Fortunately that has never happened. Te
ability-to-live-off-the-sea index is very high in British Columbia. Te more remote you are, the better it gets. If you’re lowering a jig off the edge of a kelp bed or a rocky point, you’re fish- ing in the right place; odds are, something will bite. Tis is not dry fly fishing on the Henry’s Fork. Tese fish are wild and hungry and eager for the lure. You’ve got to be a fishing klutz not to bring the bacon back to camp here. How do I do it? For salmon, I usually fly
fish, casting or trolling a bucktail, unweighted, right on top, using a 9-weight rod. But a good handline and a lead or painted metal jig, jigged up and down just off the bottom, or even troll- ing that bucktail, will catch most everything. When the inevitable storm comes along,
I harvest ahead for one day, but no more—a basket chilling in a pool in a forest creek is our only refrigerator. If I’m confined to the beach, I look at the next tier of critters. Even an aver- age low tide will usually reveal barnacle beds, from which horseshoe barnacles can be care- fully gathered, then steamed and drenched in butter and tamari for dinner. Or perhaps there are crab in a nearby lagoon we can wade for or trap. And there are always trout up the fresh- water coastal streams. More often than not, a meal is salmon fillets grilled over a beach fire, or chunky lingcod fillets with pepper and lime, prepared in a ceviche dish. Living off of the sea as you explore is about
“
more than the nutritious food that you put on the table; it is an integral part of wilderness ex- ploration. In fact, it’s that return to the primacy of needs-based hunting and gathering that cre- ates the kayaking buzz for me. Not only does it give me something soundly pragmatic to do; it provides both the excitement of fishing (which is a near universal thrill) and a wealth of sea- food entrée options.
Living off of the sea as you explore is about more than the nutritious food that you put on the table; it is an integral part of wilderness exploration.
No matter what you catch or how you pre-
pare it, a fresh seafood diet for an extended pe- riod of time is something to look forward to on any kayak trip. In the spirit of “chop wood, carry water,” out here it’s chop/carry and catch fish, and there is a deeply refreshing quality about such direct imperatives.
ROB LYON is a former fly fishing guide who lives in the San Juan Islands. He can be reached at rob@
lyonexpeditions.com. Learn more about kayak fish- ing in Adventure Kayak’s sister publication, Kayak Angler,
www.kayakanglermag.com
www.adventurekayakmag.com 37
Canot-camping La Vérendrye
Photo: FQCK
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