Rivers
Fly Fishing Rivers
Guided fly fishing on four BC wilderness rivers.
Wild rivers & wild fish
Northern Lights Lodge specializes in guided fly fishing vacations on world-class rivers in BC, Canada! Experience catching wild native Rainbow trout that have likely never been caught before. This is fly fishing in its purest form! From mid-June to mid-October, our professional guides focus on four magnificent river systems in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.
Dry Fly Season! Mid June - Sept 1st
During the summer months our rivers produce some of the finest rainbow trout dry fly fishing on the planet! Our rivers hold multiple strains of rainbow trout that are voracious and aggressive feeders not like the trout you are used to! The rules of 7x tippets and size 20 midges don’t apply. Our fish like to eat BIG! We’re talking caddis, stoneflies, hoppers, mouse patterns and big attractor flies all summer long on 3x tippet. Our fish reward all skill levels of Fly Fishers! Our favorite strain of rainbow that is unique to the Quesnel Drainage is the “Horsefly” or “Yellow Belly” strain! These fish are special and pound for pound the hardest fighting rainbow you will ever find! Yellow Bellies don’t spawn until they reach 7 years of age and they feed like piranha! There is nothing more exhilarating than stripping a chernobyl ant across a deep run and having one of these beautiful rainbows smash it!
September! Trout fishing doesn't get more scenic than this!
Check out this episode of Fly Fusion the TV series, aptly titled Eden, where our friends Jim McLennan and Derek Bird stay with us at Northern Lights Lodge and explore a remote river deep in the Cariboo Mountains. Here they fish among spawning salmon and catch large Rainbows and Bull Trout where the only other anglers on the stream are the grizzly bears! This is something every Fly Fisherman should experience in their lifetime and we'd love to share it with you! We are so blessed to have this in our backyard!
Fall River Fishing
If you are looking for quantity and quality, Autumn fishing can be the most productive time of the year! During this time we spend most of our days fly fishing with egg patterns & streamers for trout that are feeding behind Sockeye and Chinook salmon as they spawn. The Quesnel Lake watershed is host to one of the largest Sockeye Salmon runs in the world. The Sockeye and Chinook Salmon begin their journey at the mouth of the Fraser River in Vancouver & swim north approx. 500 miles to Quesnel Lake. As they migrate through Quesnel Lake the Salmon draw large Rainbow and Bull Trout that normally reside in the lake up the tributaries where the spawn takes place. The Horsefly River and Mitchell River are the two dominant Sockeye bearing rivers in the Quesnel system and our seasoned guides know these rivers better than anyone! Please note that because we are fishing near the spawning grounds we do not target the salmon.
The Details!
What to expect on our river trips: Due to the ruggedness of the Cariboo we access our fish a variety of ways. We fish from drift boats or white water rafts with fly fishing frames. We also utilize jet boats to fish gravel bars and shorelines of various rivers and occasionally do some hike-in walk and wades! Fly Fishing methods: Most of our clients find 5-7 weight rods suitable for most applications. During the summer most clients prefer to only fish dry flies so a 5 weight is optimal. In the fall using a bit heavier of a rod may be beneficial especially if you intend to throw big streamers for bull trout. That being said, trout spey & euro-nymphing have also proven very productive methods for those so inclined. If fact, skating dries or streamers with a single hand trout spey can be very effective!
Stillwater Trophy Trout Packages
We make every effort to go where others won’t! These trips begin in May, and are available from ice-off to freeze up. We recommend booking for Spring and Fall! On these trips we fish for both native and trophy stocked rainbow trout. We have no shortage of stillwater opportunities around the lodge! A day on one of our lakes is a good addition to any trip package!
“This is an experience that is hard to find. You will likely not see another angler on our waters. That’s because Northern Lights Lodge is the only fly fishing lodge in the area. As a result, we hold over 70% of the licensed rod days in this 2,000,000+ acre watershed.” – Skeed Borkowski
Northern Lights Lodge has a 100% catch & release policy using single barbless hooks.
