We packed up as quickly as our frozen hands would go, throwing the tent and fly in garbage bags after shaking off as much ice as we could. There was some concern about not having a site for the next couple of nights with all the regular work folk coming out on the start of the weekend. We drove back down to the Trunk Road and then continued on as it parallels the Livingston River. At this point we realized that the kilometer markings we now decreasing towards the Highwood Junction.
We stopped at the Livingston Falls Rec area for breakfast at the picnic area and to check out the falls. I don't know if it was because we were up early or there wasn't anything going on in the water, but we didn't even get our rods out and just kept pushing up the road.
We continued upstream found a place to cast almost at the end of the Livingston River in behind a nice little beaver dam. The water was clear but the bottom was quite covered in sediment and we didn't see anything.
Just past our fishing spot on the road we made it to the end of the Livingston River where it splits into three creeks at the Johnson Creek Road turnoff. Next for us was to continue on the Trunk Road and there was a distinct change in the road itself, not as well compacted and the gravel was less washed stone instead having more soil in it. This was as we went up and over Wilkinson Summit (pass), at 2000 meters elevation, from the Oldman drainage to the Highwood drainage, following a small steam bed up one side and another down the other side. This part of the road is also closed though the winter which made sense given the terrain.
The road descended down to Cataract Creek and the campground there. We took a look through the campground then went to look at random camping up the Lost Creek Trail, but read the map wrong and there is a permanently closed gate there, so went back to Cataract Creek and got set up on a site. However, the view up Cataract Creek is breathtaking. There were nice neighbours that were just checking out beside us, and gave us some good advice for fishing in behind the campground.
We drove the last stretch of the Trunk Road that we are going to drive on this trip, the last 13km to the Highwood Junction, where we stopped for ice.
Being here we wanted to fish the Highwood River so started our way towards Longview. We decided to drove into town to get cell service and let everyone know we are okay. We headed back and started looking for places to fish the Highwood without a bunch of other people there.
We found a spot just across from Stampede Ranch where we went through a person gate and scrambled down a steep slope to the river. It was nice, sunny, and warm out which was a welcome change. It was a big change of pace to be on a river this size with as much flow as it had.
Mike was working with an ant which he had no luck on. I managed to got 10" rainbow on a nymph. This was our first non-cutthroat we landed on the trip, and it was definitely a different fish, with a little more fight.
Leaving there, we continued upstream and took a look at the river Greenford Rec Area, throwing a couple casts in there but didn't see anything. Looking even further up on Hwy 541 in the upper areas where they are doing riverbank repair, but we couldn't get to a bank that was accessible.
That left us back up to Highwood Junction and went under the bridge to fish the confluence of the Highwood and Etherington Creek. It was a great little pool but the currents of the two coming together made for some really interesting approaches. I was still using a nymph and it was tough to get it to the depths as it swirled and churned. We saw a fish rising sporadically so Mike took a shot with a foam hopper he had on. He worked it a little bit then caught a very nice 14" cutthroat; our biggest of the trip yet.
After landing it, another fish (or possibly the same one) was rising up again, so I tried with a Frank's Hopper. The fly being mostly of hair rather than foam didn't work as well in the currents and kept getting sucked under. Downstream another hole was calling to us. There was a nice log along the bank and a fish rising off the end if it. I tried going after it with my hopper but then cast a bit too far and got my fly stuck on the log and broke it off. Mike put his hopper in and hooked him. We landed him and it was a nice 15" cutthroat, much thicker than the previous.
After a couple minutes that fish (or another in the same location) was rising again, so I tried with a foam hopper, and after many, many casts he went for it, but I didn't hook him.
We went downstream to yet another hole with a nice log along the bank. It was very tough to cast in an awkward position with lots of branches everywhere. I hooked a fish on my first cast and tried fighting it downstream of the log and just about got it there to Mike with the net, but got my line tangled on the last branch and it got away. I could see 5 or 6 fish in the hole but put my hopper over them a few dozen times and had no other takers.
Being quite exhausted, we drove back to site and had a sit and enjoyable Strongbow. We were both tired after the early morning and lots of walking, especially on all the cobbles. We made up dinner and cleaned up afterwards before walking towards Cataract Creek which is about 100m off of our site. After a couple of casts with our hoppers on (rather hopefully) we both swapped over the the size 14 PMD that was recommended and we picked up at the fly shop in Coleman.
I hit it off in one pool I caught a little 5" brook trout. It was good for the diversification of the trout species we caught on the trip.
I went to a pool a touch further down and managed to catch a nice 8" brook trout, followed by two different 6" brook trout.
It was fun schooling all the little brookies; I gave Mike a chance at that hole but it wasn't working for him. We tried one pool further down, but it was getting quite dark, so we made our way back to camp for a fire and a drink.
Clouds had settled over the valley, and they didn't look like rain, so we were hopeful for a bit warmer evening.
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