BC steelhead guides for Trophy Steelhead & Salmon on the world famous Skeena,Nass,Kitimat rivers

BC steelhead guides for Trophy Steelhead & Salmon on the world famous Skeena,Nass,Kitimat rivers. Hello all as we move closer to 2013 we are planning for another great salmon & steelhead season from our remote steelhead wall tent camps to world class Chinook salmon fishing on the Kitimat river,Cranberry river,Kiteen river,Bell Irving river,Kasiks river,Exchamsiks river just to name a few. The rivers and possibilities are endless we guide on remote uncrowded rivers by avoiding classified waters we have found better fishing while giving our guests an adventure off the mainstream and into the wild providing remote camps fly fishing Or Spey casting for Trophy Steelhead Salmon & Trout.

Steelhead camp Gill Mckean & Pierce clegg plan the dayWe are nearly 50% booked for our spring steelhead season we are also booking our fall steelhead camp, if you are looking for adventure these packages are the ones we highly recommend. The wall tent camp is very comfortable 16 by 20 with full size camp beds to sleep on wood stove to warm the bones and dry your gear after a hard day on the water battling huge fresh from the sea steelhead.

Spey fishing gear for the task at hand monster steelhead…

At the moment my self and Mandi have been enjoying some winter steelhead action as well as some family time while preparing for the holiday season. We would like to Take this time to thank all for making 2012 another sucsessful guide season for our Steelhead camp and lodge experience. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2013 happy holidays to all Tight lines Gill & Mandi.

Mandi with here monster winter steelhead on the fly.

www.westcoastfishing.ca / www.skeenariversteelhead.com

To reserve your Westcoast Fishing Adventure call 1-250-638-0021 or toll free 1-866-578-8552

Tight Lines Gill Mckean

Fishing is our addiction, Guiding is our passion, Adventure is in our blood

 

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

 

Guided Steelhead fishing on the Skeena river in Terrace BC

Guided Steelhead fishing on the Skeena River, is one of the best ways to spend your money. I am a guide and when I vacation, we hire local guides. Most guides have spent their entire life fishing and it turns it into a way of life. I for one, tell my guests from around the world I have my Masters and Bachelors in Salmon & Steelhead fishing. For example, do you often perform a procedure on your knee or back with out a doctor? or maybe a breast implant? Exactly! I am the fish doctor. Not only do you get my expertise, you get the use of thousands of dollars in equipment that only a doctor could afford, or a guide that has devoted his whole life to fishing & learning the great outdoors.

Ok That said are you ready to book your trip yet?

Its March 7 2014, the count down till the spring Steelhead season begins! One of my personal favorites at the moment. The ice is 3 feet thick on the Skeena right now, and all other tributaries are completely frozen over and the Oolican run has begun? This has been a wild weather winter to say the least, with wind from the North for nearly 3 months leaving a normally rainy slushy snowy climate dry and cold with very little snow until today.

Our first guests show up at the end of March, for some Steelhead fishing on the Kitimat river targetting fresh Chrome Steelhead! We will be fly fishing & float fishing the prime water from the new 18 ft Clackacraft! This is a Cadillac of all boats! Our guests say the ride alone down the river is worth the price of admission! The Steelhead are the bonus 😀

If you are interested in booking your trip with a professional guide here are some available dates.

April – 1-5
May – 3-10
June – 8-14 & 24-30
July – 1-18
August – 1-14
Sept – 1-20
October – 13-31

Please feel free to contact us at any time with questions you may have about Terrace BC Skeena river, Kitimat river , Nass river Salmon & Steelhead guides 17 years and counting.
Tight Lines
Gill McKean – office 1-250-638-0021 or cell 250-615-3477
Mandi – 250-631-7804 or mandi.wcfa@gmail.com

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

Maci & Nigel Ice Fishing
Maci & Nigel Ice Fishing Ross Lake Hazelton bc

Photo from one of our Ice Fishing Adventures
Maci & Nigel in a deep conversation – so cute

Skeena River ,Nass River, Kitimat River Fishing Report for Feb 8 / 2014

Skeena river is now frozen over with thick ice over most of the river the Kitimat river is nothing more than a trickle of water & The Nass river is low frozen and clear for a change. We have been ice fishing on some area lakes with the family catching brook  trout up to 3 lb and rainbows as the winter steelhead lurk under the ice flow until the arctic wind subsides. There has been some great winter spring action out of Prince Rupert just out of Rush brook, Kinkolith has been very good on the changing tides as well not far from the old government ferry dock casting buzz bombs & sting zelda’s halibut action is also good. I am also looking forward to the first prawn feed. As for bookings this season things are going very well with a lot of positive energy being felt at the trade shows in the US this season, seems people are getting over the economy scare and just getting out and living.
We are looking forward to the 2014 season with our old guests as well as new ones.

If you haven’t booked your fishing vacation yet don’t delay dates are going quickly.

Tight Lines/Gill McKean 1-250-638-0021

info@westcoastfishing.ca