I have just returned from a three week long business trip in Chilliwack and to say that I am very glad to be home is like saying water is kinda damp.
What a disappointment.
I don't travel well to begin with but this trip was to bring me to a training facility literally right on the shores of the Vedder river and I figured that if the course I was on began to grate on my nerves at the very least the fishing would keep me sane.
Wrong.
The fishing was terrible.
Upon arrival I contacted a guide that I had booked through a local outfitter in order to work out the logistics of our trip. In a rare display of west coast decency the guide shop actually talked me out of the walk a wade Steelhead 'adventure'.
"Knowing where you are from and considering the condition of our fishery you are most likely going to be disappointed so I will save you some dough...besides the river isn't that hard to figure out. You can access it anywhere and there are usually tons of people."
That is the sound of my heart sinking.
I did fish....I mean I am not a complete idiot.
I ended up buying a ridiculously expensive 7 day fishing license complete with 'Steelhead tag' (?).
I fished the first day with nary a nibble and had planned on fishing the following weekend hard as well but a nasty bout of stomach flu put the kibosh on that.
That first day I fished optimum looking water for about 7 hrs with no less then 300 people and I saw one fish caught. To be fair it was a big fish......probably 15 lbs of hatchery stupidity and it was immediately smashed on the head by the dirt bag that had landed it.
Get me the fuck out of here.
I don't know what I expected but I now know for certain what I had suspected all along......
WE HAVE GOT IT MADE HERE BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!
The crew at the local tackle shop were the rudest MFers I have ever run across and I wanted very badly to burn the place down. When they found out we were from Ontario we might as well have announced that we were from a leper colony.
Fuck them.
I would be bitter too if my Steelhead fishery had gone in the shitter.
After some searching we located a fly shop with some really cool people....one of which was a transplanted fella from Ontario. When we laid our story on him he just laughed and said that his fly shop regularly organizes Steelhead trips to the Great Lakes.
True Story.
Sad Story.
Another thing that shocked me was the amount of crime!!!???
Chilliwack is a gangridden shithole....and I am not talking about wanna-bes....these guys are the real dealio. Drug money and power dominates the lower mainland and it is like living in a friggin warzone...all this with a backdrop of scenery that is so beautiful that it is hard to look at. Surreal.
If I was forced to live there I would surely disappear into the mountains.
Any hoo....I am home now....thank the Christ.
My course sucked but I was successful and with any luck I will never leave my family again.
Did I miss anything?
:o)
