CARIBOO CHILCOTIN
the Kwakwaka’wakw, Oweekeno, Nuxalk, and Heiltsuk cultures have long prospered on the rich resources of both forest and sea. Inland, the Tsilhqot’in gave their name to the Chilcotin region, and to the river that drains it. A network of trails linked the coastal cultures to the interior for trade in salmon, furs, leather, and other products. Among the goods traded was the rendered fat of oil-rich Eulachon, a staple so important that the routes became known as “grease trails.” Europeans – like Alexander Mackenzie, in his epic journey overland to the Pacific in 1793 – followed knowledgeable native guides along some of these routes.
The Chilcotin Road (Highway 20) now connects Williams Lake in the interior to Bella Coola on the coast. It was completed in the 1950s by local volunteers when the government, saying that the mountainous terrain was too challenging, refused to do so.
The highway was nicknamed the Freedom Road, and is now officially called the Alexander Mackenzie Highway. It links with Highway 97 at Williams Lake. Travellers looking for freshwater or saltwater fishing adventures in the great Central Coast archipelago can drive in by Highway 20, fly in, or use B.C. Ferries’ Discovery Coast Passage from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island to Shearwater, Bella Bella, Klemtu, Ocean Falls, and Bella Coola. Highway 97 also has deep roots
in history. Sections of it follow the Cariboo Waggon Road, which was built to service miners and settlers pouring into the area during the Cariboo Gold Rush of the mid-1800s. Long stretches of the road remain much the same as in the 1860s. After the gold rush, pioneering families established farms and ranches atop the sweeping, grassy bench lands of the great Interior Plateau, overlooking deep river gorges that gouge through the towering Cariboo
and Coast Mountains. Today, the district’s rich natural resources form the economic livelihood for miners, loggers, and fishermen. Far from major population
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centres, the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast offers some 8,000 lakes and more than 17,000 kilometres of streams where you’ll often find you’re the only angler enjoying the gratifying solitude of encompassing woodlands and snow-covered peaks. There is impressive freshwater fishing for rainbow trout, eastern brook trout, Dolly Varden, trophy lake char, whitefish, and mouth-watering kokanee. All species of smaller trout and char will attack trolled lures with reckless passion. Spin-casting with small spinners or spoons, or drift-jigging small lead jigs, can be just as efficient. But it’s really the fly- flingers who will feel they’ve found a piece of fishing heaven, as the region’s high-flying trout will attack a wide assortment of either dry or wet fly patterns. With fantastic fishing in the warmer months, it might be easy to forget that some of the Cariboo Chilcotin’s best lake-fishing takes place after freeze-up. In many of the larger lakes, ice-fishers will find burbot (a delicious freshwater lingcod) in addition to trout and char. Be sure to bring an ice auger, tip-ups, and fishing gear that includes leadhead micro-jigs. Ice- fishing is a rewarding activity for the whole family; the sustained action at this time of year will make everyone forget the frigid temperatures. Along the coast, freshwater anglers will discover first-class stream-fishing for all five species of salmon, searun cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, and world-renowned runs of summer and winter steelhead. For the saltwater angler, the ocean- lashed outer flanks and many channels of the great Central Coast archipelago, along with the area’s steep-walled fjords, will live up to their reputation of exhilarating
58 The SPORT FISHING Guide 2012 client: Good Hope Cannery
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