Fishing the Tagish River

Hi Blog!

During our stay at Six Mile River Resort, we had to fit in our activities around the weather. Saturday, June 8, 2019, was our last full day here in Tagish. The weather forecast called for increased chance of rain and wind later in the day. The best time to fish would be in the morning, but when we woke, the temperature was only 48 degrees. While not the most ideal weather for kayak fishing, it was the weather we got. We took our time getting ready in hopes of warmer temps.

Our RV Park is right across the street from the Tagish Bridge Recreation Site which has a nice beach, boat launch and food truck. We carried our kayaks across the street and down to the beach. If you look carefully, you can see our boats off to the right.

The Tagish River is best know for its lake trout, but the river also holds northern pike, Arctic grayling, lake whitefish, round whitefish, pygmy whitefish, least cisco, inconnu, burbot, longnose sucker, slimy sculpin and lake chub. Some of these species we've never heard of let alone know which to catch. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

As soon as Dave launched, the current and wind took him. Bye Dave!

The owners of the campground recommended we paddle into a small arm of the Tagish River just down stream from the boat launch. Out of the current of the main river, we let our kayaks drift with the wind. Dave was the first to hook a fish. It put up a fight and broke the tippet, taking off with Dave's fly. Impertinent fish! Kathy also hooked a fish that within minutes snapped the tippet, leaving her flyless.

A neighbor heard us making a ruckus in the slough and came out to investigate. He said the whole area is filled with northern pike. Their teeth are so sharp, if you don't have a metal leader, you're going to lose your lure. We sort of figured that out, but it was fun while it lasted. We just didn't want to lose any more flies. Before heading out to the main channel, Dave caught a goose flying by.

Just as we were drifting out of the slough, a young bald eagle landed near Kathy's kayak with a small fish.

It didn't take long for word to spread. At one point, there were six immature bald eagles quarreling over the fish. The original fishman prevailed and the rest went on their way.

When lunch was over, the eagle took a bath and dried off his wings.

The wind kept pushing Dave's kayak closer and closer to the eagle. He or she didn't seem to mind too much.

However, once Dave got too close, the bird took flight.

Back out in the main channel, we paddled into the wind. We passed the boat launch and went under the bridge.

Our campground is to the left of the bridge.

As we paddled upstream, we could see the cell tower and fire tower where our new friend Robert works. He is constantly scanning the area with his high power binoculars, looking for forest fires. We knew he could see us, so we waived!

The clouds they promised us started appearing. We sort of thought this one looked like a moose. (Can you say, "Flying Bullwinkle"?)

There are several cottages along the river bank. The docks are fairly high compared to the current lake level. As more of the snow melts in the higher elevations, the river levels rise. The park ranger we spoke to the other day said her family doesn't even put their boat in the water until the summer solstice.

These folks have their own plane.

We drifted our way back toward our original boat launch. Between the current and wind, we hardly had a chance to cast before we were back to the bridge. Dave got one hit, but the fish shook the fly. Casting became difficult as the winds increased. We decided the smells from the food truck were too enticing. We beached the boats and headed over for lunch.

The lunch truck specializes in donairs. Think gyro, but with beef not lamb. A donair has spiced ground beef moulded into an elongated log that's roasted on a spit. The donair meat is then shaved, sautéed and stuffed into a pita, along with fresh tomatoes, raw onions, and a special sweet sauce made with sweetened condensed milk, vinegar and garlic powder.

While no fish were landed, we did get to wrestle with some northern pike. With storm clouds looming, we lugged our kayaks back across the road and packed them up for the next adventure. Tomorrow we move to Destruction Bay along the shores of Kluane Lake.

Until then, stay thirsty my friends.