HI-HIUM 2004 DIARY

In attendance this year was Al, Gary B., Greg, Hugh and Mike.

We met up at the Conway gas station at 5a.m. as in past trips. Gary drove his Dodge and Greg and Al rode with him. Mike drove hisJjeep with Hugh doing the navagation. The Sumas border crossing was passed at 6:15am without any effort at all. We didn't even have to show our driver's license. Go figure. We continued on to the town of Merritt and we were sitting down for breakfast at 8:30. We enjoyed another great breakfast and the meal plus tip was about $48 (CDN). From there we stopped in at the Powder Keg fly shop and had a nice time talking about the local fishing areas and picked up some last minute fishing supplies. Oh I almost forgot to mention that Greg picked up some bear repelant for those long lonely walks to the outhouse in the wee hours of the morning. From the sporting goods the next stop was the liquor store. We decided to try Wieser's offering this year and it was quite nice at about $20 (CDN). Back to the cars and one last stop for a quick fuel up. We topped off all of our tanks at a cost of about $165 (CDN). By now it was 10:30 and the boys were itching to get to the base ranch. At 12:30 we were being greeted by Ron and Misey. After some conversations and the paying of the cabin tab of $2,042 (US) it was time to head up the trail to Hi-Hium lake itself. We left the base ranch at 1:10pm and we arrived to find our kimori's waiting at the dock at about 2p.m. We loaded up the kimori's with the help of the resort attendants and we putted off towards Eagle Bay 2. We had a nice crossing with a bit of wind rising by 3pm when we arrived at our cabin for the week. We off loaded the gear and claimed our bunks for the week. Now it was time for the toast to another great adventure at Hi-Hium. Hugh decided to do a bean soup for the first night's supper. After a fine dinner and long day the sleeping bags were looking pretty inviting by 9p.m. By 9:30 the last lantern was out and the cabin was quite, well sort of.

Friday, Everyone slept very well after the full travel day on Thursday. At daybreak you could hear the boys begining to stir. It was 5:30 and the first order of business was to get a fire started. Greg jumped in and put on a pot of his famos "boat coffee" much to the delight of all in attendance. Sweet rolls were the morning snack to hold you over for the moring fishing trip. Hugh and Mike paired up and were the first to stir the water up this morning. They fished the bay to the east of Eagle Point and started the trip out with three fish that went from 10-14" Al and Greg paired up and had one hit. The weather started to get a bit nasty around 9a.m. and the cook decided it was time to rustle up some breakfast for the boys. The breakfast was good and they boys were back on the water from about 11-1:30pm the weather was threatnening during the mid day trip. Hugh lost a nice fish that took him well into the backing on his fly reel out in mid lake. He was trolling a white muddler minnow at the time. Mike caught one and Greg landed two nice 16" fish in full color. Al was kept busy being net boy and guide. During the mid day break Mike kicked some serious tail on the dock throwing a bead head leech with a chartruse tail. Nearly a fish on every other cast. At 2:30 the weather is getting much worse now. Hugh has started to put a fine double stew together for the evening meal. The weather report that we got is for better conditions in the coming days. Greg fired up the satelite phone and it worked like a normal cell phone, he let the wives know that we had arrived in one piece and was assured that everything thing on the home front was under control. That evening we enjoyed a great stew meal and the pot in the cabin was big enough for a two night sized quantity. The weather has turned for the worse now and the only fishing that was done was from the dock for the spawners. This was a pretty easy way to get a fish fix. The lamps went out again about 9:30 and the cabin was quiet once again, well sort of.

Saturday At 5:30 the cabin came alive once again. a fire in the stove first and then a hot cup of coffee. The weather is much better today. Mike and Greg paired up and had a great morning bringing about 15 fish to the net. They spent some of the time in a bay by Moose Point and caught spawners on nearly every cast they made. Gary and Hugh paired up and Gary landed one and Hugh had another good hit. Al ran solo today and spent the morning in the east bay. Al had quite a few strikes. The flies that were on the hot list today were Muddler minnows, BH Leach, Scuds and Careys in green. A floating line with a BH was quite effective today in the shallow water. The 2-5p.m. trip was reported as follows. Hugh landed a nice 18" spawner and two more to hand. Hugh also lost a couple more. Gary went fishless this time, too busy netting and guiding to concentrate on his own game. Mike and Greg fished the weedbed off Moose Point and landed 3 nice fish from 16-20". Things started to get slow so they decided to join the rest of our group in the east bay. Al landed a nice fish that he estimates at 3lbs plus. Yes that's right, thats pounds! Al fought this brute on his 4wt with a floating line a BH Nymph for his fly. A bear was spotted about 50 yards from Eagle Bay 1 back in the woods. It's now 5:15 and the boys decided it was beer-thiry so back to the cabin for a beer and a bump. Al did the shower routine to make the rest of us look bad. A shave and a bucket bath is all it took. The rest of us look pretty trampy as ever. The theory amoung the trampy ones is that bear don't like facial hair. Also there is only one small mirror in the cabin so it's hard to notice how bad we look. Tonight we will be eating meatballs and spagetti with a green salad. Dinner was great after we figured out that we have to cover the pasta pot ot get it to come to a rolling boil. During the wait Mike whipped up his now famos no frills Wedding Meat Ball Appatizer. We ate dinner about eight and no one went hungry but where did the day go? by 9:30 the lanters were turned down and the cabin fell silet once again, well sort of.

Sunday 5:15 we could hear the stove being lit up. The weather looks real promising today once again, we'll see. The air temp is about 30 degrees. The morning bite was a bit on the slow side for all the boys but Hugh. He caught a 14" and a 17"f ish in the east bay. Greg had one over the weedbed and Mike had 2 on over the same area while fishing with Gary. Al was with Hugh and didn't even raise a strike this time. Gary got a hit about 50' from the cabin to save face for the morning. Al figured out that this was the twentieth anniversary of the American Angler's Club, TOAST! It's hard to believe that this has went on for so many years and we still enoy every minute of these trips. We agreed that another trip to Hi-hium must be planned for the 2005 Great Get Away. We all know a lot can change for anyone over the course of a year but we will hope for the best. It's about 12:15 now and we have started to prepare a late breakfast. Today we will have eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and toast. The weather is looking so good there are rumblings of a shower day for the boys. Another order of business will be to do the dishes for the second time this trip. Al, Gary and Greg did the shower routine and the water was a bit hot to begin with. By the time Gary got his turn in about two hours the water was just about right. Back to the fishing, Hugh got 3 trolling the east bay with Al. Al didn't do too well this trip. Another trip as net boy. Greg went solo this time and didn't accomplish much. He redemed himself though on the dock with three to hand. Gary and Mike drifted the weedbed and Mike lost two on this outing. Later the two trolled over the south shore with a Black Muddler Minnow. A bit later they found the rock pile but were blown off by high winds before they got anything. Later back at the dock Mike fished a chironomid under a indicator and landed 6 or more to round out the day. The weather did take a turn for the worse today late. Dinner was a reheated version of the beef stew. It's always better the second time around. The cabin attendants dropped off two containers of water and more ice for the ice box. We added about two and one half gallons of fuel in each boat for tomorrows fishing and the lights went out about 9p.m.

Monday It's 5:30 and the boys looking for a cup of coffee. There is frost on the dock but the weather is looking promising once again. The coffee came out great today, about three quarters of a cup of grounds is all it takes for a good pot Hugh figured out in the drip pot provided. Today the pairings are Hugh and Greg, Al and Gary, Mike solo this time. For the moring run Greg and Hugh landed two fish each. the fish were bright and the largest went about 16 1/2" on Greg's rod. They were trolling east of Moose Point. Hugh was using his green Doc Spratley and Greg was using a red Doc Spratley. Al and Gary got skunked this time in the east bay. Mike landed 6, 3 were spawners east of the bay in a small cove he spotted. At noon the boys did a Braut lunch. During the mid day run Mike tried the Rock Pile and had fish jumping all around but didn't get a strike for two hours of casting. Hugh took the mid day off today. Greg trolled the south side of the lake today. Later Mike joined in and played with the spawners just a bit east of the Rock Pile. Gary and Al did the east bay again. They had strikes and Gary landed two. Later they motored to the south side and caught two late in the day. Dinner was a steak and baked potato, mmmmm. The weather is starting to settle down now. We would really like to see better fishing weather on Tuesday.

TUESDAY 5:30 up and at em again. The weather looks promising once again, of course we've seen this before. Today Greg and Al paired up. they tried a floating line and a sinktip. Al landed three on a green nymph pattern. Greg got lots of strikes on a Bead Head Leech and red Doc Spratley. None to the boat though. Gary was solo today, one fish to the boat with lots of strikes on a Carey with red body, orange tail and brown hackle. Hugh and Mike wind drifted chironomids with a scud dropper on a floating line. Mike landed 3 in the first hour and a half. Hugh got one in the boat a bit later. The takes were soft and hard to detect and Mike missed about 4-5 fish because of this. The weed bed off Moose Point is where we concetrated this time. About 11a.m. we made our way back to the cabin for a bump and a brew. We noticed a slight shortage of bump stock on the shelf. We started out with a fith of Wiesers,lt of Crown and a pint of Glen. We now have about a pint of the Crown left. the boys are a bit nervous at this time. However the food package is working out real well with no noticable shortages at this point. The weather is getting a bit on the cool side again. Most of the days the temps don't get above 52 degrees. during the nights it will drop to about 32-40. Warm clothes and rain gear are a must at this time of year. Hugh's putting together a sausage gravy to lay on toast for the mid day meal. We are ready to hit the lake again after we clean 3 fish for the fish bar-b-q. We couldn't locate the zip locks to store the fish, bummer. We will also need to be sure to bring more seasonings as Hugh is usually looking for something to add a bit of zip to the meals. The oven does a nice job on the toast, brown, turn over and brown again. The pans are working out great and we only need to bring the griddles to add a bit of comfort for the cook. The sausage gravy over toast and eggs was a great lunch meal. just right to warm up and recharge the batteries. Mike cleaned the fish and found them filled with scuds. 12's or 10's he figured. the scuds in this lake are quite large and a dark olive color. Next year he will have to spend some time at the vise tying up lots of these as this looks to be the main menue in late May. Hugh and Mike tried the Rock Pile in the afternoon for about a hour. Hugh caught one and had quite a few hits on his scud. Mike only managed a couple of hits this time. There was another fisherman working the Rock Pile from a anchored position who put on a real clinic on how to catch fish. He was unreal. He was hooking up on every other cast with a floating line and sinking fly of some sort. Mike suggested the weedbed might be the ticket so off they went. At the weedbed Hugh landed a couple more bright fish and Mike only managed a couple of hits. Hugh then gave Mike a few pointers on his technique. By 5:30 they were back at the camp. Today scuds were the ticket and a olive green Hare's ear nymph came in a close second. Al and Greg did a swing through the east bay. Greg had a couple of hits but nothing to hand. They then trolled Moose Point and Al landed a nice fish just turning to spawning colors. Al and Greg then joined the weedbed drift and Al landed one more keeper on the bed. Gary trolled along the south side of the lake and had lots of strikes but none to the boat. Dull hooks he figures. Gary spotted the remains of a cabin half way to Lundeens resort. It's right on the lakeshore and looks to be the "half cabin" that Ron spoke of as being the best place to fish a chironomid pattern. Al and Greg later fessed up to hooking up to the mythical Johnson Sea Horse. Wasn't much of a fight though, after the intial hit it just rolled over the line about eight times and died. for dinner today we had stew again with another dish of Wedding Meatballs. The meal was great and it was the third of the batch. The wind has not given us a break all week. It works fine for drift fishing but it is a pain to try to troll and hold a good course We are now approaching our last full day of fishing here at Hi-Hium. This place is so cool we just can't get enough of it. The fishing is challenging but highly rewarding just the same. The Kamloops trout fight to the finish. these are truly the kings of the trout species.

WEDNESDAY Well it's 5:30 and the boys are on the prowl again. This is the last day of fishing for us and we are not going to waste a minute of it. A quick cup of coffee and we are heading for the boats. the weather is the best we have had all week. the weather did had a bit of a hissy fit around 10am for an hour but that was about it for the day. This morning Greg and Mike paired up and tried the Half Cabin hole with chironomids and indicators. they fished it for about one and a half hours without any success so back to the weedbeds. They landed about 8 fish in just a little over one hour. Al got 3 to the net, one nice one and two small fish. Hugh got 2 in the a.m. Gary got lots to the boat but managed to loose them at the last minute. During the second outing Greg and Mike put on a drift fishing clinic over the weedbeds. First they were drifting without a indicator using a 14 BH green chironomid. they then added a indicator and 6' of tippet. This drove the fish wild! They landed about 15 plus fish in about 3 hours of drifting. Greg even snapped a rod during this fishing frenzy. Gary and Hugh got 4 to the boat trolling off of Moose Point. Gary got some great action on a yellow bodied and winged fly fished wet. Al drifted and trolled the weedbed and landed 3 fish with lots of missed opportunities and hits. Mike is convinced the indicator rig is the key over the weed bed with a 6' tippet section added to a 9' leader. Back at the cabin the purse was tallied with about $130(US) and another $130(CDN). It was decided that a $50plus tip was in order for our attendants as they have taken such good care of our needs. For the dinner tonight we cooked everything that was left. Hashbrowns with onions and eggs added, 4 brauts, 6 sausage patties, wedding meat balls, rolls and margerine. It all cooked up real easy and Hugh got a much deserved night out of the kitchen. however we did have to shoo him away from the stove several time during the night. Everyone took a shower today and preparations for the morning exit commenced.

LAST NIGH SUMMARY. This trip has been another success story. The food list was about as dialed in as it can get. The groceries and menue provided for flexability in meal times and minumal prep time. Kitchen cleaning was minimal.

The shortfalls of this trip were,

We could have used a bit more fuel. we should fill all the tanks and bring a additional 12 gallons.

We could have used one more fifth of booze.

One case of beer was a bit on the slim side for me this year with the extra day we had.

I need to tie up more scuds in 10's-18's

Olive patterns worked well over the weed beds and the smaller sizes worked very well

It's 9p.m. and most of the prep work is done for the morning's journey back to the base ranch. The lanterns turned out for the last time around 9:30, the cabin was quiet tonight.

THURSDAY 5:30 and the stove was lit, a pot of coffe started and the boys went into action. Burn the trash, load the boats, sweep the cabin, split some wood, kerosene the stove and one long last gaze at this amazing setting. The weather is warmer than it has been all week. Blue skies and no wind, it is hard to leave on a day such as this. But we have had our fun and we must start the trip home. We pull from the dock at 6:30 and all eyes are looking back to Eagle Bay 2 as we round Eagle point. When the cabin is out of sight we begin to focus on the boat house in the distance to the east. By 7:45 we are all loaded up and rumbling down the mountain back to base camp. We crossed paths with Ron bringing up the nxt group of anglers whose eyes were bright with anticipation, we were a bit jealous of them. We arrive at the ranch at 8:45 and were met by Missey and a fresh batch of blueberry muffins. After we said our goodby's and made arrangements for 2005 we left the ranch at 9:45. We turned the rigs to the Tunkwa lake route and enjoyed this scenic route home. We arrived at the Grand Pub Grill at 11:45 and pulled in for some lunch. After a great lunch and service to match we hit the road at 12:45. We made the Sumas crossing with one rest stop by about 2:45. We got our tax rebate of $103(US) and had no problems at all with the border crossing back onto U.S. soil. A birth certificate and driver's license made our crossing very smooth. We stopped at Conway to refuel and part ways for the last time of this years Great Get Away Hugh and I arrived at his house about 6p.m. I left there and made it back to my house by 6:45. Another adventure has been etched in our minds. These memories will last a lifetime and I hope this diary will help us all to remember those wonderful Kamloops trout and our shared days and nights together in Eagle Bay 2.