Great day on the water

[eimaj]

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of heading out with a couple of buddies to fish the Lillooet River, myself, phearless and Bergler. I've fished the Pitt before and didn't think it there could be another river that was as good. Now I'm learning just how lucky some of us are to be liveing in this province and sepeacially the Fraser valley. Between the Vedder, the Harrison, the Pitt, the Skagit, and the lilloet, (and not to mention some of the other little gems that are around) we have some awsome rivers aroud here. Each one has it's own attributes and enticing qualities.

The Lillooet however is a great river for fishing a number of species, yesterday we were lucky enough to get into 2 of them. first off it couldn't have been better conditions, overcast with a decent temp outside, the rains were only for short periods and not that bad. The water was as clear as you would ever want, and the big lake was like glass. We hit our first spot on a nice run with a good ripple section that we hoped the cutties would be hiding in, it took all of three cast to get the first fish on, which was only for a brief moment, but I'll tell you the fish up there are not the gentle taste testers that you may find down this way, they smash that bait like it's tresspassing on their property. And they do it in 8inches of water almost at your feet. You definately don't want to re-cast to early up there. After the the fellows landed a couple handfulls of fish, both dollies and cutt's we headed down stream.

We met up with the other boat that was up there for the day and fished some common water for a bit. I can't actually tell you how may fish were caught in that section because I just wouldn't have been able to keep up, but I know my Bergler managed 4 casts and with 4 fish on in one little spot, And what a guy, he actually gave me his last fly that was doing it for him, not that it helped me as much

Once we headed down to the next little run we found a definately cool thing about the dollies up there, they would hang not more than 10-15ft off shore in 2ft of water, and if you skated a bait pattern in from of them on top of the water they would hammer it like no ones buisness. These little hungry guys were so set on feeding they didn't even notice you standing 5 feet from them as they followed it in. while Bergler and myself were playing with the dollies, phearless was slaying them up river in his own little a fishy playground. I heard him say, that it was as simple as looking at the water and thinking I know theres a fish there, he casts and fish-on.

The ride back was almost as smooth as the way up, mind you we were in a cadillac of a boat, with full air ride suspension seats :P I could hardly keep my eyes open on the way back after the day we had, ok I may have fallen asleep, and once home, It didn't take long before the idea of a nap became reality.


It was an awsome day on the water, Thanks again Bergler.

[phearless]

Eimaj, you got a nap!
I took my wife out after I got home.
Small price to pay for such a day on the water.
After a crazy start for the day, ( I was at the warehouse grabbing a rod at 4:20 a.m. ) it was smooth sailing all the way.
If I had of brought my dry flies I might have gave it a go. There was a decent B.W.O. hatch in the afternoon and there were fish moving to them.
It is definately time to get your fry patterns out though, we saw fry at almost every run we fished. Not many, but it will pick up quickly now.
Oh by the way, all wild fish, the most nicely marked I have ever seen.
They look absolutely great when they follow your fly into 6" of water and smash it on the way out. That was the dollies. The cutties came up and slashed the fry patterns in the film as we swung them enticingly in front of their noses.
Basically any way you liked to fish their was someone who would eat your offering and make you feel good.
Thanks for the invite Bergler. We must do this again.
We didn't see any bears, but they are there. Eagles were about though.
To Martin, Gio and JIm. Thanks for sharing the water with us. Makes for a nice day shooting the shite with fellow anglers on the river.
I hope that everyone can make it to a river like that one day.
It really makes one aware how important it is for all of us who use the rivers to fight for them and keep them clean.

[eimaj]

Great point Phearless, those rivers like the Pitt, and Lillooet need to be protected. And as far as the nap is concerned, what I say goes in my house. Plus the wife wasn't actually home yet so I snuck in a few winks

[D]

Awesome report guys!
I have only fished it once, 2 years ago, around this time. We got into Rainbows, Cutties and a few dollies as well, need to get back up there one of these days.
The ride back was the killer, but, it is worth it to fish a piece of paradise like that.

Thanks again for sharing.


Dean

[Rick Baerg]

Here are some pictures from the day on the river.

[Eric]

i am freaking jealous, not much with the local rivers blown !

[Fish Finder]

Me too Eric! Totally jellous... Ortho and myself were out hunting cutts. We did find them, but our efforts were shunned in the time they stuck around. If the river's are still choco milk, I'll find time to try again on the weekend. Nice job fellas, wish I could've been there.

Finder.

[Erik]

Great report, had a great day up there recently as well would love to post some pics but can't for some reason??? Got a lot of rainbows on dries!! Very unexpected, but glad I pack all of those fly boxes up there now!!!! Been playing with the new Beulah 4/5 switch and have to tell ya, it will cure your "Blown out steelhead big stick swingin' blues"!!!! If you don't own a trout spey, go buy one.

Now, how to post the pics?

Hey D, get your flies ready for monday!!!!!
Erik

Aha, figured it out!

[Fish Finder]

Wow! Nice ...you guys are killing me..I hate work.

Finder