Fall Fishing with Gill McKean Kitimat, Skeena, Nass, Thompson rivers in Terrace BC, Moose hunting

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fall fishery with WCFA
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dave & caitlyn’s skeena river steelhead
caught on Mandi's fly
caitlyn’s cover shot photo
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size matters
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dolly varden
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hooked up on skeena river steelhead
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skeena river steelhead
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hunting grounds
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hunting weather/freezing creeks
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hunting home
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perfect hunting weather
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hunting with jim
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thompson river
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thompson river
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essential necessities
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brads steelhead
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beautiful trout
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brads fall steelhead

Fall Fishing with Westcoast Fishing Adventures Guided by Gill McKean in Terrace BC

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Fishing With Westcoast Fishing Adventures Guided By Gill McKean 2015

Fall Chum Salmon
Fall Chum Salmon

 

 

Gwen from Texas gets her very first wild Steelhead on the fly
Gwen from Texas gets her very first wild Steelhead on the fly
Wild BC Steelhead
Wild BC Steelhead
Jay with his Wild BC Steelhead
Jay with his Wild BC Steelhead
David with a nice Coho Salmon
David with a nice Coho Salmon
David & Caitlyn with a Big Coho Salmon
David & Caitlyn with a Big Coho Salmon

New e-mailing System for Westcoast Fishing Adventures Fishing Reports By Gill McKean

Hello Fellow Anglers!

This will strictly be a Fishing Report, for your informational purposes to interact with Available Dates, Fishing reports, Water Conditions, Weather Updates, Special Rates,  & guests who are here and enjoying their Adventure.
You will never be spammed and you can Unsubscribe anytime should you no longer want to receive our Fishing Reports.  Fishing reports will be filled out by Head Guide, Owner Operator Gill McKean or myself Mandi (=
We look forward to keeping you in ‘the loop’ and appreciate any feedback you may have.

Please CLICK HERE to be added to our Safe emailing list for Fishing Reports

Fishing is our Addiction!
Guiding is our Passion!
Adventure is in our Blood!

Gill & Mandi Mckean
~Tight Lines~

2015 Guide School Lead by Instructor Gill McKean

Gill McKean hosts the 2015 Guide School with KDC Students

These past two weeks have been very fulfilling, productive and accomplished!  Gill has been teaching 3 Kitselas students on how to become an accomplished Guide here in the Terrace, Skeena, Kitimat & Nass regions.

These students are very eager to learn and are doing exceptional. The first two weeks was a classrooom setting, with the past three days located ‘on the water’ field trips, with special guests Sheldon & Monty from Kispiox River Adventures.

We all had a great time, they taught the students a lot of realistic information on how to become the best guide, have fun, be safe, take care of clients, casting skills, rafting skill, and most importantly how to reel in Steelhead!

Many thanks to Sheldon & Monty for taking the time to share your knowledge with our students!

We look forward to the next two weeks of hands on, learning how to raft, drive jet boats and of course more casting, catch and releasing.

Tight Lines & Screaming Reels!

~Mandi~

2015 Guide School

Westcoast Fishing Adventures Meal Planner

Finally! Westcoast Fishing Adventures Meal Planner, I know there are many of you who want to know about the meals we serve at the lodge, so here is a Menu.

Homemade cooked food
Homemade cooked food

Prepared at the lodge for the Remote wall tent camps are Lasagna’s, Sheppard’s Pies, Chili’s, Stews, BBQ’d Salmon, BBQ’d Steaks, Potato & Pasta Salads – All guaranteed to fill you and keep you warm (=

Should any of you have questions about the meal planning, please feel free to contact us any time, we can fulfill any doctors orders and Food Allergies (at least one months notice please:)

Changes, upgrades to the lodge, new paint, new living area, bedroom and a Full Bar and ice machine (BYOB)

Pictures will be attached to the next fishing report

Tight Lines Everybody

~Mandi~

Skeena River Fishing Guides Return From 2015 ISE California and Colorado Fishing and Hunting Sport Shows

Skeena River Fishing Guides Return From 2015 ISE California and Colorado.

We have just finished up four Sport Show days in California and four Sport Show days in Colorado at the International Sportsman’s Exposition.  It was very nice to meet up with clients in California who have helped support our family run business.  Within the 36 hours, 4 days at the Sacramento show, we spoke to many people who were very interested in the Skeena region, Steelhead and Salmon, as well as great people re-booking.  We also spent 36 hours within 4 days at the Denver show, which we haven’t attended the Denver show for quite a few years, and it was nice to meet a new crowd, answer new questions, see new faces. All’s we can do is wait and seed how many, out of the dozens we spoke to, will actually book an Adventure with us (=

We will be back in the Skeena Country tomorrow evening and preparing for the upcoming Spring Steelhead Season, as we are 90% booked with the Last week in April as well as the first two weeks in May available.  So should any of you have interest please call or email to inquire.

March 10-17 2015 I have put together a ‘boys’ trip to Christmas Island, there are five of us booked, with room for two more, should you be interested in coming with us contact Steve McLaughlin ASAP 1-303-494-1375 or steve.mclaughlin23@gmail.com and cc me in the email.  This will be an amazing time fishing for Bone Fish, GT’s guided by Mike Hennessy from Hawaii On The Fly.

Attached are a few photos of our USA Adventure, as well as a picture of Mandi who tried to win a 4×4 tent trailer, but won second prize, a Grub Hub Camping Kitchen that we will get great use out of!  Way to Go!

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Flying into LA
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Sacramento California
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International Sportsman’s Exposition
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We tried to win the Jeep and 4X4 camping trailer – but won a Grub Hub Camping Kitchen and stove
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Gill in the WCFA Booth
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Down Town Denver

 

 

Steelhead A Giant to Remember Skeena river,Nass river,Kitimat river fishing guide.

A Fish Tale to remember.

When Andrew Fairclouth hooked, played and released the first steelhead of his life, a nice 12 pounder, there’s no way he could have known that a dozen casts later he’d make fly fishing history. But that’s exactly what happened on a spring day just a few seasons ago in northwestern British Columbia.

“He thought that fish was the best thing since sliced cheese,” says Fairclouth’s guide that day, Gill McKean, who owns West Coast Fishing Adventures in Terrace, B.C. “Andrew had come all the way out here from the U.K. to hook a steelhead on the fly and he was really happy about it.”

After the fish swam off, McKean tied on a new tippet for Fairclouth and replaced the fly, a “Gill’s Creamsicle,” which is basically a pimped out orange bunny leech of his won design. Fairclouth then waded back out to the same spot and resumed casting. “He pretty much was still in the same spot where he’d caught the fish, though I was trying to get him to cast a little further out,” says McKean.

When Fairclouth finally hit the sweet spot on the distant seam, another steelhead ate the fly. This one was different than the first…much different.

“It was a super aggressive fish and it hit that fly just as it touched the water,” says McKean. “It wasn’t messing around. The water in that spot’s about 5 feet deep and that steelhead came straight up and attacked it.”

When it felt the sting of the hook, the fish boiled and McKean got his first glimpse of the leviathan.

“It looked like a washing machine out there, eh!” he says. “At first, I figured it had to be a big early spring Chinook. Though it doesn’t happen all the time, we have caught a few big kings in late April while fishing for steelhead. Then I saw some red on him and knew it was a steelhead. At that point, the thing just went totally berserk and ran like hell out of the pool and downstream.”

The fish was so hot that all Fairclouth could do was hang on. He leaned into the beast as much as he dared with his 8-weight Thomas & Thomas, but the steelhead continued to rocket downstream. Like a bad movie slowly unfolding right in front of him, McKean watched helplessly as the hooked locomotive streaked right for a big logjam at the bottom of the run. As a last ditch effort to avoid certain heartbreak, he raced down the bank and got ahead of the fish. McKean then waded out into the middle of the run in hopes of getting the fish to turn back upstream. Eventually, he succeeded and Fairclouth was able to work the giant steelie back into the pool.

The flight raged for close to 40 minutes — towards the end of which the reel wiggled loose of the reel seat. After that little situation was contained, Fairclouth was eventually able to lead the great fish to the shore.

“As we got it to the bank, we just stood there staring at the thing,” says McKean. We couldn’t believe what we were seeing. It was huge and so thick all the way from the head down through the tail. It’s girth never snaked out like a lot of fish do. And its adipose fin was like a rudder – it was massive and looked like one off a big spawning male Chinook. I had a tape in my pocket and we got some quick measurements – the fish was 41.5 inches by 25.5 inches. It was unbelievable, man – definitely the biggest steelhead I’ve ever touched.”

And that’s saying something, considering McKean lives and guides in a region that produces more monster salmon and steelhead than anywhere else on the planet. He’s caught and guided people to countless 20 plus pound steelhead, including a line class 28 pounder taken on spinning gear and a fish or two in the 30-pound range.

“Up here, we come across 20 pounders fairly regularly, depending on the year and individual season,” he says. “Moby was in an entirely different class all together.”

While Moby was never weighed prior to release, he was very likely in the mid 30’s. Using Sturdy’s Weight Formula (length x girth squared x .00133), which was developed for Dean River steelhead, you get an amazing 35.8 pounds. The Skeena/Kispiox Formula (length x girth squared divided by 775) designed to estimate the weight of the extra girthy fish those drainages are prone to produce, gives you 34.8 pounds.

In either case, Fairclouth’s steelhead would eclipse the fish long accepted as the world fly rod record of 33 pounds, set by Karl Mauser in 1963. Just for kicks, I called the International Game Fish Association, which keeps all-tackle, fly and line class records for dozens of fresh and salt water species to see what the official fly rod record for steelhead currently is. Interesting enough, Mauser’s fish was never recognized by the IGFA, according to Becky Wright, IGFA’s World Record Coordinator. The organization doesn’t have a category for steelhead and instead puts all rainbows – anadramous and otherwise – into the same group. Right now, the all-tackle mark for the species is that freaky 43-pound, 10-ounce triploid mutant from Lake Diefenbaker taken last year. In the fly department, the largest fish is a 30-pound, 15-ounce rainbow from Germany’s Ruhr River – obviously not a steelhead, either.

So, had McKean and Fairclouth gotten Moby’s official weight, he’d likely be in the record books as the largest recognized steelhead taken on a fly in the world. Of course, with the take of wild steelhead banned in B.C. (we here in the states should follow suit!), getting weights of big fish without causing them too much unnecessary stress is a bit problematic. To that end, fish even larger than Moby have been caught and released in recent years. The largest I’ve found while searching the internet was a 46.5 x 26.8 incher hooked in the Skeena by an Italian angler that may have been as large a 44 pounds! Still, Fairclouth is among very select company having landed a steelhead in the mid 30-pound range…on a fly (and don’t even get me started on the fact that it was only his second-ever career steelie).

Now, the story of Mody doesn’t end there. While catching a fish like that gets very close to “miracle” status in its own, it’s also a wonder that there’s even any photographic evidence of the event considering what happened after McKean put the measuring tape to the fish.

“Andrew insisted on holding Moby up for a photo,” he says. “But he couldn’t hold on and dropped the fish back into the water. The hook was still in his mouth but the line got all twisted around the rod and reel – it was a total cluster!”

As Moby regained his wits, he started heading back towards deeper water. That’s when McKean made a heroic dive and got a grip – just before the line came tight against the tangles.

“I held him up really quick,” says McKean. “And then we whipped off three pictures – which turned out to be the last three shots on my roll of film…”

A spring steelhead on the fly Kitimat river BC
A spring steelhead on the fly Kitimat river BC

 

Terrace British Columbia is the destination of choice for fishing enthusiasts wanting a wide variety of salmon and steelhead. Trophy Chinook (Kings), Coho (Silvers), Chum (Dog Salmon), Sockeye (Reds) and Pink Salmon along with Dolly Varden, Char and the best rainbow and cutthroat trout fishing that North America has to offer. Lets not forget that the Skeena region is home to the largest steelhead ever caught!

 A Fishing Report With A Little Twist by Gill McKean

Terrace British Columbia is the destination of choice for fishing enthusiasts wanting a wide variety of salmon and Steelhead. Trophy Chinook (Kings), Coho (Silvers), Chum (Dog Salmon), Sockeye (Reds) and Pink Salmon along with Dolly Varden, Char and the best rainbow and cutthroat trout fishing that North America has to offer. Lets not forget that the Skeena river, Nass river & Kitimat river region is home to the largest Steelhead ever caught!

We have everything, except, overcrowded combat fishing. Although, you may experience the rare sighting of another fisherman.

Located in North Western B.C., just off the Pacific Coast, in the town of Terrace. You fly to Vancouver and then take a one-hour flight to this world-class fishery.

Fly fishing on the Nass river steelhead.
Fly fishing on the Nass river steelhead.

Looking back at 2014 we had some of the lowest water on record that said it provided some of the best Steelhead & Salmon fishing we have seen in years as the months past we headed into September wondering if we would ever see the “RAIN ” and it came and never stopped that said we managed to keep our guests hooked up daily. The key to success is doing your home work being on the water daily and never giving up. Not to mention the years of experience thousands of dollars in equipment to get our guests to the waters edge in comfort and style from 30 ft Jet boats to Track Machines on to a zodiac then across the snow to a remote Steelhead camp in other words we are fully committed guide outfitter that prides it self in taking your investment then applying it to the waters we guide. Welcome to Westcoast Fishing Adventures we are now booking for 2015 our guide program will start again with our remote steelhead camp on a river that has limited access as well as very limited guide allocation we have fought every year to keep this experience pristine with out over booking this incredible fishery there will only be four lucky guests per week we are 70% booked on this trip, however we will also be guiding the Skeena river class 2 and the unclassified sections as well. For the Secret that has been let out of the Bag with recent videos of some of the largest Steelhead you can imagine we will now look forward to showing our guests a fishery that Gill & Justin pioneered when most only thought of Steelhead being caught on the Sustut or Dean rivers on dries or the Kalum river in the spring to name just a few, we were just 20 years old with big dreams and bigger ambitions than just working for North West Fishing guides.with out the help of Google Earth we set out on a mission to pioneer rivers and unlock fisheries very few Knew existed. It is with out disrespect that there is know doubt that some old timers have encountered these beauties but most guiding and lodge owners were just happy to beat up on one river keeping there costs down and program going smooth. As we were beating the bushes cutting trails and breaking new ground on unclassified waters of the North. Justin has since moved on but still feels the pull of Northwest BC every day as he has made his home in Kamloops BC.

It is now 2014 with more guides and even more pressure on a fishery that is based on having first water it is my belief that if you are unable to catch a Steelhead it is because they have either been caught and the pool has been disturbed or they are not there. Now there are some exceptions to this rule of course as you can not catch them all unless you are using roe / eggs in this case it is almost impossible for a Steelhead to pass this meal up un knowing there is a size 2 Gami buried in there some where. Hence the debate that takes place with the evolution of an angler that some refuse to allow to happen we were not all born with fly rods in hand so we must as sports man & women embrace others that choose other methods to angle, and in time most if not all after the first catch to the big numbers to the largest fish ok you get the point come to except spending time on the water with good people taking in the surroundings.

Fall Fishing for Steelhead & Coho
Fall Fishing for Steelhead & Coho

I feel it is important to keep the sport of angling alive, as in the end it is not about the fish that are caught, it is about experiencing the outdoors and the places it takes you, the people you meet along the way Good or Bad .. I found it very funny just the other day myself and Mandi were out on the Kalum river we noticed more anglers than we have ever seen as I stopped and fished a run 2 anglers passed with Big smiles and a warm hello ! as they paddled off into the distance Mandi turned to me and said “there is no way they are local”,  I laughed and said your correct they looked at us and said a warm hello. Is this what we have created out of a sport that as a young boy my Dad attended the Rod and Gun Club on Vancouver Island in large gatherings of Sports Men & Women from potlucks to turkey shoots the Totem Fishers and on it goes I have fond Memories of these days of happy people sharing memories and places they have been. Have we lost this the comrade and sportsman? It has become so competitive that we cant even say hello to each other on the water.

At the age of 42 with my life invested in Terrace BC starting a business in the 90 ties with Justin Gyger after some time spent as an assistant guide for North West Fishing Guides also known as BIG FISH COUNTRY .. & it is ! I have made it my mission to see as many rivers and to unlock there secrets while sharing my knowledge with others from around the world & most recently Teaching the Kitselas First Nations the Art of guiding I do this with pride and vigor as they put there trust in my many years of angling,rafting,boating ect… I have over the years taken many anglers into our lodge as friends with the desire to become guides or employes of Westcoast showing them the secrets of our years of hard work only to turn on us this is where the story takes a turn as I am getting older I have trained and employed 40% of my competition I guess this is why the apprenticeship program has been a tough nut for most trades workers. That said I am still here loving every day I get to spend on the water always learning and seeing things I would never see in an office enviroment.

So with that off my chest i hope you enjoy this report as we head into December a time to spend remembering the Spring,Summer and Fall with family and friends Tight Lines to All whether you choose to Spin,Fly,Float or Troll enjoy Tip your Head Up & Show us your most ripping cast keep on fishing.

Skeena river spring steelhead

Tight Lines

Gill McKean

 

Spring Steelhead Available Dates 2015

Good day Fellow anglers ><{{{‘>

 

I am sending out the available dates for Spring Steelhead 2015:

We have space for two anglers April 20-25

April 27-May1-space for 4

May 4-8-space for 4

Please inquire today should any of these dates tickle your fancy 😉

You can also click HERE to see our online booking calendar in our web site.

“Quality over Quantity”

“We don’t sell Rod Days – we sell Fishing Adventures”

 

“Fishing is our Addiction! Guiding is our Passion! Adventure is in our Blood!”

info@westcoastfishing.ca

1-866-578-8552 or fill out a Reservation Form HERE inside our web site (=

Remote camp flyer for 2014
Remote Spring Steelhead Camp

Fall Steelhead Fishing On The Nass River – You Tube Video

Fall is a beautiful time to hunt for Steelhead, Guests of Westcoast Fishing Adventures who have ben guided by Long time guide (20 years in the business) Gill McKean now know that when you Hook Into A HUGE Steelhead, you must RUN and stay hooked up no matter what the situation – IF you want to land the Big Ones……This one goes out to Team Cali – the Catchot Group – especially Stu Babe! This ones for you 😉 www.westcoastfishing.ca 1-866-578-8552 info@westcoastfishing.ca

 

Enjoy the clip (I know our Cali group will 🙂  

 

Please Click Here or the photo to view it

 

Tight Lines

Our Motto:

“Quality over Quantity”

 

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Nass River Fall Steelhead Video