Exploring The Farmer's Fields.

A few weeks ago Andy, and I went to check out the mile 20 area on the upper squamish. We parked at the pullout just as the road turned from pavement to gravel, and began our quest to check out the river and find some new spots. Not far after we had left the car we came to a nice corner, and chucked a few casts to see what was there. After both of us had worked our way through it and had no luck at all we decided to move on to the next run. We bushwacked through some trees and found our way down to the river bank, we worked our way through a short run and we both hooked up on a couple dollies. After that we moved on to the next run and found a couple more big bulltrout. We fished through it for awhile and didn't pull anything more out of that spot. We decided to make our way back and try a couple of the spots we tried earlier to see if there might be something there. There were one or two, and that ended the day.. A bit of a walk, but it was worth it in the end.. A funny thing, we went back a week later too check it out again and every spot we wanted too fish we couldn't so we had to cross the river and hike down the Ashlu side down to Crooked Creek. It was a long trek but we did find one or two down there. We hiked backed up and went over a log jam and found another cool spot, that had a couple of bullies in it.. All in all it was good excercise, and lots of fresh air..

Bluebird Skies, In The Upper Squamish..

Winter had come too the upper squamish. Jess and I left in the morning about nine and headed up too mile 27, on the squamish one of my all time favourite areas too catch dollies and bulltrout. We were on the river at about 10am, and fished a nice little pocket where jess picked up a nice dolly, and had a couple other hits. We fished it for about an hour and then moved on too another little pocket where she had another one, two fish in two spots she was doing well!!.. Now we were on the other side of the river in a spot that I had fished before and caught steelhead and bulltrout off this corner. I knew that there were fish in there eventhough the river had changed since the last season.. We started at the corner and worked our way down through the run. As I showed her what to do and where too cast, she hooked up on another nice bulltrout... Who knew that would happen three for three now. By this time it was late afternoon and it would be dark soon so we made our way back across the river and onto the other side. Jess was totaly stoked about the day and she was so amazed at how she caught three nice fish.. The day was great, clear and sunny blue skies all the way around.. The valley looked amazing, the river bank was coated in white from the snowfall the night before.. Awesome!!..

Summer Fun On The Birkenhead River..

There was lots of good action on the Birkenhead, this summer. I did a few trips and caught fish everytime. Its a nice little river with lots of pockets, and pools, and some shallow runs with log jams and cutbanks. I had a few nice bulltrout, and some rainbows. I hadn't spent alot of time in past years up there but this summer seemed too be the best. There were all kinds of sockeye salmon spawning in the river. Sometimes one would bite the fly but not often. I went with Andy, Dan, and Ryan. The scenery is amazing, with all the mountains all around you, you can't go wrong with that..

First Annual North Shore Fish and Game Club Chum Derby and Spey Demo...

The N.S.F.G.C, held the first annual chum derby and spey demo. Cliff asked me too do the demo and it was alot of fun showing the guys what speyfishing was all about. And explaining how it makes life easier on the river, and is less tiring on the body, and also how you can cover more water in a single cast. The day started at 7:30am, and as everyone was getting organized, I gave a brief discussion on how it all works. We met at Judd Rd, at Fisherman's Park, a popular spot with easy access too the river. We set up at the sandy bar, and soon I had a group around me and I was showing them the casts, and how they work too get the line out into the river.. Afew of the guys allready had spey rods, so they were asking me questions and getting alittle more knowledge. I let some of the guys try it that didn't know how too and they had a blast learning something new. One guy I showed said that he had so much fun getting a lesson that he was going too get a set up of his own. That's pretty cool!!.. As the day went on some of the guys tried too get that all important chum to win the derby and claim his prize. That didn't happen where we were, but three other members were fishing where the Cheakamus, runs into the Squamish and had lots of fish on there, and at the Native run at the reserve area. They came back with the pics of the biggest fish to win the coveted prize, and stand victorious.. We had a bbq, that consisted of smokies and a can of pop. What a day it was super fun. And my buddy Cliff did a great job putting the whole thing 2gether.. It was great to see him and all the other guys that I new back when I was a member of the club..

Chum Run, 2012..

This year showed a remarcable comeback in the amount of chum salmon that graced us with their presence. I had lots of good days, swinging big flies and hooking up on lots of those bad boys. I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun out there. Andy, and Kyle were getting some great action as well. Kyle was a little new too the swinging fly routine, and catching a ton of big chum, he soon realized just how much fun it was. We had some nice days and some realy ugly rainy days but it was all good.. I gave kyle a lesson in two handed casting and before I could blink an eye he was putting out 70ft casts.. Awesome to see. He bought a nice rod reel, and line setup, and is now ready too fish steelhead, dollies and big bug bull trout in the upper squamish.. I hope that the future years are as good, as this one..

Nita Lake Whistler BC..

A couple days ago, I went to meet up with Marie, to take her, for her first lake fishing adventure. We met at about 8-30am and headed for Nita Lake. It's right around Creekside. It's a small little lake so that made it all that much better to teach her the ways of lake fishing, and how to catch fish. We got set up and out on the lake we went to see if we could catch a few. I had never fished the lake so I didn't know what to expect, but because of the size of the lake we didn't have any problem catching fish. Marie caught a few, and I got a bunch and we had some good hits just trolling around some little nymph patterns. She brought her dog to so that was fun because she put her on the float tube and kicked around. It was an awesome day, we fished till the afternoon and then we went to get a few things, and then it was back to Marie's place and she cooked me a great lunch as usual. Then it was a little while later we went to the village square to listen to a band, we hung out for awhile and it was a fun day in Whistler.

Crash Course In Lake Fishing.

I took Susan, out on a small lake in Squamish, called Murrin Lake. It wouldn't have been my first choice but just to give her an idea of what lake fishing was all about I figured it would be the best bet. They had just stocked the lake with some catchable size rainbow trout, and lots of them. We went out in the early evening when it was quiet and not to many people were around. We arrived in the parking lot, and set up all our gear and took the float tubes out, and waders. We were on the lake for about an hour and the bite came on, with Susan starting things off. She caught some nice size trout and she was pretty happy with her efforts. It was the first time that she caught a fish on her 6wt, rod. It was the first time that she had ever been in a float tube, before and she thought it was great kicking around the lake with fins on. What a blast!!.. We ended up staying out on the lake until about 9pm, and then it was time to go. We made plans to go out on another adventure to a couple of lakes up in Pemberton. Ivey and Blackwater were the two choices. We went up on a weekday, so it wouldn't be to crowded and it wasn't. We fished Ivey in the morning, and had no luck at all, I guess the fish weren't hungry or they just weren't interested in anything we had to offer. We fished for four hours and then we came off the lake and had something to eat. Susan had brought all sorts of stuff for us to munch on, salad and cherries and cheese and crackers, it was awesome!!. After about an hour she said what about the other lake?. You mean Blackwater Lake?, and she said yeah that one. So we cruised up there and fished the rest of the evening and we did get alittle action there. She had a found a spot that some fish were jumping around, and she just trolled around with a little green nymph pattern and she caught three. Susan was happy to be out there all day, and so was I it was a great day, and we had lots of fun.. She was great company, and we had a lot of laughs.. Good times.

2012, Climber's Festival..

My good friend and climbing partner, came up to Squamish for the festival. I was pretty happy to get out and do my first climbing day of the summer. Dave and I did a new route called Rambles, at the base of the Apron. It was an enjoyable route with not to many hard moves or cruxes, except on the last pitch. The route goes at 5.8, at it's hardest with a pitch of 5.7, and two of 5.6. It was a great climb, tons of fun. It was fun to get out and climb with Dave, and try a new route. During the festival, there were a few movies, and various other things going on. I went to two of the movies at the eagle eye theatre, one was called Squamish Rocks, a film about why squamish is the best place to live and play. The other one that I saw was Yosemite In The Sixties, a history of climbing the walls back then. Exciting stuff!!.. We did take in a bit of the after party, at the Brew Pub. We made plans to do an aid line somewhere on the Chief. We had great weather, and a good time..

Two River Tour.. Upper Squamish, Ashlu River..

I met Dani, at my place on Friday morning and we went out in search of some fish that would take our flies.. We started in the upper Squamish, and fished the usual spots, around 27mile. Dani was the one that got lucky in one of the spots she had two on. They weren't the big ones we were looking for, but she was happy with the end result. The river was silty coloured, and visibility wasn't great. Dani tried using the fly for awhile but she then decided to go back to her light spinning rod she had bought from me at the fly shop, along with a few other things she needed. I put the line on her reel for her, and rigged up with a float and some split shot to get her fly down faster. She liked that idea better because it was so much easier to cast. In the afternoon we decided to go try the Ashlu River, and try and catch a few there. But as luck would have it we didn't get any action, but we both enjoyed the awesome scenery in the valley. It was a long day for both of us but what a great day it was. We lucked out and had a bright sunny day and that's what made it even better. What a day!!.

Close Encounters With Dollies, And Bull Trout.. Upper Squamish.

I finally got the chance to take Marie, to the upper Squamish to fish for Dollies, and Bulltrout on the fly. It was a nice spring morning, we met and grabbed that all important cup of coffe at Bean Around The World and then to go get her liscence, and then up to the river and have a nice day.  We hadn't fished together since Pink season so I figured I might have to give her a few xtra pointers on casting... I was wrong she remembered everything I told her, and it didn't take long for her to get hooked up with a nice bully, land it. Of course that was the big one and as they say the big ones don't like getting photograghed, it slid out of her grasp and away it went back to where it lived. We had the chance to see it and she was super excited about it so back in the water she went to hook up on another one. And as luck would have it there were a couple more in there that were willing to bite. Not as big but just as exciting for her. I knew that there would be a few fish around I showed her where to cast and she did the rest.. The river was in good shape, the visibilty was great, and it was cool enough but not to cool. At the end of the day she had four on and landed three, and had numorous bites along the way.. It was a great day, and we had lots of fun...

A Day On The River With Pat Beahen.. Whistler Flyfishing.

It all started with some flycasting lessons that I gave to a newcomer to Squamish. I took her out in the evenings and taught her the fundamentals. After a few times at the casting pond it was time to hit the river and show her how to work a piece of water to find fish. Then after that we had made the plan to go up to the upper Squamish and go do some real fishing. Susan, became really good at casting in a short period of time. She decided to book a guided trip, and got a great deal on a whole days float and lunch included. Brian was great at setting it up at a moments notice. It was Susan's Bday, and she was pretty excited to get on the river. I met her at the shop in Squamish, and from there we went and met Pat Beahen, up at the Ashlu Bridge on the Squamish River to begin her adventure. We all met and piled into Pat's truck and up the river we went to the drop in point. We put the boat in at twenty eight mile, and started our float. Susan had never ever floated a river before much less flyfished in a river before. It was all new and exciting.. I was able to go along for the adventure to have a little bit of guide training. Soon enough Susan was into a few fish, some dollies and bulltrout. And then the big surprise came in the form of a nice steelhead as bright as the sun fresh in from the ocean. It was an awesome sight to watch someone that has never flyfished before doing battle with such an incredible fish. She landed the steelhead in fine style, and the pictures were taken and high fives all around.. It was an awesome birthday present, and a great day. She will never forget it, and neither will I..