Fishing With Roberts And Benjamin
Well, I bought a fishing pole.
Victor Benjamin points out some mystical wonder.
Dear diary: I am embarrassed to tell you this, but I don’t know a lot about fishing. Yeah, my mom and dad are marine biologists, they owned a commercial fish boat for a spell, my dad was always sport fishing, and still, none of it really sank in. I love being on the water, and the whole mystique of it all, but the technical side of it never really took with me. “We’ll try it at 100 fathoms son,” my dad would say. “Sounds good,” I would respond, and then retreat back to a mind filled with cascading thoughts of girls and guitars. Well, the time is now. Mark and I bought a couple of fishing poles and are going to try to catch some trout with good old Victor Benjamin up in Whistler. I’ll report back soon diary.
Mark hooks a 4 inch Rainbow Trout. Obviously that one went back.
4:32 p.m. : Oh, hey diary, we just arrived in Whistler and it’s hot like a burning love letter up here. There’s Australians everywhere. I’m scared.
5:20 p.m. : Just met up with Victor at his place. His house makes me feel inadequate. Why don’t I have a set of tasteful leather couches? Apparently the fish start biting at dusk, so that’s when we”ll hit Nita Lake, which is just a few minutes from his house. Getting excited. The lake is stocked with rainbow and kokanee trout. Seems like a good place to start. Going to buy some tackle before dinner.
8:10 p.m. : Had a lovely dinner of salmon cakes and salad. Now watching the premiere of Hell’s Kitchen, as the restaurant Victor works at is featured prominently in it. Whoever wins the show, gets to be the “head chef” of the restaurant. Groovy. Anywho, watched a few minutes of that, saw a quick panning shot of the restaurant and now we’re heading to the lake. Wish me luck diary.
10:20 p.m. : Just got back from Nita Lake. My casting needs improving. I caught a little rainbow, but I’m pretty sure it was an accident. Victor and Mark have great casting skills, mine, not so much. It’s almost like throwing a ball. You have to release it at just the right moment or you’ll send your fly in the complete wrong direction, sometimes across your friends line – then there will be laughing, groaning, and eventually dirty looks and bad vibes. I think I got the hang of it after awhile – distance improved and could almost aim . Casting is very relaxing when you get it right. Tomorrow morning going to the Birkenhead River in Pemberton with Vic’ s friend Mike who knows the area well. Beer now.
“Must be blind love, the only kind of love is stone blind love.”
7:00 a.m. : Just woke up. Man is it ever beautiful up here in the morning.
I’m told a Spinner (pictured above) works well in the fast moving river water. I must learn more.
8:45 a.m. : Just got to Pemberton and picked up Vic’s friend Mike, who knows these parts well. Now en-route to the Birkenhead River to try our luck.
Victor, why did you drag me to this awful place? You know I hate mountains and fresh, clean, clear running water.
9:20 a.m. : Yo Diary, it is so gorgeous and quiet here. First few casts have yielded nothing – it doesn’t really matter if we catch anything though, I’m just digging the feeling of casting into the moving river. Every cast is another chance at something great. There’s a life metaphor there, but I don’t want to get into it.
A moment of relfection: I must cut my toenails when I get back to Vancouver.
10:45 a.m. : Just left the first spot. No one caught anything. On the way out saw a couple of bears tromping through the woods on the other side of the road. Some guys who were counting fish on the river told us they use halls cough drops to let the bears know where they are. Apparently it keeps them away.Good to know.
11:21 a.m. : This is the last spot before heading back to town. No fish, but good conversation. Mike tells me about his time working in Rome at the Canadian consulate there. Sounds like a really cool gig for a cook. Where do I apply?
12:02 p.m. : Heading back to Vancouver this afternoon. Had a great time up here. Thanks to Victor Benjamin for letting Mark and I crash at his pad and a big thanks to Mike for showing us a really gorgeous spot.Fishing, glad we could meet again, hopefully be seeing you again real soon.
There are bears afoot.
Pictures by Mark E. Roberts.
Nice shirt Mark’s sporting!
Hey, are you working tuesday? Wanna come fishin for pinks in Squampton?
Boy the Birkenhead river brings back a lot of memories! It still looks much the same as it did when I was a kid. We always had a hard time catching trout there. We had better luck at the lake (Birkenhead), and at Owl Creek (Forest Service Camping area). There were also some nice deep pools in the river underneath the bridge that weren’t bad to fish at.
But certainly a relaxing way to spend some time.
Loved it. Excellent pictures. I felt as if i was there fishing too.
Nice Owen.
There are some serious Deliverance vibes going on in photo 4. And I’m aroused because of that. But not ashamed.
Lightly it’s good to see you’ve got your priorities in check and aren’t chasing around every pantless girl you see – you listen to Jeff V. and go slay some of those Pink’s (or release them even better) -and you’d better put on a sweet Cowichan sweater like he will be wearing.
It’s funny cause I made an absolute fool of myself down on Nile Creek near Qualicum Bay the other afternoon when I showed up with my spin rod and a couple of your spinners and buzz bombs and the 15 fly guys down there didn’t know if they should say something to me when I was whipping cast after cast out there and they were taking there patient, fluid and respectful time – got two.
You never will know “how to fish” – you just have to start.
spincasting is cd’s, fly fishing is vinyl.