British Columbia, Canada

Overview

British Columbia commands a reverence among fly anglers that few destinations can match, earned through its legendary steelhead rivers, its remarkable stillwater trout fisheries, and a wilderness setting that encompasses everything from coastal temperate rainforest to interior sagebrush plateaus. The province's steelhead rivers, particularly those in the Skeena River watershed, represent the last great stronghold of wild steelhead on the Pacific coast, and the chance to swing a fly for these powerful, ocean-going fish in rivers like the Bulkley, Kispiox, Babine, and Sustut draws dedicated anglers from around the world each autumn.

Steelhead fishing in British Columbia is a practice steeped in tradition and defined by patience. The classic approach involves wading into a run, casting a long line across the current, and allowing a swung wet fly to sweep through the holding water on a tight line, waiting for the explosive take of a fish that may weigh fifteen to twenty-five pounds. The rivers of the Skeena system offer this experience in a setting of towering spruce and cedar forests, gravel bars flanked by mountains, and the ever-present possibility of encountering grizzly bears along the river corridor. It is fly fishing in its most elemental form, stripped of technology and dependent on watercraft, casting skill, and an understanding of where steelhead hold in the current.

The interior of British Columbia offers an entirely different but equally compelling fly fishing experience. The Kamloops region and the Cariboo Plateau are home to hundreds of productive stillwater lakes that grow rainbow trout of exceptional size and fighting ability on a diet of chironomids, damselflies, dragonflies, leeches, and shrimp. This form of fly fishing, pursued from pontoon boats and float tubes, demands a deep understanding of aquatic entomology and the ability to match specific hatch stages with precise imitations, and it produces trout in the three- to eight-pound range with regularity. Rivers like the Thompson, a tributary of the Fraser, also hold steelhead and provide additional opportunities for anglers based in the interior.

The British Columbia fishing calendar is remarkably long. Spring brings chironomid hatches on interior lakes from April through June, followed by damselfly and sedge activity through summer. Trout rivers on the coast and in the interior fish well from June through October. Steelhead fishing begins on the Skeena tributaries in August and continues into November, with September and October generally considered the prime months for the largest fish.