The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

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

We headed across the lake towards a creek mouth just across from the resort. We’d fished it a couple of times this week and had caught fish each time. After a short 7 mile run, we beached the boat and waded across the gravel fan at this creek mouth. Rob tied on an Elysia Special, and I fished a big Bow River Bugger. The lake falls off very quickly off this creek mouth and it was an ideal bull trout hide. But also off to the southern edge of the gravel fan, there was a wide flat with relatively shallow water where fish pulled in the evening to feed on small kokanee salmon and other bait-fish. I worked around to the gravel flat and I could clearly see my fly as it was retrieved through the crystal clear water.

On the second cast, I watched a shadow follow the fly and make a pass, and a peck at the fly. He didn’t take, but my heart raced, as this was a pretty nice fish. Another cast and another follow. I looked across the flat and there were several fish working the shallow current flowing off the edge of the gravel and into the flat. Rob joined me on this flat and soon both us were being teased by Bulls. We had follow after follow, a few pecks, but no takes. We changed flies numerous times in hopes of finding the magic ticket. But, except for titillating follows, we could not tempt one of these brute Bulls to take. After an hour of this abuse, we gave up and decided we’d hit this gravel bar on the way back this evening.

The fish quickly came to the surface and jumped twice, and just as quickly a Bald Eagle swept out of a nearby tree and made a dive for the fish

Almost an Eagle's Fish

We turned the boat around and trolled back through the same area a couple times. On the second pass below the Eagle’s perch I had another strike and immediate hook-up. This was a much nicer fish than the first. Very quickly the fish tore off 60 feet to the already 100 feet I had been trolling out the back of the boat and jumped twice. I looked for the Eagle, but this fish was larger than he could handle. Rob threw the boat into neutral as the fish ran off another 40 feet of line. Slowly I began to gain the upper hand and recover some line. But every time I gained 20 or 30 feet, the fish took some back. Finally the fish was alongside the boat and Rob gently slid the fish into the net; a nice 26” 7-8 pound rainbow. My biggest bow of the week! It seemed very appropriate to be smoking a pipe-load of fine tobacco at this moment. The pipe was a gift from Jannifer Puyans. She had given it to me after a recent fly tying demo at Andy's long time Thursday Night class. It was one of Andy's pipes that she had refurbished and gave to me with one request; that I send a picture of it in use in a place and time Andy would have appreciated. Here in BC catching a great rainbow trout, I couldn't have picked a better time and place. Here's thinking about you Andy!

A Very Nice Rainbow Almost to Net

Christening Andy's Pipe

We gradually worked further up the North Arm trolling from spot to spot. In the middle of the North arm we came across a large creek mouth right adjacent to two cabins. We had not hit this spot with Quille, but we had caught fish in the bay just out in front of this creek. So we beached the boat and began working the gravel fan at the mouth of this creek. The current moved from left to right and paralleled the shore right in front of these two cabins. We worked this creek mouth for 150 yards down the beach in front of the cabins, but to no avail. As likely a looking spot as this had been, we did not have a strike. Walking back to the boat we noticed that the windows on each of these cabins had been boarded up as though they were expecting an incoming hurricane. But the windows were only covered for the eight foot height of the plywood. We asked Quille about that later. Her explanation was simple; it was to keep the grizzlies from breaking in and looting any leftover food in the kitchen!

We left this spot and headed for another large creek mouth up the lake five miles or so. Jeff had told us last night that there were a number of good Bull Trout holding just below a log jam on this creek. Rob pulled the boat around the channel and beached it a little ways away so as not to disturb the Bulls. We waded across the channel and found a good perch on the log jam to cast into a deep slot were the Bull Trout were reputed to be holding. On the first cast a big bull slammed my Elysia Special as Rob looked on in disgust. He hadn’t hooked a fish yet today, and I had three. I think it was payback for his out fishing me on the Mitchell Tuesday. The fish stayed deep in the hole and gave the tell tale head shakes of a big fish. After a few minutes of back and forth tugs on the line, I slid the net under a nice Bull Trout. The boat had a yardstick decal on one side and I took a quick measurement; 25 inches and about 6 pounds.

Big Bull on an Elysia Special

We kept heading up the lake towards the cliffs where Rob and I had both caught our first Quesnel Lake rainbows. It was an area where tall cliffs above the lake drop off sharply below the water’s surface. On Monday we had caught several fish in this area and trolling through it today seemed like a good bet. Rob pulled the boat in close to the cliffs and we trolled in a rapid series of S-turns along the cliffs. Sometimes we were only a few feet offshore. True to its promise, we immediately began getting strikes. But unfortunately, our training had not sunk in and the temptation to immediately lift the rod on a strike, rather than giving slack was too much to overcome. We both had multiple strikes along the cliffs, but nether of us hooked a fish. Finally Rob struck gold with a nice four pound rainbow.

We had timed our day to arrive at the farthest creek mouth up the North Arm late in the day. That was the same timing from Tuesday when I’d caught an eight pound Bull off this creek mouth. We were hopeful to repeat our success. But this had been a tough day of catching, and this creek mouth was no different. It yielded some beautiful scenery and anticipation, but no Bulls came our way. It was already 6:30 PM and we had a 25 mile run back to Elysia Resort. If we were to get back by 8:00, we’d need to get going. We had not explored the West side of the North Arm, so we ran back along this shore hopeful to find another tempting creek mouth for a couple more casts before quitting time. And we knew that we would need to stop at the first creek mouth from this morning to see if we could tempt those teasing bulls off the flat.

Bull Trout Creek Mouth

Rob Casting for Bulls on a Far away Creek Mouth on the North Arm

As it turns out, Rob’s rainbow off the cliffs would be the last fish of the day. We had boated four fish, which was by far our toughest day. But fishing in BC is way better than being back in the office. And besides, we were looking forward to a second trip to the Mitchell River tomorrow with Jeff. He’d had to rearrange his schedule to accommodate another day on the Mitchell, but had enthusiastically done so. Over dinner that evening we talked over our strategy for the Mitchell bright and early tomorrow morning. We were hoping the high water had dropped a little during the week. Our plan was to throw big streamers in hopes that would lead to a repeat of the nice rainbows and bulls from our first visit. And given it was our last day, my hope was for a fish as long as my leg. That goal had evaded me so far this week, but after Rob’s bout with the big bull on the Mitchell, I was sure that tomorrow would be the day.

The Next Report:

Day 6 - The Last Day - The Mitchell River

Previous Reports:

The Trip to Quesnel Lake

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

Day 2 - Klinne Lake

Day 3 - The Mitchell River