Karen and Bud Go Fly Fishing

Karen and Bud Go Fishing – A Fish Tale

After spending the season listening to the “big fish stories”, and seeing everyone’s trout photos, I had to get out and go fly fishing! I decided to check out the river myself. See if these big fish tales were true. So, on one of those perfect Chilko River days, I closed up my office, gathered up my fly fishing gear, dusted it off, and headed out with Bud, my Dad.    

Bud has been fishing and guiding on the Chilko River for over 50 years. He knows every little fish hole in the river, but that wasn’t the main reason I chose Bud as my guide.  The main reason is, I like spending time with my Dad.  It had been a while since Dad and I had just gone out fishing together. It was with heartfelt thanks that I was able to do it this summer. We almost lost Bud in 2010, so it was very poignant floating down the river with Dad, seeing him rowing the boat, and enjoying the day.

As it turns out, it wasn’t only my fishing gear that was dusty. Although my casting was a little rusty, my catching ability stunk; after missing five fish in the first thirty feet,  I was a little shocked that my fly fishing skills were so bad. I had to take a step back and determine what I was doing wrong. The first thing I noticed was my timing on setting the hook. I was a little too quick on the uptake. Basically I wasn’t letting the fish get a hold of the fly, and I was getting so excited with all the fish jumping, I pulled it out before he even had the hook. You would think I was a newbie or something.  I tried slowing it down just a hair, caught one! Oops lost one, caught one, oops lost one, lost another one. Oh my god did you see the size of that trout!  I mastered the art of getting the fly in the fish’s mouth, but my ability to keep it on the line left something to be desired so back to the fly fishing drawing board. 

You would think being out in the boat with Bud, he would have given me some great instructions, but his only comments were “you’re doing great Karen”. It must have something to do with being his daughter, because I suspect if he had been out with Balch or Karl he would have been good heartedly ribbing them apart.

 Next thing I discovered I was doing wrong was the amount of tension on my line.  I was a little too soft and was allowing a little too much slack in the line, which allowed the fish to get off. So I tightened up my tension, not too much so the leader would break, and not too soft to allow the fish to roll off, just enough to keep it snug.  Low and behold I started to land them. I was quite happy to say by the time we reached the dock, I had happily caught and released four nice trout and I had lost a really big one and, at least 6 nice ones.

Practice makes perfect they say so we continued to fish. It was such a nice day, warm, no wind, quiet, just the eagles talking, river rippling, and rings on the surface of the water as the trout came up to feed. It was wonderful.  As the saying goes, “ there is more to fishing then catching fish”, even though the fishing was fantastic and the icing on the cake that day, the biggest success of the day was being able to spend time with Dad, floating the river, chatting about the lodge and life, and just hanging out together.

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Acoustic Tagging Chilko Sockeye

Acoustic Tagging of Chilko Sockeye Salmon Smolt

Technology brings wonderful advances to science and one of the greatest new gadgets is Acoustic Transmitters (or tags). What makes them so great?  It allows scientist to track our fish and identify migration patterns.  It allows us to learn about our wild fish, how they travel, where they go, and more importantly what we can change in our own environment so we don’t get in the way of theirs.   

In 2010 a project was started on the Chilko River Sockeye by researchers from UBC and Kintama Research Ltd.  They started by surgically inserting acoustic transmitters in 200 little bellies of Chilko Sockeye Smolt.  They kept the sockeye smolt in a holding pen for 24 hours and released them back into the river to continue their journey to the Pacific Ocean.  Acoustic receivers were placed at a variety of locations along the Chilko River, Fraser River, and even on the tip of Vancouver Island.  As the small smolts swim by the receivers it picks up the acoustic transmitter signal and tracks them on their journey.  Acoustic transmitters differ from radio transmitters; they use sound waves instead of radio waves to determine the location of the fish.  

The results of the project in 2010 raised more questions than it answered and were a bit surprising.  Almost 80% of the tagged sockeye did not survive their swim to the mouth of the Fraser River. What was most surprising was that 50 % of them did not make it past Henry’s.  The big question becomes why?

Nature does weed out the weak, but this seems to be a bit extreme. The obvious questions are:   Does the surgery itself cause an increase in mortality of the smolt?  Normally the mortality rate is about 1 %? Did the surgery cause an infection? Do the tags cause the smolt to be more susceptible to predators because it slows them down?  After the smolts start their migration to the Pacific Ocean, is the river a bit of a shock especially the lower river at Lava Canyon, a canyon where the river is condensed into a 30 foot wide canyon and there are major rapids -  a river rafter’s dream trip but a smolts biggest boogey man?  Is Bud’s theory that the mergansers eat all the smolt true?  Questions and more questions!  So in order to rule out as many questions as possible, in the spring of 2011 they replicated the 2010 system and tagged more - another 650 sockeye smolts and once again released them into the river.  At this point I am aware of the results but I have been asked to not post them until the entire analysis is done.  Although I would really like to, I will respect their wishes and wait for the official report… oh hum…

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Guest Review of Tsylos BC Fly In fishing Trip

Hello Karen.

 I just wanted to write and tell you that I had an exceptional
time and incredible fishing while staying with you all at Tsylos Park Lodge.
The meals were amazing, the scenery incredible and the fishing unbelievable.
Thank you.  And a really big thanks to Josh and especially to Bud.  What an
amazing fellow...

A great time...

Sincerely,
Jeff Philips

BC Fly In Fishing Trip 2011

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Identifying a Grizzly Bear

This is a fantastic picture taken by Josh during one of our Grizzly Bear Photography trips.  This photograph clearly identifies this bear as being a Grizzly Bear. The large hump of muscle and fat on the grizzly's shoulders easily identifies this. The large muscle is used for digging roots, flipping large boulders, or other large objects; Black Bear do not have the large hump.

You cannot identify a Grizzly Bear from a Black Bear by color alone. I have seen pitch black Grizzly Bears and brown Black Bears.  A Grizzly Bears shaggy fur comes in many colors, black, cinnamon, red, blond, or a mixture of these colors.  

The grizzly bear gets its name from the light-tipped guard hairs that give them a "grizzled" look. They are sometimes called a “Silver Tip Grizzly”.

A Grizzly Bear has very large and obvious claws. The claw marks are also apparent in the tracks they leave behind. A Black Bears claws are small, less obvious in their tracks.

These animals are so incredible to see in their natural habitat.

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Latest Guest Testimonial

Hi Karen, 

This August my wife and I took our first (but certainly not our last) trip to Tsylos Park Lodge in British Colombia.  We travel extensively around the world and Tsylos caught our eye because it advertised both horseback riding and fly fishing.  My wife is the rider and she rated the equestrian experience top notch.  I'm the fly fisherman and I can say that the Chilko River has few equals for catching large wild trout on this planet!  Add spectacular food, an amazing hand built lodge, a warm, caring, professional staff and you begin to understand what a truly wonderful destination this is.  Set in among the costal mountains of B.C. everywhere you look, whether on horseback, in a jet boat, relaxing in the hot tub, or just enjoying your favorite beverage on the deck you are awestruck by the natural beauty.  If you love horses and fly fishing while being surrounded by breathtaking vistas Tsylos Park Lodge is truly a place you should add to your travel "bucket" list!   Jeff Ginsberg

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Happy Thanksgiving from Chilko Lake

Happy Thanksgiving and Hello from Canada!

I just wanted to send you our sincere thoughts and kind wishes for you and your family to enjoy and share many blessings. 

Here in Canada we celebrate our Thanksgiving in October. Fall time at Chilko Lake was the perfect place to celebrate the gathering of friends and family. Our brilliant fall colors were the perfect backdrop for the abundance of wildlife roaming the area; the salmon spawning in the river; the migrations of waterfowl;  and of course the Grizzly Bears meandering through the yard and along the waterfront.  Thanksgiving is about the gathering of who is near and dear to you, celebrating the bounty in all of our lives and the bounty of what the earth brings to us. Our big lodge table was where we gathered to celebrate while we sat in candle light with the fireplace roaring and crackling in the back ground, soft lights, and so much laughter and lively conversations.  

This year we shared our family thanks giving with a bunch of keen grizzly bear photographers and many surprise family members showing up from Canada, Mexico, and the USA.  It was a wonderful celebration and such a nice way to end our 2011 season surrounded by new faces, family and so many blessings to be thankful for.

I sincerely hope that you have just as many blessings this season. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours…

Karen McLean

Tsylos Park Lodge

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In Honour of our Veterans

This is in honor of  the veterans, who sacrificed a part of their lives, or their life, protecting the freedoms of our nations.

A special honor to my Dad, Lloyd I McLean who served in the Canadian Navy from 1944-1947. My Grandfather Herbert Hoselton in World War One in Germany,  my Uncle Willis Hoselton in World War Two ( Germany) , My Uncle Marvin and Kenneth McLean in world war two in Germany,  My Uncle Charles and James Hoselton in the Korean War, and my Uncle Calvin, US Airforce World War Two, New Guinea, my cousin Gary McLean US Airforce for four years, and  my brother Larry McLean who served four years in the US Army.

THANK you for all you have done, it gives real meaning to the words ':

"stands on guard for thee"

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Morning Visit by Evening Grosbeak at Chilko lake

A nice way to start the day with a morning visit by this Evening Grosbeak at Chilko Lake.  He and his mate visited a popular tree next to our wilderness lodge and I was lucky to have my camera on hand.  They are a part of the Finch family and their official name is Hesperiphona vespertina. We have many small birds that either visit on their way to other destinations or also nest in our yard. Spring and fall are both excellent seasons for birdwatching..

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Spring Migration of the Chilko Sockeye, Where the Journey Begins

Right now the Chilko River is alive with the annual spring migration of baby sockeye salmon. The one year old smolts are heading to the Pacific Ocean. The fry are emerging from the gravel and heading up Chilko Lake. Consequently there are a lot of baby fish in the Chilko system right now! These baby sockeye, are making a lot of other species very fat and happy, including my Dad, Bud’s favorite mergansers, the DFO’s favorite bull trout, and the big bows!

The adult Sockeye salmon show up to spawn in Chilko around the end of August.  In 2010 two million plus sockeye made the journey home to Chilko to lay their eggs in the clean gravel beds of the river bottom.  After laying their eggs, all of these sockeye die.  They feed everything under the sun at Chilko.  Not only do they feed all of the other wildlife such as Grizzly Bears, Eagles, cougars, coyotes, and other fish, but they are a natural fertilizer for all of the plant species in the water system and along the shoreline.  More sockeye means more nutrients, more algae, more bugs, (big hatches) more food, and of course big healthy bows and bull trout. 

Back to the baby fish; the eggs are in the gravel. Once the eggs have been fertilized by the male sockeye, the embryos will incubate and eventually hatch, this stage is called the alevin.  These tiny sockeye will remain in the gravel during the winter time feeding off their egg sacs. In the beginning they look like an egg with an eye, slowly they will develop their fins, gills, and slowly start to look like a small fish with an egg sac on its belly.  As they continue to develop, the egg sac continually decreases in size as they feed off it. Eventually it disappears and the fish skin slowly closes over it. This stage is called “buttoning up” At this point they emerge from the gravel and start to physically feed in the river on plankton.  They have now officially reached the third stage of their development and are called “fry”.  

Right now in the middle of the river they are emerging from the gravel and venturing to the safety of the shallow water … from here they follow the shoreline up Chilko Lake where the majority will live for one year.  Some will stay for two years. Occasionally a few will stay for three years, but this is rare. No one is sure why they stay longer, but at some point everybody has to grow up and head out, so off to the ocean they go.

Currently about thirty million salmon smolt (rough field estimate) are wiggling their way from Chilko Lake to the Pacific Ocean; and so their first big journey begins.  It will take them about seven days tumbling down the Chilko, Chilcotin, and Fraser Rivers to reach the Pacific Ocean. What a journey and so many amazing things to see.   These sockeye smolts leaving Chilko are the off spring of the sockeye who spawned here in the fall of 2009. They will be the Adult Sockeye returning in 2013.

If you believe that our salmon and freshwaters fish species are important, please connect with me through Facebook, my RSS feed, twitter, or my lodge blog…

Karen Mclean owns and operates Tsylos Park Lodge at Chilko Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Karen and her family have operated at Chilko Lake since 1957. In that time she has gained an in depth love and historic knowledge of the Chilko water shed.

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Chilko Sockeye Super Fish

Mother Nature designs each species to fit perfectly within its own environment.  The Chilko Sockeye Salmon have developed a few characteristics that are directly related to their difficult journey to and from Chilko Lake.  First off, they have extra fat.  This is to ensure that they have enough fat reserves to make it from the ocean to Chilko Lake, not an easy trip. The Chilko Sockeye must first make it through the commercial fishing nets on the coast of British Columbia, and then they must journey more than 650 kilometers upstream, and climb 3850 feet in elevation. Throughout their journey they must travel through Hell’s Gate, an area where the Fraser River plunges into a passage only 35 meters wide. They have to fight off fishing nets, dip nets, gaff hooks, fishing hooks and grizzly bears in order to arrive to the sanctuary of their spawning grounds, home, sweet, home, Chilko River and Chilko Lake.

Eliason and her colleagues at University of British Columbia studied eight populations of the adult Fraser River sockeye and found that populations with the most difficult migrations were more athletic, displaying superior swimming ability and specialized heart adaptations.  Wow, it’s amazing what exercise can do. The research has shown the Chilko Sockeye to be considered the Super-Fish… Go, Chilko, Go! "I like to call the Chilko population of sockeye 'Super-fish,'" said Eliason, who explained they are conditioned by a migratory route that is extraordinarily difficult.

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