Pitt River British Columbia

My Dad and I just got back from spending four days fishing the Pitt River in British Columbia just east of Vancouver. This backcountry glacier fed river is only accessible by boat and has some amazing trout fishing. The Pitt also holds tons of salmon but during September the sockeye salmon have already run and are spawning or dying in the river (i.e. not fishable) and the coho or silver salmon run has not started yet. Other than hooking into a decaying sockeye or two, are fishing consisted of rainbow, bull, and cutthroat trout. The highlight was the bull trout or "dolly vardens" which are a seagoing trout that follow the salmon in from the ocean to feed off their eggs. We caught a couple Bulls in the 7 pound range and hooked a monster 9 pounder that narrowly escaped.

The fishing lodge itself was just upstream from where the river meets Pitt Lake. We got to spend much quality time with the owners Danny and Lee who were amazing cooks and had lots of cool stories from their years running the lodge. Apparently the Pitt is a favorite fishing destination for LA writer/producer David Kelly and his wife Michelle Pfeffier. We were lucky and had the lodge to our self for 4 days since we were between salmon seasons. The last night we went out sturgeon fishing on Pitt Lake with deep sea rods. Sturgeon, known for being the fish whose eggs are caviar, are protected in BC but can be fished for and tagged for research. We hooked into a 6 1/2 footer that Danny said was at least 5o years old. Check out the pictures below this guy was pretty gnarly.


The Pitt River with the glacier that feeds it just visible in the background


My Dad and I with a 7 pound Bull Trout I caught


Dad, me, our guide Alexei, and a lot of green coats


One of the five black bears we saw one day while rafting down the Pitt


The first Sturgeon we hooked into was 3 1/2 feet- which I thought was huge


Dad redefined huge when he hooked this massive 6 1/2 foot sturgeon