Thursday, June 2, 2011
Tenkara fishing
Tenkara Fishing
A rookie's experimentation with an ancient technique
Story and photos by Trevor Shpeley
Fixed-line flyfishing has been around a long time. Before there were steel line-guides, fancy reels and braided silk, there was a piece of string tied to a stick and a few feathers tied to hook waving around on the business end of the string. Since those early days the sport has come a long way. Somebody eventually did get around to inventing those fancy reels, guides and braided lines and building Fishing rods became a science, as did everything else having to do with the sport of catching a fish. Fixed-line flyfishing has at this time been consigned to history books and nostalgia buffs with a few notable exceptions. One of those exceptions is the centuries old practice of Japanese Tenkara fishing.
When I'm not fishing, or riding a motorcycle or up to my eyeballs in the “honey-do” list, I enjoy spending a few hours cruising the internet fishing forums. They are a great place to meet new fishing partners, tell a few tall tales and every so often catch a little information you had never heard before. That was how I first heard about Tenkara and it's long whippy rods with just a few feet of line and a fly tied to their improbably thin tips.
It wasn't just anybody talking about this simple setup, it was some of the most modern, up to date flyfishermen I know and they were waxing on about an angling technique Mark Twain would have recognized immediately. I was obviously missing out on something interesting so I set out to find out for myself what all the buzz was about.
I had to start somewhere and since I knew less about Tenkara fishing than my dog knows about lawn mowing, I placed a call to my friend and fellow internet dweller, Aaron Laing. In addition to his skills as a fly tyer, competitive flyfisherman and flyfishing blogger, he is probably the best river fisherman I have easy access to so I recruited him to join me for a day of fishing on one of his favourite urban streams.
I then executed a quick Google search and with a decisive push on the “BUY NOW” button, my new gear was on it's way for about the price of the new shoes that regularly appear in my wife's closet to the familiar audio accompaniment of “what those old things? I've had those forever”
Nobody is sure what the word “Tenkara” actually means. Some say it translates as “from the sky” in reference to the delicate way flies seem to float down from the heavens. Others say it refers to a child's jumping game, mirroring the way fishermen hop from rock to rock as they fish. The only thing everyone seems able to agree on is that it's been around about 1200 years and it was a very effective method for the commercial fishermen of the day to harvest small fish from the rushing mountain streams of Japan. Fishermen could tie on a simple inexpensive fly and fish for hours without having to worry about re-baiting their hooks between every cast.
The traits that made it so effective back then, simplicity, low cost, and efficiency carry over quite nicely to our own mountain stream fishery with the added benefit that it's just plain fun. Nowhere is that quality more obvious than on a small river or stream where you can effortlessly control your drift as your fly moves through the pools and riffles close enough for you to watch the fish rise and turn as they take it down. Less gear means a stealthier presentation and a lighter line means less chance of spooking a fish by accidentally slapping 20 feet of thick plastic cord onto it's head.
The Modern Tenkara rod is typicly12-14 feet long and are usually graphite, telescopic, and often come in a scaled down aluminium rod tube depending on who you buy them from. The small size of the rod case, approx 20 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter make the Tenkara rod perfect for back-packers, motorcyclists or anyone who just wants a creek rod available in their vehicle at all times and doesn't have a lot of room behind the seat for storage.
The rods also sometimes come with a spare, easily changed tip. It's not so much because the fish might break it off in the heat of battle but because overly eager fishermen will sometimes snap them in their zeal to open or close the rod quickly. A fresh Tenkara rookie would be wise to heed the warnings and instructions included with the rod package.
If you want to go full-Monty with the Tenkara fishing then you need to tie or buy some Tenkara flies. Luckily for the beginner there aren't a whole lot of Tenkara patterns to choose from, the prevailing wisdom is that pretty much any Tenkara style fly works as well as any other so just pick one you like or is quick to tie and you are good to go. In Tenkara the operative word is “presentation”. Fly selection is far less important.
A typical Tenkara pattern will have some sort of simple dubbed body with the hackle tied in reverse, angling forward toward the eye of the hook so that the fly will pulse in the water when the soft rod tip is twitched. The flies are most often fished on or just below the surface but are sometimes sunk to the bottom and fished in a drag free drift like a standard nymph. Another favourite traditional technique it to slap the fly onto the water and snatch it away several times in the same spot before dropping the fly into the film and letting it drift. Quite often it doesn't get to drift very far.
Of course many Western patterns work very well with a Tenkara rod. Heavily weighted Czech nymphs are especially well suited to the long stick as is any familiar nymph you might normally use. You don't usually need an indicator since you can control depth very easily with the rod tip and tippet length but a small tuft of yarn tied to the leader is helpful for detecting strikes. Dapping dry flies in the pocket water and small pools of a stream is a piece of cake when your line is as light as a Tenkara line and your rod is 13 feet long.
It is generally agreed among enthusiasts that the best line to use is the traditional furled line which offers some shock absorption and unparalleled delicacy but does so at the cost of disturbing behaviour when stretched past it's limit. Level line is also popular and some people I know use sections of light fly line, 2wt or less, which will deliver the fly well but is not recommended due to the tendency of the heavier fly line to form a “belly” in the middle between the rod tip and the water with the resulting sag pulling the fly towards you and removing much of the “magic drift” effect people expect from a Tenkara setup.
The total length of the line and leader is usually about the same length as the rod so a 13 foot rod would give you a reach of about 26 feet, give or take a couple of feet. Relatively short leaders are tied to the Tenkara line which is in turn looped onto the end of a small piece of cord attached to the end of the rod called the “Lilian string”
When you hook a fish, you lift the rod to set the hook and then let the long flexible rod absorb the efforts of the fish as you guide it to the net by raising the rod tip above your head. With bigger fish you will have to let it fight for awhile but the process is very intuitive and about the only way you can really do it wrong would be to just hold the rod static and wait for something to break. Move your rod with the fish and keep your tip high as it runs around the pool in front of you and it will tire and come to the net in the usual way. Don't be afraid to put a bend in the rod, the soft tip will protect the tippet and a fish played too long is a fish with a diminished hope of survival.
On the day Aaron and I chose to hit the water it was a typical Vancouver fall day, which is to say the rain was falling at a rate somewhere between a tropical monsoon and a biblical population adjustment. The rivers were running high and muddy and the hope of a productive morning chasing small trout and the occasional larger sea-run cutthroat got dimmer and more distant with each new rivulet of icy rainwater down the back of my wading jacket.
As if on cue after we got comfortable in a nice run the heavens parted, the sun shone down upon us and the river which had been rather drab up until this point was transformed into a gorgeous imitation of the prettiest Vermont spring creek you ever saw. If you added a covered bridge and a few guys in tweed waving bamboo around, the illusion would have been perfect.
This wasn't Vermont though, it was Vancouver. The covered bridge was cement and by covered I mean somebody had spent a lot of time covering the bridge supports in colourful street art. It may not have been New England but it was very pretty in the rising mist with the emerging sun shining off the tangled blackberries and lush green willows that dip down to overhang the rivers edge.
The high water meant the larger fish we were targeting were probably going to be spread out and very tough to find but the alternative was packing up and heading back to our uninspiring, non-fishing related, daily activities so we decided to give it a yeoman's effort and waded out into the stream at a spot where the current washed over a shelf of submerged weeds and into a deeply undercut pool at the head of a long riffle.
Aaron started out by showing me how to cast with the Tenkara outfit. The technique uses a motion that would not be unfamiliar to anybody who'd spent even a little time swinging a fly rod, it's just a little slower and the stroke is a little shorter than a standard overhead fly cast. The line is easy to direct and hitting your target is intuitive and quickly mastered. The temptation to use the longest line your rod will support is strong but Tenkara is all about control and control in this case means being able to hit your mark without having to choke up on the rod.
You would be well served to carry a few extra lines of different lengths wrapped around an old spool and change them whenever the conditions warrant. Spare lines are not expensive and it literally takes only a minute or two to switch between them and is no more complicated than changing a tippet on a traditional outfit.
A few casts in to our trip I discovered why some people do not like to use the traditional furled line. A sloppy attempt at a roll cast had solidly lodged my heavy Czech nymph in the bark of a tree branch above my head. I thought that perhaps I could just pull on the line and bring the branch down to my level which I attempted to do until the tippet broke and the line snapped back into my chest. What I was left holding in my hand looked more like spaghetti than a fly line. The braided material of the furled line acts like a spring when it is stretched and recoils into a tightly curled mess when released. The line can be worked until it is more or less straight but it takes a few minutes. Level line doesn't do that but it does not have the built in shock absorbing qualities of the Tenkara line either.
The river we were fishing is the closest stream to Aaron's house so it isn't surprising that it didn't take him long to catch the first fish. His line twitched, he lifted the rod to set the hook and the battle was on. After a short but spirited fight he slid the net beneath the fish, all six inches of it. The fact that it was an enjoyable experience is due to the nature of the long flexible rod. Tenkara gear will handle fish up to 16 inches but is still light enough to make catching the smaller fish fun. A quick flick of the barbless hook and the tiny fish was released to grow a little larger.
We didn't catch any more fish that rainy fall morning but we had a great time effortlessly moving along the overgrown banks and through the rushing water without a lot of extra gear to snag or weigh us down. We could easily have continued our day with steadier action by heading over to the Fraser river delta and fishing the sloughs and backwaters for coarse fish and it would be tough to imagine a better fishing method for those types of fish in those waters.
As luck would have it however, Aaron knew a place in Mallardville that was serving an awesome cheeseburger and since the rain had started up again, we chose the option that included a fireplace, big screen TV's and a total lack of icy cold rivulets of water running down the backs of our wading jackets.
Tenkara is made to order for the minimalist fly-fisherman. It is easy to learn, you don't have to cash in your kids savings bonds to buy the new gear and it works. If you like to do things a little different, you admire efficiency and you fish smaller waters, then this modern adaptation of an ancient method is for you.
Maybe it isn't really a smart thing to go ahead and order a bunch of new gear because some guys you barely know on the internet suggested it might be fun. Maybe you shouldn't ignore all the innovations in the fly fishing world and go back to a method that has been kicking around for six centuries. Maybe you shouldn't have said to your wife “what that old rod? I've had that forever” and just fessed up to the fact that you went out and bought another fishing rod.
I'm certainly very happy I did all those things and I look forward to many wasted afternoons on mountain streams, urban rivers and lowland sloughs with nothing but a few flies in my pocket, a stick in my hand, a piece of string and a grin on my face. Tom Sawyer would have been proud.
In the net, good, bad, ugly
n the Net
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Trevor Shpeley
“The only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead.”
The debate has been raging for as long as communication has been possible between more than two people at once. It probably started when one cavemen told his buddy from the next valley about a good spot to find eggs. The next time the original group went to their favorite spot there were no eggs left and to top it off, the others had left shells all over the place and ruined the path in. The blabbermouth caveman was promptly killed and the others swore nobody would ever leak their secrets to strangers again. We all know how that turned out.
With the arrival of newspapers and magazines it became possible to reach masses of readers hungry for information on the best fishing and hunting spots. This saved people the trouble of physically combing the countryside or worse, listening to the rambling tales of crusty old timers which then, as now, were long on wind and short on facts.
Picture rich articles on hidden lakes were greeted enthusiasticly by magazine reading outdoorsmen. They were greeted somewhat less enthusiasticly by fishermen that were already enjoying the watery jewels in question but as history has shown, the stories in the fishing magazines never had much more than a temporary effect on a featured water and an equilibrium was reached with only the occasional debate in a riverside pub to keep the issue alive.
That was before the internet of course. We now live in a world where anybody can sit down at a keyboard and post whatever they like for everybody to see. That fact makes online forums a real game-changer when it comes to the issue of “hot spotting” as the practice of posting sensationalized fishing reports has become known.
First let me say if it's not already apparent that I am a big fan of internet forums. There is simply no better way to learn new techniques, improve on old ones, discuss ethics and current events, get to know fellow fishermen or just plain brag about your latest catch. Magazines such as the one in your hand do a fine job as well and they do a much better job than the net at delivering facts that turn out to be actual facts, but there is a limit to how much information you can stuff into the confines of a magazine every month or two.
The detractors of online forums make some very good points. Forum posts happen in real time and are seen quickly by many people. When a person writes something to the effect of, “Hey you should have been at Secret Lake yesterday, the sedges were coming off and six pound fish were slashing around like cats at a string factory,” you can be sure that within a day or two you will be hard pressed to find a spot to anchor. Hot spotting is a very real phenomenon and a fish-hungry flash mob at your favorite lake is not a pretty sight.
So does it have to be that way? Does a fishing report have to include GPS coordinates in order to be interesting? Not at all, in fact, the trend now on many internet forums, the BCO Forum included, is to encourage you to withhold exact locations from your fishing reports. You can always communicate via personal message with people that really want to know where it is.
By all means tell your fishing story in all it's glory, but remember the report is just as enjoyable when it says something like “a Kamloops area lake” rather than the actual name. If somebody recognizes your lake from your pictures, good manners suggests that they keep that information to themselves and since they obviously already know the water in question, no harm is done. On the other hand, if you are fishing a large well known body of water where secrecy isn't really an issue like Roche, Tunkwa or the Fraser, well you aren't going to do any harm naming names so fire away.
So, internet forums, good for the fishery or bad? I say good. Discussion among fishermen means a higher standard of ethics, better knowledge of proper fish handling techniques and a more unified user group. Does it have it's warts? Yes absolutely but with a little common sense and some gentle education these problems can be minimized.
What do you think? Join the debate at http://www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Trevor Shpeley
“The only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead.”
The debate has been raging for as long as communication has been possible between more than two people at once. It probably started when one cavemen told his buddy from the next valley about a good spot to find eggs. The next time the original group went to their favorite spot there were no eggs left and to top it off, the others had left shells all over the place and ruined the path in. The blabbermouth caveman was promptly killed and the others swore nobody would ever leak their secrets to strangers again. We all know how that turned out.
With the arrival of newspapers and magazines it became possible to reach masses of readers hungry for information on the best fishing and hunting spots. This saved people the trouble of physically combing the countryside or worse, listening to the rambling tales of crusty old timers which then, as now, were long on wind and short on facts.
Picture rich articles on hidden lakes were greeted enthusiasticly by magazine reading outdoorsmen. They were greeted somewhat less enthusiasticly by fishermen that were already enjoying the watery jewels in question but as history has shown, the stories in the fishing magazines never had much more than a temporary effect on a featured water and an equilibrium was reached with only the occasional debate in a riverside pub to keep the issue alive.
That was before the internet of course. We now live in a world where anybody can sit down at a keyboard and post whatever they like for everybody to see. That fact makes online forums a real game-changer when it comes to the issue of “hot spotting” as the practice of posting sensationalized fishing reports has become known.
First let me say if it's not already apparent that I am a big fan of internet forums. There is simply no better way to learn new techniques, improve on old ones, discuss ethics and current events, get to know fellow fishermen or just plain brag about your latest catch. Magazines such as the one in your hand do a fine job as well and they do a much better job than the net at delivering facts that turn out to be actual facts, but there is a limit to how much information you can stuff into the confines of a magazine every month or two.
The detractors of online forums make some very good points. Forum posts happen in real time and are seen quickly by many people. When a person writes something to the effect of, “Hey you should have been at Secret Lake yesterday, the sedges were coming off and six pound fish were slashing around like cats at a string factory,” you can be sure that within a day or two you will be hard pressed to find a spot to anchor. Hot spotting is a very real phenomenon and a fish-hungry flash mob at your favorite lake is not a pretty sight.
So does it have to be that way? Does a fishing report have to include GPS coordinates in order to be interesting? Not at all, in fact, the trend now on many internet forums, the BCO Forum included, is to encourage you to withhold exact locations from your fishing reports. You can always communicate via personal message with people that really want to know where it is.
By all means tell your fishing story in all it's glory, but remember the report is just as enjoyable when it says something like “a Kamloops area lake” rather than the actual name. If somebody recognizes your lake from your pictures, good manners suggests that they keep that information to themselves and since they obviously already know the water in question, no harm is done. On the other hand, if you are fishing a large well known body of water where secrecy isn't really an issue like Roche, Tunkwa or the Fraser, well you aren't going to do any harm naming names so fire away.
So, internet forums, good for the fishery or bad? I say good. Discussion among fishermen means a higher standard of ethics, better knowledge of proper fish handling techniques and a more unified user group. Does it have it's warts? Yes absolutely but with a little common sense and some gentle education these problems can be minimized.
What do you think? Join the debate at http://www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com
In The Net Contests and Forum 101 pt2
In The Net
Contests and Forum 101 pt2
Contests:
Don't you just love a contest? This month we had two contests which wrapped up just as this column went to print.
The first was a draw among members who could answer the skill testing question; How long has BC Outdoors been in publication? Proving that the only skill necessary to win was to look at the top of the page, nobody had any trouble finding the answer which was: “over 65 years” The prize was a 5wt Cortland Endurance rod with a Cortland 444 line and the lucky winner was xxxxxxxx
The second contest required a little more participation. We were looking for your funniest outdoor image. Flyfishingcouple posted a picture of Tunkwa personality Richard in an outfit that made his dog Buck hide his head at the front of the boat. Kettlefisher and CU-Wader both posted pictures of their inflatables where they shouldn't be and Morris posted an interesting rendering of a lonely deer hunter.
The prizes we gave away were a Dragonfly 7wt full sink flyline and a Rio Outbound wf6f Coldwater. Congratulations (and the lines) go to xxxxxxxxxx
Forum 101 pt2
There is one question that gets asked by new forum participants more than any other. “How do I add pictures to my posts?” Posting pictures requires learning a few simple procedures that once you've mastered them will cause you no trouble at all from that point forward.
Step one:
Start your own BCO photo album. Why? Because in order to attach a picture to your forum post, that picture must be hosted somewhere else. It doesn't have to go far, the BCO forum has it's own gallery where you can place all your outdoors pictures for online sharing. You can also post videos to your gallery which you can then share by simply sending somebody the address instead of having to mail the whole bulky file.
To get started, go to the black menu bar near the top of the BCO Forum page and click on “Trophy Wall”. After the page opens, click on “Members Gallery” and when that page loads you will see on the far right a menu item called “New Album”, click on that.
Give your album a name, usually your username, and follow instructions to finish creating your personal album and start filling it with pictures. Don't be shy about loading it up, a photo album with no photos is kind of pointless after all.
Step two:
Step one was all the heavy lifting, step two is a piece of cake. It's time to attach your photo to a post.
Go to your album and click on the picture you wish to post. It is very important that you bring up the full sized picture. One of the most common mistakes is performing the following actions to the thumbnail instead of the large picture.
Right click on the picture and when the little menu box pops up, select “properties” and look for the “image address” or “image url” On some browsers such as Google Chrome, you don't have to go to properties, you can just click on “copy image url” What you are trying to achieve is to get the address of the picture itself and not the address of the page the picture is on. Once you get it the first time you will never have a problem finding it again. Copy that address to your clipboard. (right click then copy or just press ctrl C on a windows computer)
Start a post in the usual way, either by starting a new thread or replying in an existing one. When your workspace for the new post pops up, place your cursor where you want your picture to be and look for the “Insert Image” icon. It looks like a little framed picture and sits just above the text entry box. If you are like me and the tiny icons look like little fuzzy blobs, just hover your mouse over them and the label will pop up. Click on the icon.
When the dialog box pops up, paste the address of your picture in the box that says “http//”, then click “insert image” and that's it, your picture is posted. If it doesn't work after a few tries, send me a message and I'll help you figure it out.
So there you go, Join the BCO Forums, make yourself an album and show us what you caught!
Contests and Forum 101 pt2
Contests:
Don't you just love a contest? This month we had two contests which wrapped up just as this column went to print.
The first was a draw among members who could answer the skill testing question; How long has BC Outdoors been in publication? Proving that the only skill necessary to win was to look at the top of the page, nobody had any trouble finding the answer which was: “over 65 years” The prize was a 5wt Cortland Endurance rod with a Cortland 444 line and the lucky winner was xxxxxxxx
The second contest required a little more participation. We were looking for your funniest outdoor image. Flyfishingcouple posted a picture of Tunkwa personality Richard in an outfit that made his dog Buck hide his head at the front of the boat. Kettlefisher and CU-Wader both posted pictures of their inflatables where they shouldn't be and Morris posted an interesting rendering of a lonely deer hunter.
The prizes we gave away were a Dragonfly 7wt full sink flyline and a Rio Outbound wf6f Coldwater. Congratulations (and the lines) go to xxxxxxxxxx
Forum 101 pt2
There is one question that gets asked by new forum participants more than any other. “How do I add pictures to my posts?” Posting pictures requires learning a few simple procedures that once you've mastered them will cause you no trouble at all from that point forward.
Step one:
Start your own BCO photo album. Why? Because in order to attach a picture to your forum post, that picture must be hosted somewhere else. It doesn't have to go far, the BCO forum has it's own gallery where you can place all your outdoors pictures for online sharing. You can also post videos to your gallery which you can then share by simply sending somebody the address instead of having to mail the whole bulky file.
To get started, go to the black menu bar near the top of the BCO Forum page and click on “Trophy Wall”. After the page opens, click on “Members Gallery” and when that page loads you will see on the far right a menu item called “New Album”, click on that.
Give your album a name, usually your username, and follow instructions to finish creating your personal album and start filling it with pictures. Don't be shy about loading it up, a photo album with no photos is kind of pointless after all.
Step two:
Step one was all the heavy lifting, step two is a piece of cake. It's time to attach your photo to a post.
Go to your album and click on the picture you wish to post. It is very important that you bring up the full sized picture. One of the most common mistakes is performing the following actions to the thumbnail instead of the large picture.
Right click on the picture and when the little menu box pops up, select “properties” and look for the “image address” or “image url” On some browsers such as Google Chrome, you don't have to go to properties, you can just click on “copy image url” What you are trying to achieve is to get the address of the picture itself and not the address of the page the picture is on. Once you get it the first time you will never have a problem finding it again. Copy that address to your clipboard. (right click then copy or just press ctrl C on a windows computer)
Start a post in the usual way, either by starting a new thread or replying in an existing one. When your workspace for the new post pops up, place your cursor where you want your picture to be and look for the “Insert Image” icon. It looks like a little framed picture and sits just above the text entry box. If you are like me and the tiny icons look like little fuzzy blobs, just hover your mouse over them and the label will pop up. Click on the icon.
When the dialog box pops up, paste the address of your picture in the box that says “http//”, then click “insert image” and that's it, your picture is posted. If it doesn't work after a few tries, send me a message and I'll help you figure it out.
So there you go, Join the BCO Forums, make yourself an album and show us what you caught!
Monday, January 31, 2011
In the Net 1 - BCO Dec 2010
In the Net
Trevor Shpeley
October 1, 2010
They don't generally go by their real names. They give themselves peculiar nick-names like “Swamp Donkey”, “Fishhead” and “Woody”. They come into your living room late at night, haunt your den, your bedroom, sometimes even invade your workplace. They are not a gang of crazed hillbillies up to no good, in fact they are doctors, police officers, lawyers, plumbers and millworkers. They are your friends, they are people you have never met, they are the members of an online discussion forum.
When I joined my first fishing forum about 10 years ago, I started out with a few tentative posts and before I knew it, it was as if I had known those people for years and everybody I was fishing with was someone I met on the net. I remember the conversation I had with my then 14 year old daughter when after delivering many fire and brimstone lectures on the importance of internet safety I told her I was going into the woods to meet a guy I met online to go fishing. *Awkward*
This the first of what will become a regular column reporting on the antics, exploits and accomplishments of the members of the new and improved BC Outdoors discussion forums. Great fish stories will be re-told and some of them might actually be true! We will print any pictures we find particularly interesting, touch on the highlights of popular threads and use this space to announce contest winners. In other words, “In The Net” will be the newsletter of the BC Outdoors online community.
To sign up go to WWW.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com, click on the forums button up near the top and then click on “register”. Answer a few questions, pick a catchy screen name and password and you're ready to go. Don't worry if you know less about computers than a teenager knows about hygiene, the BCO forum is easy to use and it's denizens are friendly and eager to help new people get their feet on the ground.
So what is an internet forum and why would you bother?
The BCO forum is your chance to have your voice heard directly by the editors and writers of BC Outdoors Magazine as well as an opportunity to interact with other people who share similar interests. You can be a passive observer if you wish or you can join in at whatever level you feel comfortable. The forum is well moderated and is considered a family environment.
The forums are also a place for contests. Photo and essay contests will be frequent and in addition to great prizes, you may find your prose or pictures published in the magazine. All members receive an online photo album and are encouraged to use it.
Are you buying a waterproof camera but don't know which one to buy? How about new wading boots? You might not have tried them all but somebody on the board probably has. Going to an unfamiliar area in May and you want to know what lakes will be ice free? No problem, somebody on the forum will know. Ask and you shall receive.
The BCO forums are also a place to discuss articles that have appeared in the magazine. You may have further insight into the subject of a recent piece or perhaps you would like to discuss the points and opinions the writer has presented. BC Outdoors contributors are encouraged to take part in these discussions but remember that not every writer has the time or opportunity to participate.
Feel free to discuss the content and theme of an article but please treat our writers kindly, they work hard at what they do and would you really want strangers coming into your workplace and telling you how they think you could do your job better? Personal attacks have no place on the BC Outdoors Forum, it's a pleasant place to spend time and we'd like to keep it that way thanks.
So there you go. Contests with great prizes, a chance to have a voice in your favourite magazine, lively discussion with like-minded people, photo hosting, outdoor news as it happens, potential fishing buddies and a way to keep a part of your mind out in the woods while you are stuck in the office. Short of winning the “buy whatever you want and fish all day” lottery, what more could an outdoors person want?
Sign up today at www.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com and join the fun!
Trevor Shpeley
October 1, 2010
They don't generally go by their real names. They give themselves peculiar nick-names like “Swamp Donkey”, “Fishhead” and “Woody”. They come into your living room late at night, haunt your den, your bedroom, sometimes even invade your workplace. They are not a gang of crazed hillbillies up to no good, in fact they are doctors, police officers, lawyers, plumbers and millworkers. They are your friends, they are people you have never met, they are the members of an online discussion forum.
When I joined my first fishing forum about 10 years ago, I started out with a few tentative posts and before I knew it, it was as if I had known those people for years and everybody I was fishing with was someone I met on the net. I remember the conversation I had with my then 14 year old daughter when after delivering many fire and brimstone lectures on the importance of internet safety I told her I was going into the woods to meet a guy I met online to go fishing. *Awkward*
This the first of what will become a regular column reporting on the antics, exploits and accomplishments of the members of the new and improved BC Outdoors discussion forums. Great fish stories will be re-told and some of them might actually be true! We will print any pictures we find particularly interesting, touch on the highlights of popular threads and use this space to announce contest winners. In other words, “In The Net” will be the newsletter of the BC Outdoors online community.
To sign up go to WWW.bcoutdoorsmagazine.com, click on the forums button up near the top and then click on “register”. Answer a few questions, pick a catchy screen name and password and you're ready to go. Don't worry if you know less about computers than a teenager knows about hygiene, the BCO forum is easy to use and it's denizens are friendly and eager to help new people get their feet on the ground.
So what is an internet forum and why would you bother?
The BCO forum is your chance to have your voice heard directly by the editors and writers of BC Outdoors Magazine as well as an opportunity to interact with other people who share similar interests. You can be a passive observer if you wish or you can join in at whatever level you feel comfortable. The forum is well moderated and is considered a family environment.
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Sunday, November 7, 2010
Squaw Valley - published BC Outdoors Nov/Dec2010
Squaw Valley/Silver Hills Loop
A Breathe of Fresh Air High Above the Shuswap River
Story by Trevor Shpeley
Photos by Travis Shpeley
I was pretty sure what I was looking at was a bear. It was cinnamon brown, it was big, round and hairy and it seemed to only have one ear. I gave it a second look and with a subtle shift in perception I realized I was looking at the back end of a bear while the front end was totally engrossed in ripping apart a rotten cedar log that was lying on the ground just off the Silver Hills Forest Service Road.
I stopped the truck to get a good look and after a quick stand up survey from the hungry bruin it was obvious that the bear ranked me only slightly above a Hamster in terms of the potential threat and danger I represented and with a contemptuous snort the unconcerned bear went back to his grubs or whatever tasty bug was on the menu that day. After watching him for quite awhile, I continued my drive around the wildlife-rich Squaw Valley/Silver Hills FSR loop confident that the bear was not the last forest creature I would be observing that day.
At just 50 kilometres long, the Squaw Valley/Silver Hills route is the perfect length for a day trip to escape the stale air and sullen heat of the Provincial campground in the valley below and enjoy a few hours of fresh cool breeze, animal viewing and maybe a little fishing or canoeing. For those who would like to stay awhile there are some limited opportunities for rustic overnight camping on some of the waters discussed here but it would be a bit of a stretch to call this a major camping destination due to the sometimes difficult access and the lack of full facilities at most of the small recreation sites.
It would also be a little optimistic to treat the lakes in this area as serious fishing destinations. That's not to say the fish aren't willing or that they aren't a joy to catch, especially the colourful little Brook Trout in Kathy Lake, it's just that the short growing season and limited nutrients in these waters tend toward adult fish being somewhat smaller though no less feisty than their cousins in the lower level, more fertile lakes.
If you are planning to fish, all the usual suspects apply. Leeches, Balanced Woolly Buggers, Mayfly Nymphs, Chironomids, Bloodworms and Sedge patterns all work well. The hatches are all delayed due to altitude and there are still plenty of sedges fluttering around in mid August.
Starting from Mabel Lake Road, ten kilometres North of the bridge across the Shuswap and six kilometres South of Mabel lake provincial park, the Squaw Valley road heads East into the forest from a small bridge across Mabel Lake Road beside a large sign for the Silver Hills Lifestyles resort. Old and yet still functioning iron irrigation pipes leading from a small water control dam are visible from the road as you climb through the Birch and Pine trees that line the creek tumbling down to it's rendezvous with the Shuswap River in the farmland below.
Before long the narrow creek valley opens up onto the working lands of the Squaw Valley ranch. Open hay fields and fenced pasture have been carved from the rolling hills and a large first nations inspired carving announces your entry to the ranch proper. People and animals live and work on both sides of the road so please watch your speed and be alert to unexpected company on the road you are sharing with these permanent residents.
Shortly after you leave the ranch you cross the parking area of the Lumby/Mabel Lake Snowmobile Club and face a choice of roads to your left and right. For the purposes of this article you want to take the road that climbs off to your right, the road identified on maps as the Silver Hills FSR but somewhat confusedly signed as the “Ireland Creek FSR on the road itself. Disregard the disagreement between the map books and the roadside sign and begin the long climb up the switchbacks from the valley bottom to the 4300 foot top of the ridge-line that separates the Mabel Lake valley to the West from the Sugar Lake basin in the East. The climb will be fine for any vehicle with reasonable clearance but a moment or two of inattention could result in a long lonely walk back down the mountain to the nearest phone.
Wildflowers carpet the road as you climb out of the valley and the Pine, Birch and Aspen of the lowlands give over to the towering Hemlock and Cedars of the ridge top. The forest floor goes from hard and dry to soft and mossy and small burbling streams cross under the road at frequent intervals.
Eventually you will reach the top of the ridge and it is possible to look behind you into Mabel lake and the lower Shuswap river while in front of you, Sugar Lake and the Upper Shuswap river valley can be seen in the distance. Picture yourself in the open space near the bottom of a capital “U” with the Shuswap river being the “U”. Spectacular panoramic pictures are possible but to get a good one you would want to time your visit to occur sometime outside of the forest fire season or the smoke in the valleys will make great pictures impossible.
Approximately 20 kilometres from the beginning of the road an unmarked side road heads off to your left and up the hill to Sigalet and Haggkvist lakes. The road to this point has been bumpy but fully passable by any vehicle with reasonable clearance. The road to Sigalet is fine with any high clearance two wheel drive but if you should decide to visit Haggkvist Lake by means of the short access road that splits off to the right about a kilometre up the Sigalet Lake road, you must, and I can't emphasize the word “must” enough, have a very competent four wheel drive vehicle. The road is very rough, very tight and involves a rock climb which would quickly tear the drive-train out of any vehicle not up to the task of navigating it. There are no campsites at the lake, no real boat launch and precious little room to turn around which should be OK because you aren't getting a trailer in there anyway.
For most people Haggkvist is best left as a walk-in lake however if you are observant and pay careful attention to clues on the roadside and the screen of your GPS, you may just find a hidden trail or two leading off the Sigalet Lake road that will save the adventurous float tuber a lot of walking and wear and tear on the truck.
Sigalet lake is a gorgeous little lake first thing in the morning when the fog is thick off the mirror smooth water and crisp window panes of ice trace the edge of the crude boat launch as is common for much of the short season. There are two or three small camp spots at this tiny rec site and trailering in a cartopper is no problem. The water is very clear and a depth finder is useful for mapping out the detailed bottom structure along the shoreline. Anchoring and casting works very well as does trolling a small leach or Mayfly nymph.
Back down on the main FSR assuming you haven't left your vehicle on the Haggkvist lake road as a permanent monument to your inability to heed a strongly worded warning, the road meanders about about the top of the ridge, passing through prime bear and Moose territory before beginning it's gentle drop back down the mountainside. Free ranging cattle are everywhere and as likely to be in the middle of the road as off it. When you come to them just drive up to them very slowly, they will eventually move out of the way once they realize you aren't the truck with the hay.
As in any backroad adventure, a GPS and a backroads mapbook will not only ease your navigation tasks, they will raise the level of your enjoyment, exposing you to sights and features you would drive right past without even being aware of them otherwise. Such is the case here for as you begin to head back down the hill you will spy on your screen a medium sized lake sliding by just to your left with no visible indications of it's existence. It will seem like you are driving away from the lake but not to worry, you will come back to it.
Ignore the tempting old grown-over fire road you come across that seems to lead straight to the lake and continue on until you come to another well travelled FSR that turns back almost 180 degrees to the road you are on, this is the Sugar/Holstien FSR.. Take that road for a half a kilometre or so and you will find a rough road heading up the hill to your left and your mapbook and GPS will confirm that this is the road that goes to Holstien lake. While not as severe as the road to Haggkvist, this is still not a road to be attempted in your family car especially one you might have some sort of attachment to. High clearance 2WD is good, 4x4 would be better especially if the road is wet.
Holstien lake is a relatively small piece of water, bordered in rich green grasses and open to the sky on all sides. There are a couple of decent unimproved camp sites at the end of the short access road but no other facilities. Holstien Lake would be a great place to just drift in a canoe with nothing but the sound of the wind and the occasional moose grazing the marshy shoreline for company. There are fish in this seldom visited water and there are even rumours of large fish being spotted but you couldn't prove it by me from the several trips I have made here. The smaller fish are tons of fun and there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.
Once you get back to the main road it's only about another kilometre to Kathy Lake. Kathy has Brook Trout and Rainbows and they both come readily to the fly. The water is crystal clear and extensive mats of weeds are visible along the bottom making cruising fish tougher to spot but also pretty much guaranteeing they will be there eventually. The Brook trout in the fall move up into the shallower water and even the smallest fish look like a Van Gogh painting when you get them into your net.
The Campground at Kathy Lake is the largest in the area with four or five spots. There are hiking trails in the bushes around the lake and quad trails in the vicinity.
The rest of the road down to where it joins Sigalet Road on the valley bottom is gentle switchbacks with the occasional eye opener of a drop to the creek bed to keep you on your toes. A picture perfect view of the surrounding farmland and the hills above Mabel lake presents itself shortly after you hit pavement and would make a great postcard to show your friends back in the dreary city. Sigalet Road deposits you back on Mabel Lake Road, two kilometres South of your starting point.
Quick side trips in the immediate area
Mabel Lake Provincial Park
Mabel Lake provincial Park sits at the South end of Mabel Lake and is a very popular spot for the trailer and motorhome set. 81 Vehicle sites, good boat launching, swimming and playgrounds combine to lure thousands of visitors every summer, especially when the Spring Salmon move into the lake in July and August. Even when the Salmon are absent however Mabel is known for good fishing for large Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, Whitefish and Kokanee. Trolling is most popular but try fly fishing with fry patterns around the creek mouths in early spring.
As always, check the fresh water fishing regulations before you fish any unfamiliar waters and if you haven't called ahead, watch for roadside signs in the village of Lumby advising as to the availability of campsites in this popular park. As of this writing single campsite reservations are not possible.
Cascade Falls
These approachable and very scenic waterfalls are reached by foot up a short, 500 foot trail that leads from the centre of a sharp U-shaped corner approximately 15K from Mabel Lake Provincial Park. Look for an unmarked two car parking area in the middle of the corner. The trail is not really suitable for those with walking difficulties but anybody else with moderate fitness should be fine. Take the trail to the left, the right hand trail leads to an outhouse and small picnic facilities.
The falls themselves spread a thin veil of water over a mossy rock face approximately 25 meters high into a shallow pool. For the classic waterfall picture, put your camera on a tripod and set your shutter to the slowest speed it will go. Digital cameras allow you to experiment a little until you get one you are happy with. Late spring is the best time to view Cascade Falls. Don't leave your camera in the spray too long!
Mystic Beach Trail
About two Kilometres North of Cascade falls, you will see a tree on the left completely covered in footwear of all descriptions. This is the head of the Mystic Beach trail. The short path down to the water is full of surprises including a small log cabin housing Goldilocks and the Three Bears, strange sculptures made of bones and moss, fantasy castles, bat houses, spider webs, old dolls in various degrees of decrepitude, and tiny wooden furniture. Almost everything else that can be imagined and some that can't will be seen here. There is even an “Inukshuk garden” along the shoreline at the end of the trail. This trail is not a commercial venture nor is it commercially slick but it is moody and interesting and it is lovingly maintained by those that add to it. If you visit, take nothing and damage nothing, a lot of people, many of them children have worked hard to make this enchanting little trail what it is.
Shuswap Falls, Wilsey Dam
The Wilsey Dam was originally constructed in 1929 by the West Canadian Hydro Electric Corporation. The dam was built as a “run of the river” type project at the site of the 21 meter Shuswap Falls with a spillway constructed just to the North of the falls. Later a reservoir was constructed by damming the outlet of Sugar Lake which added another 5.2 MW of generating capacity to the Wilsey site. The Wilsey Dam supplied most of the power for the North Okanagan for 22 years until 1951 and is still in operation today.
Today the Shuswap falls recreation site offers a large picnic area, 40 car parking, a hiking and canoe portage trail, viewing platforms and restroom facilities. Visit the Wilsey Dam in late spring for the most dramatic photos of the spillway in full flow directly beneath the raised viewing platform. The river is fenced off but dogs will have no trouble getting through to the river if they have a mind to and if they fall into the strong current, there would be little possibility of a rescue so please keep your pets on a leash in this scenic historic park.
A Breathe of Fresh Air High Above the Shuswap River
Story by Trevor Shpeley
Photos by Travis Shpeley
I was pretty sure what I was looking at was a bear. It was cinnamon brown, it was big, round and hairy and it seemed to only have one ear. I gave it a second look and with a subtle shift in perception I realized I was looking at the back end of a bear while the front end was totally engrossed in ripping apart a rotten cedar log that was lying on the ground just off the Silver Hills Forest Service Road.
I stopped the truck to get a good look and after a quick stand up survey from the hungry bruin it was obvious that the bear ranked me only slightly above a Hamster in terms of the potential threat and danger I represented and with a contemptuous snort the unconcerned bear went back to his grubs or whatever tasty bug was on the menu that day. After watching him for quite awhile, I continued my drive around the wildlife-rich Squaw Valley/Silver Hills FSR loop confident that the bear was not the last forest creature I would be observing that day.
At just 50 kilometres long, the Squaw Valley/Silver Hills route is the perfect length for a day trip to escape the stale air and sullen heat of the Provincial campground in the valley below and enjoy a few hours of fresh cool breeze, animal viewing and maybe a little fishing or canoeing. For those who would like to stay awhile there are some limited opportunities for rustic overnight camping on some of the waters discussed here but it would be a bit of a stretch to call this a major camping destination due to the sometimes difficult access and the lack of full facilities at most of the small recreation sites.
It would also be a little optimistic to treat the lakes in this area as serious fishing destinations. That's not to say the fish aren't willing or that they aren't a joy to catch, especially the colourful little Brook Trout in Kathy Lake, it's just that the short growing season and limited nutrients in these waters tend toward adult fish being somewhat smaller though no less feisty than their cousins in the lower level, more fertile lakes.
If you are planning to fish, all the usual suspects apply. Leeches, Balanced Woolly Buggers, Mayfly Nymphs, Chironomids, Bloodworms and Sedge patterns all work well. The hatches are all delayed due to altitude and there are still plenty of sedges fluttering around in mid August.
Starting from Mabel Lake Road, ten kilometres North of the bridge across the Shuswap and six kilometres South of Mabel lake provincial park, the Squaw Valley road heads East into the forest from a small bridge across Mabel Lake Road beside a large sign for the Silver Hills Lifestyles resort. Old and yet still functioning iron irrigation pipes leading from a small water control dam are visible from the road as you climb through the Birch and Pine trees that line the creek tumbling down to it's rendezvous with the Shuswap River in the farmland below.
Before long the narrow creek valley opens up onto the working lands of the Squaw Valley ranch. Open hay fields and fenced pasture have been carved from the rolling hills and a large first nations inspired carving announces your entry to the ranch proper. People and animals live and work on both sides of the road so please watch your speed and be alert to unexpected company on the road you are sharing with these permanent residents.
Shortly after you leave the ranch you cross the parking area of the Lumby/Mabel Lake Snowmobile Club and face a choice of roads to your left and right. For the purposes of this article you want to take the road that climbs off to your right, the road identified on maps as the Silver Hills FSR but somewhat confusedly signed as the “Ireland Creek FSR on the road itself. Disregard the disagreement between the map books and the roadside sign and begin the long climb up the switchbacks from the valley bottom to the 4300 foot top of the ridge-line that separates the Mabel Lake valley to the West from the Sugar Lake basin in the East. The climb will be fine for any vehicle with reasonable clearance but a moment or two of inattention could result in a long lonely walk back down the mountain to the nearest phone.
Wildflowers carpet the road as you climb out of the valley and the Pine, Birch and Aspen of the lowlands give over to the towering Hemlock and Cedars of the ridge top. The forest floor goes from hard and dry to soft and mossy and small burbling streams cross under the road at frequent intervals.
Eventually you will reach the top of the ridge and it is possible to look behind you into Mabel lake and the lower Shuswap river while in front of you, Sugar Lake and the Upper Shuswap river valley can be seen in the distance. Picture yourself in the open space near the bottom of a capital “U” with the Shuswap river being the “U”. Spectacular panoramic pictures are possible but to get a good one you would want to time your visit to occur sometime outside of the forest fire season or the smoke in the valleys will make great pictures impossible.
Approximately 20 kilometres from the beginning of the road an unmarked side road heads off to your left and up the hill to Sigalet and Haggkvist lakes. The road to this point has been bumpy but fully passable by any vehicle with reasonable clearance. The road to Sigalet is fine with any high clearance two wheel drive but if you should decide to visit Haggkvist Lake by means of the short access road that splits off to the right about a kilometre up the Sigalet Lake road, you must, and I can't emphasize the word “must” enough, have a very competent four wheel drive vehicle. The road is very rough, very tight and involves a rock climb which would quickly tear the drive-train out of any vehicle not up to the task of navigating it. There are no campsites at the lake, no real boat launch and precious little room to turn around which should be OK because you aren't getting a trailer in there anyway.
For most people Haggkvist is best left as a walk-in lake however if you are observant and pay careful attention to clues on the roadside and the screen of your GPS, you may just find a hidden trail or two leading off the Sigalet Lake road that will save the adventurous float tuber a lot of walking and wear and tear on the truck.
Sigalet lake is a gorgeous little lake first thing in the morning when the fog is thick off the mirror smooth water and crisp window panes of ice trace the edge of the crude boat launch as is common for much of the short season. There are two or three small camp spots at this tiny rec site and trailering in a cartopper is no problem. The water is very clear and a depth finder is useful for mapping out the detailed bottom structure along the shoreline. Anchoring and casting works very well as does trolling a small leach or Mayfly nymph.
Back down on the main FSR assuming you haven't left your vehicle on the Haggkvist lake road as a permanent monument to your inability to heed a strongly worded warning, the road meanders about about the top of the ridge, passing through prime bear and Moose territory before beginning it's gentle drop back down the mountainside. Free ranging cattle are everywhere and as likely to be in the middle of the road as off it. When you come to them just drive up to them very slowly, they will eventually move out of the way once they realize you aren't the truck with the hay.
As in any backroad adventure, a GPS and a backroads mapbook will not only ease your navigation tasks, they will raise the level of your enjoyment, exposing you to sights and features you would drive right past without even being aware of them otherwise. Such is the case here for as you begin to head back down the hill you will spy on your screen a medium sized lake sliding by just to your left with no visible indications of it's existence. It will seem like you are driving away from the lake but not to worry, you will come back to it.
Ignore the tempting old grown-over fire road you come across that seems to lead straight to the lake and continue on until you come to another well travelled FSR that turns back almost 180 degrees to the road you are on, this is the Sugar/Holstien FSR.. Take that road for a half a kilometre or so and you will find a rough road heading up the hill to your left and your mapbook and GPS will confirm that this is the road that goes to Holstien lake. While not as severe as the road to Haggkvist, this is still not a road to be attempted in your family car especially one you might have some sort of attachment to. High clearance 2WD is good, 4x4 would be better especially if the road is wet.
Holstien lake is a relatively small piece of water, bordered in rich green grasses and open to the sky on all sides. There are a couple of decent unimproved camp sites at the end of the short access road but no other facilities. Holstien Lake would be a great place to just drift in a canoe with nothing but the sound of the wind and the occasional moose grazing the marshy shoreline for company. There are fish in this seldom visited water and there are even rumours of large fish being spotted but you couldn't prove it by me from the several trips I have made here. The smaller fish are tons of fun and there are worse ways to spend an afternoon.
Once you get back to the main road it's only about another kilometre to Kathy Lake. Kathy has Brook Trout and Rainbows and they both come readily to the fly. The water is crystal clear and extensive mats of weeds are visible along the bottom making cruising fish tougher to spot but also pretty much guaranteeing they will be there eventually. The Brook trout in the fall move up into the shallower water and even the smallest fish look like a Van Gogh painting when you get them into your net.
The Campground at Kathy Lake is the largest in the area with four or five spots. There are hiking trails in the bushes around the lake and quad trails in the vicinity.
The rest of the road down to where it joins Sigalet Road on the valley bottom is gentle switchbacks with the occasional eye opener of a drop to the creek bed to keep you on your toes. A picture perfect view of the surrounding farmland and the hills above Mabel lake presents itself shortly after you hit pavement and would make a great postcard to show your friends back in the dreary city. Sigalet Road deposits you back on Mabel Lake Road, two kilometres South of your starting point.
Quick side trips in the immediate area
Mabel Lake Provincial Park
Mabel Lake provincial Park sits at the South end of Mabel Lake and is a very popular spot for the trailer and motorhome set. 81 Vehicle sites, good boat launching, swimming and playgrounds combine to lure thousands of visitors every summer, especially when the Spring Salmon move into the lake in July and August. Even when the Salmon are absent however Mabel is known for good fishing for large Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Lake Trout, Whitefish and Kokanee. Trolling is most popular but try fly fishing with fry patterns around the creek mouths in early spring.
As always, check the fresh water fishing regulations before you fish any unfamiliar waters and if you haven't called ahead, watch for roadside signs in the village of Lumby advising as to the availability of campsites in this popular park. As of this writing single campsite reservations are not possible.
Cascade Falls
These approachable and very scenic waterfalls are reached by foot up a short, 500 foot trail that leads from the centre of a sharp U-shaped corner approximately 15K from Mabel Lake Provincial Park. Look for an unmarked two car parking area in the middle of the corner. The trail is not really suitable for those with walking difficulties but anybody else with moderate fitness should be fine. Take the trail to the left, the right hand trail leads to an outhouse and small picnic facilities.
The falls themselves spread a thin veil of water over a mossy rock face approximately 25 meters high into a shallow pool. For the classic waterfall picture, put your camera on a tripod and set your shutter to the slowest speed it will go. Digital cameras allow you to experiment a little until you get one you are happy with. Late spring is the best time to view Cascade Falls. Don't leave your camera in the spray too long!
Mystic Beach Trail
About two Kilometres North of Cascade falls, you will see a tree on the left completely covered in footwear of all descriptions. This is the head of the Mystic Beach trail. The short path down to the water is full of surprises including a small log cabin housing Goldilocks and the Three Bears, strange sculptures made of bones and moss, fantasy castles, bat houses, spider webs, old dolls in various degrees of decrepitude, and tiny wooden furniture. Almost everything else that can be imagined and some that can't will be seen here. There is even an “Inukshuk garden” along the shoreline at the end of the trail. This trail is not a commercial venture nor is it commercially slick but it is moody and interesting and it is lovingly maintained by those that add to it. If you visit, take nothing and damage nothing, a lot of people, many of them children have worked hard to make this enchanting little trail what it is.
Shuswap Falls, Wilsey Dam
The Wilsey Dam was originally constructed in 1929 by the West Canadian Hydro Electric Corporation. The dam was built as a “run of the river” type project at the site of the 21 meter Shuswap Falls with a spillway constructed just to the North of the falls. Later a reservoir was constructed by damming the outlet of Sugar Lake which added another 5.2 MW of generating capacity to the Wilsey site. The Wilsey Dam supplied most of the power for the North Okanagan for 22 years until 1951 and is still in operation today.
Today the Shuswap falls recreation site offers a large picnic area, 40 car parking, a hiking and canoe portage trail, viewing platforms and restroom facilities. Visit the Wilsey Dam in late spring for the most dramatic photos of the spillway in full flow directly beneath the raised viewing platform. The river is fenced off but dogs will have no trouble getting through to the river if they have a mind to and if they fall into the strong current, there would be little possibility of a rescue so please keep your pets on a leash in this scenic historic park.
The Cowboy Way - Published BC Outdoors, Nov/Dec2010
The Cowboy Way
Riding on the Trail of the Original Bucket Brigade
Story and photos by
Trevor Shpeley
“I wonder if that guy sees me?” was my nervous thought as I watched the grill of the huge Ford get larger and my chances of collecting old age pension get smaller. It didn't really seem reasonable that he hadn't seen me given that my 250 pound self was perched fairly high off the ground on the seat of my 400 pound motorcycle which had all my camping and fishing gear piled on top of it like some sort of hillbilly moving van. There was that and the fact that while the bike was wearing a subdued and tasteful green, I was wearing a bright yellow jacket that could probably be seen from space.
That wouldn't be the last time on this trip to trace the footsteps of the original Kamloops fish planters that I would have a sudden yearning for the comfort, payload and ability to soak up the impact of a large domestic automobile that the 4x4 sitting at home in my driveway offered.
My mission hastily conceived on a cold winter’s night over Christmas ale and a copy of Steve Raymond's iconic book, “Kamloops, an Anglers Study of the Kamloops Trout” was to try and experience the lakes of the Southern Interior Plataea in a way that was at least similar to the way the early pioneers might have. In other words, I wanted to be out in the open, exposed to the weather with my bed roll and fishing rod tied to the saddle behind me in a tidy yet manly way while I rode with my face in the wind, making my way from one lake to the next stopping only to fish, drink strong coffee and sleep under the stars while coyotes howled and the fire crackled merrily.
That was the theory anyway. The reality is, I don't own a horse. In fact, I have an unspoken agreement with the equine community that I will make no effort whatsoever to climb onto one of their backs and they in turn will refrain from biting, kicking or otherwise maiming me in any way. I do however own a motorcycle, in fact I own a bunch of them and one in particular, my 30 year old BMW seemed like the perfect steed for the task. It's reliable, it can carry a lot of gear and most importantly, it doesn't bite.
In Mr Raymond's book, he tells the story of how in 1812, the year that Fort Kamloops was built, the Kamloops trout as we know them today were limited to a small number of local lakes. They are all waters that are now or were at one time connected to the ocean and had been colonized by migrating Steelhead traveling inland from the Pacific Ocean and spawning offspring that were much less enthusiastic about the long swim back to the coast than their parents had been.
The fishing was fantastic for these huge silver trout and in time, the colonists started to wonder what would happen if they were to plant these hard fighting, fast growing fish in the hundreds of mostly barren lakes that dot the Southern Interior Plateau. They did this, both officially and unofficially on horseback with buckets full of fish kept alive on the long journeys by frequent water changes and tender loving care. After they had placed a bunch of fry or a handful of mature fish in a lake they would go back to their farms to wait and see what happened.
What happened was pandemonium. The fish fed wildly on the huge supply of food in the fertile lakes and grew to unheard of sizes in unheard of numbers. Incredible fishing stories from those times are still spoken of in hushed tones around campfires today. A commercial fishery flourished briefly and suddenly, people were coming to the interior of BC for recreation and not just cows, trains or shiny rocks. Resorts sprang up, guiding became a good way to make a living and the fame of the Kamloops trout spread.
For thirty years the industry boomed and then over time, settled into the quieter, yet still world famous fishery we know today.
And that brings us back to the here and now. Now being the summer of 2010 and here being the left hand turn lane at the intersection of HWY 5 and Paul Lake rd. The big Ford is getting closer and I'm watching the eyes of the gentleman at the wheel for some sign that he sees me and understands that he doesn't really need to cut the corner and turn yours-truly into an unsightly road stain. That recognition finally comes and with a mighty squeal of unhappy brakes I am granted reprieve and allowed to continue my trek down the pathways of my long passed benefactors.
The route I chose included lakes that would have been within a few days travel for the early Kamloops fisherman and would also have played a significant role in the early spread of Kamloops trout across the plateau. I decided to start in town, ride out to Paul and Pinantan lakes, double back and head up the hill to Knouff, go back down into town, ride north to Kamloops Lake, and then cross over the hills to Lac le Jeune.
Paul Lake was one of the first lakes stocked by the government in their efforts to extend the range of the Kamloops trout. In 1908 they planted 5000 fry from the Shuswap into the lake and within a short time the now mature adults were spawning in the tributary streams and a vigorous fishery was born. A road was built in 1924 to accommodate people tired of bushwhacking into their new favourite lake and as I guide the bike through the ravines and tangled Birch groves I have no difficulty picturing this same trip taken in a wagon full of happy campers.
Things have changed a bit in the hundred years since the days of that first planting. People still fish Paul and Pinantan lakes and big fish still swim in those waters but the areas recreational qualities such as the large Provincial campground, beach and picnic area and the cottages that surround the lakes have taken over from the hard core fisherman. Today Paul and Pinantan lakes have become favourite vacation spots for Kamloops residents as perhaps they were even a century ago.
As charming as this area is it wasn't really what I was looking for in terms of fishing and camping in a rustic “old-timey” way so I didn't even get off the bike, instead I turned around and headed up the road to Knouff Lake.
In 1917 it took Len Phillips and his son five days to carry a bucket full of trout from Paul Lake up to Knouff Lake. It didn't take me quite that long, in fact it probably took the Philips longer to hitch up their horses and convince them that carrying heavy buckets of water up a hill for the better part of a week was a good idea than it took me to ride the short distance up HWY 5 to the turnoff for Knouff.
The Philips released nine mature trout into Knouff Lake that were then left to do their thing for three years and when a party of locals finally made their way back up to the lake to see if any of the trout had survived they were astounded by the numbers and size of the fish they found. Many fish over 15 pounds were caught that first day and within a few years, Knouff Lake became famous for perhaps the best lake dry fly fishing in the world.
I've fished Knouff many times so I knew better than to believe I was going to find fish the size of Harbour Seals slashing at giant Sedges on the day I arrived at the recreation site down the road from the tidy modern resort at the tip of the lake. My faithful BMW was perfectly happy cruising up the dirt road from the valley below but I was glad it hadn't rained and turned the dirt into the slick mud the area is so well known for.
I put up my old tent, the one optimistically rated for “two men,” which might actually be true provided one of the men was 22 inches tall and weighed eight pounds. It's not exactly sleeping under the stars but I could see the stars through the hole a Chipmunk up at the Cathedral Lakes had chewed on its way to my stash of sesame snaps. A total fire ban meant there would be no crackling blaze to lull me to sleep but that's OK, I was still getting plenty of heat from the burn on my leg where it had touched the BMW's hot exhaust pipe while I untied my tidy yet manly bedroll. Apparently my bike bites after all.
I looked out at the lake and then I looked back at the float tube tied to the back of the Beemer. Then I looked at the tiny bicycle pump I had brought to inflate the floattube and decided that it just wouldn't be right for me to harass the descendents of the Philips first fish so instead I squeezed a goodly portion of myself into the tent which had seemed so roomy just 20 short years ago and settled in to sleep under a sky I was sure hadn't changed at all since the first man lay down beside this lake and marvelled at the sight of it.
The next morning, still undecided as to whether or not cavorting teenagers were roughly equivalent to howling coyotes, I loaded up the bike and rode down into sleepy Kamloops for a Bagel and a Double Double. Thus fortified in the traditional cowboy way, I roared up the hill out of town and turned North along the huge lake that started it all.
You don't even have squint to imagine Kamloops Lake as it looked two hundred years ago. The ancestry of the grass and sage you see today could probably be traced plant by plant back through time immemorial. Stare at the windswept water and lonely hills long enough and you begin to understand what a brief blip in time we men occupy and how quickly we will be erased after we are gone. I find it hard to imagine a more suitable location for the birth of a legendary fish and I am mystified by the endless lines of motor-homes and transport trucks that stream by without even seeming to see it.
The road through the hills past Tunkwa, Leighton and Logan lakes is a delight on the bike. I glance longingly at Tunkwa through the trees with its grasslands reserve, feral horses and epic Bomber hatch and regretfully continue south to Lac Le Jeune. My newly discovered aversion to performing the twenty or thirty thousand strokes it would take for my small emergency pump to make my floattube seaworthy have made me shift the focus of this trip away from fishing and into pure sightseeing. If I hurry I can still get home with enough time off to grab my truck and get back out here for some fishing that doesn't involve more exercise than playing ping pong with a troop of caffeinated spider monkeys.
I've been to Lac Le Jeune before so I knew what to expect. The large provincial campground has been ravaged by the Mountain Pine Beetle but it is still a nice quiet place for family camping thanks to the vigilance of the Parks staff. The lake is ringed in cottages and private resorts and bucket sized swirls in the water attest to the fact that LLJ still fishes well.
It's been a long time since Lac Le Jeune was known as Fish Lake and supported a commercial fishery where a good fisherman could pull in $500 a month trolling for Kamloops Trout. There are accounts of incredible catches and nobody ever had too much trouble catching their 50 fish per day limit. Well I'm here to tell you those days are long gone and I for one am thankful. It's hard to picture Lac Le Jeune as it was back in those heady days but its pretty nice now and what would I do with 50 fish anyway?
On the ride back to Vernon I found myself reminiscing about my all too short trip through old Kamloops and I wondered if those early pioneers had any idea or real appreciation of what an amazing gift they had received in those first few years after they had sprinkled Trout across the Interior like Jonny Appleseed on a cider binge. Then I think back to the pictures of the smiling men and women with their long greenheart rods and planks covered with fish and I think, “Oh yeah, they knew alright”
Riding on the Trail of the Original Bucket Brigade
Story and photos by
Trevor Shpeley
“I wonder if that guy sees me?” was my nervous thought as I watched the grill of the huge Ford get larger and my chances of collecting old age pension get smaller. It didn't really seem reasonable that he hadn't seen me given that my 250 pound self was perched fairly high off the ground on the seat of my 400 pound motorcycle which had all my camping and fishing gear piled on top of it like some sort of hillbilly moving van. There was that and the fact that while the bike was wearing a subdued and tasteful green, I was wearing a bright yellow jacket that could probably be seen from space.
That wouldn't be the last time on this trip to trace the footsteps of the original Kamloops fish planters that I would have a sudden yearning for the comfort, payload and ability to soak up the impact of a large domestic automobile that the 4x4 sitting at home in my driveway offered.
My mission hastily conceived on a cold winter’s night over Christmas ale and a copy of Steve Raymond's iconic book, “Kamloops, an Anglers Study of the Kamloops Trout” was to try and experience the lakes of the Southern Interior Plataea in a way that was at least similar to the way the early pioneers might have. In other words, I wanted to be out in the open, exposed to the weather with my bed roll and fishing rod tied to the saddle behind me in a tidy yet manly way while I rode with my face in the wind, making my way from one lake to the next stopping only to fish, drink strong coffee and sleep under the stars while coyotes howled and the fire crackled merrily.
That was the theory anyway. The reality is, I don't own a horse. In fact, I have an unspoken agreement with the equine community that I will make no effort whatsoever to climb onto one of their backs and they in turn will refrain from biting, kicking or otherwise maiming me in any way. I do however own a motorcycle, in fact I own a bunch of them and one in particular, my 30 year old BMW seemed like the perfect steed for the task. It's reliable, it can carry a lot of gear and most importantly, it doesn't bite.
In Mr Raymond's book, he tells the story of how in 1812, the year that Fort Kamloops was built, the Kamloops trout as we know them today were limited to a small number of local lakes. They are all waters that are now or were at one time connected to the ocean and had been colonized by migrating Steelhead traveling inland from the Pacific Ocean and spawning offspring that were much less enthusiastic about the long swim back to the coast than their parents had been.
The fishing was fantastic for these huge silver trout and in time, the colonists started to wonder what would happen if they were to plant these hard fighting, fast growing fish in the hundreds of mostly barren lakes that dot the Southern Interior Plateau. They did this, both officially and unofficially on horseback with buckets full of fish kept alive on the long journeys by frequent water changes and tender loving care. After they had placed a bunch of fry or a handful of mature fish in a lake they would go back to their farms to wait and see what happened.
What happened was pandemonium. The fish fed wildly on the huge supply of food in the fertile lakes and grew to unheard of sizes in unheard of numbers. Incredible fishing stories from those times are still spoken of in hushed tones around campfires today. A commercial fishery flourished briefly and suddenly, people were coming to the interior of BC for recreation and not just cows, trains or shiny rocks. Resorts sprang up, guiding became a good way to make a living and the fame of the Kamloops trout spread.
For thirty years the industry boomed and then over time, settled into the quieter, yet still world famous fishery we know today.
And that brings us back to the here and now. Now being the summer of 2010 and here being the left hand turn lane at the intersection of HWY 5 and Paul Lake rd. The big Ford is getting closer and I'm watching the eyes of the gentleman at the wheel for some sign that he sees me and understands that he doesn't really need to cut the corner and turn yours-truly into an unsightly road stain. That recognition finally comes and with a mighty squeal of unhappy brakes I am granted reprieve and allowed to continue my trek down the pathways of my long passed benefactors.
The route I chose included lakes that would have been within a few days travel for the early Kamloops fisherman and would also have played a significant role in the early spread of Kamloops trout across the plateau. I decided to start in town, ride out to Paul and Pinantan lakes, double back and head up the hill to Knouff, go back down into town, ride north to Kamloops Lake, and then cross over the hills to Lac le Jeune.
Paul Lake was one of the first lakes stocked by the government in their efforts to extend the range of the Kamloops trout. In 1908 they planted 5000 fry from the Shuswap into the lake and within a short time the now mature adults were spawning in the tributary streams and a vigorous fishery was born. A road was built in 1924 to accommodate people tired of bushwhacking into their new favourite lake and as I guide the bike through the ravines and tangled Birch groves I have no difficulty picturing this same trip taken in a wagon full of happy campers.
Things have changed a bit in the hundred years since the days of that first planting. People still fish Paul and Pinantan lakes and big fish still swim in those waters but the areas recreational qualities such as the large Provincial campground, beach and picnic area and the cottages that surround the lakes have taken over from the hard core fisherman. Today Paul and Pinantan lakes have become favourite vacation spots for Kamloops residents as perhaps they were even a century ago.
As charming as this area is it wasn't really what I was looking for in terms of fishing and camping in a rustic “old-timey” way so I didn't even get off the bike, instead I turned around and headed up the road to Knouff Lake.
In 1917 it took Len Phillips and his son five days to carry a bucket full of trout from Paul Lake up to Knouff Lake. It didn't take me quite that long, in fact it probably took the Philips longer to hitch up their horses and convince them that carrying heavy buckets of water up a hill for the better part of a week was a good idea than it took me to ride the short distance up HWY 5 to the turnoff for Knouff.
The Philips released nine mature trout into Knouff Lake that were then left to do their thing for three years and when a party of locals finally made their way back up to the lake to see if any of the trout had survived they were astounded by the numbers and size of the fish they found. Many fish over 15 pounds were caught that first day and within a few years, Knouff Lake became famous for perhaps the best lake dry fly fishing in the world.
I've fished Knouff many times so I knew better than to believe I was going to find fish the size of Harbour Seals slashing at giant Sedges on the day I arrived at the recreation site down the road from the tidy modern resort at the tip of the lake. My faithful BMW was perfectly happy cruising up the dirt road from the valley below but I was glad it hadn't rained and turned the dirt into the slick mud the area is so well known for.
I put up my old tent, the one optimistically rated for “two men,” which might actually be true provided one of the men was 22 inches tall and weighed eight pounds. It's not exactly sleeping under the stars but I could see the stars through the hole a Chipmunk up at the Cathedral Lakes had chewed on its way to my stash of sesame snaps. A total fire ban meant there would be no crackling blaze to lull me to sleep but that's OK, I was still getting plenty of heat from the burn on my leg where it had touched the BMW's hot exhaust pipe while I untied my tidy yet manly bedroll. Apparently my bike bites after all.
I looked out at the lake and then I looked back at the float tube tied to the back of the Beemer. Then I looked at the tiny bicycle pump I had brought to inflate the floattube and decided that it just wouldn't be right for me to harass the descendents of the Philips first fish so instead I squeezed a goodly portion of myself into the tent which had seemed so roomy just 20 short years ago and settled in to sleep under a sky I was sure hadn't changed at all since the first man lay down beside this lake and marvelled at the sight of it.
The next morning, still undecided as to whether or not cavorting teenagers were roughly equivalent to howling coyotes, I loaded up the bike and rode down into sleepy Kamloops for a Bagel and a Double Double. Thus fortified in the traditional cowboy way, I roared up the hill out of town and turned North along the huge lake that started it all.
You don't even have squint to imagine Kamloops Lake as it looked two hundred years ago. The ancestry of the grass and sage you see today could probably be traced plant by plant back through time immemorial. Stare at the windswept water and lonely hills long enough and you begin to understand what a brief blip in time we men occupy and how quickly we will be erased after we are gone. I find it hard to imagine a more suitable location for the birth of a legendary fish and I am mystified by the endless lines of motor-homes and transport trucks that stream by without even seeming to see it.
The road through the hills past Tunkwa, Leighton and Logan lakes is a delight on the bike. I glance longingly at Tunkwa through the trees with its grasslands reserve, feral horses and epic Bomber hatch and regretfully continue south to Lac Le Jeune. My newly discovered aversion to performing the twenty or thirty thousand strokes it would take for my small emergency pump to make my floattube seaworthy have made me shift the focus of this trip away from fishing and into pure sightseeing. If I hurry I can still get home with enough time off to grab my truck and get back out here for some fishing that doesn't involve more exercise than playing ping pong with a troop of caffeinated spider monkeys.
I've been to Lac Le Jeune before so I knew what to expect. The large provincial campground has been ravaged by the Mountain Pine Beetle but it is still a nice quiet place for family camping thanks to the vigilance of the Parks staff. The lake is ringed in cottages and private resorts and bucket sized swirls in the water attest to the fact that LLJ still fishes well.
It's been a long time since Lac Le Jeune was known as Fish Lake and supported a commercial fishery where a good fisherman could pull in $500 a month trolling for Kamloops Trout. There are accounts of incredible catches and nobody ever had too much trouble catching their 50 fish per day limit. Well I'm here to tell you those days are long gone and I for one am thankful. It's hard to picture Lac Le Jeune as it was back in those heady days but its pretty nice now and what would I do with 50 fish anyway?
On the ride back to Vernon I found myself reminiscing about my all too short trip through old Kamloops and I wondered if those early pioneers had any idea or real appreciation of what an amazing gift they had received in those first few years after they had sprinkled Trout across the Interior like Jonny Appleseed on a cider binge. Then I think back to the pictures of the smiling men and women with their long greenheart rods and planks covered with fish and I think, “Oh yeah, they knew alright”
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