North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine December 2016 | Page 17

triple somersaults all across the pool, eh. No sh_t
eh it was October 28th. I remember clearly. So the
next cast, I stood on the same rock, threw ooot the
same 50 feet of line, eh. And Judas Priest, wouldn’tcha-know-it I caught her twin…”
Skeena Dreams. The Skeena system has been
a dream of mine to fish since I was a wee lad.
This past October 9, I landed at the Smithers, BC
regional airport and my dream was about to come
true. Having left Omak at 5 a.m. for my flight from
Penticton, I was sipping 11 a.m. coffee in Smithers,
next to a grizzly bear and a few 30 pound Steelhead
on display at the airport. On final approach, the
low cloud cover and constant rain had shrouded
the awe-inspiring views surrounding this valley.

However, directly below the aircraft, I did catch
a glimpse through the mist of the meandering
Bulkley, perhaps the brightest gem on the Skeena
crown of tributary streams.
Unbeknownst to me, the Bulkley Valley, with its
pioneer towns and First Nation reserves, would
become a favorite steelhead Mecca, outshining
such famous locales as Forks, Aberdeen, Tillamook
and Lewiston that had wooed me once, I soon
realized I had a new love: Telkwa, BC.
In Telkwa, we camped along the Bulkley, we
weathered mid-October snows but also basked in
crisp sunshine. Of course, it usually rained. A few
kilometers from SE Alaska, this part of the world
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