Canada, where do I start?

For years I've been backpacking and wilderness fly fishing in the western US. I started looking into Canada for a similar experience just to try somewhere new. Thinking about flying into Seattle or Vancouver and then driving from there. I want to backpack away from others, not use a guide, wilderness camp, see wildlife and catch fish by walk-n-wade (don't need trophies). On the web all the info seems to focus on expensive fly-in trips chasing salmon. I'm not interested in that. Any suggestions on where to get info would be appreciated.

slough foot -

First thing to be aware of is that British Columbia, last I heard, is a very expensive and controlled place to fly fish. You have to pay a daily fee for each drainage you want to fish, and it is a fee that will put a dent in your budget.

Alberta is another story. Last I checked, last year, they have a reasonable nonresident license fee schedule.

BB member "flyfishfairwx" is from Lethbridge, Alberta. He KNOWS the kind of country you are talking about. Check out the Fishing Reports Forum for a couple of his recent posts.

Don't overlook that you now need a passport to travel to and from Canada. If I remember to get mine this year, I might run into you up in Alberta this summer ??

John

Breakfast first.. then I will have time to talk...

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Originally Posted by slough foot

For years I've been backpacking and wilderness fly fishing in the western US. I started looking into Canada for a similar experience just to try somewhere new. Thinking about flying into Seattle or Vancouver and then driving from there. I want to backpack away from others, not use a guide, wilderness camp, see wildlife and catch fish by walk-n-wade (don't need trophies). On the web all the info seems to focus on expensive fly-in trips chasing salmon. I'm not interested in that. Any suggestions on where to get info would be appreciated.

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slough foot -

First thing to be aware of is that British Columbia, last I heard, is a very expensive and controlled place to fly fish. You have to pay a daily fee for each drainage you want to fish, and it is a fee that will put a dent in your budget.

Alberta is another story. Last I checked, last year, they have a reasonable nonresident license fee schedule.

BB member "flyfishfairwx" is from Lethbridge, Alberta. He KNOWS the kind of country you are talking about. Check out the Fishing Reports Forum for a couple of his recent posts.

Don't overlook that you now need a passport to travel to and from Canada. If I remember to get mine this year, I might run into you up in Alberta this summer ??

John

Slough foot..

I would enjoy meeting you both this summer for hiking and fishing..

As John posted Alberta is a much better deal then parts of BC, not all of it is under the Classified water plan. There are some here who have much more experaince in BC then I so I will concentrate on AB.

SWAB = South West Alberta has some of the most beautiful streams and rivers and terrain, Waterton NP, Castle River special area, and heading north you hit a plethora of Provincial and National parks, and just wild areas.

You will around the more popular areas hit the normal scourge of modern man the random camping crap areas, but get away from the main areas and this quickly disappears.

for more details I will do some digging on the web if you would like. SF you can PM me with other questions etc... if you like.


PS John Scott Be forewarned I have my Passport so will be down your way and the Idaho fish in is on my list also..

Ray..

I live in bc and on the west coast where i am from i dont even know of any classified water. Once you start going towards the interior then you start to see the classified water. (i lied, some steelhead rivers are classified during winter around here, but not trout rivers) there are many beautiful places to fish and a wide variety of species to go after
here is a link to a local guiding company ( which i am not affiliated with) that will show you lots of what the west coast of bc can offer
http://www.bcoutback.ca/new/species.html
hope some of that helps
tyler

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Originally Posted by tbar25

I live in bc and on the west coast where i am from i dont even know of any classified water. Once you start going towards the interior then you start to see the classified water. (i lied, some steelhead rivers are classified during winter around here, but not trout rivers) there are many beautiful places to fish and a wide variety of species to go after
here is a link to a local guiding company ( which i am not affiliated with) that will show you lots of what the west coast of bc can offer
http://www.bcoutback.ca/new/species.html
hope some of that helps
tyler

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That BC is a BIG place. I guess I should have guessed that what I had heard about the classified water wouldn't apply to the whole Province.

John

I don't know a lot about BC but one of the areas i've been to that i'd go straight back to is the Horsefly/Quesnel area. You might try looking up the Horsefly chamber or equivalent and ask them what they have to offer by way of backpacking to remote streams in that area and the surrounding.

Also you could contact the Provencial Park authorities and i would imagine you can find out all about BC from that point of view. There must be millions of pages that come up when one googles your question.

Horsefly is 26 miles off the main hwy and very 'away from it all' and it's in a Provencial Park. I'm thinking the head end of the lake (32 miles long) might be a good hike from someplace near town and you may be able to leave your car right there, not sure. There's a lot of water in that area to chose from that may be better but you have to start somewhere and Horsefly is way out there. Horsefly also has something like 'Heritage Days' in August if i remember correctly. I wish i knew more specifically where to send you.

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

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Originally Posted by slough foot

Any suggestions on where to get info would be appreciated.

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Vancouver island certainly seems
to be mostly classified rivers. I've been to several that aren't but they
do seem to be few and far between. Further north
and into the interior seem to be the areas you
are interested in so I guess my experience doesn't help much. I just hope that if you make it here
you are as blown away by the land here as I have been. :-D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slough foot

For years I've been backpacking and wilderness fly fishing in the western US. I started looking into Canada for a similar experience just to try somewhere new. Thinking about flying into Seattle or Vancouver and then driving from there. I want to backpack away from others, not use a guide, wilderness camp, see wildlife and catch fish by walk-n-wade (don't need trophies). On the web all the info seems to focus on expensive fly-in trips chasing salmon. I'm not interested in that. Any suggestions on where to get info would be appreciated.

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Have you considered Alaska instead of Canada? I'm not talking about the expensive lodges in Bristol Bay. I'm talking about the road system. If you stay away from where the salmon are running you can find solitude in some beautiful country with plentiful wildlife and even some good fishing. Most of Alaska is either Federal or State land so there are many places to hike and camp without spending thousands of dollars.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Humber Brad

Vancouver island certainly seems
to be mostly classified rivers. I've been to several that aren't but they
do seem to be few and far between. Further north
and into the interior seem to be the areas you
are interested in so I guess my experience doesn't help much. I just hope that if you make it here
you are as blown away by the land here as I have been. :-D

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are we talking about the same vancouver island? :p
there is only 4 classified rivers in the vancouver island area, and though they are classified in the vancouver island section of the regs, their on the mainland
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/reg...11_region1.pdf
the only 4 are: AHNUHATI RIVER, KAKWEIKEN RIVER, SEYMOUR RIVER, and WAKEMAN RIVER.
hope that clears some of that up
-tyler-

Folks, please do your homework!!!

In BC, most classified waters are on rivers which have salmon and or steelhead. BC is a pretty big place. Think about if you want lakes, rivers or streams or all of the above.

Some of the best (imho) fishing, you'll find in the central plateau, North Thompson, Clearwater, jump west over to Quesnel, 100mile house etc, North to Prince George, the McGregor, turn East and you're a short hop to Jasper. These areas are a bit less "famous" too, so pressure is less.

The provincial parks are also a good bet. Look into National parks too SWAB and SE BC.

I believe that the Blackwater river is still unclassified.
Kamloops area still water is some of the best in the world and is only 2-3 hours from Vancouver International.