You always yearn for things you can’t have and as any serious angler would know, the anticipation for the opening of the fishing season after a long cold winter has you at fever pitch.
Opening of 2018 was to be something special, something new and something that would blow us away. Joining the team for this epic trip was Matt Butler, Jakub Kanok and Marek Brundy.
We were venturing into the unknown, somewhere that we had been mulling over in our mind for several months, hoping that the weather gods would bless us, just for this one week.
The trip commenced in what was to be terribly good luck, our usual haunts were all blown-out from recent heavy rain and as we made way to our chosen destination, things were looking more promising than we could’ve imagined.
We pondered and toiled our way around, over and through the mountains in search clean, clear water and we found it in spades.
Breaking first water was our goal, being the first to disturb the trout from their months of unencumbered existence, hoping to present the first fly they would eat.
Luckily we managed this for the majority of the week and it all came to a climax when we ventured into the wilderness for the final part of our trip, an epic heli-fishing excursion into the primeval backcountry.
The fishing was exceptional, even on the hardest days where we struggled to seduce a fish or manage one to the net, the water and surroundings were enough to keep us more than content.
The week was defined by no single day, no single fish and no single river, but a collection of epic moments that will sit with us forever, that true feeling that we broke first water…
Text and photography from Jakub Kanok, check him out online at www.jakub-kanok.com or on Facebook.
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