PERFECTION

THE DEAN RIVER 2013

Written By Deschutes Angler Guide Alex Gonsiewski

It is hard to believe that it has been a month since I looked out the window of the de Havilland Otter at the mountains of British Columbia. The flight into the Dean was the perfect bush flight. We traveled south from Smithers for 15 minutes and then hung a right and made our way west through rugged mountain passes and down river valleys until, WHAM-O, we emerged into the Fjord that is the Dean Channel. Ten minutes later we had come to rest on the Dean airstrip, little more than a dirt path cut out of the surrounding forest.

The scenery of the lower Dean is worth the price of admission.You have never steelhead fished--or perhaps been--in a more beautiful, awe inspiring place. Granite peaks, snow covered mountains, eagles, bears and dense green forests complement the sexiest of steelhead water.

When Steve Morrow dropped me off in the Cut Bank the first morning, it took me five minutes to control the shaking and clear my eyes enough to make a decent cast. Here I was standing in the Dean. No care in the world except how to swim my next cast. Pure and utter bliss.

I had heard for years that Dean steelhead are like no other steelhead in the world. The hardest fighting, rip snorting ass kicking steelhead you will ever face.  It is true. I had my drag cranked down tarpon tight and each fish removed backing from my reel as if it was free spooling. These are wild wild fish.

One quick fish story. It takes place on river right. I made my cast, stepped down and the fly dug in and started swing slow. The kind of swing were you know you are about to get lit up. Next thing I know my Kingpin reel was screaming and whack-whack-whack the backing knot was out the tip top along with an additional 75 yards of backing. As I tried to put the brakes on a fish that I believed to be a couple hundred feet downstream, my fish comes ripping out of the water fifteen feet away from me. I knew then that I had lost. One more jump and I was left mouth agape and line limp. It feels good to get your ass kicked from time to time.

The place is PERFECT. No ifs, ands or buts about it. This is a trip that I will remember and be grateful for, for the rest of my life. I was truly humbled by the immensity of the place. I only hope that someday I can return to the Dean for another shot. And that we do not destroy the fishery in the mean time.

Conservation

Anadromous fish returns are cyclical. They are dependent on so many natural variables--river conditions upon hatch, estuarine health, ocean conditions and river levels upon return. Add upon that the effects that man have on these runs and it is a surprise that any fish make it back to the river at all.  Even to places as remote as the Dean. 

There was disappointment expressed by the anglers and guides that I spoke to about the number of fish hooked this season on the Dean and the percentage that displayed net marks. Guide and fisheries major Steve Morrow informed me that the salmon gill net fishery in The Dean Channel was more intense than normal this year with boats coming from as far away as the Skeena to fish. He and many others believed that the low return was based largely on the salmon gill net fishery.  

Spending a week on the Dean with fishing that is considered below average for that watershed does not bother me. I was grateful to hook just one of these amazing fish. Nor do I believe it bothered anyone in the group. We are steelhead anglers, we understand the fishing is not always on fire. However, I am appalled when the return of steelhead is low, and the fishing tough, for man made reasons. Steelhead are by-catch in the salmon gill net fishery and the problems that we face here in the Columbia drainage are the same as they face on the Dean. Gill nets kill steelhead. Plain and simple. Those that are not killed show less vigor and are riddled with net marks that leave them susceptible to infection and . Short of removing these nets all together from the Dean channel there are other measures that can be taken. 

For more information about the measure that can be taken to reduce the effects of the gill net fishery on steelhead. Or to voice your outrage to the Canadian Government. Check out http://area8watch.wordpress.com for more information.