OC Outdoors: A steelhead adventure on Vancouver Island

A reason to return

Here’s Randy with a true trophy (landed by an angler who’s not me). Call it the photo that could have been, and the reason I’ll be back in Campbell River the first chance I get, especially since there’s almost always something in season. The Lodge’s winter steelhead season runs from January to mid-April; late spring and early summer are great for trout; from summer to early fall, there’s lake and river fishing for sockeye and trout, plus saltwater trolling for salmon—both popular with less experienced anglers—and steelhead are back on from September to mid-November.