Mid-June Fishing in British Columbia
by Tim Loomis
Left Santa Cruz on June 14th for Vernon, British Columbia. Made it to Grants Pass, Oregon, just in time to feel the earthquake that hit off the coast of Crescent City, California. Arrived in British Columbia two days later and spent the night in Hope, B.C. under the looming cliffs of a majestic granite mountain with the Fraser River running swift and brown a few hundred yards (meters) away. This was my wife Sheryl's first trip to Canada. Her expectations (where were the grizzlies, moose and wolves?) of the Canadian wilds went unfulfilled as the only wildlife we encountered were a few hawks, crows and ground squirrels. The scenery, however, was magnificent. The friends we were visiting live in Vernon overlooking the Okanagan Lake valley that runs almost due south of Vernon to just north of the US border. The Okanagan Valley is a "banana belt" (similar to the Willamette Valley in Oregon) that enjoys a relatively mild climate year round.
The fly shop in Kelowna, Trout Water Supplies and its gracious owners - Savas and Nick were incredibly helpful in directing me to a nearby stillwater fishery called Kidd Lake. Remember that name. The average Kamloops trout in Kidd is over 5 lbs. That's right, and they have amazing fighting abilities to boot. It was a two hour drive to the lake that took me over the highest pass in the province on Rt. 97C. Kidd is just outside the small town of Aspen Grove that is about half an hour south of Merrit, B.C.
Being so far away from my base (about two hours away) I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the isolation. My relief came when I saw a pickup with an empty boat trailer in tow parked next to the lake. Kidd is shaped like an hourglass and the pickup's owner was fishing just outside of the waist, or bottleneck. As I approached his boat I couldn't help but admire his casting skills. Beautiful tight loops that reflected years of on the water experience. Sure enough, the closer to him I got I could see that the gent was in his late 70's/ early 80's and puffing up a cloud of tobacco smoke. He was as happy to see me as I was to have a friendly face to share the water with. We exchanged pleasantries and the usual fisherman questions. He had already landed three Kamloops earlier in the morning all in the 6 lb range. Just as I was beginning to fantasize about landing my first Canadian trout the water exploded around my fly and the dream was about to come true. About ten minutes later I had in my hands a 6.5 lb Kamloops trout that appeared to have been raised near a nuclear reactor. Its body was way out proportion to its head. It was at this time that I decided to introduce myself to the gent in the boat. He said his name was John Eisenhower and yes, he was the son of our post WWll President (and WWII ETO Allied Supreme Commander) Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Ed. Note: "Ike" retired to Gettysburg, PA for the good fly fishing for trout nearby: Falling Spring Branch, Codorus Creek, Yellow Breeches Creek, Big Spring Run, etc.)
"What in God's name were you doing up here in the middle of nowhere?" I blurted.
"Why flyfishing of course" he replied.
It took me a second to regain my composure. Wow, what a very cool situation this was, was all I could think of. My first impressions were that he was incredibly friendly and helpful and he was an outdoorsman as he had as his companion a well trained Springer Spaniel lying on the bottom of his boat. John asked where I lived and how long I was staying in B.C. We chatted for about an hour while continuing to cast. After a bit he decided to back through the bottleneck and fish a seam. I kicked around the edges of the reeds. Sometime later he called out to me "Hey California, c'mon over, the bite's starting!" He had another giant on as well. When I drew near he said that the area right off his boat was a "documented, pedigreed, well known drop off that the bruisers cruised this time of day." He was there to land one of them and within an hour and a half he brought in an 8 1/2 lb monster. Just to be exact John had a small Boga grip. John gave me a unique scud pattern that he tied and demonstrated how to fish it. By the time I left I had landed seven more and went home with one of my most memorable fishing experiences. We both left our cameras in our vehicles so this will forever remain just another fishing story.As a side note, rumors to the effect that the B.C. government was charging an added $20.00 a day fee on top of your regular license fee were unfounded in the area I visited. I paid a total of $21.40 per day for 2 days for non-resident alien permits. My options in B.C. were a 1 day permit or 5 day permit. The fly shop owners advised me to get two 1 day permits rather than spend $60.00 on the 5 day pass.