Swinging in BC

[Christopheraaron]

December 25 2012, I received a trip to Whistler for a week of fishing, any time, any species I wanted. Could I have gone for bows, chinook, silvers, steel, browns or the massive run of pinks? Sure, but I'm always on the hunt for new species, I've never caught a bull trout, cutthroat, dolly, or chum, so it was decided that the Birkenhead and Squamish would have 2 more anglers this October.

 

The trip was booked by the end of August, we would stay from the 12th to 19th, spending the first day travelling, and the next 2 visiting with family in Mission. By the end of Monday we were settled into the hotel and getting ready for our first day with a guide in the morning. Since we were a little late in booking the trip most guides were unavailable, either guiding or up north on the steelhead rivers. Eventually we found a guide named Derek Butula, he works at the hotel and guides part time with a Whistler based company (can't remember the name).

 

We met him around 7 and were fishing by 8:30, we started at the Cheakamus river fishing for bulls with sculpins and comets, after 2 hours of no action we made a move downstream and I made a move on my fly, going to a bead head egg sucking leech. I don't know if it was a difference in weight or maybe they just wanted something more natural than the flashy comets but I started getting hits every 10 minutes or so. By noon I had 2 dirty springs on that spit the hook, and a few trout (we think) that also spit the barbless hook. At about 1 or so we stopped for an amazing pulled pork sandwich and continued down the system, snagged a small bull in the back and saw a guy get a massive (20"+) cutthroat, but that was it for the day.

 

The 45...

and that pesky mouse.

 

I may not have been able to land any of those fish, however, the only reason you get a guide is to learn the area, and Derek knew that was his job. He took us to a few different stretches of rivers so we could try them throughout the week, and now that we knew what exactly we were doing it didn't take long to figure the systems out. First stop on Tuesday was back to the pool were I had 4 on and many more hits to figure out what the heck it was that was nipping at the tail of my fly. And what better way to make sure you catch fish than with a spinning reel and some spinners? About 10 casts in with a big #5 vibrax and I had my first ever bull trout, not really big, but a nice way to start the trip.

 

 

About 3 cast after that I had one on that must have been a good bit over 20" but it jumped and spit the hook. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that 2 casts later I had this one on, just a hair bigger than the first.

 

And then about 5 casts after that one I hooked into the biggest bull of the trip, I figure about 2-3 pounds, it's not giant for a bull but it's definitely my biggest resident ever.

 

 

By the time we were done on the Cheakamus it was about 3pm, and since we were in the area I still wanted to stop in at whistler fly fishing which closed at 5. While there they were very helpful and gave us a few more holes to try, along with a couple more pattern suggestions, mainly popsicles, prawns and flesh type flies (prawns were the only ones that we hadn't tried yet). We thanked them and tried to take advantage of the last couple hours of daylight we still had on our side, the water at the first spot was very slow, not optimal for swinging, but we tried it and came up with nothing, of course we were making a tonne of noise in that calm water probably spooking everything.

 

 

Eventually we noticed a large group of anglers downstream so naturally we checked it out. Basically what was happening was there was 2 rivers meeting and the fish were all holding there, ready to kill anything that came in front of their face. It was fairly crowded so there really wasn't any room for the spey rod, so I headed upstream to see if I could swing my fly into the top of the run. While I was standing there like an idiot they were pulling out fish after fish, and the person who was catching most was also using a spey rod, so when a few guys left I made sure to be the first in there. In the 45 minutes that we were there I think I had about ten fish on, only landed one, still a beautiful silver fish though.

 

 

That was day 2, naturally with that amazing action at the end of the day we just had to fish the Squamish on day 3. It didn't take long to figure out that the night was a special time for fishing these things. During the day they all but disappeared, and we only managed to land one fish that day, the night was another story though.

 

We came back at about 4 to claim our spot for the night and although it wasn't as hot as the last night it was still some of the best fishing I've ever experienced. Here are some highlights of the night...

 

Video:

 

Link

 

That was 2 species on our list checked, but the cuts and dollies along with that giant bull had still eluded us, so the Birkenhead was the target for the day. Everything I had heard about the birkenhead was great, but upon seeing the river it was a lot different than I had imagined. Most of it was quite shallow and fast, I'm not the most experienced guy when it comes to that type of water so needless to say the day didn't go quite as planned. But just as we were getting ready to leave I took a look off a bridge into the water and could clearly spot about 5 big bulls. I started with a heavy sculpin to try and provoke an aggressive strike, after a few minutes of complete failure a couple fellow fly fishermen came by and told me to throw an egg on, instantly the bulls started paying attention. I had about 4 hits (saw them hit) but I got a little excited and kept pulling it out of their mouths. Oh well, it was getting late and we still wanted to give the chum another shot. For the first time we got skunked, a bitter taste to say the least, but got to chat with the regulars down there and had a few others on.

 

I just couldn't pack up without catching one more, so I convinced my dad to go down at 6 in the morning before our flight. It payed off, not as much action as the night but still lots rolling and even a few hitting...

 

 

That was it, not as many fish as I'd hoped for but still a great time with some new species addd to my list.

 

Tight lines,

Christopher

[Freshtrax]

Pretty bad ass report man... Way to go.

[davey buoy]

Super Chris,great trip,great fish,lots of memories.Really enjoyed !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[limeyangler]

OMG! That was an awesome report!

 

Thanks for sharing .....gonna have to get a fly rod now!

[fishnsled]

That was a bad ass report!! Fantastic shots and some nice fish as well, very well done!! Maybe I should dust of the fly gear one of these days. Thanks for the report!!

[BillM]

Awesome Chris!

[Richie Razor]

Wow incredible !! Love the BC big river reports!!!!

[misfish]

Chris,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,FANTASTIC.

[Terry]

looks like a great trip

[chris.brock]

great fish with a great back drop,

 

the new generation of OFC is alive and well!

[Locnar]

Thems some awesome fish you got man, and in the mountains... what's better?

[Musky or Specks]

Pretty bad ass report man... Way to go.

This way to go Chris. A very nice report and some beautiful scenery to catch some

Edited October 22, 2013 by Musky or Specks

[nancur373]

great stuff bud. looks like you guys had a great time

[nancur373]

Hey Chris, tried to send you a pm...no dice. clear your inbox...

[Joey]

Wow, lucky you Chris!!!

[Christopheraaron]

Hey Chris, tried to send you a pm...no dice. clear your inbox...

Cleared up a few spaces for ya Curt, go ahead. Thanks for the replies everyone!

Edited October 22, 2013 by Christopher k

[spincast]

nice report: beauty fish, great scenery .

[Joeytier]

Unreal. You wont soon be forgetting that trip, and you mustve learned more than you ever could have imagined about river fishing.

[MJL]

Sweet Chris...Glad you had a great time

[Ron]

You definitely have a touch with words. keep it up along with your fishing excursions and one day I will be reading about your fishing trips in a magazine.

 

Enjoyed the read and nice to see you got 2 more off your bucket list.

 

Cheers, Ron..

[Moosebunk]

Pleasure to read doooood! Really nice!!!

 

Most of those chum still look to be in great shape and I bet they gave you're rod a good buckling Chris.

 

I'm with Ron here, keep at it... ALL of it.

[Rich]

Great report dude!! Off the charts!

[cuzza]

Looks like a fantastic trip - great report and nice to see some big fish on the spey rod!

[aplumma]

very nice report and a good time I am sure. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Art

[Renegade67]

Stunning! The river water in BC is heavenly. Don't the fish there fight harder! You're definitely honning skills that will serve you well! I bet you have already considered a job guiding out there! Thanks for sharing.