Got some reports from 3 trips up to a lake in the hills near me here are the reports.
day1
Went today up to a lake with a friend 45km into the bush only acessable by ATV and even with that it was hard. We were way up a mountain near the Nanaimo lakes but farther north i would be suprised if more than 5 people have ever fished this lake. We hooked about 10 but caught 5 on drys ranging from 12-16 inches. I was suprised at the fight they put up even on my 6 Wt. There were tons! of bear and elk tracks but we suprisingly didnt see any. He told me its not uncommon to see 5+ bears and herds of elk. We got some good pics unfourtantly we only fished for an hour because it was near an hours drive each way and it took a long time to get ready. We fished out of float tubes and are going up on tuesday from 8am till 4pm so we should get some nice fish! Ill post pics from today latter and post pics from tuesday.
This was one of the valleys we went through. Way in the distance you can see the ridge we came from
Large Elk track this one was all by itself probaly a large buck. Thats my hand beside it and i have big hands it was probaly around 6 inches Maybe more
Day 2
Went out again today and it was slow 3 fish in 3 hours. Sorta small 2 10 inchers and a 13. We saw a herd of 15 elk that was probaly the highlight. I got good pics but cant post them because i broke the camera im now 500$ poorer
Day 3
Went again today and man o man i hooked a monster! I was fishing a dry fly and was out deep because i was moving to another spot. I just chucked the fly to one side and trolled it. I was paying no attention and i just saw my line tighten. I set the hook and it didnt fight much so i figured it was one of the 12 or so inchers that i had been catching all day. This one was different it didnt run or really move then it took off. It cleared the water and my friend and i both got a look and it was huge! He came over to help net it. It fought like a salmon staying deep and going on long runs. I finally tired him out and was pulling him towards the net. My friend and i were both almost screaming with excitement as it came to the net then my worst fear happened. It spit the hook right at the net. It sat there at the surfae for probaly 5 seconds with no hook in its mouth because it was played out. But before we could net him he shot off. The line was tight when he spit the hook im guessing it was hooked on a small flap of skin or something. We both were ready to cry and didnt talk for a while. It had to have been at least 20+inches more like a salmon than a trout. Im sure this isnt uncommon in the interior but i think its a big fish for the island and an alpine lake. We called it a day after that and started kicking back when i got another decent fish. This guy fought well and i wasnt gonna lose him. He was 16 inches not a bad fish at all. Kept him for dinner along with a smaller 12 incher that was hooked very deep and went belly up on release. Not a bad day at all didnt see bears or elk but on saturday he saw 2 elk herds, 2 bears and a dead cub. Will definatly go back to try and get another monster like that.
The lake(the elk are in the bottom right corner only about 100 feet away and i didnt notice them you cant see them in the picture but they are there)
Bad picture of the last elk to enter the forest. It was a herd of about 10 when i noticed them they were close but by the time i got it up and running they all had gone in the woods except one. It was a rushed picture with no zooming in. We saw them again running through a marshy creek but again by the time i had the camera out and running they all had entered the woods.
The fish from today(they dont look as big as they are should have had a measureing tape out for the photo) Both were hooked deep and wouldnt have mae it i probaly would have kept the bigger one anyways.
Dinner
Hope to get up one more time this week