Home Sweet Home

 

 

 

I love fly fishing. Whatever, whenever, wherever... I just love it. But there is one species that absolutely consumes me, the first I ever went fly fishing for, that has frustrated and rewarded me more than any other fish I've ever targeted: steelhead. I've fished for steelhead in a t-shirt and hot sunshine, in layers of fleece in -15C temps. I've been drenched to the bone for hours on end in the pouring rain, slept in the back of a truck for days at a time, and have driven hours to fish for a day. I've gone through slumps and hot streaks, missed takes and landed fish I shouldn't have. I've spent more time pursuing steelhead than any other species by far, with arguably much less success, and am happy for it.

 

 

 

There are no steelhead in Calgary. Epic trout fishing, yes. Chrome, sea-run fish, no. This is the first winter I haven't spent focused on winter runs, and it's been driving me nuts. I didn't realize just how much until I took that first step back into the cool winter flows a couple weeks ago. Brian Niska contacted me last fall to ask me to do some fly tying at the Whistler Flyfishing/Pieroway Fly Rods Cast & Blast event in Squamish, and I arrived a day early with enough time to fish for a few hours. It was warm and raining, and the river was in beautiful shape. That first glimpse of the river made my heart clench, and honestly, I nearly teared up. "This is where you belong" said a little voice in my head, and my entire soul agreed. I didn't touch a fish that night, but I didn't care. It felt like my whole body was soaking in my surroundings, reveling in being back on the west coast.

 

 

 

Cast & Blast is a three day event at Sunwolf in Brackendale, just outside of Squamish. Free to the public, the days were full of presentations from the likes of Stuart Foxall, Aaron Goodis, Bob Hooten, Scott Baker-McGarva, Brian Morrison, Mikey Orlowski, Scoot Mason, Geoff Pieroway, Francois Blanchet, Tim Arsenault, Pat Beahan, Harrison Perrin, Tom McHugh, JM Reid, myself, and, of course, Brian Niska. The Iron Fly fly tying competition was held on Friday evening, with Kirk Gilchrist stealing my title away with a rather unconventional fly. Saturday night was the Homegrown Fly Fishing Film Festival, with five incredible films premiered for an extremely enthusiastic crowd. It was an exceptional event, with a few beverages consumed, fantastic friends, and non stop entertainment. If you didn't make it this year, I highly recommend that you don't miss next year's event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stuck around for the week, as I was hosting a screening of IF4 in Abbotsford the following Friday, and planned on attending the M&Y Spey Day the next day. I fished a few days, losing a fish on an incredible river I'd never had any success on before, mostly because I was entirely unprepared to hook it and kinda stood there like an idiot while it cartwheeled on the end of my line. This river is not easy to fish, nor is it very generous to those who don't know it intimately, and I was beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to spend some time getting to know it better. Hooking a fish was a huge bonus. Towards the end of the week I was able to get out on the Vedder with Ben, who I love fishing with, and watched him hook hook and land an absolutely incredible chromer.

 

 

 

Friday we had a great screening in Abbotsford of IF4, and Saturday saw a couple hundred people gather at Gill Road on the Fraser River for the annual Michael & Young Spey Day. This was the first year I wasn't actually working the event, and was able to run around and catch up with old friends and customers, and spend way more time casting than previous years. Brian and Frankie had the Pieroway competition rod on hand, and a bunch of us took turns casting the big set up - a lot of work, but crazy fun. After a brief rain storm mid day, the sun peeked through the clouds and rewarded us with the most incredible golden light in the evening. I'd left my memory card in my computer, and had to watch enviously as Paula, Josh and Aaron captured some amazing casting photos. As the sun went down the remaining group gathered around a bonfire and enjoyed some drinks and conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

Originally I'd planned to head home the following day, but some very good friends twisted my very twistable arm, and I stuck around for the next week. Of the following seven days, I spent 5 very full days on the water, and two half days. It's been a few years at least since I fished that hard for winter fish, and the steelhead gods were not being kind. Cast after cast, some of the hardest wading I've every done, rain, sunshine and wind. By Friday I still hadn't hooked a fish, and I know well enough at this point that it's not that I was doing anything wrong, so it's tough to get angry or frustrated. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. I was pushing myself as much as ever, casting as far, wading as aggressively, covering water, fishing the right flies... I was so incredibly happy to be fishing for steel again, but just at a complete loss as to why I couldn't hook up. Luckily, I had one more day to fish, and Shane and I headed out super early to beat the weekend crowd. What followed was one of my personal best days of winter run fishing with a buddy, as far as hook ups go. Within the first hour I threw a long cast, and before my fly had gone 5 feet my line tightened up and blinding chrome was erupting on the surface. After a good run, some more violent surface thrashing the hook popped and I stood there, body shaking and heart racing. It doesn't matter how many steelhead I hook, or how often, each and every one leaves me in awe. By the afternoon I had hooked and lost one more, and Shane had lost three, two of them right at the beach. Chrome, wild, aggressive... my sleep deprivation, aching muscles and leaky waders mean nothing when compared with that feeling of standing in a coastal river, spey casting with the chance of hooking one of these irreplaceable creatures.

 

 

Sunday I headed back to Calgary, but I left my heart on the coast, amongst the evergreens and rocky banks of the rivers that are home.

 

 

 

Thank you to all the amazing friends who I was able to spend time with - April, Greg, Nick, Paula, Josh, Lisa, Brian, Mikey, Pat, Scoot, Stu, Scott, Sarah, Dave, Kirk, Bobbi, Frankie, Craig, Yos, Harrison, Ryan, Dave, Smalley, Paul, Landon, Jordan, Rick, Ross, Ben, Mat, Stevie, Andrea, Roger, Matt, Catherine, Vanessa, Justin, Tim, Aaron, Lawrence, Geoff, Mike, Chris and Shane - I love you all and miss you more than I can say.

 

 

Are you ready?

 

 Here we go 2013!

 

 There's so many exciting things to look forward to this year. First up, I am proud to be working for Fly Fusion Magazine and the International Fly Fishing Film Festival. My roles with both companies will be multi faceted, and I am so excited to be a part of such amazing teams. I had the opportunity to watch the 2013 Festival last night, and I have to say that the submissions for this year are fantastic.

 

 

In its third year, the IF4 has nearly doubled the number of screenings from 2012, so head to the website to check for a screening in your area. We will be continuing to add dates in the next few weeks.

 

In a couple weeks is the Western Canadian Fly Fishing Exposition here in Calgary. I have to admit that I may be abnormal in that I love trade shows. Yes, the days are long, your feet get sore, you lose your voice and invariably you stay up way too late. But I love it all. I get to see old friends, meet new ones, and play with new gear. There's a certain atmosphere that exists during trade shows that I find exhilarating. Call me crazy, but I can't wait for this year's show.

In April I'll be heading back to the coast for the Cast & Blast, a three day event hosted by Whistler Fly Fishing and Pieroway Fly Rods. There will be casting and fishing, conservation, rod building, photography and tying seminars (including one by yours truly), an auction for the Steelhead Society of BC, a film fest, fly tying comp, good music, artwork, contests, prizes and meals, late night bonfires, and, quite possibly some drinks. Trust me, this is going to be more fun than you can imagine.
 

In between these awesome events I'll be fishing the Bow when its not too cold and hopefully getting back to BC for some steelheading. I'm sure I'll be adding more events to this list very soon, and I hope to see some of you very soon!

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...