The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

This article chronicles a recent trip to Quesnel Lake in central British Columbia.  This is the fourth part of the series.

In my internet quest, I ran across a website for Elysia Resort in the Caribou-Chilcotin region of British Columbia.  It appeared to have all the ingredients I was looking for; big trout, still water fisheries, world class rivers between the Mitchell and Horsefly rivers, and a lodge serving excellent meals with a warm dry bed at night.  It appeared to be quite a contrast from my last big trip to the Kisaralik River in Alaska, where we slept on the riverbanks in the rain.  The exchange rate was reasonable, so I made a reservation for Rob and me for a week and we got busy planning.   I spoke with Harmony at the Lodge and she provided many different options for guide trips.  The one thing we clearly had on the list was a trip to the Mitchell River.  When we booked, however, I didn’t fully comprehend the right timing to fish this river.  The best timing is in the late fall when the sockeyes are spawning; fishing egg patterns and flesh flies.  During the time we chose, we’d have to work for our fish. A few weeks before our visit, I posted on the FishBC Forum to find out what I could, and the speculation was the river was likely to be pretty high during our visit.  As it turns out, it was very high, and marginally fishable. 

The Mitchell River season opens July 1st, which was the day after our arrival.  Another couple had booked Jeff to guide them up the Mitchell in the Elysia Resort jet boat on Sunday the 1st, so we arranged to fish the Mitchell two days later on Tuesday, July 3rd.  We were hopeful that being among the first on the river this year would result in fantastic fishing.  But the reports from Sunday left us wondering whether to go at all.  The first couple that had fished the river had caught one fish that measured approximately 12 inches; ouch!  The river had turned out to be very high, almost unfishable, and their trip, save spectacular scenery, had been a bust.  It had been a few days since the last rain and we were naively hoping the river would drop somewhat in the next two days.  Over Monday’s dinner, we sat with Jeff and discussed options.  Finally after much consternation we decided, what the heck, let’s go!  We’d heard so many good things about this river that we weren’t about to be cheated by a little high water.  After adjusting our expectations from lots of big fish, to hoping we caught anything, we were ready to go.

From the lodge, the trip to the Mitchell River is approximately 25 miles across the North arm of Quesnel Lake and then another six to eight mile run up river via jet boat.   We met Jeff at the Elysia Resort boat dock precisely at 8:00 and began the 50 minute run across the lake.  As we ran up the North Arm, we passed many of the creek mouths that we had fished with Quille two days earlier.  At the end of the North Arm the Mitchell River enters the lake; the trick was finding the mouth of the river.  The lower end of the Mitchell is a huge delta flat, and spreads out to form a sprawling marshland, with the main river channel somewhere in the middle.  We finally found the river mouth and began the 6-8 mile jet boat ride up the twisting and turning river.  About half way up the river changed character from a very slow and meandering river to one which picked up speed and flowed through dense forests and rimmed with the spectacular high peaks of the Caribou Mountains.  This was a wild river and not any signs of people.  There were no roads into this remote section of BC; the only way in was via jet boat.

Jeff is a master at driving a jet boat and seemed to understand the rhythm of driving the boat through twisty turns while feathering the throttle from a moderate speed to full on, all the while avoiding numerous stumps, and downed trees and all sorts of debris in this wild river.  But as we got into the upper portion of the Mitchell, we came around a bend and found a downed tree lying almost fully across the channel.  Jeff seemed to not notice as we headed full speed towards this obstacle and my heart was in my throat as he goosed the engine just before impact.  Having never been in a jet boat like this, I had no idea that these boats were designed for debris, and we hopped over the log with only barely a bump from the boat as we continued motoring upstream.  Jeff gave a wide grin and remarked, “No problem, eh!”   Soon we arrived at a large log jam that was the uppermost area where it was legal to fish.  Above this area the river is closed to fishing.  We stopped the boat, found a tree to tie off to and got out the eight weight rod and tied on a size 4 Bow River Bugger.  Jeff commented that the river had come down slightly from two days earlier, but it was clear any wading we did would be tenuous at best.  The river was fast and high, but gin clear. 

Jeff Navigating the Jet Boat through a tight spot on the Mitchell

We decided to get out of the boat and do the best we could to bushwhack along the edge of the river.  In the first couple of hundred yards I managed to stand in a couple of places and meagerly cast into a few small but unlikely pools. The river was indeed high.  Along the banks, the bushes and trees were extremely dense, and several had big thorns; it was slow going.   But finally Rob and I found a flat where we could get out into the main channel and work casts back towards the bank with the Rio Deep 7 line and big Bow River Buggers and Elysia Specials.  I worked around a big tree lying down in the current and moved down to a nice seam along the bank.  I cast right to the base of a tree stump, let the fly sink and began a quick retrieve.  About half the way back I had a sharp strike, and miss, but a take nonetheless.  Another cast to the same area and retrieve and at the same spot, again a sharp strike, but this time the hook did its job and I had my first Mitchell River Trout solidly hooked.  After a battle that lasted a couple of minutes, Jeff slid the net under a nice 23”, four pound rainbow and we did high fives.  I couldn’t tell who was more excited, Jeff or I.  After Jeff’s tough day on Sunday, he was absolutely thrilled to net a nice fish from the Mitchell.  Rob was supportive, but less excited and it was clear he wanted to abandon the camera and start back fishing to catch one of his own!

With the celebration complete, Rob handed me the camera, grabbed his rod and moved right to the spot where I had hooked the first fish and cast at the same stump.  He let the fly sink and began a quick jerky retrieve, and at almost the same spot, Rob’s rod buckled under a savage strike and he had a nice rainbow hooked and peeling line off the reel.   He played the fish and moments later Jeff netted the almost carbon copy of my first fish.  A double with two nice four pound Mitchell River rainbows brought to the net.  A great start to the day!

With the high water, we really had to work for each and every strike.  The first two fish had given us confidence that we could catch fish, but the next two hours didn’t produce any further tugs on the line.  The scenery was spectacular, and with one fish each to net, the trip to the Mitchell had been well worth the effort.  But we kept fishing hard to try and catch more.  We worked downstream a ways and soon came upon a picture perfect steelhead run; a long sweeping turn with a nice seam along the inside of the bend.  At the bottom of this run the sweep dropped into a deep hole.  Somewhere along this run one of us was going to catch a fish.  We could almost feel it.  I took the top end of the run and Rob moved down to the just above the where the run dropped into the deep hole. 

I worked slowly down this run.  Cast, let the line sink and swing in the fast current,

I looked to see Rob’s eight weight rod bent over double like a twig

Almost defeated, Rob waded back into the run and half-heartedly began casting once again hoping that somehow the monster bull trout would repeat its earlier take so he could reclaim victory.  Instead, the Bull Trout sent a surrogate rainbow in its place and Rob hooked up a second time in this run; this time to a nice 5 pound rainbow of about 25 inches.  This trout was played and landed and seemed an unworthy substitute for the big Bull Trout of a lifetime that would have been as long as his leg.

As expected, the day had produced tough fishing, but memorable in a way that only a remote BC river can be.  About 5:00 we decided to quit and began the hour and 20 minute run back to Elysia Resort.  On the run to the Mitchell River this morning we’d passed by several nice creek mouths running into Quesnel Lake.  This afternoon we decided that we’d be foolish to pass them by a second time without stopping and making at least a few casts.  The first stop was the initial creek mouth we’d fished with Quille two days ago.  We steered the boat slowly up the creek channel.  Those same huge Bulls that were there the first day were still there. 

We both rigged up with an Elysia Special and began working the creek channel.  I cast across the creek channel and let the fly line sink, and then began an aggressive retrieve intended to lure a trout to take the fly.  After working about 30 yards downstream, a big bull trout swept out of nowhere and slammed the fly.  I lifted the rod and felt a surge of this nice fish momentarily, until it came unbuttoned.  Damn!  Fish had been few and far between today, and I’d just lost a nice one.  Dejected, I cast to the same spot again, began the aggressive retrieve and surprisingly, he slammed it again right in the same place.  Fish on!  I could see the take and knew immediately it was a nice fish.  Jeff ran back to the boat and grabbed the camera and the net while I played this fish.  It was clearly my best fish of the trip so far, and Jeff could hardly contain his enthusiasm as we worked it closer and closer to the net.  After a few minutes, Jeff lunged with the net and came up with a beautiful 8 pound Bull Trout measuring about 27-28 inches long.  My lifetime best trout, first Bull Trout, and a very nice one at that!

Our trip to the Mitchell River today had been very memorable.  Tough fishing, but Rob and I both had our shots at the largest fish of our lives.  The smiles and stories over dinner and cocktails back at Elysia Resort said it all!  As the evening wore on, the mild embellishments of the stories of the day took a predictable turn towards out and out exaggeration, and Rob's big bull trout story almost became bull!  Late in the evening, Susan, the owner of the resort stopped by our table and made a special presentation to Rob.  He was awarded entry into the Elysia 10-pounder club, a very exclusive club only for those who had caught a 10 pound fish during their stay at the resort.  This award came with a 10-pounder hat and a pin that said Elysia Resort, 12 pound trout!  He took just a little ribbing from me about not actually having proof of this magnificent fish.  But Jeff quickly jumped in to defend him and vouch for the validity of the catch.

Rob and I came to the same conclusion this evening; we wanted to head back to the Mitchell this week to give another try for those magnificent rainbows and giant bulls.  We asked Jeff if he had an open day, which he did on Friday, our last day of the trip.  Perfect!

The Next Report: 

Previous Reports:   

The Trip to Quesnel Lake

Day 1 - The North Arm and Phil's Elysia Special

Day 2 - Klinne Lake