Oct - Dec 2012: Browns, Ice and Escaping to Paradise

 

 

After  a whirlwind couple of months, October slowed down considerably. The weather varied from cold and snowy to warm and sunny. We still had a handful of guided trips, and managed to get out a handful of times ourselves. Paula and I took her dad and uncle out for a float on Thanksgiving and found a few nice fish. She and I also spent a day in the mountains in heavy winds, which made fishing tough, to say the least. We had some epic bwo fishing for smaller cutties on a smaller stream that was a little more protected from the wind, and Paula coaxed a beautiful cuttie up to the surface at the end of the day. Late in the month we had a couple of good days nymphing the Bow, and found some amazing rainbows and browns.

Paula Shearer photo

The last couple of weeks of October is always filled with breathless anticipation as we all wait to hear if one of the most amazing steelhead rivers on earth will open up. At the end of the month it was announced that it would open, and Josh, Dean, Paula and I headed out the night before the opening on Nov 1st. I'd never fished opening day before, and my goal was for us to get first pass through a run. Josh and I stayed up all night, while Paula and Dean managed to snag an hour or so of shut eye. We were up at 4, and hung out in the dark on the rocks. That morning was one of my best days of steelheading ever, with four fish hooked and three landed. Josh missed one on the dry, and Dean lost a heavy buck at the beach. That night I saw a number of amazing friends I hadn't seen in months, and spent some time in the best pub there is.

Josh Nugent photo

Josh Nugent photo

Josh Nugent photo

A week and a half later Paula and I headed back out, and the fishing had slowed down somewhat, but Paula hooked and landed her first fish on the river, and Stevie found a couple. I had a few good grabs in the 6 days we fished, but no actual hook ups. We spent a lot of time with good friends, and while Paula's mantra was "I'm not drinking tonight" there were copious amounts of beer and shots consumed.

 

 

The next month was fairly quiet, as it got really cold in Calgary and the river was full of ice and slush. I tied a ton of flies, and decided, on the basis of a great job offer, to stay in Calgary for the winter. Mid December I headed back to the coast to pack up my place and put it in storage. It was great to get the chance to see a bunch of people, and I made it to the M&Y Christmas party. On my way out of town I was able to spend two days with Ape, who I'd barely had the chance to talk to since May. Then I headed up to meet Josh and Zach in steelhead paradise. That afternoon they both landed beautiful fish, and before I new it the next day was done and we were headed back to Calgary.

Paula Sheaer photo

Zach Southgate photo

Christmas was quiet and relaxing, and with temperatures ranging from -20C to below -30C with wind chill fishing was not really an option. Its warmed up a little in the past couple days, and we made it out for a few hours yesterday. Tomorrow is New Year's, and I have to admit I'm in a little bit of shock that 2012 is almost over. I'm excited for 2013 will bring. I'm thrilled to be working for Fly Fusion and the International Fly Fishing Film Festival this winter, and hope I can make it back to the coast a few times in the upcoming months to scratch that steelhead itch.



 

 

Thanks everyone for following along. Can't wait to share my adventures in 2013 with you. :)

 

Jan-Apr 2012: Tacos, Tequila and Steelhead

 

Without getting into any of the gory details, the last couple of months of 2011 were not the best. It seemed that, not only just for me, but for other dear friends too, that things just kind of fell apart in November and December. So the start of 2012 was almost a relief, a huge "thank goodness that's over, now we can try to move forward". I kind of laid low for the first few weeks of January, fished a little, lost a beauty little chrome steelhead on the Vedder. And January isn't exactly the easiest time to catch fish on the fly out there.

 

Ape and I setting up her booth at the Fly Expo 



 

April had asked me to help her out at her booth at the Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition in Calgary, so we carpooled with Greg and drove out towards the end of January. I don't know about you, but I love trade shows, particularily when I actually get the chance to check out the show and do some socializing. The people are one of the biggest reasons why I love working in the fly fishing industry, and there's something about shows, maybe its the absolute exhaustion combined with a wee little bit of alcohol, that creates a sense of family. The show went by fast, as they all do, but was crammed full of events. It was exactly what I needed to finally help me start feeling positive about myself and my life again. I was able to spend time with old friends, and meet some incredible new ones. That was the first time I'd really encountered this scenario: "Oh, Adrienne, do you know ________?" "We've never met in person, but we're friends on Facebook." It made me realize not only how small the fly fishing world is, but how like minded people are drawn to and seek out each other regardless of geography.

Me, Ape, Paula, Timbre and Caitlin at the Expo

 

February, March and April went something like this: work Thursday through Monday at the fly shop, with the occassional Friday or Saturday night drinks with friends, drive out to Chilliwack after work Monday to meet up with friends for Monday Night Tacos at the Jolly Miller ($1.00 tacos and cheap Corona) which invariably always got a little messier (tequila shots) than we intended, sleep in Tuesday morning and fish the afternoon, sometimes for cutties but most often for steelhead, sometimes stay over again and fish Wednesday, or head home for a little sleep and rebooting for the upcoming work week.

This season was my best for winter steelhead, not only was my hook up for time spent ratio pretty exceptional, but it was also the funnest season I think I've ever had out there. The Vedder is a busy system, and it is very, very easy to get annoyed and frustrated with the pressure. Some days we'd fish a run or two, meet up with friends, drink a few beer and have a good bullshit session. Did we find fish? Not every day, but yes, we still caught fish and had a hell of a good time doing it.

 

In March a good friend, Bill, came up from Washington to fish, and we had a fun couple of days on the river. I didn't touch one, but Bill and Ben both landed an incredible fish each. Bill unfortunately had to witness a beautiful wild steelhead being dragged up onto the gravel, unhooked, and then kicked back into the water. The angler was swearing mad that he had caught three wild fish that morning, when what he really was looking for was a hatchery fish to kill.

April started off with a bang with the Whistler Fly Fishing/Pieroway Fly Rods Cast & Blast in Squamish. I made it out for the Saturday night IronFly Tying Competition (which I won :P), the SSBC auction, and the subsequent late night shenanigans around the bonfire. The following week I had an amazing afternoon fishing on my own where I landed 3 beautiful fish with no one around, and finally landed a fish on my birthday. The M&Y Spey Day was a huge success again, and we followed it up with a big bonfire on the gravel bar afterwards. Josh made it out from Calgary for a couple days, and we had one beautiful day fishing the Cheakamus and the next day fishing a rising, dirty river in the torrential rain.

 

 

Stay tuned for for part 2 of 2012...