Babine Rainbow Alley update / Skeena river report

Hello all.  I just returned from Rainbow Alley, what a trip, this place never disapoints.  We had steady action in the evening & early mornings, and I mean early-3:00 am.  It's light and the fish are on the bight. 
This spring was late coming, so the Rainbows are still feeding on the Sockeye salmon fry; they hit on a fast swing so this means a down river mend, drop your tip and hang on.  Much like the Sockeye flossing technique on the Skeena river in August, except we are using dry lines weight 5/6 rods, 12 ft leader tapered to 4 pound test.  There has been a small stone fly hatch when we had a little warmer weather, but that was short lived.  However, we will get some sunny days and look out, this spot is like no other, it comes alive with Beautiful rainbow trout!  Average size 1 pound up to 3 pounds, I know their are bigger as I have been broke off  : (

Had an opportunity to hang our with Cory from Webflyz, great guy, with a passion for tying flies as his creativety changes the industry, bringing some very cool patterns for Halibut, please feel free to visit his site and place your order at www.webflyz.com great prices for quality flies.


Also the Skeena river , Kitimat river , Nass river  Rivers are all on the drop, and starting to fish.  The Cranberry river is getting some great fish as well, float fishing eggs is most productive. The Skeena is now fishing well using a variety of methods Back bouncing, Plunking, Kwick fish, Hot shots, Jet divers lur Jensen make all this possible.

The Kitimat river has been incredible, the water is perfect for swinging a fly we have been enjoying 20 to 30 pound fish, this being the average size Chinook Salmon with some tipping the scales at 50 plus.  It is early, the Big Boys will be in the Skeena river starting Mid July Through August.

If you are looking for a professional fishing guide we still have a few open dates please feel free to contact us to reserve your spot.
www.skeenariversteelhead.com
www.westcoastfishing.ca
www.webflyz.com

1-866-578-8552 toll free
Tight Lines
Gill McKean

Babine / Nilkitkwa trout fishing upate !

Hello all…

Been working hard to set up my Mom’s cabin and begin setting up the Trout Lodge, but with help from friends, Stan Hislop (photo attached) and Jack DeVries plus a short visit from our son, Julius, and then a few days with our new Trout Lodge housekeeper, Chris George.  Talk about weather…rain on snow…major flooding on the Bulkley River and Babine Lake’s tributaries are running full with a rare report of flooding at Pinkut Creek, a Salmon Enhancement Project feeding Babine Lake.  This could be a rival to 1997 and 2007 since so much snow pack is still in the mountains and some lower sections of the valleys too.  The latest weather forecast is much better with sunny warm skies but that warmth could also produce snowmelt at just the wrong time for the Bulkley and our Steelhead Camp.

The fishing on Rainbow Alley is picking up nicely with Stan, Julius, Chris and I enjoying some nice catches of which some went straight to the frying pan…I think the best tasting trout anywhere.  From my Mom’s cabin we could see daily improvement in the number of feeding fish plus the largest trout are starting to move in as well.  The fry are hatching so it’s great to use a floating fly line with a salmon fry pattern and that’s all you need for a good time.  We are very fortunate to have the 110 mile long Babine Lake to stabilize the water clarity and flows, otherwise there wouldn’t be any fishing at all.  So far the creeks are holding in terms of putting out clean water rather than dirty so we are also lucky there…the rain has been light and steady but on the Bulkley watershed, steady and harder so many homeowners are being evacuated as of yesterday.

Another positive Babine note is the mushroom (Morel) production from all the rains…they will be and are popping up everywhere so we added that delicacy in with our fresh trout and of course Molson Canadian beer and Crown Royal.  Stan is staying at the Trout Lodge now, enjoying the solitude, our dog Sawsha, great fishing and he has plans to not only smoke some fish in our smokehouse, but also morels!  June 1st we will have full staff and lots of projects to do for our first guests arriving June 16th…we still have one full service package open June 16-22 so don’t let the weather and flooding reports stop you from experiencing the Babine on any day…we will be there enjoying the fruits of an incredible watershed that provides opportunities like no other…plus with Anita’s fine cooking and the charm of living in a log lodge and cabins built before I was born, well, it doesn’t get any better…”There is only one Babine.”

www.westcoastfishing.ca        

www.skeenariversteelhead.com

Pierce

Canadian fishing guides!

Angling Guide Gordon Mckean with a Chromer

With the spring steelhead season over we will reflect on the seasons events and cruise into salmon season, There were many memorable moments from huge Chrome Steelhead to swims in the river to moose chasing guests out of the run. We are now booking for next years Spring dates so don't delay,we only take 6 guests per week this allows us to be mobile on uncrowded water. www.skeenariversteelhead.com to see more of what we do visit the link above and the link below.www.westcoastfishing.com We look forward to hearing from you.