Tuesday, August 30:
We repacked the vehicles…no small task as we had a jumble of gear….. and left the Riverhouse at 9AM headed for Fernie, British Columbia.
A stop for breakfast at the Montana Grill. Gassed up the rigs and washed the Jeep. Gas was $2.48 when we arrived in Libby, it was now $2.89.
East from Libby on Hwy 37 we see a couple dozen turkeys along the road, then north on 37 along the east side of Lake Koocanusa to the town of Rexford, turning north on Hwy. 93 at Eureka to Roosville the boarder crossing into Canada. 74 miles from Libby to Roosville. A quick stop at the Duty Free Store nets MS a good bottles of Cognac and Bailey’s Irish Cream at great prices. T he store is a bit sleazy however, not sure what it would be like in the evening but everyone’s got make a living somehow! We’ve all got our passports so the boarder crossing goes smooth.
Continuing on Hwy. 93 the posted speed signs change from 65 mph to 100…..klicks that is….60 mph. At Elko we turn east on Hwy. 3 to Fernie. We cross the Elk River where it flows into Lake Koocanusa, it’s braided, full of logs and looks pretty fishy. Further up the road the gets steeper and more mountainous. A sign along the road that attracts our attention. The sign lists the numbers of animals killed along this section of road; Bear – 8, Moose – 4, Elk – 38, Deer – 71, Bighorn Sheep – 6. Amazing!!
As we pull into Fernie we’re taken by the beautiful setting of the town. Towering, rugged, continental divide mountains, green at the base, dusted with snow at the summits surround the town with the Elk River flowing right through town. It’s a post card setting! On the way into town we took a side trip into Old Town Fernie, a quaint section of the original town.
Tim Linehan suggest we stop at the Elk River Fly Shop (P.O. Box 568, 791- 7th Ave., Fernie, B.C.)(www.elkriver.ca , ned@elkriver.ca ), we did, and met the owner Ned Cooper. Ned’s a great guy with a strong conservation background. We bought lots of flies based on his suggestions & picked up 8 day B.C. licenses ($53 Canadian) & two days of conservation permits that allow us to fish the Elk River drainage. ($21. Canadian /person / day). AM picks up a pair of neoprene wet-wading sox, which turn out to be a great investment, AM reports they work well.
Suggested flies were: Blue-wing Olive, size 14,16,18, Olive & Sulfur Comparadun, Hoppers, Beetles, Ants
Ned also gave us lots of tips on fishing the local area, and reminded us that BC only allows single flies, no Hopper/Dropper rigs. The best access to fish the Elk is located between the tunnel south of town and Fernie. There’s also good fishing right in town. He also mentioned we should try Stream X.
We call it Stream X because it’s so good & the fish are so big that we’re afraid that too much attention might end up causing the stream to be loved to death. We’re not being stingy with great fishing waters, but in this case, if you want to know where Stream X is, we’d prefer that you contact Ned at the Elk River Fly Shop…..he’ll tell you.
The trip odometers on the rigs show, JR’s Jeep 885 miles from Seattle and AM’s van with 905 miles.
After leaving Ned’s shop we went looking for a place to stay. JR suggested a nice looking place right next to the Elk River we’d seen on way into town. The group wasn’t sure it was worth the drive back to the place as it was pretty fancy and would likely cost a fortune. As we pulled into the driveway of the Riverside Mountain Lodge we notice a sign in from that said "Room from $59". Well, we’ve all seen those signs before and the last $59 room just sold just before you walked in. We were pleasantly surprised when the YG Finance Team/Treasurer (MS) negotiated a $59 room rate ($48 US). We took three rooms.
With that done, we quickly moved our non-fishing gear into our rooms and headed out to find a place to fish. With a quick lunch at A&W Rootbeer, a gas & ice stop we were off to Stream X which on the an access road for the Elk Valley Coal Company (http://www.elkvalleycoal.ca/cache/page_1258.html ). Ned had told us that Stream X had large Cutthroat in it, but when we arrive, the stream was pretty small, so small in fact that AB didn’t bother to put on his boots, put on his vest or take a net. He just picked up his Orvis 2 wt. with a size 18 Royal Wolf and walked down to a nice looking chute and made a cast…..fully expecting fish in the 12" neighborhood in the small water.
Halfway thru the first drift, a huge fish takes a swing & a miss at AB’s fly. AB couldn’t believe his eyes! A second cast produced the same result, a second HUGE fish, swing & miss.
AB knew he was out-gunned with the 2 wt. and no net so he ran back to the van yelling; "You won’t believe the size of the fish I just saw!" AB put on his boots, vest, picked up a 24" Orvis net & his 5wt Orvis T3 tipped with a brown rubber-legged Stimulator.
Back at the hole, MS & JR watched as AB made the first cast…..BAMM!….a huge Cutt smashed the fly. JR asked if I needed help landing the fish in the fast water and I soon realized I did need help with this fish. MS manned the camera. After a 12 minute battle, with the fish coming to the net 5 times only to power his way back into the current, the fish came to the net. Holy Cow!! This is a beautiful 3 lb. Cutthroat! After a quick picture, the fish was quickly revived and swam back into his hole. High 5’s all around, AB was shaking….that was a big, thick fish! I think part of the thrill was finding such a large fish in such small waters….totally unexpected.
Meanwhile AM reported catching several nice Cutts down lower in the stream although the water seemed very thin.
JR wandered upstream to the next good-looking water. Armed with an Orvis T3, 5wt, 2pc., he cast his Royal Stimulator above a large rock that flowed into a classic bucket below the rock. As the fly rounded the rock onto the seam at the edge of hole, a massive trout moved out of the depths and inhaled his fly! JR set the hook and the fight was on….until the fish dove back into the rocks….in the process nicking the leader….he was gone. Oh No! That was the biggest trout I’ve ever seen!
Several more casts over the fish produced no result.
AB, JR, AM & MS walked upriver fishing many good-looking pieces of water to no avail. We changed flies and changed flies again, not one rise. Black Beetle - Humph…what’s going on here?
GK continued to fish downstream with some luck on 12" fish, but as the sun started down it got pretty cool, especially with shorts & a short-sleeved shirt. At 9:30 all had returned to the vehicles….pretty much chilled to the bone. We weren’t too sure what we thought about Stream X….except AB who was ecstatic about the 3 pounder & JR who knew there was a BIG fish still out there.
Returning to the Lodge we found the restaurant closed, we went back into town and had a good dinner at
Rip n Richards Eatery. AB had the Steak sandwich, AM, GK & JR pizza, & MS Jambalaya.
As we were leaving the parking lot, AB stopped to admire a driftboat on the back of a truck and struck up a conversation with the owner. The owner reached in his truck and took out a couple copies of "Fly Fishing the West" magazine and gave me two copies. When the rest of the Gang showed up, he gave them copies also. AM mentioned our trip Tim Linehan and the boat owner said he knew him. The boat owner was Jeff Mironuck, publisher of "Fly Fishing the West"! Check out their website and magazine at www.flyfishingwest.com !! We struck up a long conversation, about our trip, the big fish we’d caught, the great time we had with Tim & how much we liked Jeff’s magazine. Jeff then said; "I have an extra drift boat, if you guys would like to borrow it, that’d be great with me!" Wow!! What an offer. Since there were 5 of us and we didn’t know the river that well we decided that the safest thing to do might be to shore fish, so we didn’t take Jeff up on the boat offer. But we would like to talk to him about a Yellowstone Gang article in the Magazine…..after all, the YG lives the life promoted in "Fly Fishing the West" magazine & I’m sure we could provide FFtW readers some good stories.