Canada's British Columbia has always been regarded as a Mecca by top game anglers worldwide and I myself have had a fascination with the place after having had a chance to fish the marvellous Chilliwack area in 2003, fishing great and mighty rivers the Fraser, the Harrison and the Vedder. The 2003 trip wetted my appetite for Canada's North West region and I have now been lucky enough to have fished there many times. I am now escorting anglers to fish for Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon in Canada with my countryman and fellow Hardy & Greys Academy casting instructor, Mr. William Homes. I first met Willie (as he likes to be called) when we where both working at a angling show at Shanes Castle in Co. Antrim, N.Ireland, and now we team together on Hardy & Greys endorsed trips to some of British Columbia's best rivers including the Skeena and its tributaries, The Pitt, The Frazer, The Harrison and The Vedder. It is a joy to fish in these wonderful places with their blue green water and backdrops of high mountains and mist; these are rivers every angler should try if the opportunity ever arose.
Canada's British Columbia region is a truly massive place which us anglers from Europe seem to have problems comprehending, for example I was asked on my return by an Irish angler I need to know how you got on at the Skeena as I'm fishing on the Fraser in BC next week, the problem with that is they are 600 air miles apart so when one river is fishing the other river in a different part of British Colombia may not be, it's like asking how is Co. Antrim in Ireland fishing? I'm off to fish in south England next week!
Guides in this part of the world use their fast jet boats like taxies, taking their clients up and down these mighty rivers to fish from huge gravel bars and islands. It's a lot different than our guided salmon and trout fishing in Ireland or the UK, most guides in the UK or Ireland have favourite throws and fish taking places that they have learnt over many years and from past experiences, but on these big BC rivers each year they change dramatically with massive floods and I mean change whole large islands can appear and disappear. So the guides have large parts of river to learn almost every year from scratch and for that alone I have the utmost respect for the BC guides.
Let me tell you about a normal day. When you arrive at the river's edge your guide will expertly backed up the trailer and launch his fast Jet boat and you would jump in, then the guide will spin the boat around 90 degrees and head up or downstream, while the anglers get a chance to look at the beauty and majesty of the river valley, with snow capped mountains shrouded in mist , log strewn Islands with bald eagles perched on fallen trees, if you're lucky you may even spot a bear looking at you from the far bank before disappearing back into the woods, what a stunning and exciting way to go fishing.
Suddenly your guide will slow down and park the jet boat, normally at the end of a huge gravel bar and you will tackle up. I normally set up two rods my 13 or 14 foot double hander, maybe a Hardy Demon or Angel and also a single hander 9 foot rod for a 8 line maybe a Zane or one of the Greys rods, any one of these will be perfect, the single hand rod will be set up with a Versi-tip line and the double hander with a Skagit Spey line system.
Skagit casting requires a line with a very short, 25-27 ft (7.6-8.3 m), heavy head that will propel heavy sink tips and big flies great distances with a short casting stroke. Skagit casting is easy for novice or experienced casters to learn and exceptionally useful in situations with tight restricted back casting space, but most importantly for us the Skagit lines are great for lifting up heavy sink tips that we attached to the fly line to get us down to where the fish are on these fast and powerful rivers. One thing to remember is to make sure your reels are fitted with a hell of a lot of backing, these fish can strip a reel of line in seconds so I would advise you if you ever get the chance to go get as much backing line on your reels as it can take believe me you may need it. I love all The 5 species of salmon indigenous to the coastal waters of British Columbia; Chinook, Coho, Sockeye, Pink and Chum salmon, believe me they all fight very hard and fast.
Now I will tell you about the last time a fished the Skeena. I must admit the first fish I hooked was a bit of a fluke - it took me while I was showing English angler, Jim Murry how to do a circle C to lift out the fly lines heavy tip and the large fly to set up an anchor position for the Spey cast. As I put the line out everything went solid as a stunningly bright bar of silver female Coho engulfed my large marabou salmon fly then leaped into the air and raced down the river at an amazing pace. My reel screamed as I set the drag and tried to follow the fish as she ran downstream. With my heart thumping hard I put some side strain on the rod and she immediately changed direction at a right angle and then turned again and ran straight towards me which had me reeling as fast as I could and running backwards trying to get line onto the reel to try and get some control on the fish. Then she headed out into the main flow of the river ripping more line off the reel again at an amazing pace. Eventually, after a few more very hairy moments our guide netted the fish and I had my wild stunningly beautiful chrome Coho Salmon. Fresh from the Ocean it was a truly awesome site lying in the guides huge net with the sun shining on its flanks, my god these maybe the prettiest of all the Salmon species I thought to myself - the Silver Coho are truly stunning. Willie took a quick picture of the fish then returned this wonderful Salmon back to the river unharmed hopefully to spawn and make some more amazing fish. That's what it's normally like and on top of great Salmon fishing there is also Sturgeon that believe me you should also try at least once, and that's coming from a fly fishing fanatic.
Information
British Columbia, Canada, has some of the most phenomenal and exciting sport fishing opportunities the world has to offer. Every year the salmon runs, number in the 10's of millions. The sturgeon fishing is world class, and if that's not enough, they also have a fantastic steelhead and trout fishing. Simply speaking, British Columbia and it rivers produce an awesome year-round fishery that's tough to beat. Trips can be arranged from March until November using registered top Canadian guides as is the law in Canada.
Stevie Munn
Stevie works full time as a fishing guide, writer and game angling instructor, he has also appeared in many angling DVDs. He has fished many places in the world but grew up fishing on rivers and loughs of Ireland where he now often guides. He helps run teaching courses on the River Drowse in Ireland and helps host groups to fish in Canada. You can contact him via email anglingclassics@aol.com more info at www.anglingclassics.co.uk
