After a one year hiatus of salmon fishing Jake Jacobson and I made a trip up to the Harrison River to fish for salmon on Tuesday, October 19th. It makes for a long day fishing the Harrison River with me jumping out of bed at 3:15 am and meeting Jake at Hagen’s parking lot at 4:30 am for the 270 mile round trip to the river and back. I arrived home at 6:15 pm tired from a very successful day of salmon fishing.
When we arrived I wasn’t sure that the salmon run was in full swing but after arriving at “Buron’s Bar”, as Bob Banks calls it, I began to see fish working in the river. Jake and I quickly strung up our rods and began fishing. Jake had never done this type of fishing before but quickly got the hang of it. In fact he out fished me early and continued to do so all day! He found a “honey-hole” and dynamite couldn’t move him from his cherished spot on the river. Every once in awhile he would have to move to land a fish and I’d sneak in and catch a fish before he’d return and run be off again.
Jake and I hooked and/or landed so many fish we decided that at about 2:00 pm we’d quit. Both arms and my back were tired from battling these tremendous fighting fish. Jake and I hooked and/or landed so many fish we decided that at about 2:00 pm we’d quit. Both arms and my back were tired from battling these tremendous fighting fish.
The weather was gorgeous with both of us fishing in our shirt sleeves after the sun came up. For those of you who know Jake ask him about his porpoise move while fishing. He made two spectacular ones today. At first I thought I heard a walrus in the water but it was only Jake doing his porpoise move.
I recently returned from my two week yearly fishing trip to Dragon Lake, in beautiful Central British Columbia in what is know as the Caribou Region of BC.
Fishing this fall had both its good and bad elements! While the fishing was slow for good numbers the good news was the size of many of the fish taken. I was able to take a number of large Dragon Lake rainbows up to 9 lbs. with my 5 wtg. fly rod. Fish this size are not common in most lakes anywhere where the public has access without paying to fish there.
As always it was nice to see fly fishing friends and share in this experience. I had the pleasure of fishing with longtime friends, Windy Way, Rick Mathias, Del Thideman, Fred Moll, Neil Westover, Jerry Harris, and Neil Cummings.
I was surprised to not take any fish this fall on dragon fly nymphs. Just about all of my fish were taken on “micro-leeches” and a couple on scuds (freshwater shrimp). The most effective micros were in size 12 with burgundy, olive, and light olive providing the best action. All fish taken and released were on a floating line with an indicator in 15 feet of water or less. In fact, one morning, I was able to take three nice fish in about 3’ to 4’ of water just out from the shoreline weed beds.
The weather was most cooperative this fall with only one day of any significant rain. We did have to put up with some unpleasant winds and early morning fog. One morning I got to try out my GPS system to get to the south end of the lake in fog so thick you could only see about 20’ in front of you. The GPS took me right to my “way-point” which was almost two miles away with little trouble.
My largest fish was right at 9 lbs. and was 27” x 15” in size. I have a photo showing this fish and another large fish.
I've returned recently from almost three weeks of fishing one of my favorite destinations in British Columbia, DragonLake.
I've made this trip yearly now for ten years and this year's trip provided by far the best fishing for larger fish than I've ever had.
Part of the trip each year is to see and re-new long-time friendships with people I've known for 40 years. Some of these folks I see once a year and we make the best of it with our "male bonding" (ribbing)! It's always a pleasure to fish with Chuck Fox, Windy Way, Del Thideman, Ron Fredrickson, Keith & Cleo Findley, and several others. Many of my Evergreen Fly Fishing Club friends also make the trek north to fish Dragon. This year they included Jerry Harris, Fred Moll, Neil Westover, Neil Cummings, Art Carlson, and George Richardson. Some who usually come couldn't make it this year and it's a shame since the fishing was so good this spring!
You never know what you're going to get in terms of weather when you head north each year and with the exception of my first and last days the weather was ideal. Water temperature was just about right and with the exception of my first day very little wind and one day with rain. I couldn't have asked for much better weather. My last day was a "blow-out" with very high winds which made it impossible to fish.
Our successful fishing was due in large part to the good chironomid hatches that were coming off each day. The fishing would usually start to pick-up at about 9:30 am or so and continue well into the late afternoon. In fact my best fishing occurred one Sunday evening from 4:45 pm until 6:30 pm for larger fish in 21 feet of water using large chironomids. We call these larger chironomids "bombers" because they are so large. My most successful patterns were black and olive chironomids in sizes 14 to 10.
You never know what you're going to get in terms of weather when you head north each year and with the exception of my first and last days the weather was ideal. Water temperature was just about right and with the exception of my first day very little wind and one day with rain. I couldn't have asked for much better weather. My last day was a "blow-out" with very high winds which made it impossible to fish.
Back to the fishing! As I mentioned earlier, it was the best I've ever had at DragonLake. The fish were larger and fought unusually hard this year. My best fish put in the net was a 9 ½ lb. triploid taken on a size 12 black chironomid. It took about 20 minutes to land this fish using my 5 wtg. fly rod. Several "Pennask" strain rainbows, which are noted "top water" fighters, took me deep into my fly line backing.
Back to the fishing! As I mentioned earlier, it was the best I've ever had at DragonLake. The fish were larger and fought unusually hard this year. My best fish put in the net was a 9 ½ lb. triploid taken on a size 12 black chironomid. It took about 20 minutes to land this fish using my 5 wtg. fly rod. Several "Pennask" strain rainbows, which are noted "top water" fighters, took me deep into my fly line backing.
Our successful fishing was due in large part to the good chironomid hatches that were coming off each day. The fishing would usually start to pick-up at about 9:30 am or so and continue well into the late afternoon. In fact my best fishing occurred one Sunday evening from 4:45 pm until 6:30 pm for larger fish in 21 feet of water using large chironomids. We call these larger chironomids "bombers" because they are so large. My most successful patterns were black and olive chironomids in sizes 14 to 10.
The last three days I fished were my worst. I believe the reason for this was a decreasing chironomid hatch each day until my last day of fishing there were very few chironomids coming off the water. When asked about this by friends, my response was; "No bugs, no fish!"
In closing I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my wife Carolyn for the chance to be able to go that far away and leave her on her own. She "insists" on me going and undoubtedly has more courage than anyone I've ever known. I call her each day and she continues to be positive and up-beat facing the challenges she has each day!
It's a long drive, 464 miles each way, and I'm also thankful that it's been un-eventful again this spring!
Included are photos are of a very with a nice fish in my net awaiting release, Jerry Harris with a fish that decided to "work its way loose" while holding it and almost knocked his sunglasses off. Another is a shot of me holding a nice fish and good friend Don Jarman from Courtney, BC landing a nice kamloop rainbow trout.
My fall trip to Dragon Lake, British Columbia this year was another good time with fishing friends from both Washington State and British Columbia.
After a great trip for larger fish this Spring I was primed for some excellent fishing this fall. Well for some reason the larger fish were not showing themselves to the fishermen. This was frustrating to us since the expectations were so high for this fall. Some very good fly fishers were coming up with few, and in some cases, no fish.
We did manage a few good fish with Neil taking the fish pictured! It was a nice native fish with beautiful markings. His "Pumpkin" fly was working well at times and Neil had some good days!
I'm a retired IT Director and currently I spend my time with digital photography and photo restoration.
My passion, however, is fly fishing in Western Washington and British Columbia. My wife, Carolyn and I have resided in Marysville, WA for the past 22 years.
I try to spend as much time as possible fly fishing for both trout and salmon in Washington State and British Columbia.
