Vancouver Island Guided Steelheading – Stamp River Fishing Report

admin | December 21, 2011

Steelheading… is a serious passion of mine. It is an extreme sport for hardcore anglers. It requires years of experience and a huge sense of adventure. To walk for miles along a river bank that has only a bear trail, to hunt, then cast a thousand times to catch and then release a fish, during winter’s rain, snow and ice?! Most people think Steelheader’s are insane! Yes! They are right, but what brings us sanity is the sound of the river, the crisp chill in the air, and the hope of a taught line with a Steelhead on the hook. Sounds pretty sane to me.

I have been booked solid taking hardcore anglers to some amazing Steelheading on the Stamp river. The last week has seen water levels drop even lower and the water has gone crystal clear. This kind of Steelheading is very challenging, we have had to be extremely stealthy and approach every pool slowly and cast way in front of the drift boat. However challenging as it may be, when we hook into a Steelhead in this clear water it makes your knees shake and your heart pound! What a rush! Everyday we have been fighting these Steelhead battles! A couple of days ago a 15 year old guest landed his very first Steelhead and it was an absolute HOG! It put up an Epic fight that he will remember forever.

The Cowichan River is where the focus is going to turn starting Jan. 1st. This river is very similar to the upper Stamp river. Very little fishing pressure, plenty of natural beauty and BIG Steelies. The Cowichan river has a good run of wild Steelhead and they are in the river now. This is the best Steelheading experience in January, even better than the lower Stamp river (very few boats, beautiful river, few anglers and lots of Steel).

I will still be taking new bookings on the Stamp river until March 15th!

Single anglers – many people have contacted me about drifting the Stamp/Cowichan/Northern Rivers but would like to share the cost with someone else. If you would like to fish with another angler to split the cost of the charter, send me an email.

Nimpkish River/Salmon River Drift Trips – Have you ever wanted to drift the Northern Island rivers for wild Steelhead? This is an awesome Steelheading experience, lots of large wild Steelhead in the most natural river setting on the island. I have booked almost a week on these rivers already, so if you are interested in doing some extreme Northern Island Steelheading, send me an email.

Here are some pictures of the last couple of days on the Stamp River: