Page 2 - Greg Thomas

If you’re planning to fish British Columbia’s southern interior anytime soon you’ll appreciate this piece of advice: get a bigger net.

The Chubby Chernobyl is synonymous with western stonefly hatches, especially the early season skwala emergence, which makes its annual appearance on numerous western rivers in March, April and May.

Basically, you have to want a permit to catch one, because not catching fish, as we all know (unless you fish with DuPont Specials, a.k.a. dynamite), is no fun at all. When you’re fishing permit, there’s a whole lot of waiting and very little catching. One eat a week would be acceptable. Three or four hookups means you’re pretty darn good at your craft.

Currently, fewer than a dozen outlets are licensed to sell his flies, one being—yours truly—House of Fly. If you buy Game Changers outside this network, Blane has a question for you: Are you pitchin’ real Chocklett? The answer: Probably not.

Whether they eat the dry or chow the nymph, trout run large during salmonfly time.

Once maligned, bull trout now play a starring role in the Pacific Northwest’s wildest places. Words by Greg Thomas.