As I write the latest report, my Gortex jackets and fleece weigh about 10 kilos, totally saturated from today’s rainfall.
The Kitimat freshet has begun as the river is rising, fast!
During today’s fishing the trees were falling in the river, one tree even landed a metre from the raft, which left us with no choice but to portage the raft so we could make it down the river.
The Kitimat River is a mysteriously, dangerous river full of opportunities, like yesterday a mother deer and two fawns saw us in the driftboat. They were very curious, the mother nudging the little ones away from the river’s edge, but one little bugger persisted even after his mother nosed his rear towards the safety of the bush.
This small fawn decided to disobey and gave us a great close-up as we drifted by – the things you see when on the river. For a tourist it was a surreal experience, the fishing was secondary for a long time.
With the May freshet, and the resulting high river levels, many of the Kitimat people and others venture to the Saltwater for the arrival of the King of all Salmon, the Chinook or the Spring as they’re called.
These salmon can weigh up to 100 pounds – nowadays 70 pounds is a trophy fish.
The Kitimat River Chinooks will enter the river and if you’re not fishing with at least 25 to 30 pound test on your well-spooled reel, you are in for a big surprise. These bad boys are freight trains when you get one on the line.
This is an awesome sportfish to have a battle with, as well very tasty to eat.
The limit for Chinook Salmon in the river is one adult over 65cm per day.
