Stories by Scott

Recently, my dad suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. After a family bedside vigil of several days, dad passed away in the early morning hours with my sister at his side.  Later that week, the small church we attend had “Wild Church”; an informal gathering at Kingfisher Farm which is co-owned by a group of families, many of whom attend our church. It had been a busy week with a number of family meetings and details to attend to, so I went for a walk on a trail around the farm property to reflect on dad’s death, and allow room to grieve.    As I walked the perimeter of the property, a large bird flew up from the trail ahead of me and landed in a branch over the trail.   It was a barred owl, and had its back to me as it began to eat a mouse it had just caught. I took a couple of steps to get closer, the owl turned to look at me. I took a couple more steps, the owl turned to look… I watched as the owl eviserated the mouse, dropped the innards to the ground, put its head ...

When I learned that our eight days of fishing in late July in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia should coincide with the peak of the Western Green Drake hatch I anticipated our trip even more. The Western Green Drake is the largest mayfly in western Canada and, during a hatch when the duns are floating downstream trying to get airborne, the trout go a little wild. Kinda like when the popcorn shrimp is brought out at a Golden Corral buffet.  I don't normally set goals for a fishing trip, but this time I had two: fish a Green Drake hatch, and catch fish on my nymphing rod. I'm relatively new to the contact nymphing technique and had yet to catch a fish on this rod using that technique. And I don't think I've ever fished a proper mayfly hatch, never mind the storied Green Drake. The trip started off with first day jitters. The night before, as I lay in bed, I thought I forgot to pack my spools of tippet.  I mean, that's impossible as I have a packing list th...

 Well, it was a crapshoot; but a well reasoned crapshoot. When my fishing partner and I made plans to fish some streams in the East Kootenay region during the second week of July, we knew that it can be a little early in the season for good fishing due to high water. But we reasoned that with the lower than average snowpack, the forecasted warmer than average spring, and with the spectre of summer wildfires and hoot owl stream closures potentially limiting opportunities later in the summer, taking a trip in early-mid July was a good gamble.  Turns out we're pretty good crapshooters.  Water clarity was very good, the streams were wadeable, and the fish were agreeable.What more can you ask?  While eating dinner in camp on our day of arrival, a flying ant landed on the table. We might not be the sharpest knives in the toolshed, but it was clear to both of us what fly we'd be tying on first in the morning! A black Chubby Chernobyl became one of our go-to flies over the w...

With the rain and cooler temps during the month of June, the Little Campbell (Tatalu) River was running strong during early summer.  But we knew it was only a matter of time before the river eventually de-watered in a 1-2 km reach centred around 200 Street, in the Brookswood-Fernridge area of South Langley, and salmon fry stranded in disconnected pools would require salvaging. The first extended heat wave of summer, beginning the first week of July, really kicked the de-watering into high gear. On Friday, July 12 the river was still connected and flowing. Two days later, a section of it was dry and there was already salmon fry mortality in one of the disconnected pools. The organization that I volunteer with, A Rocha Canada, quickly mobilized a salvage response with DFO and on Monday morning July 15 we were on the river with nets and DFO's water tank trailer. Fish were seined and dip netted from pools, placed in buckets with battery powered aerators, and the buckets carried to the ...