Pestered Salmon - Vancouver Island, B.C.By Jim Birkholm
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In fact, I lucked out. I had never before used the services of Northwest Vancouver Air,
a flight service that takes folks back and forth here in the great Northwest. They fly
all over the place, hard to find a place not covered and with plenty of connections
too. They were just great to work with.
My schedule kept changing for 'Murphy's Law'
reasons and yet they were able to keep up, make changes and get the job done.
If you use Northwest Vancouver Air, ask for Shelly Tate. You will get excellent service. Seems
to be something they value.
The fly line I chose to use was a Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Wet-Tip Express.
(WF-375 Grain) These things shoot like rockets, float where they are supposed to, sink
like a brick at the front end, and don't hinge when cast. They have that new stuff, AST;
makes the surface of the line stay clean and scream through your line guides. One or two
false casts and you're, 'Out There!'
The trip offered a good chance to fish the rod FAOL selected as the 'Pick of the Show' in
Salt Lake City. I used the FIVE piece travel rod by Sage, the 9ft, 9wt RPLXI.
What more can I say, it's a cannon, a velvet cannon. If you're in the
market for a very packable fly rod, demand superior performance, beauty and quality,
look no further, this rod was designed, not 're-designed' especially for salt-water
fishing. It does what it is supposed to.
The drag on the reel was, 'Buttery-smooth.' It was not the first time I had picked up the reel, I had looked it over well at the Salt Lake City show. My investigation then was more that of a machinist than fly-fisher. It looked good, felt good, had all the features and I liked it. But now I was while sitting in my easy-chair at home with no distractions.
My accommodations at Weigh West were more than adequate with a living room, fireplace and a big balcony overlooking the charter office, dockage, restaurant and bar.
With the 'skunk' off of the boat for the day, I switched flies, turning to my personal
favorite, Castwell's Marblehead.
I figured if the fly worked off the coast of Washington, it should work up
here. It did. In fact, it seemed to be the hot fly for the day; kind'a made mine.
Did I have a good time? Will I go up again? You know that answer to that, of course! Probably in August of 2001 the wife and I will drive it. Should take about eight hours from here, supposed to be wonderful scenery on the trip. We both will enjoy that. And she needs to pester some salmon too. ~ JC |
The salmon up there are big and mean. I called Fin-Nor and got a 'Fin-ite II' to
use. I chose the 8/9 made to hold a nine weight line and enough 30 pound backing to tie
up 'King-Kong.'
My wife dropped me off at the ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle Friday morning, a
cab to Boeing field, and onto a Piper Navaho to Vancouver, B.C. A larger
plane finished the trip and by three I was at the rather rustic airstrip for the venture.
The wind switched and evening challenged us and after pestering a few
small coho we opted for some dinner and a steady place to stand.
The moment devolved into a scene of panic. Cameras were grabbed, lense caps removed,
suggestions offered and tension peaked. "Hang on a sec," I said. "He had two with him,
I'll just keep him out there, you make a few casts, ya should be able to hang one too."
Shawn made the suggested few with no results and landing my fish became important.
We got one fish. Karma got it. On a purple woolly bugger. I don't
do 'buggers.' At the dock by noon, changed, had some lunch, packed up and was
in the air by three p.m., in Seattle by five and home by seven.