "Kids was his brisk response".
Bad news to a otherwise good trip.
I stop at Jones Creek parking area next to the tracks next and another ugly scene rears its ugly head as the mess left by the fishers and I use the term fishers loosely is terrible. Everything that could be dumped there was. I hope some of the guys that fish there will go up and clean it up but I will not hold my breath.
I arrive at Chilliwack a bit dejected now and I take the bottles in we have collected, maybe should have picked up the mess I think instead of lining my pockets with bottle money.
I deliver a fish to my son and then to my sister who invites me to her birthday party that included the fish I dropped off.
Being with family over a lovely dinner capped off which in the most part was an excellent conclusion to a 2 day trip to the Legendary and Mighty Thompson River.
I can hardly wait until next year when she will call me once again to enjoy a couple of days with Dale on her waters for some more jack spring fishing.
Author
Topic: A Trip To The Thompson For Jack Springs August 22/23 (Read 8203 times)