Fly Fishing and Paddling Solo on the Cardinal River - Sept 2023

This video is about a 4-day solo packrafting trip I did down the Cardinal River. I was flyfishing for cutthroat, whitefish and bull trout. I managed to catch some of each species. The paddling was a little more spicey than I was anticipating An amazing river in an amazing setting.

[@AppliedAutomationLtd]

Howdy Slim. I have to ask, has anyone messed with your truck or quad while you were over night on the streams? I have a dash cam mounted in my truck and have considered using a trail cam too. .... I think I am getting paranoid? Cheers! Richard Bilovus

[@paulhansen3078]

What a beautiful video !!

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thank you very much!

[@reelisticoutdoors4358]

I too enjoy a Stikine raft. You had me anxious near the end. I'm a flat or class 1 paddler.

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

LOL - yea, I'm a pretty experienced paddler, but it's always spicy when you don't know what's ahead. Probably pushed it a bit too far, but all's well that ends well 😀. I have two packrafts - one is a Kokopelli and the other was ordered direct from the factory in China where Kokopelli rafts are built. We did a bulk order, and were able to get a really good price point and could choose from 100s of designs. I was looking at Stikine, but they didn't really have the type of raft I was looking for. I do love their dry bags and paddles though.

[@mikejessmax]

Always wanted to explore and fish this river but never found the time, thanks for letting me live it through your video. Fish seem to be doing quite well despite the off-roading that goes on out there.

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks for the kind words. The quad impact is a bit disappointing in places. I saw quad tracks running right down the side of the river in some places. There’s an impact. But luckily a lot of the canyon is still hard to access. But if I was making the rules there would be no quads anywhere near that river.

[@greyjay8119]

Woohoo, rodeo! I agree with your brother, too much heart racing for me. Those packrafts are pretty tough though, a really good choice. The water was so clear, were the fish spooky? Did you try dry flies?

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

They can be spooky there - but they are so hard to see, that you're never sure if you're spooking them or not. I tried dry flies a couple of times, but had no action and saw no fish rising the entire time I was there.

[@TheSilver9r]

Cool fished that last year! I'm guessing that was bridge to bridge?

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Yep 😀

[@jrjonesy]

Awesome video brother and another great trip. Definitely too spicy for me.

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks! It’s a pretty amazing place but definitely not that easy to access the whole river 😊

[@bobdepradines1773]

As always, great video , thanks again for sharing it! 👍🏻😃

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks for watching! It's appreciated.

[@avid.venture]

Love your videos. Another great one

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

I appreciate that!!

[@mikefromtown505]

Great trip. And a lot of nice cutthroats.

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks! It definitely was a great trip!

[@shawnyork9065]

Did you hit the part were in the 70's a landslide created a mini lake on the river ?

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Yep, definitely. It's easy to recognize - there are lots of standing dead trees that look like drift wood. It's quite close to where the last set of rapids is shown on the video

[@mikejessmax]

According to Barry M in his book, it happened in 1992 or 93. Heard there isn't much of a lake left anymore - 30 years of flowing water must have eroded most of the dam away.

[@bradfuchs3553]

really nicely shot, a good watch

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks!!

[@larrymortensen1528]

Another great video

[@flyfish-bowhunt-alberta]

Thanks! I appreciated the feedback 😀