Corral Creek Run, Part 2
By Charlie Kroll
Early the following morning I jointed my fly rod, attached
a new eight pound test leader to the line, tied on a size 6
Skykomish Sunrise fly and headed for the river. The Corral
Creek cabins were situated on a high bank overlooking the river,
200 yards below. To get there all I had to do was step out the
front door and half-skid, half-stumble, down the steep
blackberry-thicketed slope to the river's edge, then walk up to where it shallowed
enough to permit a cautious thigh-deep crossing. Below the tumbling
riffles of the crossing, and on the camp side of the river, was a smooth,
waist-deep run, a hundred yards in length, tailing out in another
bolder-strewn riffle before entering a hugh jam-piled U bend where Correl
Creek entered. The run appeared to be an ideal holding area for
steelhead.
The morning was dull and overcast which is why I had
chosen the Skykomish Sunrise. I had previously found fish to be
more selective about fly patterns on such a day, perhaps because the
colors of flies are less distinct below in bright light and more easily
seen in weak light. I used the same greased line method that I prefer
for Atlantic salmon. Casting the floating line up and across-stream
I let the wet fly dead drift about six inches under the surface as it
swung down and eventually across the midrun currents, mending line
as necessary to prevent undue drag.
I had systematically fished down nearly the entire run with
no sign of fish. As the swimming fly arced across the hastening current
just upstream of the outlet riffle, the forward progress of line and fly
stopped short and I instinctively reared back in a hard strike. A huge
boil welled to the surface and the Hardy reel began its fitful song.
During the ensueing sturggle I was very fortunate that the fish
chose to stay in the long run..If he had turned downstream through
the boulders and into the 15 foot depths under the jam piles, I doubt
I could have held him. At one point the line suddenly slackened as he
turned toward me. I frantically stripped in line but was unable to
match the fish's speed. When I managed to tighten up the line once
more I was considerably relieved to find him still hooked.
For a half hour the steelhead took advantage of the long line and
heavy current to fight deep and strong. He did not jump or porpoise
and I had no sight of him until the very end, as he slowly came up
into the gravelly shallows, his curved jaw open and the fly showing
bright in the angle of his jaw. Lord, he was big! A magnificent fresh
run male fish, perfectly formed and highly colored, he weighed in at
26 1/2 pounds. Stuffed and baked by Jack's wife, Francis, it was
the basis of a memorable meal.
Addenda:
Steelhead runs in the great tributaries of the Skeena watershed are
presently all endangered due to a combination of over-exploitation
by commercial salmon fishermen, Indians, sport fishermen and riverine habitat
destruction through clearcut logging and road building. There is
now a new, improved highway up the length of the Kispiox valley.
Grizzlies are gone from the area where we hunted, having been forced
farther north into the mountains by human encroachment.
Forest cover in the high hills is the basic protector of game
fish waters. The clearcutting of timber as presently being practiced
both on the Pacific slopes and inland watersheds is immensely destructive.
It removes the shade and soil-holding ability of the watersheds, causing
siltation of spawning-beds, warming water temperature, winter floods and
summer droughts.
The Skeena has been exploited as a commercial salmon fishery since
the late 1800s. The Department of Fisheries in British Columbia estimates
that 50 percent of the steelhead runs are depleted in this process through
purse seining and gill netting in the Pacific estuaries.
Commercial fishermen seem to think that hatcheries are the answer to
dwindling anadromous fish stocks. Up to now, a proliferation of west
coast hatcheries has caused more problems than they've solved. Modern
runs are a fraction of historic runs. It has been shown that of more than
three million young hatchery raised steelhead dumpted into Pacific feeders,
fewer than one in 300 ever returns as an adult.
It took a collapse of the Atlantic salmon fishery in the Northeast before
any real action was taken to limit the catch and to protect the habitat. Such
history will probably be repeated concerning the anadromous stocks of the
Northwest. It is one thing to voice concern, quite another to instigate proper
controls. For here, as in every conservation issue where bested interests are
concerned, the powerful, monied exploiters always seem to win which means,
in the end, we all lose. ~ Charlie Kroll
Excerpt from: Pools of Memory (1994)
Published by: Frank Amato Publications,
Inc.
P.O. Box 82112, Portland Oregon 97282 Phone: 503-653-8108,
email Frank Amato Publications
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