Dean River, British Columbia report -1986 to 2022.
In 1986 I was so fortunate to be able to go with great friends to the Dear River in BC for wild Summer Steelhead.
Joe Shirshac had been going to the Dean in August for quite a while and in 1986 we got to join him.
We drove from Sacramento to Williams Lake, BC where we flew in 2 small planes over to the gravel runway on the lower Dean.
Soon a helicopter arrived from Bella Coola and took up up river to "17 mile" in three loads to camp and fish for two weeks.
Our group was lead by Joe Shirshac and Mac Holloway who had been in the US Navy in World War II.
The rest were Jack Sturdivant, Chris Pasley and Myself who were the new guys and much younger too.
We spent the entire first day building a nice big camp with overhead tarps and a big fire pit.
Our fishing licenses started the next day and after breakfast we started fishing.
Chris and I were the youngsters so we either went way upstream or way downs stream and left the camp water to the old timers.
We fished for the next two weeks using sink-tips the first week and then floating lines the second.
In the smaller shallower water up at 17 mile with nice boulders we evolved to fishing most big dry flies, Royal Wulffs.
It was much like fly fishing a big trout stream where Steelhead would rise slowly to a dead drifted dry fly.
The Dean river fish are supposed to be some of the strongest fighter because they have to go up a riffle/water fall to get up there.
This was one of the most emotional trips of my lifetime, to be able fish this famous river with special friends.
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I never went back and at times I'm glad because going back would never be as special to me as that first trip.
Chris Pasley, past Kiene's employee, AK guide, fisheries biologist and hatchery manage in WA state has been back 4 more times.
I was just texting with him and he said he just recently return from the Dean.
They go in with a helicopter from Bella Coola to the top of the river, 27 miles, and float and camp down to the bottom.
Fish over 20 pounds were common, even on dead drifted dry flies but he said now the average was smaller, but still unreal.
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Our own Jeff Putnam has made this iconic trip a few times too where they get dropped in by helicopter and float and camp.
Chris and friend would use a 12' Cataraft? and Jeff and friend uses Outcast PAC 1000s.
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When I watch the movies, "A River Runs Through It" or "Rivers of a Lost Coast" I always think back to our trip to the wild remote
Dean river, 36 years ago or my brother Dick and I fishing on the amazing Pit River at Deep Creek Camp 50 years ago.
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