Skeena Steelhead

We will fish until our heart is content for six full days. In the morning, days start with fresh coffee, tea, juice, a breakfast bar, and the option to get a hot breakfast sandwich or burrito to go. Then be ready to meet your guide for an early departure and head to the river for the day. The rivers are a short drive from the lodge so there is no shortage of time on the water each day.

The guides are super friendly and know these rivers in and out. And they work really hard to get you into fish. During the week, anglers will rotate guides based on fishing conditions and your fishing preferences. Each evening the guides will look at the river and weather conditions and come up with a solid plan for the next day of fishing.

During the trip, we will focus on our efforts on the mainstem Skeena River, the upper and lower Kalum River, and we will have one day on the vaunted Copper River. Wake up early in your private cabin and head into the lodge for coffee and breakfast, and then jump into the truck with your guide for the day and head to the river. We will run up or down river in a jet boat to the first spot of the day, and strategically work up and down the river getting out at each run to swing flies for some of the most aggressive steelhead on the planet.

Much of our fishing will be done with sink tips on a Skagit head line setup, but there should be plenty of opportunities to string up a rod with a Scandi head and fish a dry line. And, if you have been dreaming about skating up a big steelhead to the dry fly, there isn’t a better place in the world to do it than up in Skeena country!

The Copper River is a beautiful tributary of the Skeena and offers ample opportunity to fish a dry line, with either a skater or a classic wet fly, and anglers have a very good chance of encountering many hook-ups during a day on the Copper.

For most of our fishing we will be using jet boats to get up and down the river, but we will have one day on a beautiful float trip down the Copper River in a raft. All the fishing will be done while wading and will be exclusively done with a swung fly.

We recommend 7 and 8wt Spey rods for this trip. Rods can range from 12’ to 14’ 0” depending on your style. But we suggest rods that are 12’ 6” to 13’ 6”. One rod should be rigged up with a Scandi head, or a dry line of your choice, and a second rod rigged up with a Skagit head and sink tips. It is also a good idea to be ready to have both rods rigged with Skagit heads and sink tips if the conditions call for it.

The flies we use are like what you would find in any winter steelhead fly box, with the addition of a few skaters, or waking flies. Popular patterns for the Skeena region are flies like the Hoh Bo Spey, Egg Sucking Leech, and marabou tube flies. It’s always good to have a variety of colors, but black and blue is often preferred. Purple, and pink & orange are also recommended.

Skeena River Lodge has a number of small log cabins for each guest. You will have the privacy of your own private, warm cozy cabin with a very nice bathroom and a hot shower. The main lodge is stunning, and has a full bar, room to hangout inside, and a beautiful covered, heated deck to lounge about and have a cocktail before dinner.

Dinners are a treat to look forward to each evening and generally feature three impressive courses with generous proportions.  There is also a hot tub, 3 saunas, a weight room, and a game room. And they also have a trout pond on the property loaded with aggressive rainbow trout.

Each day typically starts with a quick breakfast bar with coffee, juice, muffins, eggs, bacon and ham, hot breakfast sandwiches, cereal, fruit, etc. Lunch is prepared by one of the lodge chefs and packed in the raft by the guides. Lunch will be eaten on the river, either stopping for a proper bankside lunch or simply eating while floating between fishing holes.

Dinners are always a treat beyond expectations and worthy of any downtown Seattle restaurant. A good wine selection is always available, as is other alcohol and non-alcohol choices.

For all meals, the chefs are very accommodating of guests with food allergies or dislikes.

PACKAGE DETAILS

PAYMENT

TRAVEL LOGISTICS

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact Jordan Rae at Pacific Fly Fishers for more information, questions and to book the trip.

Shop Phone #: (425) 742-2402
Email: Jordan@PacificFlyFishers.com