Easy to forget that there's another event we're training for: our now annual (sort of) adventure in the South Ram canyon of death. (Incidentally, anyone who has landed here having googled South Ram fly fishing -- we won't even bother with the rods this time. Just going down to take samples to assess how bad the chemical spill really is, and whether the trout population can recover within a decade, as many hope.)
Yesterday I spend a glorious -- but frustrating -- day on the day-ticket stretch of Derbyshire's Wye. Conditions were incredibly difficult: bright sunshine, low water, and clear pools.
I caught five: three rainbows, one wild; and two wild browns. All on dry or emergers. Normally, I'd be happy with that. But I missed several strikes, put down lots of fish, and the two other guys I met had success nymphing while I had none, despite having one on for half the day. Lesson: I need to learn more about nymphing.
The three firsts:
1. First day of the season. Not a bad return and I shouldn't have expected anything truly spectacular. Five fish ain't bad.
2. I fished for a long time -- 10 casts, then a break, then back -- targetting a sporadically rising big trout next to a bank across some rapid water. It was good practice for my casting and I had several hits. Of the casts, probably only 20% were sufficient to entice the fish (the different speeds of water and distance made if very hard, and the fly had to land within a foot of the very grassy bank without snagging), and of those I'd say about 50% brought him up.
Here's the first. When I finally hooked him, I began to bring him in and -- pop! -- he spat it out. As I watched him turn and head back to the depths, I saw another fish, one I hadn't even seen yet, soar in the opposite direction and nail the fly fish 1 had just spat out.
All that guff about changing you fly as soon as you've caught a fish or had your fly rejecte? Bollocks, proven in one bizarre incident.
3. Best for last. In a lovely little grove of trees I sat for a long while reading and tying on new tippet and fly. There was a tiny riff coming into a deep dark pool, which after about six feet appeared absolutely still. I'd had a look from above and seen several big chaps down deep, but new on a bright day my chances would be zero. However, for a while I watched one 12-incher faced downstream snaffling tiny flies coming from a very very slow back eddy.
I crept out on a gravel bank on my stomach. He was 10 feet away. Then, after about six attempts, I dropped a tiny BWO into the back eddy. It was the gentlest take I've ever managed, and the first time I have ever truly stalked a fish and caught him through my own grace and guile as a fisherman. I'm not sure the fish new he'd even been caught. I've never landed and handled one with such little fuss. It was a moment of perfection.
Aside from the Dogpound, no Canadian river I've fished has required the arsenal of technical minutiae and ability that an English limestone stream requires. And the Wye makes the Dogpound look like child's play.
I certainly haven't mastered it all yet. But I'm learning new things and will return to Canada a much better fisherman.
***
Yesterday was also a reward for finishing my work for the month. So now my training hiatus -- imposed by deadlines -- is also over.
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has anyone confirmed which trucking company it was that was responsible for the South Ram spill? I hope the AB Govt sues the asses off these guys. I understand the negligence was of epic proportion.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I bring very grave news from last week's meeting of the "interested parties" (legalese from the 300 or so [secret] pages already committed to the chemical atrocity, composed by the Alberta govt).
ReplyDeleteThe spill seems to be much worse than expected. Much will depend on the run off this year (and over the coming years), but the scientists reckon that it has already seeped through the ice, which is bad news indeed.
A commission is likely to be arranged to discuss how to rescue the river and return it to a decent fishery. But the experts aren't encouraged. The most optimistic scenario is that the river might be fishable withing "a decade".
A good thing it is only catch-and-release, because no-one will want to be eating anything that comes out of the South Ram for years anyway.
On top of the spate of grizzly attacks and cougar sightings last year, and the precipitous deterioration of the canyon wall, the chemical spill seems finally to have killed the South Ram for fisherman.
In truth, those who've been down there, risking life and limb, have been reporting how badly overrated it is as a fishery anyway. That hasn't discouraged the helicopter fishing lobby from trying to sell over-priced trips into the canyon. But it has deterred all fisherman who like to do one thing when they go fishing: catch decent sized fish, and fish that are healthy.
So, not good news. The South Ram's best days are well and truly behind it.
Fish and Wildlife are in a tough spot, though. One solution, albeit a small one, is for volunteers to fish out the contaminated fish. So they're not going to close the river per se. Instead, the policy seems to be that they'll keep the case out of the public eye until prosecution against the company -- a household name -- is secure and they can go to court. (On that front, I'm told that the damages could run into the "hundreds of millions", not least because the impact on bug life, river life, and wildlife that relies on the canyon -- with the exception of the big predators that are a danger to us all -- will be enormous. First Nations communities could also be affected.)
So the policy will be: let those ignorant of the spill try to fish the river, and hope for some kind of recovery within the next decade.
For fly-fisherman, my advice, having spent the past few days reading through the documentation and conducting sample tests, is simply this: stay close to home, and keep your fingers crossed that the South Ram will one day, within your lifetime, have fish worth catching in it again.
The only real hope within this scenario -- and it is a long shot -- comes from a plan proposed by Ivan Onegin, the Russian-Canadian diplomat who has taken a great interest in the river in recent years. He claims that on a recent visit to the Hindu Kush he came across a spill of similar proportions and biological intensity. He's gathered some experts from that area who dealt effectively with the critical "early reaction" to the spill. Because the govt is sceptical that the solution -- involving what's called a "reverse spill" of antioxidants and the introduction of a piranha-like predator to clean up affected trout, to whom they are attracted during the high summer period -- the Russian plans to fly them out himself, at his own expense.
Let's put our faith in him for the time being. Alas, he left the meeting early (something about hostages in Somalia), so no one knows a great deal more of this plan.
I'll try to report back after the next chemical-spill meeting early next month.
Thanks Martyn.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds awful.
Looks like Ken and I will have to head to southwest Alberta instead this year. I'm told the Sheep and Kananaskis rivers are now fishing superbly. So, like most flyfisherman no doubt, we'll head there. There's plenty of room for everyone, which is more than could be said for the South Ram in recent years. It was beginning to resemble of parking lot -- i counted 12 fisherman within a single straight stretch of flat water last year on the South Ram. At least we outnumbered the bears (just)!
It's a shame the river is off the itinerary now, because even if it didn't fish as well as people said a decade ago, it was still fun for cougar sightings. We were also fortunate to witness an entire 300-foot canyon wall collapse once -- just feet from where Kenny was fishing.
These comments are an outrage. The river will be fully fishable this summer. How did you even find out about the spill? I think the Alberta Government will be concerned that there are people leaking information like this!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI for one will be back with my spinning rod on the river this summer, wherever I can get my quad in. Heck the chems might even liven up the fishing some, Jesus be praised.
You guys are way out of line on this though.
Dave J.