The Plan Versus The Trip

Sometimes, the best laid plans just don’t quite pan out the way that you would like them to – but that’s all part of the adventure. Typically when we are planning out a trip to the west coast, we try to go when the weather is going to cooperate; while a little (or a lot) or rain can be combatted with some solid rain gear, there isn’t much a person can do to battle high winds that make up it difficult to get out on the water. Due to busier than typical work schedules and lining up someone to watch the dog, we packed up our things and loaded the boat westward bound, despite a less-than-ideal forecast looming ahead.

 

The first bit of bad luck/good luck that we stumbled into happened before we even left town, when a quick stop to top the truck up with fuel at the local co-op led to us discovering a flat tire on the boat trailer. Bad luck? Sure, in a sense – but I’d tend to look at it as good luck in that it was noticed right away at low speed, all the tools were at our disposal to swap it out with the spare, and even better luck was the local tire store down the road got us set up with a replacement and the whole ordeal only added an extra 30 minutes or so onto the trip. Good luck all things considered!

After watching the forecast the duration of the drive, a last-minute decision was made in Terrace to head south down Highway 37 to Kitimat, rather than continuing on westward to Prince Rupert. Our smaller boat doesn’t make for enjoyable fishing when you’re getting rocked around by the waves, and while it was definitely still blustery conditions either way, it looked like we would have a better chance of getting out down south. We rolled into the campsite with winds-a-howling, but by early the next morning as we launched the boat at the marina, we were welcomed with glassy flat waters on the Douglas Channel.

 

Knowing that we were bound to get blown off the water by the afternoon, we got to trolling for salmon right away, and enjoyed quite a few hours of relaxing, although not necessarily productive, fishing. Hot breakfast sandwiches cooked up on the sea-b-que, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and a bit of entertainment as we pounded our way back to the launch and got to watch some wind-surfing type activity taking place. Around a roaring fire back at the campsite, we made plans for another earlier start to try and beat the winds again.

Once again, the best laid plans went slightly astray, and rather than fight the wind that continued to blow through that next morning, the decision was made to hang tight and head out the following day. Sure, a person would rather be fishing, but I was able to do a little more exploring around a community that I’ve been in many times over the past decade but never spent much time on land. And in the evening, round the campfire, we reminisced on past fishing trips and the adventures that had accompanied those excursions – arguably one of my favourite parts about getting outdoors and making the best of whatever situation is thrown at us!