on this week's show the new fly fisher crew visits terrace bc
to fish the mighty skeena river the skina river long known as the river of mists is located
over 600 air miles north of vancouver bc and is the second largest river system in the province
the skeena is as close to a perfect fishery as you can get it has chinook salmon chum
salmon coho salmon pink salmon sockeye salmon and the best of all in my opinion steelhead
there are also healthy populations of dolly vardon and cutthroat trout in the tributaries
joining me today is gil mckean of west coast fishing adventures
we're using two-handed rods today and i'm a novice at this type of casting but with gill's
expert instruction i'm sure i'll be successful just another little run on the skina river here
we're looking for summer run steelhead there's coho going through the system right now
and uh we're in august the 25th today or 26th i think and uh the majority of the summer runs are
in the skeena at this point in time they're still migrating to all the tributaries the
famous babin river the bulkley river the kispiox the maurice the suspect they're these fish are
all heading in that direction and uh there's no better place to catch those fish than right here
on their turf and fight them fish to man and fish
so
there's one steelhead i was a steelhead watch yourself he's gonna get in your legs
he barely even hit that there's the lightest little bite tom
steelhead on the skeena river
that's what everybody talks about right here we wait for years
some people lay in bed dreaming about doing this stuff and he's gone lost him
yep
okay so we got uh here we've got the skagit head and then we've got the uh 10 foot chunk of t14
that's nice what they do here with this tom because they put the loop on the end so you
just tie a double surgeon you go loop to loop connection right and then you're going to go to
your i taper that down from 25 or sometimes you can use 30 pound butt section now 25 is fine you
always want a breaking point so you're not busting off your whole head you have i'd rather break the
tip it off so i usually go 25 30 and then i taper that down to 15 pound and i just tie a blood knot
and there you go and then we tie what you would call non-slip mono loop yep and what i've called
a uni knot but we'll just leave it at that and um and then a nice it just gives that fly
a lot of movement and uh and we pinched our barb because we're single barbless here in bc
we're about to go chase some uh monster steelhead on the skeena river tom i can't wait
let's go get em you know people get hung up on fly pattern and casting because casting is fun
and we all love flies but the important things in fishing for salmon and steelhead are really
fly speed and fly depth so the swing speed and the depth at which the fly is swinging are far
more important than the fly pattern or how your casting looks in the water so pay a lot
of attention to how the fly is swinging and how deep it's swinging there you go that's a coho
yeah he took it on the strip
you sure that's a coho
so this is my first
pacific salmon here on the skeener river took it on the strip yep that's beautiful
combo salmon nice and bright from the ocean nice fish tom nice bright fish yeah real bright
you try to lead them oh that was a dumb move that was a dove you got it on the
egg sucking leech eh yeah they ate the egg egg-sucking leaf i think that uh changing that
tip probably made a bit of difference though yeah you know it's that's what it's all about
in this game you got to get down if you you know you don't want to be dredging the bottom but
ah this is interesting that's interesting yeah that's i haven't seen that done before
this is very interesting oh my goodness
i can't get it that is a technique that i have not seen done before
this i have this special boy right in the corner of the mouth i have this
special technique you wrap the line around the fish and it confuses them
it's like see what's called hog tying them yeah yeah and it's it's easier to get them in because
it confuses them they don't know where the poles come from and they just come right in
piece of cake nice fish bud yeah that's a pretty fish yep pretty bright fish sharp teeth
oh there he is oh what do you think of that mister good i'll release something
there you go all right you got him yeah got him okay buddy off you go
that was fun hold on buddy thank you good one beautiful
that's a big steelhead hey tom is a big steelhead buddy what's that big steelhead
yeah nice that's what she's all about buddy
people lay awake at night in beds all over the world wanting to do this some days
someday i mean i'm just a little shaken up this is the second one
of the day actually i've had a few other takes but uh they seem to be
getting away on us so uh maybe we'll get a look at this guy this looks like about a 17-18 pound
steelhead this is a true summer run folks these are the fish that dreams are made of right here
people wait for years to catch something like this
might need a hand tom
you know what i think i got here actually this might even be a big northern
big northern coho i'll tell you again here instead but it's either a big chrome northern coho and if
it's a coho it's a big boy i'll tell you that he's got some weight he's using all of this rod
and that is what it is that is a big beast of a coho there
he's tired there he is
there it is nice uh coho on the skeena river
in terrace british columbia on the spey rod uh i'm on a uh lamprey pattern
so we're just gonna let this guy go gonna go make some babies uh there he goes no harm done there
so gil we've got this giant river here the skeena how can we possibly catch a steelhead when there's
so much water well tom you got to break it down you got to look for a different uh structure like
and you look for structure and you look for a funnel a a narrow point in the river and then
where they come up out of heavy fast water and they need to slow down long enough and you can get
a a good swing the the water the way i describe the flow of the water that you're looking for
it's a nice flat even uh table top surface almost with broken cobbly stones and
it's flowing almost at a fast walk like if you can if you can visualize that and just
see the speed of the water here as you know we look here you can see it that the inside
is nice and soft and you know ripply and if you go out any further it's actually pushing
very very hard so that's that's how we break it down you need to you need to find the lane
tom in order to get into the fish consistently these are migrating fish they're not holding
they're not holding fish they'll stop for a rest they may stop for a break but they're going to
continue on their migration to all the legendary tributaries of the skena river that's a good fish
we've got summer run steelhead coho sockeye pinks they've all made their way through the river
we're seeing the peak of the summer run steelhead right now
this is uh these are the peak dates from from now till about the end of september you get the what
i consider the true summer run steelhead coming through he ain't happy this guy that's a good fish
oh that's a nice steely boys
summer on steelhead it don't get any better than this right here
the tips you use on the on your line and getting down to these fish is critical
if you're not getting down and you're not in the zone you're not gonna get
them this guy ain't even that big but you know what that's a butt kicking fish man
well we're gonna let this bad boy go another summer run steelhead right there
that was the second one of the day
here we have a variety of common steelhead patterns this is the skycomish sunrise which
is a very traditional steelhead fly developed in the 1940s it was one of the first flies to catch
winter steelhead this is a spay type fly with flowing hackle these kind of flies are often used
in cold water and in slower flows they sink really well and they have a lot of action in the water
this is an egg fly which imitates salmon or steelhead eggs it's usually fish dead drift
under an indicator then we have a nymph these are also fish dead drift under an indicator
similar to the way egg flies are fished and here's the famous bc intruder fly this
is a dark one this one would be used most often on dark days or in discolored water
and then we have a brighter intruder for brighter days and clear water
salmon and steelhead are very aggressive fish and they'll strike anything that gets in their way
this brightly colored spin and glow used on conventional rod is weighted to the bottom with
a big heavy weight it spins around in the current the fish come by and they see it and they grab it
this intruder fly does the same thing this is what we use on a fly rod for salmon and steelhead it's
brightly colored it's big it's obnoxious but we can't weight this to the bottom with a fly rod and
wait for the fish to come by we have to cast it out there on a sinking line and let that fly slide
through in the current to get in front of the fish to make them strike but the principle is the same
you got a brightly colored obnoxious thing that gets in their way that they're gonna strike
that's a stupid double header baby let him go if he wants line just let him go i will don't worry
we got a double header tom wow oh he's coming back or else i lost him coming right back at you
yeah man he's swimming right at you yeah he is oh
skeena rivers still oh that's gotta be a thing no jump yet hey let me get out my bull trout my dolly
barton's i i can't believe that you take the the stage like that what's that i can't believe you
take the stage like that and try and trump me you've been taking the stage for two days man
like i'm up here trying to catch trout and you're off just catching these steelhead
that's why i didn't put on the five weight
well so i guess you want me to break this little trout off i do come and help
you if you really want to play with that little trout you'd be my guest oh tom you could be made
it to the bud give some credit to the dolly varney you'll be my guest you play with those dollies tom
oh that's a nice deal it's a beautiful fish buddy i seen him i've seen him cartwheeling out there
that was totally impressive but i'm gonna shake my dolly off
oh you don't do that it's measly one pound just so i can come and help you okay
we're just gonna let him go anyway help yep here he comes get his head up there
yeah yeah baby all right well that ain't bad for your first one on the schedule my
friend i'm skiing a river steelhead right there chrome bright fish too
i like that nice sparse little fly i use there too that's great
well here we are on the skeena river we've put our time in today to get uh
the fish that we've got but when you get one they're a quality fish
this is what it's all about right here skiing a river chrome man hey tom this is a beautiful fish
oh he's got himself wrapped up in the line here now
there he goes that's better
here he comes stomp black intruder pattern black and purple actually
there it is right there
this is why we put all our time in this is
these fish are precious to the area to the to the resource
people come from all around the world for fish like that right there
people lay in bed they read books they study
and there it is right there you can't get much better than that
there she goes no harm done nice nice hope you've enjoyed this episode of the new fly
fisher i certainly have catching steelhead with gil mckeen of west coast fishing
adventures in british columbia don't forget to visit our website for more information at
www.thenewflyfisher.com see you next time the new fly fisher has been made possible thanks to
hawk air tourism british columbia islander precision reels and orvis sporting traditions
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