Zubris21 Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 As the rest of Canada bunkers down for this cold spell, Northern B.C. has had tremendous weather for the past couple of weeks. With such a beautiful weekend I just had to take advantage of it. Saturday my house-mate Matt and I headed down to Gnat Pass to try to get some skiing in. We were a little uncertain about what we would encounter after the terrible snow up in Cassiar the last weekend. The drive down brought us little optimism as the North side of the pass had seen some rain earlier in the week and the snow looked heavy and rock hard. Not ideal for backcountry skiing unless you are looking to break a leg. Fortunately the South side where we planned to ski was unaffected, things started to look up. On the way down we saw about 10 Caribou and ended up chasing this guy a couple hundred meters down the highway. When we got to our destination we parked on the side of the road and quickly geared up. The weather was great, blue bird skies and about 0 degrees C. We started to skin up through the trees and quickly had to start shedding layers. Since I’m new to this, it was pretty slow going, it took us about and hour and a half to get to tree line. Matt was being very patient with me as he can usually make it in 45 mins. Just below tree line we stopped to do a little avalanche beacon practice, you can never be too cautious! We continued our push onwards to the summit, the wind started to pick up once we got into the alpine, but when you’re working that hard it’s almost a blessing. I couldn’t believe how quickly Matt could make the ascent. Seemed like every time I looked up he was turned around snapping photo’s of me. Finally after about 3 hours total, we made it to the summit at about 1800 meters. Like I said it was windy up there but the scenery was spectacular. Had a quick snack and it was time for the descent. I was much more confident skiing this week as opposed to last. The snow in the alpine was much firmer, and there were far fewer trees to avoid. It was a great ski down to tree line, I then started to get a little more nervous. This is after all only the second time I’ve been on skis in the past 6 years, (the first was last weekend). Skiing in the trees is fun; I just wish I had a little more confidence in my skiing ability. After a short ride through the trees it was back to the van and a short drive back home. On the way we saw 5 moose, but none of the pictures really turned out to well. Today (Sunday) was another beautiful day, a little cooler at around -5 degrees C, but blue skies and no wind to speak of. Matt headed back to Gnat Pass to ski again, while I headed out to Allen Lake with a couple of the other teachers. We got onto the ice around 11am and quickly had our gear set up. For such a gorgeous day I couldn’t believe there was no one else on the lake. Well except these 2 who passed by within 25 meters of us (Unfortunately I had to run to the sled for the camera). The bite was slow; we had the odd nibble but nothing too serious. About an hour went by with nothing more than a few missed hook sets, when Kalvin pulled this beauty out. It was his first time ice fishing and I was glad to put him on his PB trout (of any species) measuring in at 21”. Hopes of the bite turning on did not amount to anything. It took about another hour for anything interesting to happen. I had a nice bite and went for the hook set, but my line snapped at the reel. I wasn’t spooled or anything and the line was brand new. I attribute it to the poor quality of the Berkley Cherrywood rod/reel combo (DO NOT BUY THIS). The anti-reverse mechanism does not kick in for about a quarter of a turn of the reel. The only way to avoid it is to hold the spool while you set the hook or your line will snap with the sudden stop. Luckily I missed the fish and was able to hand bomb up my brand new Swedish Pimple. Shortly after retying I manage to get a nice sized square tail up to the hole but it shook the hook before I could get it on the ice. This wasn’t going to be my day. Shortly afterward Kalvin hooked into his second fish and upped his PB to 22”. This fish had beautiful colouring and put up a great fight. We ended the day spending 4 hours on the ice with 2 beauty fish caught and 1 broken reel. The handle of that Cherrywood broke on the sled ride out as well. Hope you enjoyed. With any luck next weekend I’ll be heading to Gnat Pass again, but this time to target some rainbows through the ice. -Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dano Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 That looks like a blast, nice fish too, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutnMuskieHunter Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 What a great report!!...awesome country and beauty trout!!...thanks for sharing those photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solopaddler Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Thanks for sharing your adventures. It's great to see stuff like that being stuck in southern Ont. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramble Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Beautiful brookies, and who can argu with caribou? The skiing shots were nice as well. Keep up the good work. -R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAC Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 gotta love BC! Nice fish too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 (edited) now that's and adventure , they should make that like a triathelon...cross country/snowboard/fishing Edited January 19, 2009 by jwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leecher Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Great report and pics Andre Loved the scenery shots.... especially the one at the summit.... breath taking Good job on the square tails, beautiful colors on them Thanks for taking the time to post your adventure and sharing it with us Leechman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irishfield Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Great stuff.. wish I was young and energetic again! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moosebunk Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 STELLAR!!! Feel free to post picture reports like this ANYTIME. What I found weird though... you didn't use cross-country skis did ya??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 You must be loving it out there huh? Thats a fine way to spend a weekend fer sure!! Those brookies are mint!!! Thanks for posting, can't wait for the next adventure! Sinker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zubris21 Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 STELLAR!!! Feel free to post picture reports like this ANYTIME. What I found weird though... you didn't use cross-country skis did ya??? Nope, not cross country skis. They are big fat alpine touring ski's (basically downhill ski's on steroids) they are 10cm wide at their most narrow part. The wide ski's help you stay on the top crust of snow while climbing, and prevent you from sinking too deep on the descent. We do however place a "skin" along the bottom of the skis, basically a synthetic fabric on one side and a sticky surface on the other. The fibers in the fabric are oriented so it glides easily on the forstep, but grips to the snow and will not slide backward when you push off. I will post as many reports as I can. Hopefully next weekend I can get up to something, but after that February is pretty filled with weekend hockey trips, so doesn't look like too much fishing then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinbanger Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 cool report guys! TB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trapshooter Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Too cool man. Workin for your turns and hitting some fish, can't beat that. Life in BC is good, at times I miss it, the skiing especially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibbs Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Great Report! Fantastic Pictures too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyb Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Amazing report...simply amazing THanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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