It has taken me a while to realize what draws me to steelhead fishing, and what continues to bring me back. Like most others, I have gone through numerous phases in life. Pursuits picked up and dropped, many places and things that played their part and faded into the shadows as something new moved into the spotlight. Over time, two things have remained, mountains and rivers.

In the pondering of why my interest in these two more closely resembles passion than hobby, more lifestyle than pastime, I am often at a loss as for how to explain it to myself, let alone others. Some have tried and even done well. Leading up to his attempt to be the first to stand on top of Mt. Everest, someone asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb the peak, to which he replied “Because it is there.” Mallory’s words have become almost a symbol of both the absurdity and profundity of such endeavors. For me, the search for river based adventures stems from the same unexplainable desire. I have yet to stumble across an equivalent quote relevant the river environment, but some have come close. In “River Teeth” David James Duncan writes, in reference to his love affair with rivers, that “music is just a word for something that we love largely because it consists of things that words cannot express.” And so it is with water and the places that steelhead inhabit. River is just a name for something that none of us can truly define, capture, or put into words. Sure we can describe components, features, inhabitants, etc., but none are alike and each contain something new. When I try to quantify or categorize the moments and the experiences, even there in that place and time, I am often at a loss for words and left feeling inadequate. Quite honestly I fail, and I am OK with that.

I still haven’t found an answer that feels quite right when someone asks me, “why do you fish,” as if fishing is all there is to it. If I had to answer the question right now, I would have to say, I am searching for something beautiful.


Again this fall, the search lead me to British Columbia and into the company of some very special people with whom I was fortunate to share some very memorable experiences. What follows are a few snapshots and anecdotes from two extended float trips and some day tripping in and around northern British Columbia, in pursuit of steelhead, something beautiful.


After having had a few great trips in and around more easily accessible areas the last few years, my personal goal for this year's trip was to get off the beaten path. Beaten being a relative term in these parts. Even the “busy” areas tend to be kind of lonely most of the time.

So, I put out a few feelers and eventually found a few hearty souls that weren’t afraid of a little adventuring and getting their hands a bit dirty, wet, sore, cold, and sandy.

Stam and I had kicked around a few ideas of where to go and what to do, leaving some room for flexibility based on local conditions.

After a long drive














I pulled into the home river and met up with Stam and a few other friendly faces.



We settled on fishing the home river for a day before casting off on the adventure, and we found a few willing fish.


















































stay tuned, this might turn into a long one!