slope

The day started off different than most days I go fishing. I woke up at the same time I normally do, I made coffee like I normally do and I packed some food for the day like a normally do. My gear was already loaded in the truck ready and waiting. I threw on my shoes, headed out the door and on the road I was, alone. The thing that made this day so weird is I went without my brother. He was stuck working, but there was a window to fish before our spring closure and I was going to meet Jake and his wife Nikita. I had an hour and forty five minute drive ahead of me before we were going to meet up. I put my audiobook on the stereo and let beautiful British Columbia fly by me as a cruised down the highway. We had met up at a Timmy’s and continued to drive to our location of choice. I had never been here before, but the drive was peaceful and it was part of BC I had never seen before. There are more rivers and lakes in BC than one could ever hope to see in a lifetime, but so far I have been blessed by the ones I have seen. We pulled up to the spot, unleashed the hounds and put on our gear. The walk from the trucks to the river was short and easy, just the way I like it. The river was low this time of year and running crystal clear. No time was wasted, we began flinging lines in the air and sinking nymphs in the water. After a couple decent drifts through the pool Nikita had hooked into a gorgeous Westslope Cutthroat. There was a lot of river we wanted to see that day so gathered our gear, found the dogs and headed to the next section. Jake and Nikita had fished these waters before so I was just playing follow the leader. Things had slowed down at this point in the day for whatever reason so Jake resorted to tying on his secret weapon of a fly. I am sorry I can’t share this fly with everyone, but it’s probably best it stays that way. Within just a few casts we were back in business hooking into some feisty cutthroat. I ended doing decently on a Hare’s Ear as well so not all was lost. We had changed locations again, but by now Nikita wasn’t feeling well so Jake and I set off alone. Again, this section of river was completely new to me, but Jake had been here before. After working a small pool under a bridge we moved upstream to see what we could find. The river was breathtaking as it wound through the valley bottom. The water was still low this time of year and remained crystal clear as it was earlier in the day. Jake had honed in on a great looking riffle and was drifting his ugly fly threw it when I caught up. As I was watching from the bank above his indicator was sucked down beneath the surface of the water, the fight was on. Sadly, it was brief as the fish had snapped him off. It was clear there were some good fish in this run so Jake went back for more. The very next cast the result was the same, indicator down! Jake was rewarded with one of the better cutties I had ever seen. Jake’s phone buzzed in his waders and so he dug it out to see what it could be. Nikita was heading into town to get pizza for their drive back to Alberta. This was the perfect opportunity to explore and explore we did. We headed around the next bend to find another picturesque run waiting for us. We choose to only take a good look as we walked by, decided it would be there for another day. Since we only had a limited amount of time we wanted to find a spot that would be a little better than the rest. We passed several promising spots along our hike and even tossed a few casts here and there, but never really committed to anything. Further we went, and numerous pools and runs left behind. Finally we stumbled upon a piece of water we simply could not pass up. The casts were not the easiest, but we were able to figure it out. I even switched to throwing one of my new trout spey bugs on the swing and landed a nice fish. We ended our fish catching with this nice specimen that Jake landed nymphing as usual. Jake’s waders had began buzzing once again and thus it was time to hike back to the trucks. We weren’t even close to being disappointed. It was still very early in the season and we just had an amazing day on the river exploring. If everyday could just be spent with friends in the woods they would easily be the best days of our lives, and honestly, they might just be.