The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

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

We met Jeff over breakfast this morning with high expectations of catching a fish as long as our leg. Tuesday the river had been high, but snowmelt was quickly ending in early July and many of the creeks in the area had dropped noticeably during the week. We were hoping to see a similar drop on the Mitchell so that wading would be more of an option. Jeff told us we’d start up high on the river and we would slowly work our way back, much like we had on Tuesday.

The run across the lake was spectacular, as it had been all week. The high Caribou Mountains stood out starkly against the crystal blue sky. There was barely a hint of clouds in the sky and the lake surface was like glass. In fact our whole week’s weather had been nothing shy of wonderful. We had donned rain jackets twice, and both times had been for very short cloudbursts from thunderstorms. This was quite a contrast with the whole month of June, where the area had experienced almost non-stop rain for a month.

The Run Across Quesnel Lake to the Mitchell

We found the mouth of the Mitchell without much trouble and continued upriver about 6 to 8 miles towards a large logjam that blocked further progress upriver in a jet boat. Above this point it is not legal to fish anyhow, as it is set aside as spawning habitat. The river was only marginally lower than Tuesday, so wading would be tough. But we had thought about this over breakfast this morning, and decided we might try fishing from the boat. Now a jet boat is not a drift boat, but when you run into adversity, sometimes you have to be innovative in overcoming it. By the end of the day we were going to turn that jet boat into a drift boat and try all those enticing spots we couldn’t wade to on Tuesday.

The Logjam at the top of the Mitchell

The first spot we hit this morning was a familiar tree stump and downed tree with a nice cut along the bank. We’d taken two nice fish in this spot Tuesday. From the point where one needed to cast to this spot the river was almost waist deep, and moving. I slid down the current into position with Rob just slightly downstream. I cast the big Black Bow River Bugger right against the tree stump, let it sink and began a jerky retrieve. Almost immediately the rod bent over with a savage strike and I was tied into a nice fish. The fish initially ran downstream and into the main current. Rob and I had to do some quick maneuvering to keep the line from wrapping around his rod, and then the fish abruptly turned and headed back for the downed tree. This was a strong fish and I had to lean pretty hard to try and keep it from taking me into the downed tree. Thank goodness I had the foresight to tie on 2X tippet this morning.

Perhaps I leaned a bit too hard, as mid-way through this run the fish was suddenly off and I was left with slack line. After catching my breath from this heart-stopping

I glanced at Rob and Jeff and uttered softly, “Damn that was a nice fish”.

Hooked Two fish Out of this Hole. The Second Broke Off on the Second Snag Downstream in the Upper Right of the Picture

We worked downstream with much anticipation as we approached Rob’s Big Bull Trout Hole. Tuesday he had hooked a fish and played it right to the net; the guide estimated this fish was 30-34” and 12-15 pounds. At the last moment, the fish avoided the net, took Rob’s line into a snag and the magnificent fish was lost. When we arrived at this run, as much as I wanted to jump out of the boat and rush down and beat Rob to fishing the sweet spot, Rob had a score to settle, and it was not my place to interfere. I worked the upper part of this run, and Rob worked the deep pool at the bottom end. We fished for about 30 minutes hoping for a repeat of Tuesday, but it was not to be and we kept moving down river. We worked from spot to spot wading were we could. We were still in the upper reaches of the river where it was shallow enough to wade.

Soon we came to a series of runs and pools where we had connected with a couple of strikes on Tuesday. The best area was a long sweep with a deep section right next to the far bank. Wading in this area was marginal at best, as one could barely hold against the current in waist deep water while casting to this slot. On Tuesday I had sidestepped unwillingly all the way through this run as the current was too strong to hold my position. Today we decided to turn the Jet boat into a casting platform, and we drifted through this area in comfort. I stood on the wide front deck, where casting to this far slot was easy. The first pass through this run I hooked up for the third time today, much to Rob’s disgust. He was still pitching a shut out. It was nice rainbow of about 24” that I played to net and gently released. Not to be outdone, Rob decided to get in the game and he hooked up with an even bigger fish. As Rob played this fish, Jeff tracked his progress with the net ready. This time Jeff wasn’t about to be outfoxed by a fish, and he netted a big rainbow of about 26 inches and 6 pounds. High fives were exchanged and the realization that out jet boat turned drift boat would open up much more water had us excited to keep moving downriver.

Rob's Follow-up Rainbow

We had reached the mid-river and the river was broader, and deeper and could not be waded except in a very few spots. It was an area of the river we had totally passed by on our visit to the Mitchell on Tuesday. Later in the year this portion of the river would be very accessible to wade and cast to willing rainbows. But in the early summer the river was still impacted by snowmelt and very high. So from this point of the river downstream, we fished almost exclusively from the boat. And we found fish. The upper river doesn’t have near the number of fishable holding lies that the mid-river does. And the benefit of a jet boat turned drift boat is that one could run upriver and re-fish productive runs. It was already mid-afternoon and our last day was getting short; we worked the river hard for the last few hours.

On a deep run along the bank amid a vast series of downed trees and snags, Rob

Rob threaded his fly into a seam and watched another monster rainbow emerge from nowhere

Rob and Jeff with a Pig Rainbow in the Net

An Average Mitchell River Rainbow

We had one last stop on the long run back to Elysia Resort. It was getting late, but this was our last day and Jeff wholeheartedly wanted to us catch a last fish or two. We hit the creek mouth just across from Elysia where the bull trout were teasing us yesterday. Perhaps today things would change. We beached the boat and headed out onto the gravel fan surrounding this creek mouth. The sun was just dropping below the mountains to the west of us and shadows were cast across the water. Excellent conditions for catching a nice bull or rainbow. Rob took one side of the creek and I took the other and we worked slowly casting and working the big streamers. Rob was casting an Elysia Special tied on a big size 4 hook with barbell eyes to help sink the fly rapidly. I had tied on a Bow River Bugger, also on a size 4 hook and a cone head. We worked the gravel fan from one side to the other hoping for one last monster trout. It had been a great day on the Mitchell today and we’d each caught a number of nice rainbows between 4 to 6 pounds and up to about 26 inches. But we wanted one last trout to finish the trip on a high note.

Suddenly, off to our right and out about 100 feet off the creek mouth on Rob’s side there was a slashing swirl. Something pretty good size was working the shallows and feeding on small kokanee salmon. We could see the small fish leap out of the water to avoid being caught by this leviathan trout. The fish was just a little too far out to cast to, so Rob moved off the gravel fan and around the shore toward where this fish kept working. He continued casting as the fish slashed the surface several more times. I moved over and took Rob’s spot on one side of the creek mouth. Suddenly, the fish slashed twice about 50 feet right in front of me and I picked up the fly line and made a cast nearest the receding swirl. As soon as the fly hit the water I gave a couple quick jerks and then let it settle like crippled baitfish. The tactic worked as the trout took the fly with a savage strike and immediately peeled off 50 feet of line to take me into my backing. I kept the 8 weight rod high and played the fish for a few minutes. Jeff worked into position and before long slid the net under my biggest rainbow of the week; a 27” fish that weighed about eight pounds. We took a few pictures and then released this magnificent fish back into Quesnel Lake. What a fitting end to a great trip.

Final Rainbow of the Trip

The Smile Says it All!

We begrudgingly left Elysia Resort about 10:00 on Saturday morning. A short drive to Williams Lake and I dropped Rob off at the airport to travel the easy way home; by air! I left the airport about 11:30 and began the long drive home. 1300 miles between here and Clayton; this would take me approximately 24 hours of drive time. I passed in reverse from the trip up, 150 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Spence’s Bridge and finally through Hope and on to the border at Abottsford. I had a comical crossing coming back into the US. In one of the recent fly swaps, SLO and I traded a couple of cigars. The ones he sent to me were from Hud's collection. I smoked one in Hud's honor while fly fishing the Mitchell. The second was a La Gloria Cubana that accompanied me home. While crossing the border I damn near got strip searched after they asked for declarations. I declared the cigar and a couple other things. Well, they accused me of bringing Cuban Cigars illegally into the US.......La Gloria Cubana! I had to send them to do a web search to convince them the cigars were really Dominicans, which added an hour to my already long trip! Thanks Hud, and SLO! I'm sure Hud got a good chuckle over that one....I know he was watching!

I arrived home in the late afternoon on Sunday and would regret I hadn’t taken an extra day of vacation before returning to work on Monday. It had been a great first trip to British Columbia. I sat down immediately the following day and began tying up a thank you care package of Elysia Specials and Bow River Buggers for Quille and Jeff.

I can’t wait to return, and soon!