Everything took a turn for the better as we came out of the biggest heat wave ever to hit Canada.
Photos: Gary Berenson, Paul Reid
The river began to cool and the steelhead resumed their migration up the Dean. We may be able to attribute this to the steelhead karma of David and Dan Higman as they always seem to hit it good! David Higman’s karma definitely peaked on the last day when he hooked and landed a mega-hot sea-liced fish that reminded him just what these fish are capable of doing.
David Cole was invited up to fish with us by a Canadian guest of ours who will remain nameless. His desire to remain anonymous is due to his desire to avoid hate-mail as he spent three weeks with us this year. Well, by the end of the week David was wishing he could do the same! Each day he returned to camp with a bigger and bigger grin. Catching multiple hot steelhead a day and a chromer chinook to boot will do that to an angler.
Jerry Arnold and Gary Berenson met up on the Dean to continue their international fishing friendship. Gary had Jerry on Dean River experience but as it often goes, Jerry was the one with the horseshoe and scored first.
Finally, Kevin Davis, owner and Chef of The Steelhead Diner in Seattle, came to the Dean to catch his first steelhead on a swung fly. Kevin had spent the last five years fishing the famous rivers of Washington but had yet to bring a steelhead to the beach. Well, on his second day Kevin earned some street cred! The Dean River served him up a chromer hen and the spell was broken. We’re not certain we’ve ever seen a happier angler. When asked how his morning went he just great big grins and hugs! Then he popped open a bottle of Champagne at lunch and passed around glasses to all to toast his success.
Everyone from staff to guests were happy that the heat wave was over and things were back to normal here on the Dean. We are all crossing our fingers and hoping the trend continues!
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