Things get off to an inauspicious start when freaking Air Canada "delays" my checked luggage. Just my rods, flies, waders, boots; ya know, nothing important. No matter, the bag arrives the next day, and I get a ride out to Babine Norlakes with Carrie and the kids in time to fish Allen's for an hour (and land a nice thirty-eight inch buck). The water on the Babine (which is otherwise running pretty low) is a bit muddied up for the first couple of days due to the glacial silt being dumped in by the Nilkitkwa River. Rain is not the culprit; apparently it has been so unseasonably hot lately that the glacier that feeds the Nilkitkwa has been melting. Things clear up nicely for the last three or four days though, and the dry line action turns on quite dramatically. The anecdotal evidence is that there are not big numbers of fish around this year, but the ones that have shown up are on the large size. Over our six and a half days on the river, our group of eleven anglers lands approximately one hundred and fifty steelhead, and over two-thirds of those are taken on a dry line (and most of those on a dry fly). There are also of course many breakoffs, long distance releases, and "boiled" fish. This works out to about two fish landed per angler per day, and my stats are right in that grouping. One highlight is landing four fish on dry flies the last morning at Home Pool (aka Ejnar's Pool). Gotta love the dry line deal. I get my first ever steelhead on a dry from Challenge Rock, and then get a thirty-eight incher from Beaver Flats. The "fly du jour" is a "Shaved Beaver" in size eight or ten. Good bunch of guys in camp this week, and the food prepared by new chef Rob is outstanding. Billy and Carrie have added a new shower shack which is much appreciated by all. Also, new guide "Cod" has instituted a regular evening shooting competition which generates lots of laughs. I land my personal best steelhead at forty-one by twenty-one inches, from "Corner". This works out to approximately twenty-six pounds. Darren gives me some great tips on dry line fishing, and Missy is as gregarious and fun as ever. All in all a great trip; did not want to go home.