An occasion such as a landmark birthday needs to be celebrated with some fishing. Steve Lum did just that and headed out to Canada in search of steelhead
I realised one of my lifelong fishing dreams this October, to go to the Skeena River System in British Columbia, Canada and fish for its famous steelhead. The journey started a year earlier as a 50th birthday present from my wife, and at that stage I had my heart set on the Sustut - a famed Skeena tributary known for its giant race of steelhead, but actually ended up spending it on a sister tributary of equal note and reputation, the Bulkley. I had booked some dozen years earlier to go to the Sustut with Farlow’s, however I had double booked with another tackle store to go to the Karluk River on Kodiak, Alaska also for steelhead at the same time, so sadly cancelled.
I contacted the owner of both the lodges on the Sustut, and inquired as to what spots were available. As there are only twelve spots on both lodges per week and the season is relatively short, with rebookings usually accounting for most prime spots between week 3 (week 1 starting at the start of September) and week 6, normally only very early or very late weeks are available. Any cancellations are allocated on a first come first served basis waiting list. After week 6, weather changes dramatically and fishing is for diehards with snow and sub-zero temperatures. I had endured this type of fishing on my week a decade earlier on Kodiak, and believe it should be reserved for the young and fit, of which I fit into neither category at present. I was offered week 1 by the owner of the Sustut operation however I was not convinced; I had read how on the previous year, fishing for most of the early weeks were blown out on the Skeena and steelhead runs did not really begin to fire until late October.
I posted onto the Spey Pages website and forum requesting information and opinions of how good such a week on the Sustut would be. Many said that it was too early, and it would be hit and miss, and one poster recommended talking to the outfit FlyWater Travel, owned by an ex-guide who did the global circuit for years, Ken Morrish, who had now set up a successful company organising fly fishing trips around the world. I had a long chat with Ken on the phone, and he suggested for my first trip, Frontier Farwest Lodge on the Bulkey. This lodge was well known and previously owned by the eccentric Collin Schadrech who I had read about in my classic “Steelhead Fly Fishing” book by Trey Combs, but it had been recently bought by a couple Derek and Andrea Botchford, completely rebuilding the main lodge and the cabins, and introducing an exciting new mixed programme, It sounded very interesting, a mixed week fishing 3 different parts of the Bulkley System; the main Bulkley, a float through the Bulkley Canyon - a beautiful part of the river not accessible to many, and 3 days on the Morice (another tributary of the Bulkley famed for its high numbers of fish and those willing to come to the dry). He said that for a first timer to the Skeena like myself, the higher numbers of smaller fish with the possibility of a larger fish would be a better proposition, as bad weather on another tributary like the Sustut could easily mean a blowout, blank and a disappointing week, since it was also a very short tributary and due to its position and elevation, susceptible to errant weather conditions. The Bulkley/Morice had over 100 miles of water to fish, and was one of those water systems which rarely blew out; we would be able to find some part of that system fishable were the highly unlikely situation to arise that the Bulkley blew out also. He was also offering week 5, a prime week on the Skeena, so I took his advice and made a booking, duly putting down my 50% deposit for the trip.
The year passed slowly, my trip always seemed to be many months off, when all at once, like waiting for a bus, it was onto me, with only weeks to my trip. I assembled all the necessary bits and pieces in these remaining weeks such as terminal tackle, suitable clothing and upgraded waders and boots, however throughout the year I had been gathering appropriate rods, reels, lines and flies and was now all ready for my trip. My armoury consisted of all double handed Meiser rods from a light 5/6 11’ switch rod up to a big gun 15’ 9/10. Reels were a combination of geared modern reels to bench made “G&P” clicker spey reels. For lines, I also carried a full complement of traditional short and medium belly 600 to 800 grain spey lines but also the newer Skagit and Scandi shooting head systems being used by modern steelhead spey casters. These lines were in the range of 350 to 480 grains, and complemented by a range of poly tips and T12 and T14 from lengths 5’ to 15’. Leaving nothing to chance, I also carried a full array of flies from traditional spey flies, classic steelhead wets and modern tube and articulated/intruder style flies. I had even booked some refresher lessons with a spey instructor to complete the preparation.
All too soon I was on my Air Canada flight, made doubly long by an unavoidable 6 hour layover in Vancouver, before jumping on a small plane to Smithers. I would stay overnight there before being picked up by the lodge owner Derek Botchford the following morning. Almost 22 hours passed from the time I set off from my home in London to reaching Hudson Bay Hotel in Smithers. I was exhausted, but the 8 hour time difference and severe jetlag, combined with excitement of the fishing experience to come prevented me from having a deep and sorely needed sleep.
In the Hotel lobby waiting for the Lodge owner to arrive the next morning, I got talking to another fisherman also waiting to go to the Frontier Farwest lodge. As t turned out we were to fish together the whole of the week, as he also booked his trip solo. All of the other guests there that week were with fishing one or more buddies. He was a terrific and interesting guy, and made the trip much more enjoyable to be with such a friendly, personable fellow.
Having paid for our licences (both General and Steelhead stamps) prior to the trip online, we stopped by the local fishing store to pick up yet another steelhead licence, as there is the requirement to buy area specific licences on specific days (Classified Waters). All up, we had paid some $300-$400 in steelhead fishing licences for the week, a not insignificant sum. We made our way to the Frontier Farwest lodge, only a half an hour’s drive from Smithers allowing us to have a half day’s fishing on our first day. After brief introductions to the other guests and a light lunch, we were led to our own individual cabins, which were newly built, extremely luxurious and spacious and each with its own ensuite bathroom. We tackled up, donned our wading gear and were allocated a guide for the half day. Normally there are two guests per guide, however on this half day with all guests at the main lodge – normally the group is split into two and one fishes the Bulkey and the other the Morice with the groups switching over after 3 days – 3 would fish with a guide.
I was introduced to a pair of guys who fished together all over the world, yet lived in separate continents. It was only a short 30 minute drive to the section we were fishing, and we jumped into the jetboat already moored on the shore waiting for us. Reports of the fishing up to then had been spectacular; an absolute steelhead fest, especially on the Babine, however water was now low having not rained there for some months and fish therefore were a bit shy in coming to the fly. I had a couple of takes, very light which drew line but then lifted into nothing. One of the other fishermen, an experienced global destination fisherman and retired doctor from the north of England, took a bright fish about 8lbs – the only fish to be hooked or landed that afternoon by our trio. Having fished for steelhead in Alaska before, it was not an unexpected outcome for the “fish of 1000 casts”, especially for a short half day warm-up, however I did secretly hope that action would be hotter than this.
We retired around 5:30 back to our cabins and the main lodge, where we met up with the other guests and to be treated to a gourmet meal of starters, main and dessert all with a choice of wines and whiskies and/or liqueurs. Never before had I had such luxury treatment on a destination trip! I retired early since was still suffering badly from jetlag (and didn’t really recover from the jetlag till it was time to leave a week later, waking at around 3am every morning). One group of 6 went off to the Morice and we, the second group of 6 were to fish the main Bulkley and the Canyon section for the next 3 days. Day 2 was the start of the fishing in earnest, and I was paired with Bob, the chap I previously met at Hudson Bay Lodge from California for the rest of the week. Earlier that morning, a pair of up and coming tackle makers James Reid of Vancouver and Mark Shamburg of Colorado, who I had commissioned to make me a beautiful bamboo spey and a bench made Hardy inspired reel, dropped them off to me at breakfast and I was to fish with this amazing piece of form and function at various times during the week, including this first real day of fishing. The guide was friendly, knowledgeable and keen on getting us onto fish, but fish were hard to come by that morning, with not a touch by either of us. After lunch, rain started to fall, and it rained constantly and heavily and things really started to turn on. We hit a fresh pod of fish, probably stimulated by the rain in the Canyon stretch and we hooked and landed about 5 in the last 2 hours of the day.
My first fish was dime bright, fought like an absolute tiger, jumping many times and cart wheeling, stripping line off of that bench reel. Satisfyingly, it was taken on a traditional Winter’s Hope, a fly which had served me well on the Karluk in Alaska. The bamboo spey was a delight to fish, and only the extra weight at the end of the day causing a little tiredness was the only difference in fishing it as opposed to graphite. There has been a big revival in cane as a spey rod material, due to faster tapers, hollowing methods and spliced joints of old. Although a bit of a pain to assemble, it was only 11oz or so, for a 12’ rod which is very comparable to a modern graphite spey. Many guests on my week fished bamboo, and all of the guides were very supportive of those who wanted to fish their own methods or styles.
That night the heavens opened, and dumped water over the whole Skeena region, blowing out every other Skeena tributary apart from the Bulkley and Morice. It was one of the things Ken Morrish had said to me and it is a consideration if anyone is thinking of a Skeena trip. It did mean however that every other Skeena fisherman was looking for fishable water, and migrated to these sections with the resulting concentration of fishermen very high. It did not make too much of a difference however to fish numbers taken as most found conditions very tough with high winds, high and dirty water and few fish landed in the whole group for the day, if not the whole of the Skeena.
Each guide fished with two fishermen on a specified section of the Bulkley (or Morice) and staying with both fishermen on a run before moving on, but more common was to set one fisherman up on a bar or run, giving him advice on how to fish it then take the other fisherman to another run or bar a short distance away. Time was spent with each fisherman helping him with technique and productive flies and setup, as well as netting any fish he was fortunate enough to hook and stay on. A typical day started with coffee at your cabin at 6:30, breakfast at 7, then setting off for your beat at 8:00 in the guide’s truck with jetboat in tow. Lunch was around midday on the river which consisted of sandwiches and soup, with a huge supply of snack and drinks always available when required. The day was pretty full and intense, moving between runs in jetboats, then wade fishing the run at quite a brisk 5 paces between casts. The day usually finished at around 5:30 before dark started to fall. Both Bob and I being Skeena virgins and relative steelhead newbies, landed on average about 3 to 4 fish per day, hooked about the same amount again but came off, and had other knocks or nudges from fish which did not take solidly. All in all, quite a lot of action, though more experienced steelhead fishermen used to fishing double handed rods, and versed in the art of Skagit casting with heavy tips and big flies scored much higher. Some guests scored ten or more fish in a day, but these were fishermen who fished rivers like the Deschutes for decades if not their whole lives.
Fishing continued like this on different sections with a different guide every day and on Tuesday night, we were to switch over to the Morice section and Lodge, exchanging with the first 6 who had gone up there on Sunday morning. It was a long 2 hour drive, but much more remote than the Bulkley sections which signified less fishing pressure, and hopefully more fish. One of the highlights was that Morice fish were more prone to take a surface fly, and though extremely exciting, none came to my flies in that method. Fish average size were however smaller though still quite respectable at around 8-10lbs, though in one amazing first morning, that retired doctor took and hand/self landed a 42” fish estimated at over 25lb when the maximum for that river is normally around 15lb! At the Morice I took one nice fish close to that advertised maximum, of about 14lb on that first morning and took many more.
It was hot, hot, hot, with many fish coming to that blue tube fly that the guide put on for me, a colour which seems to be a favourite with Bulkley fish (or perhaps the fishermen).
The Morice Lodge was more basic, with shared cabins and a more “home-cooking” style of meal. I much preferred this more comfortable setting rather than the grand luxury of the main lodge.
The 3 days at the Morice finished all too soon, and we were on our way back to the main lodge for our last meal before flying off home the next morning. Dinnertime was always a great part of the trip, as it meant meeting and talking with many interesting people from different backgrounds, albeit from a more privileged part of the social structure. However one thing which was common in all that came that week was their passion for fly fishing.
One aspect which struck me was a factor that many from our part of the world overlook and can’t really understand and that is bear encounters. Whilst there are bears in some parts of Europe, most have been hunted nearly to extinction, and there are no large beasts like the North American brown and black bears or Moose that can kill you. Other fishermen there that week were already well versed in the precautions that one should take when in bear country, but for us we took it all for granted that we were safe whilst fishing, which may not have been a correct premise. 2 weeks before we arrived, an Alaskan fisherman was severely mauled in the Morice area as he was packing up to leave. Although it was late, and getting dark at around 7.30pm, Alaskans are no strangers to bears, so he would have known what was necessary to be safe in bear infested areas like these. He was so badly mauled that the sow protecting her cubs, ripped his lower jaw off; he was very lucky to survive. This made for nervous fishing with this in your head, as the guides often split us up, dropping one off to fish a bar or run alone and jumping between the two. In my Alaskan trips a decade earlier, the guides rarely left us to fish alone, and always carried a shotgun on their backs. Here we fished alone much of the time and the guides carried no backup protection. After the trip was over I couldn’t get the bear thing out of my mind and decided to research it further. I read the book : ”Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Prevention” by Stephen Herrero, and knowing what I know now about bears, wouldn’t do another trip to North America without carrying bear spray. Had I encountered a bear, I could have easily done the wrong thing to provoke an attack, and was completely unprepared and without knowledge to diffuse that attack or deal with the bear if I did have a chance meeting with one whilst fishing alone on a run. There certainly would not have been enough time for the guide to return to save my bacon; he was too far away, could not hear my cries and it would have been over in less than a minute. This was not too remote a possibility, as there were two near encounters with bears in the group, one by my fishing partner Bob. He, however is a hunter who has hunted and killed bears, and well versed in their habits, but admitted he spent a nervous 15 minutes waiting for us to pick him up in the jetboat.
It was great and memorable trip made better by a top class operation and very nice fellow guests. It is a destination and Lodge I would return to in a heartbeat, even having seen remote camps like Kodiak. The only thing which detracted from the experience was the lack of advice regarding bears and the fact that the GBP:CAD rate is so bad currently that the trip’s cost, already considerable especially after adding the costs of flights, licences, overnight stay in Smithers and guide/staff gratuity, has now escalated by some 37%!
Frontier Farwest Lodge : Derek Botchford, www.bulkleysteelhead.com
FlyWater Travel : Ken Morrish, www.flywatertravel.com
Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, Steven Herrero, ISBN 978-1585745579