Heading down the Skeena River towards Terrace, we turn up the Copper River logging road and start heading towards the pipeline route once again. The proposed route crosses the headwaters of the Chlore River which is a major tributary to the Copper River. This river system not only produces salmon but is considered to be a world class steelhead stream; an angling destination I have returned to many times over the years and one that I hold dear to my heart.
The urge to cast a fly upon these great waters was eventually too much for me and soon I was geared up and standing in the river, lost to the rhythm of water, fish and fly. Steelheading is not like most other forms of fishing, it becomes obsessive. Like most obsessions, it is driven by two factors, scarcity of the fish versus the greatness of the reward. With each passing hour and another stretch of water fished with no luck, the obsession takes hold. Hands, feet and heart aching from cold, you tell yourself one more run and then thats it but you never stop. And so it was on that day, on the very last run of the day with daylight fading fast that a steelhead took my fly and immediately demonstrated its magnificent strength and beauty. Landed and immediately released back into the water, it was now time for Glenn and I to head back home.
