Will be a good day....

[msb]

What a Beautiful last day of October!! Out for the day on the Valk... we'll see where the day takes me

[VanCityValkyrie]

Have an awesome day, Mike!!!

We'll ride the Canyon to Lytton tomorrow, and eventually Hwy12 towards Lillooet and back the same way again.

[msb]

Well, Saturday's ride turned out to be pretty decent, albeit with a change-on-the-fly route...over 250 km just puttin' around. Started up the Canyon and got up to Boston Bar, but the temperature was a lot cooler than the sunny weather suggested, so I headed back down to cruise a lot of my favorite routes out here in the Eastern Valley.













Great day for the fisherman as well getting in on the salmon run (some snagging them too I'm sure, which pisses me off



Back route through Hatzic to Stave Lake


Pulled in to Hayward Lake for a quick bite (Deroche jerky and an apple ) and to soak up some of that glorious sun. Used to come here all the time with the girls when they were kids when we lived in Maple Ridge...back before the population explosion ...I wouldn't venture anywhere near here now in the Summer months, but on this day it was like old times...nice and peaceful.


So nice, even the paddle-boarders were out


All the hoards of people leave, and the wildlife returns to their favorite stompin' grounds 



Great little bistro just up from Stave Lake, where I stopped for a coffee. Good food here...when we lived in Maple Ridge we were only about 10 minutes West of here off old Dewdney Trunk. This would be a good sorta-central meetup place for the few Valks around these parts to get together


Sunday, was even nicer...my old boys soccer team from out this way was scheduled to play in Maple Ridge, so I had another decent little ride to and from. All in all a GREAT weekend for riding

[Jess from VA]

Very nice post and pics.  Thanks.   

[Beardo]

Looks like a great day 

As I had texted you, I had put the bike away for winter when we got snow a couple weeks ago. The forecast for this week is beautiful. Rode to work today. Was -3 in the morning but 20 degrees on the way home. Beautiful prairie sunset...life is good.

Explain the snagging fish thing...they use like a big treble hook to snag them or something?  And I thought salmon didn’t really eat on their run? They actually bite some?

[msb]

Looks like a great day 

As I had texted you, I had put the bike away for winter when we got snow a couple weeks ago. The forecast for this week is beautiful. Rode to work today. Was -3 in the morning but 20 degrees on the way home. Beautiful prairie sunset...life is good.

Explain the snagging fish thing...they use like a big treble hook to snag them or something?  And I thought salmon didn’t really eat on their run? They actually bite some?

20° in SK in November...Awesome!!

The salmon do not feed but do take lures and even streamer flies (distractors) and roe,. The bozos who snag illegally  (and there's lots of  these guys) either cast out big treble hooks hoping to snag into fish swimming by, or by bottom bouncing with a weight/jig setup...which is legal if the fish is hooked in the mouth, but has to be let go if hooked elsewhere.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Looks like a great day 

As I had texted you, I had put the bike away for winter when we got snow a couple weeks ago. The forecast for this week is beautiful. Rode to work today. Was -3 in the morning but 20 degrees on the way home. Beautiful prairie sunset...life is good.

Explain the snagging fish thing...they use like a big treble hook to snag them or something?  And I thought salmon didn’t really eat on their run? They actually bite some?

20° in SK in November...Awesome!!

The salmon do not feed but do take lures and even streamer flies (distractors) and roe,. The bozos who snag illegally  (and there's lots of  these guys) either cast out big treble hooks hoping to snag into fish swimming by, or by bottom bouncing with a weight/jig setup...which is legal if the fish is hooked in the mouth, but has to be let go if hooked elsewhere.

When I was a kid nobody (or hardly anybody) fished salmon for sport. It was all about food. Snagging was how it happened. We used to ride our bicycles down to Rabbit Creek and catch "humpies". Technically snagging was only legal below the mouth of a river, but F&G didn't write tickets for it. As the population grew with the building of the "Pipeline" things changed. Thankfully they started ticketing people and it declined. Some of the most fun salmon fishing though is still legal. Snagging a 10 lb. Sockeye in the back results in a lot of acrobatics and such.

Sorry for the hijack. Looks like a good ride  What are the crops in your second pic ? It almost looks like wild raspberries bordering the road.

[msb]

Looks like a great day 

As I had texted you, I had put the bike away for winter when we got snow a couple weeks ago. The forecast for this week is beautiful. Rode to work today. Was -3 in the morning but 20 degrees on the way home. Beautiful prairie sunset...life is good.

Explain the snagging fish thing...they use like a big treble hook to snag them or something?  And I thought salmon didn’t really eat on their run? They actually bite some?

20° in SK in November...Awesome!!

The salmon do not feed but do take lures and even streamer flies (distractors) and roe,. The bozos who snag illegally  (and there's lots of  these guys) either cast out big treble hooks hoping to snag into fish swimming by, or by bottom bouncing with a weight/jig setup...which is legal if the fish is hooked in the mouth, but has to be let go if hooked elsewhere.

When I was a kid nobody (or hardly anybody) fished salmon for sport. It was all about food. Snagging was how it happened. We used to ride our bicycles down to Rabbit Creek and catch "humpies". Technically snagging was only legal below the mouth of a river, but F&G didn't write tickets for it. As the population grew with the building of the "Pipeline" things changed. Thankfully they started ticketing people and it declined. Some of the most fun salmon fishing though is still legal. Snagging a 10 lb. Sockeye in the back results in a lot of acrobatics and such.

Sorry for the hijack. Looks like a good ride  What are the crops in your second pic ? It almost looks like wild raspberries bordering the road.

Those crops are blueberry bushes...they go red in the Fall.

The sport fisheries here are quite regulated, especially the salmon fishery. I think it's a good thing and as long as everyone plays fair, it will continue to stay healthy. I don't fish for salmon...too many idiots on the river sometimes lined up shoulder to shoulder, fighting over fishing spots, etc. Thats why I head up the mountains to the remote streams and lakes...peace & quiet, beauty, and the real sport of "fishing" (as opposed to just "catching") for trout with single barbless flies. I understand fishing for food and respect that, but for me it's all about the hunt and getting away from people for a while (jeepers, now I sound like our friend Beardo )

[VanCityValkyrie]

Awesome pics, Mike! You definitely know how to put your beauty in the spotlight!!!

Those places all look familiar. I have been riding by the Italian place so many times and never stopped... next time 

[The emperor has no clothes]

 

Those crops are blueberry bushes...they go red in the Fall.

The sport fisheries here are quite regulated, especially the salmon fishery. I think it's a good thing and as long as everyone plays fair, it will continue to stay healthy. I don't fish for salmon...too many idiots on the river sometimes lined up shoulder to shoulder, fighting over fishing spots, etc. Thats why I head up the mountains to the remote streams and lakes...peace & quiet, beauty, and the real sport of "fishing" (as opposed to just "catching") for trout with single barbless flies. I understand fishing for food and respect that, but for me it's all about the hunt and getting away from people for a while (jeepers, now I sound like our friend Beardo )





[/quote]Wow ! Those are the biggest blueberry bushes I've ever seen. 

I hear you about the combat fishing. Every year people pile into the Russian River for battle.

I think the most esoteric fishing I've ever done was Arctic Graying on top water flies. When I was in high school a buddy and I would drive 5 hours away to get into the good spots for them.

[Beardo]

Yikes Rob...I LOVE fishing. But if I had to fish with that many people around, I’d leave. I’ve fished thousands of hours and I’m pretty sure the only time I’ve fished close enough to someone to hear them was when I went fishing with msb and he attempted to teach me how to fly fish.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Yikes Rob...I LOVE fishing. But if I had to fish with that many people around, I’d leave. I’ve fished thousands of hours and I’m pretty sure the only time I’ve fished close enough to someone to hear them was when I went fishing with msb and he attempted to teach me how to fly fish.

actually Jason, that pic doesn't do it justice. It was just a quick pic that I found. I've come around a bend in the river while heading towards Anchorage to see them lined up for a mile or so. What is kind of sad (many things actually) is that most of them aren't even tourists. But dudes driving down from Anchorage all geared up in Cabelas and Eddie Bauer playing the sophisticated fisherman. Go another 10 miles and you've got thousands of fish, Grizzlies, moose, and NO people. (Is Mike a good teacher ?)

[Beardo]

I’m kind of a brute force fisherman, used to setting the hook hard on those big SK jacks and walleyes as soon as you feel them bite...I don’t have that soft touch that Mike has, more than once I sent the fly zipping past my head as I set the hook way too hard/soon on them tiny trout. 

I caught some fish, so I suppose he didn’t do too badly at teaching...but I sure didn’t look anywhere near as graceful as he did. 

My 22 year old son has recently taken up fly fishing(msb actually picked out all the gear for him and shipped it out to him as our selection here is a little limited), poor kid doesn’t have Mike to teach him, he’s got me. Blind leading the blind. But I’ve invited us out to BC next summer so Mike can unscrew up what I screwed up.