To fish at Canada's premiers lodges is not easy on the bank book. Most resorts cater to the mightier US dollar and this tends to price them too high for us Canucks. Examples of these premiere "world class" Canadian fishing lodge packages look alot like some of the following "bank busters."
God's River Lodge Manitoba - 7 days - $2400 US
Knee Lake Lodge Manitoba - 7 days - $3550 US
Kasba Lake Lodge NWT - 5 days - $2750 US
Wollaston Lake Lodge Saskatchewan - 9 days - $4495 US
Langara Lodge Queen Charlotte Islands BC - 5 days - $3775 US
Nueltin Lake Lodge Nunavut - 9 days - $3595 US
Ungava Bay Arctic Quebec - 7 days - $5995 CAN
If you were to charter a guide alone for a day salmon fishing on the Great Lakes or muskie fishing on St. Claire you might expect to pay upwards of $600 for the day. Try atlantic salmon fishing on just one beat of the Alta River in Norway and you might expect to pay $9000 to $15000 US for just 3-5 days.
Whether remote, or next door to urban Toronto, Oslo, Calgary, Miami or Vancouver, good fishing opportunities can be found just about anywhere. I think I might have found that in Fraser River Fishing Lodge BC.
Frank Staiger's been at in the fishing business for over a decade. He immigrated from Germany with fishing on his mind, and after exploring every "nook and cranny" of the Fraser River took up residence right on it's banks in front of some of the best sturgeon fishing waters in BC. Over the decade he has been perfecting and pioneering the rise in sportfishing for the whiskered Great White, and all the while learning a trick or two about salmon fishing and catering to the guests he would guide and entertain. Nowadays with business growing he as expanded into a new and beautiful lodge and hired himself an A1 staff to assist. I was totally impressed with the facility, meals and group the first time around.
Last september I made the trip to FRFL. When I arrived in the area I was told of heavy rains having caused a large mudslide on one of the tributaries to the Fraser. The river was washed out. Debris had been floating through for days. I became a little worried that fishing conditions may be poor. By the time I started salmon fishing the debris was through but the water clarity was quite stained. Frank, even before our arrival, by phone had told me to expect 6-12 hook-ups with chinooks on the average day. I did not think that with the river conditions this would still be possible, but we adapted techniques, and those numbers still rang true. After 2 days the group of 3 managed by my count 38 "FISH ON" with 17 landed and 11 released.
We skipped the last day of salmon fishing before a closure and moved on to sturgeon. After beating the bank for the kings it was nice to just sit back in a jet boat and wait for the big whites to come to the bait. Strangely though it ended up not so relaxing, because when the rod tips began dipping your endorphins just started going crazy. You questioned yourself anxiously, "could that be the next 14ft, 1400lb sturgeon tasting the bait below you?" We truly only caught half the sturgeon we tried to set hooks into, but 7 fish each day for the next 3 days turned out to be about a fish an hour for us, and we sure had a few more good battles with fish we never had the chance of kissing; including a fat 5 footer or so that jumped like Jordan out of the currents.
We did have one unfortunate event occur. On our last day we were booked on a wilderness fishing excursion on the Pitt River to fish Dolly Varden higher up in the mountains. Forcasted windy, rainy weather caused the cancellation of our trip. For the week other lodge guests had been saying how insanely fun the jet boat ride on the narrow river through canyons and rapids was. And, they also spoke of sight-fishing Dolly Varden within the pools and schools of spawning sockeye. A dozen or so on the fly and two dozen on the spin gear were reported catches by the Scots and Yanks who had their chance. We were a little upset not to get to go, but Tommy caught a 5+ foot sturgeon that afternoon instead, and it fought harder than John's and my 6 footers, so we were happy for him and we all agreed we would come back for the Pitt another time.
The fall of 2007 is going to be that time, and I would love to have the company of my Fish-Hawk friends with me.
Regular packages for FRFL would usually include fully guided fishing, use of equipment, accommodations and all meals. (fantastic meals) Per person based on double occupancy the rate is $500 CAN per day. A 5 day package would cost $2500 plus extra $100 for a wilderness fishing excursion, making the total $2600.
Frank is offering us this 5 day package.
- 5, 8 hour days fully guided fishing
- 1 of the 5 days will be a wilderness river excursion
- private guide & custom boat per 3 anglers (max)
- all tackle, rods, reels, bait, etc, provided
- all meals including dinners by professional chef
- 5 overnights at their new lodge complete with satelite TV in rooms, licensed bar, pool table, big screen TV, darts, heated flooring in the rooms and laundry services.
THE TOTAL *** $2200.00 per person.
Not included is tax, fishing license, fish processing and alcohol. It's also a nice gesture to tip the guides as you see fit.
The cost is based on triple occupancy per room unless 8 or 11 people attend and therefor one room will be double occupancy.
And of course other costs would include the flight, sharing of a car rental (which is beneficial to us, trust me) and personal miscellaneous purchases.
ALL TOTALLED this trip in it's entirety should cost around $3000.00 CAN. Of which at this time you now have 30 months or so to save your pennies for.
If you've been putting off that fishing trip out west that has been on your "100 things I gotta do before I die" list, now is your chance to kill two birds with one stone. TAKE THE TRIP, CATCH A STURGEON.
Consider it soon.
http://www.fraserriverlodge.com/
Any questions please post here or pm me.
As well, I have convinced my brother who is trying to convince his wife to go. No luck as of yet though. C'mon guys lets fill this lodge with hawk-talkers and launch a full assault on the B.C. Sturgeon and Salmon. I've got a feeling I too will be having more than one lifetime.
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