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New regulations in BC / Canada

Holidays in the future in BC?

Fabisch Fly Fish Blog


Make it sense to visit BC / Kanada

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Monster Steelhead

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New regulations apply to the Skeena River watershed in Canada, especially so called "classified waters". These are divided into first- and second class waters. What does that mean to us?

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Classified waters are sections that have extraordinary runs of salmon either all year long or during particular seasons. We are speaking of salmon in general, but more specifically of steelhead. Steelhead are anadromous rainbow trout that spend roughly two to four years after hatching in their native rivers, and then descend into the sea. After several years they return to their native rivers to spawn. This pattern of life brings forth particularly big specimens.Fish over 30 pounds are not too rare, and rivers like the Babine, Bulkley, Copper, and Kispiox hold steelhead with an average weight of 8 to 15 pounds.

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What's new about those new regulations then? Until now, a visitor from Europe, e.g. an Italian, Swiss, Austrian or German, usually would plan his trip well ahead of time to arrive in, let's say Smithers, by the last decade of September. He would also book his motel accommodation months in advance. All he would need to get started now is his fishing licenses. So he buys his annual license including the steelhead stamp on the Internet. As he arrives in BC, he checks water conditions to proceed to get his classified waters license locally. Until now, the weekday on which the actual fishing was to take place did not matter at all, but those days are gone!!!

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Surprise! According to the new regulations only residents can fish on weekends! There are slight differences: on the Bulkley, the weekend lasts from Saturday to Sunday, on the Copper (locally aka Zymoetz) from Friday to Sunday. Here's an excerpt from the original text:Above Limonite Creek (Zymoetz River A): Class I water Jul 24 - Dec 31; Steelhead Stamp mandatory Jul 24 - Dec 31; Canadian residentsonly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays Jul 24 - Dec 31 Below LimoniteCreek (Zymoetz River B): Class II water Jul 24 - May 31; SteelheadStamp mandatory Jul 24 - May 31; Canadian residents only on Fridays,Saturdays and Sundays Jul 24 - May 31.

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Of course, alien visitors are welcome to fish on weekends, too - provided they hire a local guide at roughly 400 to 600 $Can a day. With some luck, this cost may even be shared between two fisherman, isn't that dandy?

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I presume that BC might lose a good deal of fishing visitors from abroad this way, but let's not go into that. Everyone has to decide for himself whether he will rather accept the considerably higher cost or several days a week without fishing after an expensive intercontinental flight.

Information on other rivers is to be found on the following link:

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2019-2021 Freshwater Fishing Regulations Synopsis

Please scroll down a bit

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In my opinion it is a good idea, to check the regulations frequently. Otherwise you may miss the newest informations.

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  • Nürnberger Str. 45
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  • Phone 011 49 9126 288640
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