Tom Arroll
09-27-2007, 12:32 AM
Greetings,
Here is a report from a trip I took with the family to Bella Coola BC the last week of August. My wife wanted to go to Maui but instead I conviced her to go to BC to do some fishing (she hasn't forgiven me yet). We packed up the Camper Van and our one year old boy and headed North up the Frasier River Valley. We worked our way to the Lake Stevens in the Carabou and took Rt 20 west to the Chilcotin. The weather was crappy so we decided to spend a couple of days in a little resort on the famous Nimpo lake known for big bows. I rented a little motor boat and fished while the family got bored. The fishing method of choice is the dragging wooly buggeres and similar around the lake with full sink line. Despite being surrounded by jumping trout all I caught where squafish. I still have not figured out the trolling flies on lakes thing yet. We then continued west towards Bella Coola. The locals refer to this trip as going down the hill which is a 18% grade gravel road cut through the Coastal Range. A striking part of this drive is that for several hundred miles all the trees where dead from the Pine Borer Beetle, pretty sad. We camped in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park along the Atnarco River. The river was full of pinks so I gave my 6 wt a workout. We started seeing lots of Bears that where coming down from the mountains for their annual salmon feast. I had fun catching rainbows that where lurking in the side channels and snags. Most where small but caught a nice 18' fish. We continued down the hill to Hagensborg and Bella Coola to stock up on Beer and food. The Silvers where starting to come into the lower Bella Coola River but it was blown out by the rain. The fishing and weather sucked in Bell Coola so we only spent a day and went back to Tweedsmuir for more Pinks. On the way back we went to Chilco lake which has a big run of Frasier River Sockey, as well as Bows, Dolies ect. We camped at a funy ranch run by a crazy Swiss guy. The lake was quite windy and the river was very high so the fishing sucked. I watched the local First Nation Tribe gaf a bunch of Sockeys on the Chilco River. We then headed to the Thompson Nicola valley for our long trip back to Seattle. Saw lots of great fishing lakes and rivers but did not have time fish. We crossed over the border at the Nighthhawk crossing which is pretty funny if you have not been there. The border patroll was quite suspicious of us, I guess it must be pretty boring for those guys. So we headed to Loomis and then across towards Twisp. We loaded up on fruit on the way, had dinner in Mazama then headed back on the 20. We had a great time but after 2000 miles of hard driving we were happy to get back home. I now owe my wife a trip somewhere tropical. Oh well I guess I'll have to start tying some Sardina flies, Mexico here I come!
:beer2:Thomas
Here is a report from a trip I took with the family to Bella Coola BC the last week of August. My wife wanted to go to Maui but instead I conviced her to go to BC to do some fishing (she hasn't forgiven me yet). We packed up the Camper Van and our one year old boy and headed North up the Frasier River Valley. We worked our way to the Lake Stevens in the Carabou and took Rt 20 west to the Chilcotin. The weather was crappy so we decided to spend a couple of days in a little resort on the famous Nimpo lake known for big bows. I rented a little motor boat and fished while the family got bored. The fishing method of choice is the dragging wooly buggeres and similar around the lake with full sink line. Despite being surrounded by jumping trout all I caught where squafish. I still have not figured out the trolling flies on lakes thing yet. We then continued west towards Bella Coola. The locals refer to this trip as going down the hill which is a 18% grade gravel road cut through the Coastal Range. A striking part of this drive is that for several hundred miles all the trees where dead from the Pine Borer Beetle, pretty sad. We camped in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park along the Atnarco River. The river was full of pinks so I gave my 6 wt a workout. We started seeing lots of Bears that where coming down from the mountains for their annual salmon feast. I had fun catching rainbows that where lurking in the side channels and snags. Most where small but caught a nice 18' fish. We continued down the hill to Hagensborg and Bella Coola to stock up on Beer and food. The Silvers where starting to come into the lower Bella Coola River but it was blown out by the rain. The fishing and weather sucked in Bell Coola so we only spent a day and went back to Tweedsmuir for more Pinks. On the way back we went to Chilco lake which has a big run of Frasier River Sockey, as well as Bows, Dolies ect. We camped at a funy ranch run by a crazy Swiss guy. The lake was quite windy and the river was very high so the fishing sucked. I watched the local First Nation Tribe gaf a bunch of Sockeys on the Chilco River. We then headed to the Thompson Nicola valley for our long trip back to Seattle. Saw lots of great fishing lakes and rivers but did not have time fish. We crossed over the border at the Nighthhawk crossing which is pretty funny if you have not been there. The border patroll was quite suspicious of us, I guess it must be pretty boring for those guys. So we headed to Loomis and then across towards Twisp. We loaded up on fruit on the way, had dinner in Mazama then headed back on the 20. We had a great time but after 2000 miles of hard driving we were happy to get back home. I now owe my wife a trip somewhere tropical. Oh well I guess I'll have to start tying some Sardina flies, Mexico here I come!
:beer2:Thomas