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[chris gadsden]

As always a warm welcome to The Journal on FWR on a wet Sunday afternoon.

I believe it has been a while since I have filed a fishing report but as I am at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve this afternoon with very few vistors today I thought I would type out a brief report on a three day trip with "The Master" to some Merritt area lakes last week.

I had tried the Fraser bar fishing and float fishing before the freshet hit but I had come up empty in 4 trips so I was looking forward to feeling some action on the end of my line.

For a bit I thought that I might have to go to Ottawa in place of one of our members to appear before the Standing Committee of Fisheries but thankfully he was able to go. I knew that I would not be as qualified to do the job he would do in this very important chance to discuss fishing issues on the Fraser River that included enforcement and the fish kill that happened this Spring during the gravel excavation projects near the Agassiz Rosedale Bridge.

Before leaving for the trip I spent a day out with a Conservation officier in the Skagit Valley checking bear hunters and any illegal fishers in the area. An interesting trip and even ran into Dragon Speed who was with a group of leaders and scouts at Ross Lake. It was an interesting day to say the least and was a job I would have liked to do but never went for when I finished school many moons ago.

We found no violators but we did find a dead bear that had been hit by a logging truck. As well we saw a lot of garbage left from careless campers from the past long weekend, it seems to be a problem everywhere now.

Day 1 with The Master

Tuesday morning saw an early start to the day as usual and I was on time for a change as I was 10 minutes early for our 6 am departure. My bags, video camera and fishing equipment was quickly transferred from the Leaf Mobile to Nick's truck and we were on our way to the Home Restaurant for our traditional breakfast in getting our trip off on the right foot. We talk over our plans to fish three different lakes over the 3 day we would be fishing. I kid Nick how I was going for the biggest fish of the trip once again as after doing that for two years in a row. As I was to find out later I should not have been so cheeky.

With breakfast consummed including a few cups of coffee we hit highway 5 and in no time are paying the $10 fee at the Toll booth. Traces of snow is still visible along the side slopes. I notice the Coq. Lakes are now ice free and look very inviting to throw out a fly, must try it one day. As we continue our journey we see along the way a bear, a few deer and a Moose all on far sides of the wildlife fences.

Nick makes contact on his Cell phone with his brother Robert who we will be staying with this time. He lives to-wards Logan Lake.

We work our way along the Connector, to our first lake, one that holds brook trout, a species I have never caught before.

The drive into the lake is very scenic with flowers in full bloom along with aspen trees swaying in the breeze. Signs of the Mountain Pine Beetle doing their damage are evident among some of the lodge pole pines along the road as well.

When we reach the lake "The Master" is surprised to see so many anglers there ahead of us. As he prepares the boat I get my video equipment ready as once again I will be recording the trip for future enjoyment.

With the boat now in the water we glide down the flat surface of this lovely bit of paradise as a few fish dimple the surface. The excitement of catching my first brookie started to build as I hoped that moment would not be far away.

As we got busy at the GBHNR I could not finish "The Journal" and as we have to close up the office I will finish this later this evening, from home.

[chris gadsden]

Nick picks the first place to drop our anchors and I am anxious to try out the new fly rod, reel and line Nick has put together for me. As I am fairly new to fly fishing only starting a couple of years I can and still do encounter casting problems especially with a 15 foot or so leader that includes an indicator.

I am pleased to see the new outfit casts far better than my old gear and the new fly line that is of better quailty than before shoots the line out nicely.

Sorry posted this by mistake.

[chris gadsden]

We make a few moves before we finally find our first fish that is taken by Nick of course, a nice fish a little over 2 pounds. I capture its beauty, both on video and some still shots. Will post some pictures later.

Nick has landed a couple more before I get my first chance but the take as Nick mentioned to me earlier is very subtle and I miss the first chance. I have found the zone and the right chironomid it seems now as I start to get lots of chances. The indicator seems to hardly to move at times and I try setting the hook soon after it moves and other times I leave it a bit but but methods are no working, for me anyway.

Finally after 12 or so chances I finally make contact with my first brooke trout a small one that is on for a minute or so but it falls off before I get it close to the boat for landing. The trout are dimpling the water all around us and I continue to get bites but still can not master the art of hooking them. I am getting a bit annoyed with myself with my lack of success but finally I make contact and do land my first brookie, small but beautiful. It is a fish of around a pound that I release after a couple of pictures.

The bite is on an off for the rest of the day and we see one other angler having some success but Nick ended the day with the two biggest brookies that I saw caught among the 6 to 8 other boats on the lake.

I ended the day catching my biggest on my last cast. I threw out the floating fly line and let it sit there while I dialed my cell phone to check in with my wife.

After about 30 seconds of talking to my wife I see my indicator move, I tuck the phone into my shoulder so as I am able to pick up the rod, no more movement until I move the line a bit. Just then the indicator dips and I flip my wrist a bit and I to my surprise I  have contact with my biggest of the day.

I continue to talk to my wife that I am sure is impressed with my skill, hooking a fish while having her on the line as well as a fish on my line.   As I get the 14 inch or so fish near the boat she says she can hear it splashing about. I bid her goodbye as I bring my trophy fish of the day aboard and I decide to retain it.

We then end the day at 7 pm with "The Master" catching the biggest and the most, 7 or so fish to the boat while I landed just two and lost a couple but I sure had lots of chances. Maybe tomorrow things will improve in numbers and size but as usual being with "The Master" makes it an enjoyable day even if I was to go fishless.

We then load up the boat, as we do we are serenaded by hundreds of frogs who are preparing for the darkness that will soon fall over the lake, a fitting end to the day. Our next stop is The Home Restaurant in Merritt and we relive the day over supper. Being outdoors all day sure makes food taste so so good. Our first course meal is then capped off with some of the best tasting apple pie in the world.

A 30 minute drive takes us to Robert's place who we find on arrival has a blazing fire going outside for us, a nice way to spend the last part of today's adventure and we plan tomorrow's trip to another one of the area's hundred lakes.

Day 2 of The Journal

I awake around 7 to the smell of bacon and eggs and find  Nick has been busy preparing breakfast for us. One thing when you fish with Nick we always have good eats.

We are on our way by 8:15 and travel through cattle country for about 45 minutes to our second lake of the trip, another beautiful body of water, post card perfect, with the weather just as great.

We quickly launch the boat and on our first anchoring spot we find rainbows right away and we are into fish left and right. I am even getting on to this type of fishing and are hooking my share of fish they are not big as they are plentiful in this spot as none are over 13 inches.

At one point when Nick is into one he says "look at this Chris, a loon is coming after my fish". I quickly grab my video camera and capture some good action footage of the loon trying to grab Nick's fish that is just under the surface, below the boat. Nick somehow keeps the fish away from the loon and brings the very scared 10 incher aboard.

We see some marks on the trout's side, where the loon had temporally had a hold of it. Nick tosses the fish overboard and the loon that has now surfaced, watching us from about 50 feet away dives again and easily takes the fish. It surfaces again and I film it as it inhales the fish in one gulp.

We spend the rest of the day moving around to different parts of the lake in search of bigger fish but the largest we find is about 15 inches that Nick lands near the end of the day. We caught so many trout I lost track but it must have been over 50 fish. Good practice for this beginning angler.

So for the second day in a row Nick has got the largest trout, one more day to try and keep my two year old record intact.

[chris gadsden]

When we arrive back at our home base, Robert's home we are treated to a very enjoyable moose roast that his wife has prepared for us before leaving for work. Sleep follows and comes quickly on most likely too a full stomach. I am so tired I do not even dream about fish at all.

Day 3 of The Journal

Once again another good breakfast after a good nights rest has prepared me for another day on another lake, the last chance to try and find a trophy rainbow, at least over two pounds.

The drive to lake 3 is once again very pleasant and we are treated to a cow moose standing in a swamp with her newly dropped calf at her side that makes for some good video footage.

We traverse some pretty rough road to the launching site. The launch if you can call it that is rougher still and when I am supposed to be giving direction while Nick backs the trailer up I do not stop him in time and he smashes a trailer tail light on a protruding root of a tree. It is funny now when we watch it on video now but it was not at the time as it got the day off to a poor start.

Other than this incident things look good as the lake is flat calm, with the weather being a little clouder than the previous two days but it is still warm. The rain that fell during the night had now disappeared.

Robert in his own boat is first to hit pay dirt landing two in the 2 to 3 pound range before we got a bite, both caught on a leech.


It is not long until Nick finds the right fly and is into and lands some nice rainbows in the 2 to 4 pound range.

I am having a hard time even getting a bite but it finally comes as I have one when it clears the surface Nick says looks a good 4 pounds. Just as I start to think I may capture the biggest of the trip after all my hopes are dashes as on the jump my prize somehow tosses my chironomid. Back to square one.

As Nick continues to haul more beauties in I remain fishless. Many nice fish are now picking food right off the surface and I even shorten up to about two feet to try and break my fishless streak but it is to no avail.

All a sudden a fast moving storm moves in, one that has all the elements of ending the trip as rain pelts down and waves starts to buffer our anchors around. We put on our rain gear that we wisely have brought along and we decide to give it a few minutes to see if it will stop. Happily it passes as quickly as it came and we spend another 2 hours fishing. I have only one more chance as I miss a fish that buries my indicator. Meanwhile "The Master" lives up to his name and is into several more and ends the day with some nice fish for us to take home.

With the trip now drawing to a close we head back to the launch. I have been badly skunked but I have plenty of good memories of once again fishing with "The Master", memories that will never be erased as long as I live.

But hey I just remembered, I had the largest on of the trip. Next year trip I believe I will be back in the grove and I guess I have a year to practice. Watch out Nick and thanks for the trip.

[Rodney]

Chris' photos

1. Inspecting garbage in the Skagit Valley.

2. Ross Lake at low water.

3. Dragon Speed with some of the scouts.

4. Checking a bear that was hit by a logging truck.

5. A spawner caught by Chris.

[Rodney]

6. A nice rainbow taken by Nick.

7. The Master at his best with a beauty.

8. Nice brook trout.

9. Nice brook trout.

[TrophyHunter]

man those are some nice fish !!  congrats, sounds like you had an awesome trip... great pics
it is really sad to see that bear though   

[THE_ROE_SLINGER]

Once again chris an awsome report. In a couple weeks me and roeman might head up there.

[Fishin Freak]

Very nice fish!!! When do fish in these lakes usually spawn?

[chris gadsden]

Very nice fish!!! When do fish in these lakes usually spawn?

In one of the lakes there was lots spawning by the boat launch. As well some of the fish in this lake are sterile fish that never spawn. They have been put in by the hatchery in the last few years so they can grow to a very nice size.

[Big Steel]

Nice fish guys and great job!!  I have a soft spot for brookies as I haven't seen one for about 14 years!!   DOn't worry Chris, I am sure  that you will take back your throne next year!!

[Xgolfman]

some nice hogs there...