LCO x Suskeena Lodge 2025 Trip Recap

Flying High in the Great White North

By Lost Coast Outfitters

December 13^th, 2025

Author: Brett Wedeking, LCO Travel Manager

Chasing a Weather Window into the Wild

Fall weather in northern British Columbia is always a gamble. The first day of our 2025 LCO trip to Suskeena Lodge felt like we were rolling the dice repeatedly and kept coming up snake eyes, as we begged for a weather window to get out of Smithers and fly the 100 miles north to the Sustut River. Come late afternoon, as hope began to fade with the sun, the clouds cleared enough to give it a shot. Now or never. Or, tomorrow at least. Off we went.

Meanwhile, at our destination, Suskeena Lodge, the guests already there had put waders on and headed back to the river to fish, assuming they’d be there another night. Luckily for our group, the weather stabilized just enough, and we flew in and transferred to the lodge smoothly, just late. The fish stories from the previous group we met at the airstrip were full of acrobatic steelhead, delicious food, and a bit of whiskey. I’m not sure any of us slept at all that first night.

Arriving at One of BC’s Most Remote Steelhead Camps

The staff loaded us all up and headed for the lodge, along a network of old logging roads that traces the valley. Decades ago, logging companies built a rail line into the Sustut River Valley and constructed roads to log the surrounding mountains. They even spent $2 million on a bridge over the river. Luckily, the logging operations have long since ceased, and only the remnants remain, with the roads benefiting us anglers. These days, this wonderfully remote river is only accessible by plane or helicopter.

Suskeena Lodge consists of a handful of riverside guest cabins, a workshop, staff cabins, and the main lodge building, where breakfast and dinner are served and where stories are told over happy-hour drinks each day. Everything is wood-stove-heated, with instant hot-water tanks and a generator providing electricity. The camp staff runs a well-oiled operation, with only the bears to cause problems.

A River Built for the Swing

The first morning of fishing arrived, and our intrepid group loaded up, three anglers to a boat, and headed off into a waking dreamland of riffles, runs, and tailouts. The fly water on the Sustut cannot be understated. The flow, structure, and depth are picture-perfect; around every corner appears a new A+ piece of water. You simply cannot fish it all in a single week. The guides regularly pass up water I would beg to fish at home, simply because the next run fishes even better.

Classic names like Lookout, Huckleberry, and Surprise! denote runs that hold fish every day, every season, for decades. Every crease, bucket, and seam that holds fish is named on the Sustut. And it’s all, literally all, good fly water.

Steelhead of Mythic Proportions

Sustut steelhead are the stuff of legends, but this legend you can still experience for yourself. The highest major tributary to the mighty Skeena, Sustut steelhead swim over 200 miles up-river to their spawning grounds, and their genetics make for big fish, with 20-pound fish caught weekly. 30-pound fish swim these waters too…

A common goal for steelhead anglers the world over is landing a 40-inch fish. Arguably, nowhere else on the planet do you have a better shot at a 40-inch steelhead than the Sustut. A magical and mysterious place for sure. We all should be so lucky to see it, even once.

A Team Effort on a Wild River

Steelhead fly fishing is a team sport; one angler’s success is success for all, and through the week, our team caught fish every day—a couple of which crested 20 pounds. Individually, we each got alternately skunked and had multi-fish days, too. That’s steelhead fly fishing; you never know what the next day will bring, so you just cast, swing, step, and repeat.

Every evening around the campfire, we shared stories of battles won and lost, photos of double stripers, adipose fins, laughs, and whiskey. All said, we had a fantastic week of fishing and benefited from the river being so remote and unpressured as compared to some of the more easily accessed areas downstream.

How the Suskeena Beat System Works

The lodge operates a well-thought-out and thorough fishing program based on beats, which offers anglers shots at every section of the river, without worrying if someone is going to be parked in the next run you want to fish.

About 15 miles in total, each section looks and fishes differently:

Upper River: More canyon-like, with massive boulders, greasy slicks, and some roiling, rapid drops.
Middle River: Still tree-lined but wider and slower, with run after run of soft riffles and walking-speed glides.
Lower River: Opens into classic gravel bars, high banks, and perfect riffle-run-tailout structure.

The Gear We Put to Work

Our gang brought almost a fly shop's worth of gear up and fished a variety of fun setups. My absolute favorite outfit for this river is the new Winston Air 2 TH 12’6” 8-weight. Paired with the new Rio Timberline Skagit shooting head, this setup was exactly what I needed all week.

Both the rod and the Skagit head are on the short side, allowing easy casting tight to high banks and trees. I fished everything—inside edges, mid-river boulders, long runs—with just two tips all week: the MOW T-11 10’ and 5’ Float / 5' Sink.

Unless you want to skate (which I did a bit too, to no avail), these two tips will get you through every piece of water.

Thinking About Joining Us Next Year?

Steelhead season is always fleeting, and Suskeena Lodge only operates during the most prime weeks of the run; therefore, space is tight. Our LCO week is smack dab in the middle of the season, after the bulk of the run has arrived in the river, but early enough to still have opportunities to skate dries and avoid frozen fingertips.