Post by Speyducer on Sept 30, 2007 21:54:03 GMT
Skeena Spey School April 2007
The springtime water holds large steelhead, and the beginning of the run of some moderate to large Chinook (king) salmon. Based just outside Terrace, BC, we lodged with Brad & Kim Zeerip at the Z-Boat Lodge for the week of Spey casting instruction & some fishing.
The hospitality, lodge, and the food was second to none.
Dana Sturn of Speypages.com was the instructor for 6 willing participants, 5 from USA & Canada, and myself.
As Dana expounded on the merits of various casting methods, the instructees watched and listened…
Dana often put over his points quite thoroughly…
…and I listened & watched intently.
As to the fishing, some unusual (for me) flies were to be used.
Brad, in addition to owning & running the lodge, also captained his jet boat, which he loved driving.
The six trainees posing after a hard days fishing
The boats were launched each day, as we fished different sections of the river, rotating to different areas
The scenery was spectacular…
On the first day, Ryan was into a good fish, testing his rod to its limit…
And after a couple of quick photos, the fish was safely returned
I managed to get this 9-10lber on my second day…my first ever steelhead!
Dana demonstrated some expert casting…
…and even managed a bit of relaxing fishing for himself…
The relaxation was short-lived, as he hooked into a good steelie….
Only to lose it moments later!
He did manage to land a few, however…
and the flies were always carefully extracted before releasing all fish.
Some of the fish were rather large and brutal, making short shrift of this hook, straightened to look more like a shrimp mount now!
However, some of the hooked fish stayed on for a while, testing fishermen & tackle to the max…
…and even the guides had some difficulty in holding on to the fish during the landing process (all by hand, no nets)…
And here is the result; the only Chinook for the week, about 28-30lbs.
Steelhead were also landed by others…
…and even some bull trout…
It was the flies in the clear cool water that looked so enticing….
…and this steelhead came up for more that just a look!
The power of the floods left much weathered debris, and many trees washed up onto the gravel shallows
Although we didn’t get much trouble with biting insect life, some weren’t taking any chances…
A short stop-over to a likely looking spot resulted in this steelhead buck being hooked, played, beached, almost unhooked, then it ran off again and managed to unhook itself for a distance release!
We just relaxed in the boat, and had some packed lunch after!
I managed a couple of these bull trout…
…and they were very calm and co-operative for the camera in the shallows
I caught a second steelhead, around 16lbs, again returned after a nice fight.
The guides did a little fishing, and were altogether very cool about the whole trip…
But all good things come to and end. This is the sunset view out of the Z-Boat Lodge overlooking the mighty Skeena.
I’ll be back….
Mike
The springtime water holds large steelhead, and the beginning of the run of some moderate to large Chinook (king) salmon. Based just outside Terrace, BC, we lodged with Brad & Kim Zeerip at the Z-Boat Lodge for the week of Spey casting instruction & some fishing.
The hospitality, lodge, and the food was second to none.
Dana Sturn of Speypages.com was the instructor for 6 willing participants, 5 from USA & Canada, and myself.
As Dana expounded on the merits of various casting methods, the instructees watched and listened…
Dana often put over his points quite thoroughly…
…and I listened & watched intently.
As to the fishing, some unusual (for me) flies were to be used.
Brad, in addition to owning & running the lodge, also captained his jet boat, which he loved driving.
The six trainees posing after a hard days fishing
The boats were launched each day, as we fished different sections of the river, rotating to different areas
The scenery was spectacular…
On the first day, Ryan was into a good fish, testing his rod to its limit…
And after a couple of quick photos, the fish was safely returned
I managed to get this 9-10lber on my second day…my first ever steelhead!
Dana demonstrated some expert casting…
…and even managed a bit of relaxing fishing for himself…
The relaxation was short-lived, as he hooked into a good steelie….
Only to lose it moments later!
He did manage to land a few, however…
and the flies were always carefully extracted before releasing all fish.
Some of the fish were rather large and brutal, making short shrift of this hook, straightened to look more like a shrimp mount now!
However, some of the hooked fish stayed on for a while, testing fishermen & tackle to the max…
…and even the guides had some difficulty in holding on to the fish during the landing process (all by hand, no nets)…
And here is the result; the only Chinook for the week, about 28-30lbs.
Steelhead were also landed by others…
…and even some bull trout…
It was the flies in the clear cool water that looked so enticing….
…and this steelhead came up for more that just a look!
The power of the floods left much weathered debris, and many trees washed up onto the gravel shallows
Although we didn’t get much trouble with biting insect life, some weren’t taking any chances…
A short stop-over to a likely looking spot resulted in this steelhead buck being hooked, played, beached, almost unhooked, then it ran off again and managed to unhook itself for a distance release!
We just relaxed in the boat, and had some packed lunch after!
I managed a couple of these bull trout…
…and they were very calm and co-operative for the camera in the shallows
I caught a second steelhead, around 16lbs, again returned after a nice fight.
The guides did a little fishing, and were altogether very cool about the whole trip…
But all good things come to and end. This is the sunset view out of the Z-Boat Lodge overlooking the mighty Skeena.
I’ll be back….
Mike