Yellowdog’s Screaming Deal at Turneffe Flats Lodge
Tough time to be away from the Rockies. I know that from experience; I just got back from five weeks in Seattle, British Columbia and Alaska; and, a few years ago, I took off, in August and flew to Belize with my sites set on bonefish, tarpon and permit.
And why then? For one, because the price during August through December is often Continue reading
SIMMS’ Headwaters Backpack
Last year I reviewed Simms’ Dry Creek backpack after tooling around southeast Alaska for king salmon, sea-run cutthroat and steelhead. And I found the pack to function great, with a lot of storm protection for my camera gear and food.
Then, on a trip to British Columba’s Dean River in July I watched lodge owner Andrew Bennett hike through the Enchanted Forest and ride quads through Continue reading
Back from Alaska, reluctantly, I must admit. But back, nonetheless.
I expect to take Tate and her sister, Myka, on more trips like the one we just enjoyed, but there’s no reason I can’t call this recent trip to Juneau, a trip of a lifetime. We saw whales bubble feeding, massive glaciers, sockeye salmon spawning, icebergs, eagles, porcupines, and a variety of other interesting wildlife. And Tate caught Continue reading
The West’s New Spruce Moth Blitz
NOTE: This article previously appeared in Fly Fisherman Magazine. Thought you still might glean some valuable information from these words. If I remember correctly, some people were pissed to see the spruce moth hatch being touted in print. They came after me hard, some saying the hatch didn’t exist and others saying I shouldn’t have said a word about it. To each their own. By printing it again, here, you know how I feel about the subject. Read up and get out there. greg
There are few hatch secrets in the West anymore and the best of the big bug action – the salmonfly, green drake and red quill hatches – have been flogged to death … in the literature and on the stream.
Secretly, what we dream of in the West these days is a trip back to the 1950s and 1960s when there were fewer people on the water and the hatches were left open for Continue reading
Canada’s Glory Child
I got into the Tragically Hip in the 1990s when I drove from Missoula to Seattle on spring break and my buddy, Torrey, and I must have listed to Blowing High Dough about a hundred times.
We spent one night in Spokane and saw Pat Travers, then called a radio station half the night demanding that they play the Hip. A few months later Continue reading
Dude what’s up with the boots on your feet?
The Beasties sang those words back in the late 1990s and if you had used that line to ask me what I was stomping around with on the Dean last week, I would have answered Korkers homeslice. And that was a good thing because I’ve suffered Continue reading
Living the dream, Dean River style
A few years ago I went to Russia for Atlantic salmon and watched a partner rip up the river while I barely landed a fish to every two or three of his. Then I went to Juneau, Alaska for steelhead and arrived way too early in the season, a single fish being my reward for a week of debauchery in the Alaskan Hotel and endless wading in cold streams with rain falling incessantly on my head. That particular and peculiar Continue reading
A windfall of metal… and Whitey does the big two-four
So I’m stading in a run called Totem and we’ve just hammered some fish out of it, to the tune of four hookups in one pass. And I’m thinking, in two more days I’ll be back in Totem. The fish will be there. The water is silky smooth. Slick actually. And that’s when Continue reading
Goal attained
I don’t want to go all mystical on you guys, but I think karma has had a lot to do with my Dean River trip, so far. I didn’t ask for much, just a chance to fish the river and if a fish were to come to hand, so much the better. I just wanted to see the country and hope for the best.
So, there I was on the highway between Ennis Continue reading
Dream Trip 2010 —British Columbia’s Dean River
I’ve tried for 15 years to get an invite to the Dean River in British Columbia, land of giant steelhead and king salmon, reportedly some of the best fighting fish on the planet. And now it’s going to happen. I leave on Thursday to Seattle, then head to Vancouver British Columbia on Friday morning where I’ll catch a flight to Bella Coola.
I’ll overnight there and then head into Continue reading