We strive to rotate and fish water equally, providing variety and enabling us to rest water properly. Every attempt is made to fish rested water at all times during the week. Due to the small numbers of anglers we accommodate, pressure is never a problem.
At Damdochax we’ve always focused on providing our guests with the best private access fishing experience we can deliver. Unlike many other Steelhead fisheries, we’ve deliberately chosen not to overcrowd the river, enabling us to rest water and rotate all our pools and runs evenly among guests, ensuring non-pressured water and fish.
The Steelhead of the Damdochax are 100% wild, and very similar in size, strength and appearance to the Steelhead of the Skeena system. Genetically, the Steelhead of the upper Nass (Damdochax river) have proven to be closer to Skeena Steelhead than those of any other watersheds in Northern BC. The average Damdochax buck is 32 – 36 inches, 12-15 lbs, strong and aggressive. 18 – 22 lbs. bucks are not uncommon and are caught regularly. Most seasons we catch a few giants weighing 25 lbs, and the biggest buck we’ve measured was over 44 inches, though we’ve seen…and of course lost some even larger. For pure fighting spirit, the hens are the special fish, the wild energetic acrobats that tear us up and clean out our reels. Most of them are lost within seconds, knots pulling open, and lines breaking. Everything must be perfect to land these fish, the angler must be focused, and luck must be with them. The average Damdochax hen is 30 – 35 inches, 10-13 lbs, bright and fierce. 17 – 19 lb. hens are not uncommon, and many are hooked…though not always landed, most weeks of the season.
The Damdochax River is a provincially designated Class II River that originates in a clear, nutrient-rich, lake. As such, it is one of the most stable rivers in all Northern BC. It flows west for 12 miles toward the Nass, through pristine abundant rain forest. In the upper reaches the river is trouty and overhung by alder and willow until it is joined by the waters of the Sansixmor tributary. Below the Sansixmor junction, the river flows over gravel stickles and pocket-water, eventually meeting the Slomuldo river where the main stem of the Damdochax becomes clearly defined. From this point and to the Nass confluence, the size and demeanor of the Damdochax changes considerably, providing classic fly water for dry and wet fly presentation in perfect sequences of pools and runs.
Though mid-sized by volume the main stem of the Damdochax is a river where an experienced, careful wader can cross bank to bank, when the river is at a normal fishing height. A good double handed caster will cover the river in most places, and a single-handed caster will enjoy the more intimate water. The character of the river often changes after spring thaw, and even now 40+ years after we first started fishing, the Damdochax yields results to those that read water and seek the challenge of naming new runs.