scuro

Nice report as always...thanks for sharing.

Looks like CCMT has the artistic eye out of the two. Lovely shots!

I gotta talk to you sometime. Compare notes on BC and Ontario Chinooks. What's your biggest fish to date?

Are the "fishing manners" that you are talking about NOT laughing while videotaping? Plenty of guys laugh hysterically when stuff like that happens out on the water.

Yeah maybe with dink fish but with a 20 pound Chinook? Laugh in my face when I lose a twenty pound Chinook and I'll toss you in to chase after her! "oops, I slipped and the only way I could get my balance was by grabbing you"....the boat gets really slippery when even a tiny bit of water is on the floor.

Are you complaining or collecting video evidence that shes a witch when it comes time for the divorce?

lol On the positive side she loves fishing, goes on trips with me, and doesn't complain when it rains or is cold. She is new to this and hasn't learned the fishing manners that one is supposed to have. I remember last year we came into the lodge after a particularly cold and rainy brutal day out on the lake. We had managed to catch a large pike and no one else was catching anything...she blurted out, "we smoked em all", at the dinner table with 20 guys, while I slowly slide under the table.

For the moment I am enjoying her pride and relish in her skills.

Chinook also don't break the surface much while Atlantic are supposed to be acrobatics.

In this vid I've taken over my wife's rod because she has caught her second 20 pound Chinook one right after another, and her arms are like rubber. She fishes some first while I am playing the fish and then decides that she probably should document the catch...but first we get a bit of background from her. Meanwhile I'm having to go down the river to land this fish but she doesn't follow. The snicker comes right at the end of the clip and isn't too loud so you got to listen for it. We only heard it today when we played it for relatives.

Really nice smallies...and so it goes sometimes. Nice report...thanks for sharing...those stunted trees haunt me everytime I look.

Umm..I Googled "Armpit of Ontario" and didn't see where that was

 

I guess i will wait for the run at "The Prettiest Town in Canada". to come in too.

 

Thanks for the teaser though

LoL

 

Splashhopper

Armpit of Ontario has got to be Sudbury or the Hammer.

Doh...posting the pic with the landmark in the background!!! Still, this is something you and your son will always remember.

With braided I find the heavier weighted line knots less frequently. Watch for line twist which can easily be untwisted by letting line out(without anything attached to it) while you drive the boat for a few minutes. I also find that casting against heavier wind or across heavy wind causes more knots. The trick is to keep an eye on the line. Usually the smallest of twists or knots creates a birds nest if you ignore it and cast several more times.

Born free, as free as the grass grows, as free as the wind blows...

They made a movie about this same theme...1966

Sinatra even sang the song - http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra...e_20160487.html

3 resorts?

Nice salmon from your fishing quest!

Snicker snicker...my wife doesn't know how good she has it!

Sounds like fun. Weedbeds should be well established. I'd be taking a temp gage.

At a new lake I always bring a wide assortment of stuff including weights. I also bring my diving mask. The first day I'll have a few beers around dinner time and watch the water. Then I get up in the morning with my coffee and do the same thing. Next I will take a look around underwater and finally I will talk to anyone who is fishing the area. Don't forget to do a google search of the name of the body of water that looks most promising. I also search sites like this one. Perhaps someone has posted a report in the past.

Northern BC fishing

Terrace BC is about 2 hours inland along the Skeena river from Prince Ruppert. The Skeena is the second largest river in BC after the Fraser. It is best known for Steelhead fishing although we were coming for the early Chinook run. The twist on this trip is that we were going to attempt to catch Chinook by casting. We had booked three rivers for three days of guided fishing but only the Kitimat was fishable. Unlike the other rivers, the source of most of the Kitimat's water was mountain glaciers. The boat used was a flat bottom boat. Leslie and I both sat in the front. We got skunked the first day, not even a nibble. The main reason for this was that a week of rain forced everyone onto the same river. Leslie and I also fished liked two of the three stooges, we were not used to casting side by side and wasted too much time untangling lines and apologizing to the guide for attempted murder by fish hook! The Karma just wasn't right that day.

The second day was much better, the guide wisely anchored and let us cast from shore much more. The sun came out and we caught some small Dolly Varden and Cutthroat in the morning. At noon I cast under overhanging brush and made contact, rod tip up! This was one solid fish and I couldn't get the fish to turn. This is what I came for, to hook and battle this brute on a 2-dimensional battlefield of 3 ft of water. We got a good look at her while she thrashed shallow. The guide tightened the drag and I just leaned back and put of my considerable weight into it. There was no controlling this fish. I could neither turn it's head or get it to move left or right. It was a war of attrition where I gained a foot or two and then lost it. The guide tightened my drag more. After about five minutes of this I came upon the brilliant idea of pulling her up on shore and so I slowly backed up on the bank. That was my mistake, I should have been happy to simply tire the fish out. When this fish realized that I had some extra capability, it showed me another gear. It simply turned it's head and muscled it's way downstream 100ft in a mind blowing run. The final destination was wood and although I attempted to pull her out, the battle was lost as soon as she made her move. The guide estimated her to be 40 pounds. Afterwards, I attempted to pull the line from the reel to check the setting of the drag. It was so tight that the line dug into my hand which I had to do to get free line. Leslie took what she thought were pictures with my camera but instead of taking pics she unfortunately had simply "clicked" the on and off button repeatedly. Doh!!

On our last day of guided fishing, we got on the river a little earlier and I think that helped. We got to a pool early and Leslie hooked into a good one at 20 pounds. If you look closely you can see her wide opened mouth expressing disbelief and joy. This is why I fish with this girl!

Chinook have a lot of power. Leslie was reeling but no line was coming in. After a bit of coaching she learned more how to use her body and after a few runs and about 5 minutes hard work she had her fish. Smiles all around as we had the first one. After the fish was released, her hands were shaking and she was spent. She thought we would get into the boat and move on and she could rest but the guide kept us there. Leslie cleverly thought if she cast into the same spot she would be "safe" because she had just cleared the spot out but she immediately hooked into another 20 pounder with her first cast. She screamed for me, and I had to come a running to take her rod. It was fun to battle again and this fish took some runs downstream. No lumber this time so I followed the King downstream. By the time I landed her I must of been 150 yards away from first contact. Leslie had documented this one though. She was enamored with her camera's video capability and she successfully filmed her first clip ever of the landing from that initial spot upriver. Does it matter that I am only three pixels high and the fish only a pixel wide? The clip has great commentary to go along with the action. I had another take in that pool but that Chinook got free soon after the hookup.

Later in the day we got to fish this beautiful stretch of river. Single barbless hooks are the rule for all Salmon in BC. We split our time between casting and "backtrolling". In BC backtrolling means using crankbaits in the river while the guide paddles hard to hold our place in the current. We only got one hook up from backtrolling even though this is the preferred method for Chinook at that time of the year.

Our final day would be spent driving north close to Alaska to do some sight seeing and getting some fishing in on the side.

Our host at the Deep Creek Lodge told us there are bears there and he was kind enough to lend us bear spray. As we were getting ready to leave I told Leslie that were going to a Lava field and we would do 20 minutes of hiking to get to some pools along a small river. We stopped by the lava fields and it was beautiful but I wondered why Leslie was wearing flip-flops on a lava field. I asked her if she had brought good shoes for hiking. Apparently she had heard only the word "fishing" and assumed we would just get out of our car and fish from the side of the road.

Besides her flip-flops she only had her "flower-power" boots so boots it was for our hike. Apparently they had gummy bottoms and it hurt to walk on rocks.

When we got to the river there was a sign warning about Grizzlies and that you should put all fish guts in the river and not on the banks. The real danger from bears was in the fall with the salmon run. We had our can of bear spray so I wasn't that worried. Leslie on the other hand was petrified. I brought water, food, the bear spray, and fishing gear. Leslie brought oil paints and brushes, apparently flesh eating bears can be appeased by appealing to their vanity. Our visions of the morning were not gelling at all!

The path to the pools were over the lava fields. There were several different paths as there was no simple obvious way. Some paths veered earlier to the river to access different points and some paths were further out from the river and led to the pools. You could see the paths because no lichen grew on them but the trail was not marked. Unfortunately the hike was longer then the 20 minutes that I had been told it took to hike and after about a half hour Leslie declared us lost about every minute or so. At one point she declared "this is ridiculous", and she turned and walked back. That is, until she realized I wasn't going back with her. Remarkably I watched my wife age 40 years in the span of a half hour. Her pace slowed to a crawl. She was unable to hop from one stone to another and she complained constantly. I paid no heed to her rapidly growing list of psychosomatic complaints and we made it to the first pool. Before I had my first cast in she looked at me in an unfriendly way and said, "how long do you plan to fish here"?

The river was achingly beautiful. The first pool had too much current and I told Leslie we had to move on to the next one. She looked at me in disbelief and wondered out loud, "there is more then one pool"? The canopy got denser with lush growth as we walked further. We startled a giant bald eagle who was having dinner directly in front of us. This bird had a huge wingspan which I would estimate to be close to 8ft and the bird showed us it's full plume as it scrambled to get away. Leslie was vindicated, a giant creature had attacked us and it was pointless to argue. Danger lurked everywhere and it was time to turn back. What could I do, she was afraid. As we turned around, instantly her ailments left her body and her mood brightened. I on the other hand became silent. She beguilingly extolled me to fish the first pool as we passed it but this moment of time was lost, such is the art of fishing. There was no way the table could be reset. It was time to go home. In a way you are a hunter when you fish and like a hunter you wait for opportunity. If you are lucky opportunity presents itself and from there it is up to you to take advantage. Other times you get a glimpse of what could be but it slips through your fingers before you can take advantage. This was a missed opportunity but I wouldn't fish with anyone else if forced to make a choice.

Southern BC fishing

After the Terrace we visited family on the Gulf islands. The islands are a very laid back area with a lot of natural beauty. Perfect for families and seniors.

I had some great SM bass fishing here on a previous trip. Locals view Bass as we do carp and they avoid them. The pickings were easy. This time around the island had a major heat wave and a visibility reducing algae bloom.

They dropped two of these giant aerators, at a 1/4 million a piece, into the lake while we there. Like a fish tank, the thinking was that bubbling the water would decrease bacteria counts which was important for the local drinking water.

I picked up dinner trolling deep but it was bass I was hungering for.

The bass fishing was difficult. In the end micro pink lures bopped on their noses got me fish.

Trolling gold speckled jigs 20 ft off shore also worked but these two fish were a lot of work and the whole experience a major disappointment. None of the true lunkers showed their faces.

So we fished for Mudsharks. Guess I was a little slow on the trigger with this bait.

You can catch many things in the ocean like this Bullfish.

...or this thing which wrapped itself around our bait twice. This was no snag.

The Mudshark had a hankering for fresh Halibut.

We finished the trip of with a charter. Half the day was spent in a secluded hot spring.

Then we got down to business and caught fish. Here is a Lingcod and "Rockfish".

We got into a number of salmon. Some had to be released because they were wild. Some we lost.

The girls had fun, it was a nice way to mix up the day.

I was surprised the girls held them up for photos. They were so slimy.

The most unusual catch for me was Halibut. No dim witted fish are they! They are active predators with the weirdest mouth.

After fishing I would go for a walk with Leslie and the kids. For me it was a great way to relax. BC is a great place to go if you want to combine a family vacation with fishing.

A trip with Scottydog and the Bunkster. That is something to revel in. I love Grant with his pike, he couldn't have looked happier. You guys slayed them, awesome report on so many different levels.

ChrisS,

I'm not arguing that our system doesn't have problems. It does. The point I am making is that no health system in the world is perfect and other systems, like the US system also has significant problems.

Some point to the US and the excellent service that some people get there. I don't disagree. Probably a majority of the US has excellent health care but what about the minority? Which system is better?...it's debatable and people have made excellent points on this thread.

A point I want to make is that the US system will have to change dramatically in the near future and our system won't. We are running budget surpluses and can afford to pay more the further we go into the future. In the US they have lived like there is no tomorrow. There will have to be drastic cuts to entitlement programs like we had to do in the 90's to eliminate our deficits. There system will be much worse in 5 to 10 years and I wouldn't be surprised to see unemployed Dr.'s heading north.

If you don't believe me, may be you want to listen to David Walker the chief financial officer of the US. Taken from a 60 minute interview.

What would happen in 2040 if nothing changes?

"If nothing changes, the federal government's not gonna be able to do much more than pay interest on the mounting debt and some entitlement benefits. It won't have money left for anything else – national defense, homeland security, education, you name it. You could eliminate all waste and fraud and the entire Pentagon budget and the long-range financial problem still wouldn't go away, in what's shaping up as an actuarial nightmare. Part of the problem is that there won't be enough wage earners to support the benefits of the baby boomers. But the real problem is health care costs"...we have, "15 to $20 trillion under-funding. We're not being realistic. We can't afford the promises we've already made, much less to be able, piling on top of 'em. The federal government increased existing Medicare obligations nearly 40 percent over the next 75 years. We’d have to have eight trillion dollars today, invested in treasury rates, to deliver on that promise.

Asked how much we actually have saved up for these projected future costs, David Walker states, "Zip."

So where's that money going to come from? "Well it's gonna come from additional taxes, or it's gonna come from restructuring these promises, or it's gonna come from cutting other spending".

He does believe the current health care system is way too expensive, and overrated. "On cost we're number one in the world. We spend 50 percent more of our economy on health care than any nation on earth. We have the largest uninsured population of any major industrialized nation. We have above average infant mortality, below average life expectancy, and much higher than average medical error rates for an industrialized nation".

Part of the population makes it with only a birth mother. Others need multiple mothers, especially the Government Mother. Sometimes a glass of warm milk helps. 98.6 F. is the optimum temperature.

 

Oncogene, you could find free medical coverage in the U.S. military. I'd recommend you for a spot because you're young, bright and I like you. The G.I. bill would probably be available to you so you could complete your education. You'd be a better student after serving. It worked for me and lots of others.

Some people act like boobs. I wonder if they produce milk?

Back to the topic at hand.

Hospital dumping -> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/17/...079_page2.shtml

There is no perfect health care system and one won't be invented unless a government has unlimited money to finance it. Our system is inefficent and may require a fair degree of sophistication on the part of the user to get the service they need when they need it. Even if you know "your way around the block" delays do occur. For those thinking the US system is the way to go, it has significant faults also. It is by far the most expensive system in the world. Studies have shown that in the "people service industry" private is more expensive then public care and is less efficent. Remarkably the death rate is higher in US hospitals. There is no way to get around the significant profits private health care companies need to survive. Regardless, the US will soon be forced to change it's system in a major way due to ever balloning costs and more importantly deficits that will bankrupt the country unless changes are made.

For those US citizens with cake or a good insurance plan, it serves them well. On the other end of the scale the pitfalls of a system run for profit is that profit can be the only concern of the companies that provide them. On the far end of scale, Canadian paitent's needs can be ignored to the point where harm is done. In the US, paitents can be treated inhumanely to the point where harm is done. The difference is that in Canada we have a right to proper health care. Once again the two systems show our differences. The US is about the individual and individual rights. Canada is more protective of all in society. Perhaps because the cold winters made us huddle together in the past.

It's one thing to catch a trophy, it's another to catch it with boat loads of competition around. That is a fine catch by any yardstick!

Every picture has a story.

You dad...I could listen to him all day..."what a humpback". He has that old Euro view of the world and a slight accent. Where was he born?