A week at the Dean River

Sept 20th.
Awoke to sunshine and light winds. Left the Thunder on the hook in the Bay and stayed in Deb’s brothers cabin at the Dean. No roughing it here as the gen provides lots of juice for the big screen TV, internet and hot tub. We donned our waders and headed to the river. Beautiful morning, sockey, pinks and coho all spawning in the crystal clear waters of the Lower Dean River. Up to the cedar hole with a few whistles to let the Grizzly Bears know we were here to fish also. A magic morning with no one in sight we hooked up a few Northern Coho and some Sockeye as well. As the day drew to a close the rain started and a quick look at the forecast did not bode well for the next few days. The forecast proved to be correct as the next week brought rain, rain, wind, more rain and wind. Relatively protected from the wind we were not spared from the rain and the river washed out the following morning and the crystal clear waters of the first day turned into a milky torrent of trees and boulders bouncing down the canyon. With a watchful eye on the Thunder every day we spent the time visiting, playing cards, and eating, no lack of fresh crab , prawns and salmon at the Dean. We kept wathcing the long range forecast for a window to continue our journey south but day after day the wind raged on the outside with winds reaching hurricane force one day and seas of up to 12 meters forecast. Happy to be far from that we still were getting a little anxious to get on our way. Finally a break showed a couple of days off and with a hurried departure we bid quick goodbye to family and friends and set course down the milky upper Dean channel for our date with the open water and Cape Caution.