Great Saltwater Fishing

  Scottie Jon and JC September 2024  - A return trip after fifteen years and the fishing, food and experience were still as fabulous as ever.
For Chris - “Fricken Blackfish Lodge! Fricken Fishing, Fricken Amazing, you’d... read more be Fricken Mad not to book now.!”
Thank you Hannah, Chris and family for our outstanding trip!

  Best Kept Secret Family Run Fishing Lodge in British Columbia  - Blackfish lodge is truly a family run fishing lodge with guides and staff that make you part of the family immediately. The food is unbelievable and prepared fresh daily... read more rating with five stars. I have made two trips to the lodge and looking forward to a third very soon. The guides know the waters and can put you on the fish.

  Best Fly In Fish Lodge!  - Wow, wow, and wowza!!!
Giant King Salmon, expert captained boats, phenomenal food, perfect accommodations, and the hosts were beyond great.
That’s not mentioning the great wildlife you witness... read more .eagles, whales, seals, and sea lions.
Seriously, Chris and Hannah know what they’re doing and have great views with nobody around.
Private rooms for the four of us with comfy beds and private bathrooms.
Breakfast, lunch, amd dinner were five star so good.
Captained boats that you could move around in and enjoy the fishing and wildlife.
Lodge was warm, clean, and very comfortable and had fantastic views.
Hannah is a phenomenal cook and each meal was prepared like you were in a Michelin restaurant.
We caught giant king salmon, halibut, and lincod I even leaned how to fly fish.
By far the best fly in fishing lodge we’ve experienced and it had exclusive amd remote fishing. It was like we had the entire area to ourselves and it was easy to get too!
Thanks Hannah and Chris for knocking it out of the park!!!

  A little piece of heaven and a truly unforgettable experience  - An unforgettable once in a life-time off-grid experience. I highly recommend Blackfish Lodge BC to anyone that is looking for a 5-star fishing experience with an incredibly experienced family led... read more operation. Amazing food, spectacular scenery, incredible knowledge of the area and staying in a beautiful handbuilt home with the people that have built it - it does not get any more special than that. Thank you Chris and Hannah for squeezing us in and sharing your little piece of heaven with us.

  Bucket list trip!  - Our journey to Blackfish lodge started with a fabulous sea plane flight from Port Hardy, the views are spectacular with a network of little islands and piercing blue water, we... read more even spotted humpbacked whales!
As the plane glided down, Blackfish lodge came into view, a charming wooden lodge with whisps of wood smoke ascending from the chimney.
We were warmly greeted by firstly the lovely black Labrador Isla, followed by Chris, Hannah and the team.
Chris our host and guide has spent his life in this part of the world and there is nothing he doesn't know not only about catching fish but many stories of the history of the local people and their traditions.
Hannah looked after us at the lodge and is a superb cook! you'll be treated to delicious fresh food, we were eating fresh fish, prawns and crab that had literally been caught less than an hour previously, you won't get better food than that!
The lodge is warm and cosy with small but adequate rooms with comfortable beds.
Not wasting any time we were out on the water shortly after our arrival, we had briefed Chris beforehand what we wanted to achieve with our fishing and he was delighted to accommodate us.
It wasn't long before we were catching fish, my first proper Salmon! and what a beautiful specimen.
We spent the next five days catching numerous species from a little cutthroat trout to a huge halibut!
So to sum up this lodge, there's nothing corporate about this place. It has a good honest warm feel about it and you'll feel like a guest in Chris and Hannahs lovely home.
I would definitely recommend a trip here, I would return within a blink of the eye.

  Wonderful time at Blackfish Lodge!  - ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING! This is a must-do (and for us, a must-repeat) adventure. From the initial booking to departure from this wonderful floating lodge everything exceeded our expectations!... read more All we had to do was get to Vancouver from home (Florida and North Carolina) and Rick (who handles all the bookings and arrangements) took it from there. The Lodge is owned and operated by Chris and Hannah, with Chris as the head guide and operator, and Hannah as manager and the chef. Hannah is truly a CHEF! The food – all fresh and made from scratch – was Michelin-Star quality and no scrimping on the portions served family-style. The Dungeness Crab was the best I’ve had, with 30 minutes from hauling out the trap to the table! The guides were great and knew exactly where to put us on fish. We limited out on salmon, but not on halibut since we had to release the 110 POUND MONSTER as it was too big! The Lodge itself is beautiful, with the inside and outside common spaces well-appointed and perfect for evening gab-fests, with a sauna just outside And thanks again to Rick for his great advice on getting our catch processed and shipped.

  Fabulous Off the Grid Getaway in Gorgeous Surroundings  - Oh my goodness--what a wonderful time we had at Blackfish Lodge! Chris and Hannah are the most gracious hosts. In addition, Chris is a wonderful guide and a... read more real renaissance man. We enjoyed the conversations while fishing as much as catching fish. The lodge is warm and inviting and rustic and comfy. Hannah is an amazing chef--the salmon chowder--WOW! Not to mention the fresh dungeness crabs, prawns and tasty and fresh sides and desserts! We were two couples coming to fish in this incredibly beautiful wilderness and loved our time here. It was relaxing, entertaining (feeding rockfish to bald eagles) and fruitful (salmon and halibut were in our return luggage.). I can't recommend them enough.

  After a long pandemic absence, I was able to return to Blackfish. I've missed my annual visit and wanted to share it with my youngest brother. It was a great... read more reunion with Chris, Hannah and the children. The other 2 guests were great and we got along very well. Fishing was outstanding. I booked for next year!

  This was my fishing trip to Canada with my son, and the experience was nothing short of amazing! Chris and Hannah, the owners of Blackfish Lodge, were some of... read more the most knowledgeable, kind, hospitable people we've ever met and made this experience very memorable for the two of us. My son and I caught salmon, halibut and rockfish, all the while seeing bald eagles, black bears, humpback whales, dolphins, sealions, mink, ect-unbelievable amounts of wildlife. The lodge itself was large and beautifully made, the food was excellent, and my son and I were a big fan of the sauna every night. Highly recommended all around and can't wait to visit again!

  Fun family fishing trip. We had so much fun, My 7 year old grandson caught his 1st fish. He was pretty happy catching it was right off the dock.... read more He has taken the title of Rock Cod king.
We really enjoyed the food cooked by Hanna & Chris our guide were perfect hosts.
The scenery was just fabulous. Beautiful British Columbia is exactly that.
Thank you for the wonderful experience.

  1st Fish 🙂  - Fun family fishing trip. We had so much fun, My 7 year old grandson caught his 1st fish. He was pretty happy catching it was right off the dock.... read more He has taken the title of Rock Cod king.
We really enjoyed the food cooked by Hanna & Chris our guide were perfect hosts.
The scenery was just fabulous. Beautiful British Columbia is exactly that.
Thank you for the wonderful experience.

  Amazing time and can't wait to go again!  - This was my fishing trip to Canada with my son, and the experience was nothing short of amazing! Chris and Hannah, the owners of Blackfish Lodge, were some of... read more the most knowledgeable, kind, hospitable people we've ever met and made this experience very memorable for the two of us. My son and I caught salmon, halibut and rockfish, all the while seeing bald eagles, black bears, humpback whales, dolphins, sealions, mink, ect-unbelievable amounts of wildlife. The lodge itself was large and beautifully made, the food was excellent, and my son and I were a big fan of the sauna every night. Highly recommended all around and can't wait to visit again!

  My dad and I stayed at blackfish lodge for a week and had an amazing experience!

Chris was really attentive to the list of things we wanted to accomplish... read more and curated an experience that fit both of our experience levels with fly fishing (I'm pretty much a novice and my dad is quite experienced). Chris has a gift for teaching and gave me great guidance to improve my casting technique. I was blown away with the amount of wildlife we saw while fishing and at the lodge.

Hannah's cooking was out of this world. The culinary experience is what put the trip over the edge for me! The fresh seafood, desserts, local wine selection, and picnic lunches were such a treat.

10/10 I would definitely go back in the future

  Staff and fishing guides were absolutely wonderful. Food was excellent. This was a great family trip with teenagers. Wifi available but we were so busy enjoying the... read more environment that it was nice to just unplug for a few days. Came home with plenty salmon for the freezer. Don't miss the hike to the falls and a day of fly fishing. Breathtaking beauty of BC cannot be put into words, wildlife at every turn, views from the float plane are stunning.

  My wife and I wanted to take our two grown daughters and two oldest grandsons (ages 10 & 9 respectively) on a unique family vacation that would hopefully provide them... read more with memories to last a lifetime - I think we succeeded. My one daughter's significant other accompanied us so our party totaled 7, which meant we were the only ones at the lodge. Even though only 2 of us were what I would call more hard core fishermen everyone had a great time. With 3 guides (including Chris) two took 2 people out and one took 3 out each day.

Our planning started over a year in advance and Rick Groman handled all of that, answering tons of questions I had regarding the fishing, having kids at the lodge, trip logistics, etc. Rick was extremely responsive to all my e-mails and we also had a few lengthy phone conversations. Simply put he provided fabulous service in preparing us for the trip, all of which played a key role in the success of the trip.

We took Rick's suggestion and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson located in Bothell, WA the day before flying to the lodge. The place was very nice (pricey but I guess that's Seattle) and also provided a free shuttle to Kenmore Air, about a 20 minute ride from the hotel.

Kenmore Air was first rate in all regards - very organized, efficient and friendly staff. They weighed in all our bags to make sure we met the 25#/pp limit on luggage, we filled out paperwork, and got all our gear loaded onto the turbine Otter for our flight - Norm was out pilot. There was a total of 9 passengers on the plane. It was ~ a 1 hr flight to Nanaimo, where we stopped for ~25 min to go through Canadian customs and refuel, then about another 1:15 to the lodge. Even though the weather was overcast the views on the flight were spectacular - simply beautiful country.

We arrived at the lodge as the current group was gathering their stuff to fly out, some were still getting lunch as I guess our plane was a bit early. We had some fish chowder and Dungeness crab for lunch then went fishing in the afternoon - my wife and I went out with Graham. We had no fishing success that day (guess we missed the high tides which didn't help) but we did see orcas, humpback whales, eagles, sea lions, etc. so we were very satisfied with the half day.

On the second day Chris took me and my daughter's significant other on a Wakeman River float trip. There is quite an involved, and lengthy, logistical process for this trip with a long boat ride to get to the offload dock, loading up the trucks, driving trucks to the put in point, inflating the raft, etc. It rained all day long and I only caught two trout but we all had a great time - beautiful river. On the way back we stopped off to check the prawn traps - part of dinner!

On the third day my wife and I fished for salmon with Chris all day. The weather was much nicer, we went out when the tides dictated, and we both caught Coho and Chinook salmon. At one point my wife and I both had Kings on at the same time and Chris did a masterful job orchestrating things so these two rookies were able to land both fish. Others in our group caught salmon that day as well and one group wanted to fly fish so they just fished off a dock in Echo Bay for bass and caught tons.

For the few hours we had the next day before flying out Chris took my wife and I halibut fishing and we had no luck, but again it was a great time and beautiful day.

As everyone says, the food is fantastic, and plentiful. On arrival day for lunch Chris pulled up the Dungeness crab pot and it was no more than 25 minutes from getting the crabs out until they were on the table - best I have ever had by far! We also had venison kebabs (outstanding), fish and chips (fresh cod) and roast pork.

The rooms (4 in the lodge) were all simple and very comfortable, each with its own small bathroom (3 with small shower stall and one with shower/tub combination). The living room and dining room are all one, heated by a small wood stove, and very comfortable. There is a music system available and the wifi in the lodge worked fine for what we wanted (checking e-mail, etc).

I was concerned the two grandsons, who both normally spend a lot of time on electronic devices, would be bored but they both had a wonderful time and really put in some significant hours fishing. They loved watching the resident eagle fly down to pick up fish carcasses about 10' off the dock and between them saw lots of wildlife in addition to the eagles - dolphins, whales, bears, sea lions, etc.

There were only two small hiccups during our visit and both involved fly fishing an estuary. In each case I thought we had clearly communicated one specific group wanted to go to Echo Bay that day where they could easily catch a bunch of bass using a fly rod but the same guide ended up taking them halibut or salmon fishing instead.

I cannot say enough about how hospitable and welcoming Chris, Hannah, and Terra (sp? helped with kitchen/cleaning chores) in particular were. Terra went out of her way to check in with us all the time and ask if we needed anything for food, drink, laundry, etc. Although Chris told us when the best fishing would be based on tides he made it clear the guides would take us out whenever each group wanted to go (although you could see it really pained them if someone was ready to call it a day when the "best" fishing time was just getting going!). They were extremely flexible and bent over backwards to ensure you were having a good time and had everything you needed, doing laundry, providing lunches to take with you, making snacks for the evening, etc.

So, I highly recommend Blackfish Lodge and would like to thank Chris, Hannah and the entire staff for making this such a wonderful family memory we will treasure forever!

  Chris and Hannah and their staff and guides made our stay a real pleasure, we particularly appreciated Chris's patience, kindness and expertise. A wonderful secluded location, delicious fresh meals, lovely... read more wines, sea eagles, mink, bears and fish! A fantastic experience. Thank you.