Stories by Scott

This past September I earned my third invitation to elk camp with my son's hunting party. But this year was a bit different as all three hunters had their fathers along. The other two fathers are brothers and 40 year hunting partners; I was the lone angler. If my son was embarrassed that his father was a catch and release fly fisherman in a camp full of steely-eyed killers, he didn't let on.  This year the hunters tackled a new river drainage to hunt and, again, Google Maps satellite view enabled me to do some pre-trip scouting and drop waypoints at the juiciest spots.  The hunters have some pretty skookum map apps but I found that Google Maps gave me what I needed to scout fishy water and access. The Law The ATV that partially blocked the FSR was a bit of a puzzle as I approached, but when I saw the operator wore a holstered sidearm, it became clear that I was going to have my first encounter with a Conservation Officer in over 30 years. The CO waved me over, introduced himse...

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...