Backwaters,
baby. That’s
where the pike
like to roam.
I also like sight-fishing from the boat,
watching the bluish outline of a cutthroat
gliding back and forth over clean gravel,
only to lift when a green drake floats over
its head. It seems like that act takes a
while, but it only takes the fish an instant to
suck down the fly.
Guiding in the Elk River watershed always
is a highlight, some of the best time you
could possibly spend on foot or behind
the oars. Clients here always seem to be in
vacation mode and eager to experience all
that the Canadian Rockies offer. Seeing a
grizzly bear and fishing big, foam bugs for
hungry cutts makes everyone’s day.
When pike season winds down the author heads
for British Columbia, where he guides for native
westslope cutthroat and bull trout.
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Wi-fi in one clap, a connection to family
and friends lost for an undetermined
span. I think that’s why guides and lodge
staff become so close. We spend enough
time together to learn each other’s
idiosyncrasies. And we know when to
give each other space. North Haven has
become more than a place of employment
for me and I consider the staff as family.
That can be said about the clients we
guide, too. They may be a stranger the day
they fly into the lodge from Winnipeg, but
they’ll often leave as a friend. I love North
Haven and the Manitoba wilderness so
much, that the one year I planned to guide
here has turned into three and there’s no
end in sight.
For a guide, isolation is part of the north-
country mix. And it’s not always easy to
deal with. A thunderstorm can take out
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