I’m Rob Brown. For the past 35 years, I’ve fished Skeena system.

    In winter, sometimes alone, sometimes with a partner, I’ve strapped on snowshoes and tramped over the drifts to fish the Kitsumkalum River for steelhead.

    In the spring I’ve divided my angling time between the lower reaches of the Kalum, chasing spring steelhead, spring salmon, cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden char, and the Lakelse River, hunting cutthroat trout and steelhead.

    In the summer I’ve frequented the log gravel bars of the Skeena, angling for sockeye, summer coho and the summer run steelhead bound for the Bulkley, Morice, Babine, Kispiox, Sustut and smaller, less well known streams that feed the upper reaches, of the Skeena.

    In autumn, I’ve enjoyed fine steelhead fishing on the Zymoetz and the Clore, dead drifting dry flies, dragging damp flies, and fishing tiny nymphs just under the surface for summer run steelhead. 

    My fishing hasn’t been confined to the Skeena drainage. Inside you will find records of outings to well known steelhead rivers like the Dean, the Thompson, and the Coquihalla, to lesser known streams, like the Kitlope, and many smaller coastal streams.

    Some of the articles you will find herein are diary entries, records of days on rivers and streams in the valleys of the Skeena and the streams that feed her. Others are reflections on how I think things are and how I believe they ought to be. The pieces that fit into this last group are political in that they are concerned with the politics of the environment, the politics of resource management, the politics of sport, the politics of getting along with people and the way politicians have got it wrong or got it right when it comes to fish and all the things related to them. You will find some how-to articles, as in how to tie a fly and how to cast it. You won’t find any road maps to streams or any precise instructions on where and how to fish them, but you may be able to glean some of kind of information of this type by reading about my exploits and those of the men and women with whom I’ve fished. I haven’t tried to hide the little I know about angling from prying eyes, but, out of respect for fish and friends, I haven’t broadcast it either.

    You’re not a bleeder are you? the late Lee Straight once asked me after returning the draft of a letter I’d written for the Steelhead Society of B.C. I put down the red ink stained letter, revised the original along the lines he suggested then sent it back with a note assuring him that I was not. That still goes. If you disagree with something I’ve written, if you believe your two cents worth is more valuable than mine, then I want to hear from you. If something I’ve scribbled down strikes a chord, if you appreciate it, or you’re glad I said it, I want to hear from you too.

The Skeena Angler