Trip Summary Detals

While I have made a habit of fishing the upper Skeena and its tributaries every fall, spring steelhead fishing in the Terrace BC region has always been on my wish list. Finally this April I blocked out the time, assembled a small group and made the trip. I have to say, I am now wondering why it took me so long, as my first trip to the region blew my mind, forever changing my impression as to what good winter/spring steelheading can be.

We send a number of anglers to the region each year including our newest employee Charles. Before he came to work at Fly Water Travel full-time, Charles guided for John and Amy Hazel at Deschutes Angler. When he was there we had helped help him host three different winter/spring trips to one of our favorite lodges in the region; Z-Boat Lodge . To get first crack at the fish and the least amount of pressure on the water, Charles would take an early and often cold week in March. His groups always had a blast and caught some great fish. This year our guests that fished with Z-Boat did great and one has already reserved two back to back weeks for next season.

My excuse to finally visit the Terrace BC region came with a new outfitter named Jeroen Wohe opening Skeena River Lodge. Originally from the Netherlands, Jeroen has lived in BC for roughly ten years and is one of the few to successfully immigrate to BC. His reasons for doing so were clear – to guide fly fishers into big steelhead and Pacific salmon, and in my opinion, he has found his calling! While we had intended to fish the Kalum, Skeena, and Kitimat , we opted against fishing the Kalum as the water was rather low and the other systems were treating us really well.

The long and the short was that we had much better fishing then I ever expected with the largest average fish size that I have experienced. We had lots of stocky 35 and 36 inch fish as well as back to back fish over 20 pounds landed by Pete Laskier. His first was a chrome bright 23 pound hen followed by 42.25 inch buck that was close to 27 pounds! Needless to say Pete was pumped as were the rest of us. For the first three days all of us landed between one and three fish per day, and ultimately, all us had at least one day where we got skunked. If that hadn’t happened, it just wouldn’t have been a legitimate steelhead trip!

Also of interest was my experimenting with big skaters. I have wanted a winter fish on a dry for some time now but rarely felt the conditions warranted putting serious time towards the challenge. This trip was different. Water temps were between 38 and 40 degrees and after asking a local float fisherman if the steelhead ever ate his float, and him confessing to one crushing his the day before, I went dry only for two days. One day I actually rose eight or nine different fish. I boiled one so big I almost fainted! Ultimately, five ate the fly, three got hooked and two were landed. I kept wondering if I was having a dream but at the time of this writing, I am pretty sure it was real. The photos of my monster skater stuck in the scissors of a few fish also helps. For the record, I fished dries all of the next day and never rose a single fish! So it goes.

So the upshot is this: The new operation was great in all respects, from meals and accommodations, to transportation and guides. Next, if you haven’t fished Skeena country in the spring, you should give it a go, as it was way better this season than I could have imagined. Last, we still have some great openings for next year with both of our favorite operators in the region so feel free to give me call if you have any questions.