Willie's Adventures Sailing and Fishing

Well I made it to Terrace but there were 5 hours to kill between landing and getting picked up to go to the lodge. I found a hotel but it didn’t do my diet any good. The lodge is beautiful, single rooms en-suite, lovely communal areas, good food and well organised. I feel like a bit of an interloper. My buddy Mike is not here due to an unfortunate accident with his wrist. Everyone else here has been coming on this week for multiple years. They all know each other and the proprietors like family and stories of fish caught and fish lost abound.

Yesterday was the first day on the river which is always stressful. What kit to take, how many layers to wear, what flies to fish, fitting in with one’s boat partners and the guide, etc etc. It all distracts from the primary purpose of having fun and catching fish. Both my boat partners had fish to the bank within a few casts and by going home at 1600 I had really nothing to show for my efforts. Back to. U-Tube to find out how to cast this different line and hope I would do better today.

Up at 5.10 to breakfast , Travel to the boat launch and find 3 boats waiting to put in. Despite the fact that the river is vast, there are only a few favoured ‘spots’. This leads to a sort of race to get one, which we lost yesterday. So we ended up fishing a run about half a kilometre long. It all started happening for me then. I was casting better with a couple of tips from the guide. I was covering the water and suddenly got the tug and big fish up out of the water in the middle of the river. Just as quickly it was off again. I didn’t think I would get another chance.

But I did. And with an even bigger one. So here are some of the pictures of my first ever steelhead. It measured 37 inches long , about 20 pounds. I am reliably informed that people have fished for these their whole lives and not caught one this size. Muggins here does it on his first try. It was like winning the lottery. Enjoy.

P.S. I look stressed in the photos because the single barbless hook had fallen out and the fish was very lively and not interested in posing for photos whereas I may never get another moment like today.

Thanks for reading and hopefully more to come.