[url=www.piscatorialpursuits.com]www.env.gov.bc.ca/skeena/qws/docs/WGRecommendations.pdf[/url]

Check out this link if you are interested in fishing the holy waters!

So far from what I've gathered, here are some of the recommendations that will effect non resident aliens .(in a nutshell)

* A maximum of 8 individual day licences per classified river

* Majority of classified rivers will be resident only on Saturdays unless guided so you automatically become more important with a guide. (Copper 1 will become resident only 5 days a week, Copper 2 and parts of Kalum will be resident only 4 days a week)

*Entire Telkwa River residents only.

*All class 1 and 2 rivers on the Skeena will require a Skeena Steelhead Stamp to angle for steelhead which would cost 100.00 to 200.00 dollars annually. Possibly less for single or eight day stamps.

*Rod Day Booking System to be developed over time to monitor days fished and ultimately require reserving your dates in advance which seems to me would contradict the 8 individual licences per river rule especially since river conditions and weather is a deciding factor on where a person will decide to fish on a given day.

All this on top of 160.00 for regular licence and steelhead stamp and 20.00-40.00/day depending on which classified waters fished (class 1 or class2)

So, what I'm getting out of all this (and I could be totally wrong), is that they want to have thier cake and eat it too. They still want the income from non-resident anglers, but don't want them around.

By restricting the total number of licenses/non-residents, and in some cases guides only, the guides will be able to charge rates in excess of ten times the regular rate per trip. Less people = way more money.

Again, my 2 cents

Problem is.....that some people will pay it, just to be on a river, with limited people on it...

You have to understand.....there are some incomes, that $$$$$ is just not a factor.

I'm too tight to pay that much....

The other stuff seems "reasonable" but this one stinks. They ALREADY hit us for:
1. Expensive Non-resident alien fishing license.
2. Expensive Annual Steelhead Stamp
3. Expensive additional day passes to fish a given river.

And now they want even more? It is getting close to $500 in LICENSE FEES alone just to fish up there for a week. Doesn't make me feel good.

On the flip side, the only way I'll be able to steelhead fish most of my local WA waters in a few years will be to poach and pay fines for fishign in closed waters. I feel like the boogieman is finally knocking at my door.

And just remember that the current Mayor of Forks is on record stating that if no one can kill them, no one will come to fish period

Hmmmm

Not that I like what BC is intending, but it's still less expensive than salmon fishing in Quebec or Labrador. You'd be lucky to find a Quebec river that costs less than $75 a day, and a lot cost quite a bit more. Nova Scotia remains affordable. Kamchatka was $100 a week. The Kola peninsula salmon rivers are pretty spendy. And the Alta in Norway is around $5,000 a day!

I agree that in the past, the BC steelhead fishing experience has been considerably under-priced. Because we've had it so good in the past, I feel like a lot of U.S. anglers act like they have some kind of entitlement to fishing in BC. T'ain't so. We have none. Zero. We're alien non-resident guests, and we get to fish there at their pleasure. And it seems they ain't too pleased with us any more.

Sg

It is amazing to see how much money people are willing to pay for fancy boats, rods, reels, waders and everything else, but then to complain about 1-200$ for a week of steelhead fishing in paradise. I'm not sure it's as much about the money as it is to just complain about it. Most who go there to see Gods country are not worried about a couple hundred extra dollars to go. If that is your determining factor, then maybe it's not meant to be.
I have yet to spend any time there for steelhead, but can say that the salmon fishing in July/August is worth every penny of the cost in license fees that are required. The only place that compares to the size of the skeena fish in the Kenai, and that is not even close to as good of a fishery as the Skeena.

[quote=kevin lund]It is amazing to see how much money people are willing to pay for fancy boats, rods, reels, waders and everything else, but then to complain about 1-200$ for a week of steelhead fishing in paradise. I'm not sure it's as much about the money as it is to just complain about it. Most who go there to see Gods country are not worried about a couple hundred extra dollars to go. If that is your determining factor, then maybe it's not meant to be.
I have yet to spend any time there for steelhead, but can say that the salmon fishing in July/August is worth every penny of the cost in license fees that are required. The only place that compares to the size of the skeena fish in the Kenai, and that is not even close to as good of a fishery as the Skeena.


As a thrifty do it yourselfer up there I normally drop over a couple grand into their communities. Annual revenue statistics for the Skeena sport fishery have been estimated at roughly one hundred million dollars so whoever says the economy wouldn't miss nonguided nonresident aliens (the majority) up there is incredibly wrong. Seems that BC does want to become the next Quebec. Salmo G. is right in the fact that we have no say whatsoever what they do with their province. It does not belong to us however when it comes time to save those fish from resource extracting pigs I gaurantee there will likely be MANY closed wallets from all over the world. Maybe this is what the their government wants, to divide and conquer so big business (shell oil etc.) can get on with business. Who knows.

Glad I saw it 13 yrs ago...."been there...done that". I hate dealing with the Gestapo border guards anyway.

I do recommend "doing BC" for any steelheader under the age of 40y.o. though. It's just amamzing....and "we" used to have fishing similar to BC....just sad anymore.

I've always dreamed of going.

But ain't no way I'm gonna be forced to fish with a guide.... unless of course his name is Danny.

I just got back there from my first steelhead trip to the Skeena area. I must say, I loved it. The sheer beauty of the place and fishing over wild, native fish was incredible. I refuse to pay the CW fee on the Thompson 'cause I think fisheries have mismanaged that stock. But I'd pay more to fish northern BC again. Overall, BC is years ahead of Washington in wild steelhead management.

Don't like the idea of paying for a guide that much though. Guides are a little like hookers...there are some things a man must do for himself (paraphrasing John Gierach).

I most likely will never be able to afford a trip like this in my lifetime so I guess I will just pretend to not care........

Feelin' all warm and fuzzy now......seriously though I was speaking to one of the guys in camp up there and he told me the the guides were making $900.00/day PER FRICKIN PERSON!!! mind you this is without lodging. The guides are on a rod day system where only a certain number of days are alotted to anyone and their is a limited number of guides who own these rod days. Somewhat like our Washington Charter's licence. Anyway you can see how a monopoly like atmospere can develop.

One funny story I just have to add was a day OP and I were floating the river in my raft. OP (Justin) was just chillin in the rowers seat perfectly content on taking in the surroundings and fresh air. (he landed a 43.5" steelhead the day before) While pulled over to the side of the river on anchor while I was just 20 feet below working the run, a guide and two of his clents row up to Justin and the guide actually accuses Justin of guiding! Completely stunned and getting hot under the collar because I knew what the heck was going on, I was getting ready to lash out when Justin calmly just says; "I don't need to fish for awhile, it's a beautiful day and I recently caught the nicest steelhead of my life." The guide didn't say anything back to us and just mumbled something to his clients.

This kind of paranoia is part of whats generating these new proposals. The guides say that there is too much illegal guiding going on and too much crowding which I think there are times where it feels somewhat crowded up there but absolutely nothing compared to what we see down here in the states. If you get to run with people already there it just means you should have got up earlier or go somewhere else. Besides, the possibilities are mind boggling with the amount of rivers that don't get pressure up there.

Just recieved some info from my pop's. He says that the proposal has stalled.

The proposals seem to stall every time they release them to the public. Talking to many of the locals up there it seems it has divided alot of relationships and people are fed up with it. Alot of local anglers don't agree with the plans because they know how valuable these traveling anglers are to the communities and to the fish themselves. Here's a link to show you what local businesses are doing about it...... [url=www.piscatorialpursuits.com]www.steelheadparadise.com[/url]

Without a long history and without much knowledge about the various issues, local polictical factors, etc, to me it seems like a case of one group being heard more loudly and clearly than another. In this case, anti-alien residents and locals contributing to public comment process, eventually influencing policy and law makers that have the power to shut us out if they deem appropriate.

We, as outsiders, are almost asssuredly under represented in whatever the public process might be, despite our significant contributions to local economy.

I am torn on this one. On one hand I have seen and value the resource to the point that I would gladly give up rights to fish there if it meant that the fish would be given the opportunity to thrive and propagate unmolested. Sadly, this isn't and wouldn't be the case, but instead, the locals wish to reserve this " paradise" for a select few. Those that live there, and those that have bottomless pockets.

I don't like the precedent that this sets. One that would seem to say, "We don't want you here, unless you have a shiteload of money and are willing to throw it around willingly and without care." Everything has a price I guess. If such limitations are enacted for conservations reasons, so be it.

No such thing as "equal opportunity" in this case. If an overall reduction of angler days is desired, I would much rather see other limitations achieve the same affect.

If someone has a link for a comment form, petitiion, etc. Please put it up. I would love to put in a few cents, but an too lazy/pressed for time to look for it for now.

Thanks.

[url=www.piscatorialpursuits.com]www.opposeskeenaamp.com[/url]

This is what you might be looking for Coley.

Stuck it, Coley G.